Now that the fall gaming season is wrapping up, it's time to start hyping the games of next year.  One of the biggest releases next year for co-op gamers will be Crackdown 2.  Players will return to a changed Pacific City, once again assuming the role of an elite super human agent.

So while the setting will be the same in some sense, there's quite a bit changed in the game itself.  The biggest, and best addition, is four player co-op play throughout the entire campaign.  Just imagine the chaos of four super human agents tossing vehicles at swarms of bad guys.  It does't look like we'll get a game that's automatically scaled based on the number of players, instead the difficulty will be a player's choice.

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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.

"Dig in and shut up. We're in for a ride."

While poring over Joystiq's interview with Crackdown 2 lead designer Steve Iannetta, we came across a little tidbit that means big news for co-op gamers...especially those who enjoy co-op survival modes...
 

[We're proud of] things like our 8-player versus enemy mode.

It's quite unique. Quite structured. Again, drop-in, drop-out: Where if you want to engage in this mode you can have up to eight players in an environment fighting against a huge amount of enemies.

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AI War, the co-op RTS/4x title from Arcen Games, LLC, has been out for some time now, but the game is about to hit a major milestone this Wednesday.  Not only will the game hit version 2.0, which will include new features and a few bug fixes, but it will also be available on Steam with 129 Steam achievements and online leaderboards.  We chatted with Christopher Park, CEO, Lead Programmer, and Lead Designer for Arcen, about this unique co-op game, how the taking on the AI with a group can be more satisfying than going alone, and the power of co-op gaming.

You remember Joy Ride, right? The free co-op game coming to the Xbox Live Arcade? Well, Microsoft has announced that the game will feature content that can be unlocked when a cumulative goal is reached by the entire community. This is not all that dissimilar to what DICE did with Battlefield 1943's Coral Sea Challenge. Exactly what content that entails is still a mystery, but we like the prospects.

Also learned is that you will be able to customize your car via coins collected in-game or with Microsoft Points (*wince*). So far, the game doesn't have a hard release time frame other than "holiday 2009", but we're looking forward to racing our Avatars through the Looney Tunes mesa as soon as possible!

Source: Link

Arcen Games has just patched their co-op RTS, AI War, to version 1.301.  With it brings a host of improvements to both the interface, ship graphics, new units, new network code and a host of other tweaks.  Considering the game claims you can have 30,000 units in a battle at once I'm sure the net code needs to be very neat and tidy for a lag free co-op experience.

The best addition is the ability to drop-in and drop out of a co-op game whenever you want.  A good update all around.  While you wait for it to download, how about counting all of the units in that screenshot above?  

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Game Name: Sol Survivor
Co-Op: Yes
Co-Op Type: 2 player campaign co-op / 8 player multiplayer co-op (local and online)
Developer: Cadenza Interactive
Release Date: Fall 2009

After I had a chance to demo Max Blastronaut at PAX, I got to play Cadenza Interactive’s entry to the Dream.Build.Play. contest, Sol Survivor.  Like many tower defense games, you build towers to stave off an ever-increasing number and variety of “creeps” from reaching a certain point on a map.  Unlike many tower defense games, however, you can fend off the horde with the help of a friend.

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Hot off a solid showing at PAX 2009, previews here and here, Bethesda and Splash Damage have released four new screenshots of their eight player co-op title Brink.

 A lot of people have classified this in the post apocalyptic category, but I think the setting more closely resembles Crackdown meets The Club.  What do you think?

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Our friends over at Colony of Gamers managed to steal Brink's Lead Designer, Richard Ham, for some candid questions about the upcoming 8 player co-op title.  Richard was deeply involved with Fable 2 while at Lionhead, which are always responsible for a deep gameplay experience.  

They CoG Boys chat about the lack of female characters, working with a smaller studio and the type of gameplay experience you can expect from Brink.  With this and Borderlands there are some really solid Action/RPG Co-Op games coming soon.  

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Game Name: Brink
Co-Op: Yes - 8 Player
Co-Op Type: Campaign co-op with drop-in and drop-out support.  
Publisher/Developer: Bethesda (publisher) / Splash Damage (developer)
Release Date: Q2 2010

Splash Damage was demonstrating their upcoming action game for the 360, PS3 and PC called Brink in the Bethesda booth at this weekend's Penny Arcade Expo.  Brink is a stylized action title set in the near future in which players assume the role of one of two sides of an ongoing battle.  Choosing between the Resistance or the Security, players are given dynamic missions, complete character customization, and best of all 8 player co-op as they progress through the story.

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