Stop me if you've heard this one before.  It's the middle of the night, and the streets are deserted.  You're trying to get to your destination, but suddenly, screams fill the air and the ground shakes beneath you.  A horde of creepy figures is headed your way, and though you run as fast as you can, you are overwhelmed.  The crowd tramples over you, and you black out.  Nope, it's not Left 4 Dead 2, it's just Black Friday once again!

Thanks to our frugal friends over at Cheap Ass Gamer, we've got a list of the best deals for co-op titles on the day after Thanksgiving sales this year.  Some excellent deals on Left 4 Dead 2 and other recent releases just might be worth braving the zombie hordes for!  Check out the co-op titles here, or the full list at the link below, and happy hunting!

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A few years ago, a neighbor offered my wife a Super Nintendo with five games, all for $25, before it went into their garage sale. My wife nabbed it, and I was a happy classic gamer that entire day. One of the games in that lot, Donkey Kong Country, was easily worth that price by itself.

Resident Evil 5 was an early co-op hit this year.  As you'd expect for a title so popular, quite a bit of extra content is headed your way soon.  The PS3-exclusive "Alternative Edition" is coming soon, and will include all the DLC listed below, plus compatibility with Sony's forthcoming motion controlling doohickey.  (Pretty sure that won't be the final name.)  Xbox 360 owners and those who already own RE5 for PS3 can also download this content.

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Do Androids Dream of Fake Plastic Turntables?
 

The sales numbers for DJ Hero are in, and they are disappointing at best.  122,300 copies of the game were sold across all platforms.  That's very low for a music game, especially one that was as heavily promoted as DJ Hero.  Ars Technica attempted to explain the low sales, and fans of co-op will likely appreciate this particular reason:

Rhythm games work best with crowds, and DJ Hero is a solitary experience. That's not a knock against it; playing the game is great fun. It's just hard to share with others, compared to the more popular Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises.

In other words, the lack of a compelling co-op mode may have been a factor in the game's lack of sales.  Music games seem to work best in a party setting, and DJ Hero just doesn't work due to the single-player focus.  Other reasons are listed in the article, but it just goes to show you that co-op is a major selling point for any game, especially one in a genre known for excellent co-op.

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Spyborgs may look slick and modern, but beneath all the gloss, it is a very old school brawler. For gamers who enjoy beat em ups, Spyborgs is a decent experience, combining modern graphics and control schemes with older, familiar gameplay elements.

LEGO Rock Band. It's a mix of two of the greatest casual game franchises. What could have been just a cookie cutter track pack is actually an innovative addtion to the Rock Band franchise. Adorable characters, hilarious cut scenes, and a fun song list will keep people of all ages interested.  For Co-Op Casual Friday this week, we bring you our full review!

Wizards of the Coast has just announced some future plans for Duels of the Planeswalkers, the video game version of Magic: the Gathering (if you don't count Magic Online that is).  It looks like the spell slinging will continue on well into 2010.

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We've got a bit of bad news for fans of classic co-op.  Remember the Genesis poll from a few months ago?  ToeJam and Earl won that poll, and Sega promised that the alien duo would be headed to Xbox Live Arcade soon.  It turns out that's not the case, according to the couple's creator, Greg Johnson.  Apparently Sega forgot that they don't have publishing rights to ToeJam & Earl.  Awkward, huh?  The two uber-cool aliens won't be making an apearance in upcoming title Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing either.

Perhaps most interesting is news of a ToeJam & Earl game proposed for the Nintendo DS.  Some interesting concept art and even a few mock-up screens are available at Joystiq.  It's a shame, really.  ToeJam & Earl was an interesting, unusual game for its time, and would seem to be a good fit for a portable, dual screen remake.  Let's hope things get back on track for the XBLA release, at least.

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Tornado Outbreak is a very strange little game. It's priced as a value title, which can often be a bad sign. It turns out that destroying things while controlling a sentient gust of wind is actually quite fun, and even more so when played with a friend in co-op mode.

Whenever you discuss a "classic" in any field, nostalgia plays a large role. The lens of nostalgia makes any old thing you remember look much better than it may actually deserve to be. Today's co-op classic, Twin Cobra, is a good example of this effect.