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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"The treasure is in the plaza" says Nathan.  All that stands in our way is a gigantic swarm of enemies that will lay their life on the line to protect it.  Or perhaps they want to steal it themselves?  No matter, our trio will shoulder on and steal what is rightfully ours.  If a few goons go down in the process, the world will be a better place for it.

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Not to be outdone by Gears of War 2, the boys at Naughty Dog are having their own double weekend in Uncharted 2 - but instead of double the experience they are giving out CASH!  Money!  MOOOLAH!  Ok, so it's only in game money, but it sounds better than XP, no?

Be on the lookout for Naughty Dog devs playing as well, they'll be denoted with a little paw icon next to their tag.  Also, watch out for those evil red eyed skeleton things - we aren't quite sure what they are - but I bet they are made of bags of cash.

 You'll get 2x the money per round and per checkpoint bringing you more bags of cash than you can carry.  Bring a wheel barrow, tell a friend, lock the doors.  Big money!  Big prizes!  I LOVE IT!

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The television ads for Uncharted 2 posit that it is indistinguishable from a movie to intellectually-deprived girlfriends, and to a certain extent, you can count me in with that statistic.  For the first half of the single-player campaign, the relentless pacing, huge set pieces, wisecracks and other moments of levity really make you feel like you're in control of a huge Summer blockbuster.  Seriously, even the tutorial segment is intense.

We've waited quite some time for Trine to show up on the Playstation Network, and its time has finally come. Nobilis Games has finished the games translation to the PSN, and this Thursday the beautiful 3-player-co-op title Trine will arrive in style.

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Dawn of War 2: The Last Stand is out right now, simply fire up Steam and you'll be updated to the latest version of the game and all the co-op goodness it contains.  Need the lowdown on just what you are getting?  Then check out this post on the official community blog.

As you may know, we're going to have a Games for Windows Co-Op Night this Friday Starting at 9PM EDT.  While Relic is holding their own contest, we thought we'd have a little contest of our own - courtesy of the Games for Windows team.

Uncharted 2 should be on store shelves today, and with it comes an engrossing single player game packed with three separate online co-op modes for three players.

The three modes consist of a standard co-op mode where players team up to capture a treasure through a sub section of one of the single player game's map, Gold Rush where players have to capture treasure in a small multiplayer arena while fending off waves of enemies, and a standard survival style mode where players need to survive as long as possible without dying against waves of enemies.  

We'll have a full review of Uncharted 2 next week.  Until then hit up our forums to meet up with other members for co-op!  And don't forget to purchase at Amazon to support Co-Optimus!

If you read our impressions of the Uncharted 2 beta a few weeks back, and were a bit jealous to get your hands on the Gold Rush co-op mode, I have good news.  Today is the day that everyone else, those that didn't preorder from Gamestop, gets to have access to the same demo.  

The demo goes live at 2PM EDT and contains two co-op modes and a handful of versus modes across four maps.  The full game is set to release on October 13th exclusively on the PlayStation 3.

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Ok, picture this, but more... sequel-ly

Good news for fans of the delightful co-op title Trine!  In an interview with Frozenbyte's CEO, Lauri Hyvärinen, Patrick Klepek of G4.com asked the question that's certainly been on our minds since we got our hands on this game: "Will there be more?" His response?

There will be certainly more Trine, but in what form, platforms and such, that still remains a small secret of ours.

There you have it.  More Trine means more co-op, and that's a good thing.  Of course, we hope that the sequel won't be plagued with the same woes that have gone down with the first title's release across multiple platforms.  Patrick and Lauri go on in the interview to discuss what influenced the game, the selection of the three characters, and even the challenges of doing co-op on PC.  A very good interview that's worth a full read.

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After almost 4 months of waiting, PlayStation owners will finally get their hands on the three player co-op title Trine.  Developed by FrozenByte Software, the game is a physics based puzzle/platformer that puts players in the role of the Wizard, Thief, or Knight.  We really enjoyed the PC game, and have high expectations for the PSN version - we just wish the extra time was used to add online co-op.  Sadly, it's still missing.  Last we heard the game is priced at $20.  

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