Many American PS3/PSP owners know that Japanese PS3/PSP owners enjoy a few more luxuries than we do stateside.  An expanded PlayStation Store, games released months (sometimes years) before the American version, and the ability to play ad hoc only co-op titles (such as Monster Hunter Freedom Unite) over the Internet are just a few of the perks they enjoy.  "What?!" you say, "They have the technology to make ad hoc gaming reach further than two feet from my couch?!"  Apparently they do, and it will be arriving here very soon.

The Sony Playstation blog announced Friday that adhocParty, an online service that allows the PSP to expand its ad hoc coverage from immediate vicinity to the entire world via the PS3/PSP system link, is headed for our shores.  In addition to an increased ability to connect remotely with friends, adhocParty also brings with it the ability to use a bluetooth headset or the PlayStation Eye for voice chat.  Good news for all those PSP owners out there that were unable to play some fine co-op titles with their friends that were further away than next door... assuming those PSP owners also own a PS3, that is.

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Making this kind of a game requires significant sacrifice to the gluteal region

Hot on the heels of the success of Borderlands, Austin developer Gearbox hasn't forgotten about another co-op project they've been working on for some time now.   Aliens: Colonial Marines, a 4 player co-op title due for release some time next year, has certainly gone through a rocky development cycle, but in an interview with Game Informer, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford assured fans that the game is still being developed.
 

I'll tell you this: We love Aliens... We're working our butts off on it. I think when it comes, people won't be disappointed, but right now it's really not up to us to talk about it.

This is only a snippet from a much longer interview that will appear in the January issue of Game Informer, but that little tidbit alone is heartening.  Given how well Gearbox handled the co-op in Borderlands, fans of co-op and the "Alien" franchise should certainly take this news to heart.  Now if we only had such assurances from the team developing Aliens vs Predator...

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As Mike and Nick discussed in the 28th episode of the Co-Opticast, there was a study conducted at the University of Missouri to compare competitive gaming to co-op gaming.  While the study didn’t go to too great depths to test the effects of co-op vs competitive gaming, the summary suggested that aggressive games (and gaming) appeal to young men as it allows them to participate in that primal male-male competition for dominance.  This phenomenon, unfortunately, isn’t always limited to competitive gaming.  There is that occasional aggressive side to co-op, when the co-op experience turns from being a group working together to achieve a goal, to a group of individuals all attempting to achieve or prove something on their own.  It is something that I myself was guilty of not that long ago.

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As Jim highlighted in his hands-on preview of Skate 3, the focus for the latest game in the Skate franchise is on teaming up with your friends. While at the Skate 3 Community Event, we had the opportunity to talk with Chris “Cuz” Parry, producer for all three Skate titles and a skater himself, about how the co-op came about, the rewards for building a team, and how you can still enjoy co-op with your friend even if he or she isn’t around.

Dundee, Scotland: home to the Tay Rail Bridge (seen above) and Crackdown 2 dev Ruffian Games

It seems that Ruffian Games will be showing off Crackdown 2, the sequel to the "still fun after all these years" Crackdown, to the general public next weekend at the NEoN Digital Arts Festival.  This is the first time the game will be shown and demoed outside of a major trade show event like E3 or TGS.  The catch?  The event is in Dundee, Scotland.  So unless you live in the area, have already acquired plane/event tickets, or are really good friends with Nightcrawler, you likely won't be amongst those lucky few that will get to check out this promising co-op title in person for the first time.  Fortunately, any new details that are shown will undoubtedly be disseminated across the Internet in less time than you can say "I wonder if the sequel will come with a Halo: Reach beta," and you can be sure we'll be posting all the latest and greatest co-op related news just as soon as it does.

Additional information about the NEoN Digital Arts Festival can be found at the following link.

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League of Legends, the team-vs-team title that was inspired by the Warcraft III Defense of the Ancients mod, was released last week and the good folks at Riot Games provided us with a package of goodies to give away to one lucky Co-Optimus reader.  Want to know what you can win and how to enter? Click the link for all the details.

Hop online right now to join in on some Sol Survivor fun with the devs

A new month starts today, and it brings with it new opportunities for  some co-op gaming.  A few of the developers from Cadenza Interactive, the guys that put together the co-op tower defense title Sol Survivor, along with a few folks from fellow gaming sites are holding an XBox LIVE Indie Game session today at 12:00 pm PST right now and their title of choice is... yep, you guessed it, Sol Survivor.  Gamertags for all of the devs and game site fellows can be found at this link.  As we highlighted in our recent review of the game, the title does have a few glitches, but the co-op modes, overall, are quite enjoyable.  So if you've bought the game and are looking for some relaxing, post-Halloween co-op in which to partake this afternoon, hop on now and to join in on the play sessions.

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Sol Survivor, the co-op tower defense title from developer Cadenza Interactive, was released over the XBox LIVE Indie Marketplace last month and we’ve been putting it through its paces ever since.  What are the results?  Read on, o ye lovers of co-op gaming, read on.

There is a phrase that is commonly linked with any discussion of the co-op in an RTS: "comp stomp."  The phrase refers to the typical situation that occurs when a group of players team up to take on one or more computer opponents and proceed to thrash them about the place.  This can be fun for a few matches, but the novelty quickly wears thin as the computer does nothing new or interesting each time you face it.  AI War, Arcen Games’ first outing into the gaming market, shatters this stale and repetitive formula to create something that’s not quite an RTS, not quite a 4X, but completely fun and, most importantly, completely co-op.

 AI War, the RTS/4x co-op title from Arcen Games, is out today on Steam. The game features full on-line and local, drop-in/drop-out co-op for up to eight players.  It also includes online leaderboards and 129 Steam achievements for players.  As an added bonus, Steam is running a special on the game through Oct. 27th.  Order it now and you can pick it up for just $15.  That's a lot of game for that price, believe me.  AI War has been out for some time through Impulse and Arcen Game's official site, but the Steam release marks a major milestone in the game's development.

As Christopher Park mentioned in our interview with him, the update from the previous version to this release version included alot of changes and pretty much all of them were done to ensure a solid co-op experience.  We also mentioned in that article that if you purchased the game from another outlet, such as Direct2Drive or Stardock's Impulse, that you'd still be able to utilize the "activate a product on Steam" feature.  We've heard from Christopher and he assures us that this feature should be available within the next couple of days.  Until then, be sure to tune in tomorrow for our review!

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