A few weeks back, we had a contest, giving away three copies of Duke Nukem on XBLA.  A nice bonus for the winners was the promise of playing co-op Duke Nukem 3D with the Co-Optimus staff.  Last Saturday night, one of the winners got together with us for some old school, one-liner spoutin' action.  Since Duke Nukem is such a classic, and features co-op, it's only natural that our report on the action would be the topic of this week's Co-Op Classics.

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As the resident classic co-op maniac, I found this blog post over at YetiKitn to be very entertaining.  The author details some classic co-op gaming moments, spurred on by the recent release of Castle Crashers.  Many of the games in this story have appeared on our own column dedicated to the golden oldies, Co-Op Classics.  I have to admit, there were several games on the list I was unaware of.  (Cowboys of Moo Mesa?  I'm gonna check that out for sure!)  However, the author loses a bit of geek cred when referring to the Avengers as the Justice League.  Bonus points, though, for mentioning Moonwalker, a game from the days when Michael Jackson wasn't just a punch line.  What say you, Co-Optimus readers?  What are your memories of these games?

There has been a shortage of major co-op news in the past few days, but the hard-working staff here at Co-Optimus still won't let you down.  Here are a few interesting items that you may have missed.

Shacknews reports that a demo for the recently released (and reviewed) Army of Two will be available next week.  The demo will be exclusive to XBox Live Marketplace.  If you were waiting for a price drop, or on the fence about the game, well, now you can try before you buy.  You can grab the demo beginning on April 1.

We recently reported about another XBLA release, Mr. Driller Online.  The Japanese Xbox.com page for the game reveals that it, too, will be released next week, on April 2.  Online and offline co-op will be included in the game.  Releases in other regions are unannounced  but likely will be very soon.

And finally, The Exploding Barrel has released an interesting list of the greatest co-op games of all time.  The list is about half classics and half current gen.  Many of the classics, have been released on XBLA or Virtual Console, which is good news for all of us.  Many of the games on the list are obviously worthy, but there are a few on the list that I've never played.  I guess I need to check out 'Toe Jam and Earl'.  What do you think of the list?  Was there anything left out that offends your co-op sensibilities?  Do any of the games on the list make you scratch your head and say "Huh"?  Just what do YOU consider to be the greatest co-op game of all time?

The UK edition of OXM has a juicy tidbit or two regarding the release of legendary shooter Ikaruga on Xbox Live Arcade.  The game was announced long ago, but details regarding release have been unclear.  However, in the magazine, Ikaruga for XBLA is reviewed, earning 9 out of 10.  The release date is listed as "Available now".  If indeed this information is true, co-op fans should rejoice, as the game will support online co-op.  In addition to the standard leaderboards, players will be able to share game replay videos over Live.  Given the game's almost mythical difficulty level, sharing videos with your friends might just earn you some major "shmup cred".  As of press time, it is unknown if the game will support the Xbox Camera.  That would certainly be useful if you wanted to prove you could play co-op by yourself using 2 controllers at the same time.  Before you get too giddy, though, you might want to consider the magazines April cover date and take it all with a grain of salt.  If indeed the rumor is true, though, shooter fans everywhere will rejoice, as they team up to weave a glorious tapestry of destruction in their wake.

Sister site Evil Avatar has pointed out that Capcom has released the specs and pricing info for Bionic Commando Rearmed, the highly anticipated remake of the NES classic. The game (which will feature local co-op) will be available on XBLA, PSN, and Windows and will set you back 800 Microsoft points, or $10 on PSN; Windows price is still TBA. Capcom has not released any more info, other than:

• Made of?

100% pure unadulterated win

Good enough for me.