For Co-Op Casual Friday this week, we take a look at one of the most beloved kids' franchises of all time.  The TV show has been running for a decade and a half, and the toy line is one of the all time best sellers.  Mixing martial arts, colorful costumes, crazy weapons, and my favorite, giant robots, Power Rangers is a lot of fun.  Power Rangers video games have ranged from okay to terrible, but the most recent title, released for the PS2, Power Rangers Super Legends, is easily the best.

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If you have been watching television, movies, or reading much of anything on the internet lately, you are likely aware that the latest comic book movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, opens today.  It is appropriate, then, for us to look back at the origins of the Marvel Ultimate Alliance franchise.  This series has all the hallmarks of a good Co-Op Casual Friday game: high kid appeal, local multiplayer, and simple gameplay.  The one that started it all for this excellent series of games was X-Men Legends.

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This is not a gameplay screen!

He's featured in seven books that changed the face of children's literature.  Five movies based on the books smashed box office records, and a sixth is due this summer.  We're talking, of course, of Harry Potter.  When a property is as popular as this, it's no surprise that dozens of video game tie ins will flood the shelves.  Today, we take a look at the only title in the series to feature co-opgameplay.  Don your robe, and grab a wand and a handful of  "Every Flavor Jelly Beans" as we investigate the videogame adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

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I know what you're thinking: does this guy ever give the rhythm and music games a rest?  Looking at my recent news and articles, you'll see Rock Band, several versions of Guitar Hero, Donkey Konga , and more.  I can't help it!  I love music, and was even a music major in college for a few years.  It's only natural that I am drawn to video games that feature music.  Today we look at yet another in the long list of casual friendly co-op titles, this one visually appealing, full of character, and a bit spicy: Samba de Amigo.

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It's Episode 15 of the Co-Opticast, and we discuss the latest breaking Co-Op news. First up is Bioshock 2 - should it or shouldn't it have co-op.

We examine trailer #3 from the Behemoth to determine if this is the next Castle Crashers. Finally we top it all off with some Ghostbusters co-op info and a splash of the new Battle.Net.

Marc guests on the show to discuss the sites family oriented features and columns and Mike and Nick review Resident Evil 5.

All of that content packed into a 45 minute nugget of audio goodness.

Hit the Podcast Page to Listen or Download

If you've been around any young kids, boys especially, you have probably heard of Ben 10.  First a Cartoon Network show, the series has exploded in popularity and has taken over toy store shelves everywhere.  Unsurprisingly, Ben 10 has made appearances in the video game arena as well.  First was Ben 10: Protector of Earth, and more recently, Ben 10: Alien Force.  Both of these games feature two player co-op, but are they any good?

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Rhythm games are among the best for a non-traditional gamer to pick up and play.  Guitar Hero and Rock Band have certainly proved this to be true.  It's hard to imagine, but there were music games before Guitar Hero, and we'll be talking about one fine example of these games today.  Grab a bongo drum controller, and let's check out Donkey Konga.

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You've come a long way, Spidey.

Spider-man has had a long and generally successful video game career.  Spider-man for the Atari 2600 was an early game based on the web-slinger, and it was quite fun and addicting for the time.  A whole slew of Spidey games followed, for a large variety of game systems.  The Amiga, PC, NES, Game Gear, Game Boy, Genesis, Super Nintendo, and more all had multiple titles, of varying quality.  With the explosion of Spider-man's popularity after the movies, the wise cracking webhead hit the previous generation of consoles, culminating in what in my opinion, is the finest Spider-man game to date, Spider-man 2.

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This week on Casual Friday, we'll take a look at several games, all in the same genre.  Each of these games are for the Wii; Nintendo's console is a fine choice for casual gaming, though certainly not the only option.  The unique capabilities of the Wii remote have led to something of a renaissance in an old, but dearly beloved game type: the lightgun shooter.  We'll look at several examples of Wiimote shooters today in our quest for the best co-op title in the lot.

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The new column has a name!  It seems totally obvious in hindsight, but what better title could there be for a series dedicated to the casual gamer that happens on Fridays?  Congratulations to Co-Optimus reader "roland", who won our "Name the New Co-Op Column" contest.  He'll get a brand spanking new copy of casual-friendly title Rock Band 2 for the Xbox 360 and a set of the critically acclaimed Co-Optimus stickers!  Read on to find our thoughts on a colorful, family friendly title for the Wii!

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