May has been a terrific month for fans of classic SEGA games. First Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II launched last week on multiple systems.  Now four retro collections bearing the 'SEGA Vintage Collections' label are coming exclusively to Xbox Live Arcade over the next two weeks (sorry PS3 users). This Wednesday, the single-player Monster World Collection and Alex Kidd & Co. Collection debut at 800 Microsoft Points a piece. On May 30, they will be followed by Golden Axe Collection and Streets of Rage Collection for the same price.

We here at Co-Optimus have been anxious to play Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II ever since we learned it would feature the return of Sonic 2-style co-op. The game is now live on Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, and Steam, so teams of players can once again step into the shoes of Sonic and his effeminate pal Tails and take on the dastardly Eggman. To drive the point home, SEGA has released a short-but-sweet trailer showcasing many of Episode II's highlights (as well as the choice bonus content for Episode I owners).

Kalypso have just sent over a handful of new screens for Legends of Pegasus, the 4X strategy game set to come out on the PC this summer.  Graphically the game is looking really good, but its the ship customization features and co-op play that has us the most excited.  

To celebrate Q Games' 10th Anniversary, the team behind the PixelJunk series of games are hosting a monster sale on the PlayStation Network.  You can snag PixelJunk Racers, PixelJunk Monsters, PixelJunk Shooter, and PixelJunk Eden for just $1 each.  More recent titles like PixelJunk Shooter 2 and PixelJunk SideScroller are also half off.

With Diablo 3 mere weeks away, dungeon crawler enthusiasts may be a little focused on keeping their eyes on that prize - but let's not forget that there will still be other dungeon crawlers coming out this year. One such is R.A.W (Realms of Ancient War), which will happily be coming to consoles as well as PC. This is likely great news for players who may be bemoaning their luck that Diablo 3 will only be launching this month on the PC. Developer Wizarbox's latest video focuses on the wizard class, showing off his prowess over the elements. 

EA has released an Indie Bundle on Steam which features six titles for the low price of $21.  The normal asking price for all six games would total almost $70.  Best of all, five of the six include cooperative features - score!  

There's a new trailer out for Legends of Pegasus that showcases some of the RTS game's unique features.  The most obvious standout feature is the "unlimited" ship customization that allows you to build up your fleet piece by piece.    Also on display is an impressive terraforming feature, plenty of space battles,  and of course lasers. 

Last month we reported on a rumor that the Golden Axe and Streets of Rage series would be getting new Xbox Live Arcade releases. Those rumors have been all but officially confirmed by Xbox.com product pages for both collections, which showed up and then vanished yesterday. Thankfully a NeoGAF user captured the product descriptions and screenshots for both releases, which are titled SEGA Vintage Collection: Golden Axe and SEGA Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage.

The folks at Signal Studios are releasing not one, but two DLC packs for the action/tower defense game Toy Soldiers: Cold War.  It's a game we scored quite well calling it an "absolute blast" as we played through almost the entire campaign in a 5 hour couch co-op session.  Now after a long wait since the last DLC, we're finally getting some new content to dig our little plastic soldiers into.

For a few brief hours yesterday, anyone who prepurchased Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II on Steam had the opportunity to download and play a near-complete beta version of the game. Shortly thereafter, somebody realized the screw up, pulled the beta, and deactivated it from users' Steam libraries. Before that happened, several players managed to rush through the game, capturing some lovely new screenshots and videos for all the world to see. They even tested the 2-player local co-op!

I know I'm a little late to the Splinter Cell: Conviction party, but for some reason I never tried the game until this year. After reviewing the Windows Phone version for my other job, I decided to give the Xbox 360 game a chance. I enjoyed the stripped-down version, and its big brother even has both split-screen and online co-op for 2 players. How could I go wrong?

THQ has been a company on the brink of being delisted from the NASDAQ stock exchange due to poor financial results and a low stock price.  But things are on the up and up for the company after yesterdays financial report revealed that the two player co-op open world game, Saints Row The Third, sold much better than expectations.  

Back in January, A World of Keflings developer NinjaBee announced a contest to let fans choose which direction the XBLA game's next downloadable content package would take. Not surprisingly, the candy-themed selection 'Candy for Keflings' bested the rest. Four months later, the DLC has yet to arrive, but NinjaBee has kindly provided a status update and new images (like the one above) to tide us over.

Capcom held their annual Captivate event last week in Rome, Italy.  The press and community event invites various outlets to check out upcoming Capcom games and witness announcements in exotic environments.  Among those games on display were Resident Evil 6,  a co-op game we knew very few details about.  

The Behemoth's Castle Crashers is by all accounts the perfect arcade style co-op game this generation.  It offers catchy visuals, accessibility, and addictive gameplay elements that keep you coming back for more.  When I first saw BattleBlock Theater, the next game from the developer, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it.   It just didn't have that look that sucked you in that Castle Crashers had.  This is definitely a different game and my time with it at PAX East has given be a better understanding of just what BattleBlock Theater is...and isn't.