It seems like only yesterday that we brought word of Guns of Icarus Online's latest Kickstarter campaign, this time to expand the game beyond its current Skirmish/PVP mode into the realm of PvE and co-op. As of yesterday, Muse Games has hit their Kickstarter goal, which is good news for all of us. Meeting that goal means that the New York based developer can begin in earnest to develop and release the "Adventure Mode."

As previously discussed in our previous news posts, the main feature that this new mode introduces is an A.I. Director to control the enemy ships you'll face instead of the usual human-controlled fare. This means that you're no longer forced to face off against other players in an all out brawl where you'll possibly be called names that are inappropriate to type here. And that's just what you'll hear from your teammates. Now you can collect a crew of your favorite friends (potentially up to 16) to sail the skies, take on missions, and tackle A.I. foes both normal and large (they've mentioned boss battles) in this forthcoming update/expansion.

You can almost hear them... the rallying cries of Earth's last and only hope against the bug- I mean space alien threat. "..df... edf... EDF... EDF!" Yes the very co-op friendly, and different, Earth Defense Force 2025 is still headed to our shores some time this year and I know for a fact that some members on staff can't wait for it to be here already. While we don't have an exact release date just yet, an alert Co-Optimus reader (Martin) pointed us to a video where we can see the option to play the game in splitscreen mode.

The original Earth Defense Force 2017 game had local co-op only while the more recent entries have expanded upon that by adding online co-op as well. The semi-reveal of this feature, then, is hardly surprising, but it's nice to finalyl get the confirmation of it. I never played any of the craziness that was Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, but I do have some fond memories of playing the original with Mike on his couch and shouting things like "THERE'S A GIANT SPIDER BEHIND YOU!" And then once we killed that, we got back to playing the game. Yeah... good times...

Ah, Valentine's Day. A day of romance, love, chocolate, and other marketable things... Like zombies! UK developer Rebellion, well-known for their Sniper Elite franchise, has announced today the latest installment in the series, Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army. Look, we're just seeking love, and they're just seeking brains. No matter how you slice, we're all after a vital organ.

Anyways, this standalone game (meaning you don't need to own Sniper Elite v2 in order to play, but why don't you own that?) offers up a chance to enjoy the fun of staring down a sniper scope and watching the gore-iffic slow motion kill shots with up to 3 of your friends online. The entire campaign can be played through cooperatively with the other players taking on the roles of a German commander, a Russian soldier, and a scientist. Enemies become friends quickly when the dead start moving again, and all those friends may be needed when faced with some of the new enemies getting tossed your way, such as snipers that leap from rooftop to rooftop and suicide squads. The undead have never been more lively, it would seem. The announcement trailer, game screens, and a word from Rebellion's CEO about this new title can all be found below.

One of my favorite co-op games in the past few years was Criterion's Burnout Paradise. I'm really not into the whole racing sim genre, but that game was crazy and fun. Particularly when you played co-op. Unfortunately, Criterion's next couple of big release games, this time in the Need for Speed series, didn't offer up any of that same co-op fun. Criterion seems to be remedying that, to a degree, with the WiiU release of Need for Speed Most Wanted, which will include a two-player local co-op mode.

The new co-op mode is called "Co-Driver" and initially sounds like it entails what you might think. One person drives the car while the other person looks at maps on the WiiU GamePad. That didn't work out so well for some games that implemented a similar mechanic.

It came as little surprise when two new Lego games were announced this month for a 2013 release. Perhaps a little more surprising is that one of those games, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, is delving into some new IP for developer TT Games; one that has seen a lot of popularity due to recent movie releases and more. If there's one developer that could be trusted to create a light-hearted/fun romp through the world of Marvel, it's certainly them. Afterall, TT Games stepped things up with LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, so this game can only improve from there, right?

Anyways, jumping back to the less surprising side of things, it's been confirmed via an interview with GameInformer that LEGO Marvel Super Heroes will continue the two player local co-op tradition. We didn't have any concrete information at the time of the games' announcement that it would include it, but it seemed likely given the developer's track record.

That track record, actually, has some history to it that's revealed in the interview with TT Games' studio head, Jonathan Smith. Cooperative gameplay, and the familiar "Freeplay" mode, have been key features since the very first game, LEGO Star Wars, and were seen as part of LEGO's "social" legacy.

Let's look back at 2012 at some of the most popular stories we had here on Co-Optimus.  Across the board it looks like several of the big games were equally popular in their stories, with the likes of Borderlands 2, Minecraft, Dark Souls, Halo 4 and Assassin's Creed 3 all making it into our top 10 stories.

Guns of Icarus was a web-based game that had an interesting concept and some pretty good co-op components, but it always felt a little lacking in some areas. There was definite promise in the underlying mechanics, though, and Muse Games decided to see if they could make some of that promise a reality by launching a Kickstarter campaign a little while back. The fruit of their efforts was recently released on Steam, though it is not a finished product. Currently, Guns of Icarus Online features team-based deathmatches, and that’s it.

However, there is more to come - specifically, a full-length campaign that can be played cooperatively - and based on what I’ve seen so far, I am hopeful.

Ninja Gaiden 3 for the 360 and PS3 was... a bit of a let down - both from a single-player and cooperative perspective. There is some hope for improvement in the upcoming Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge for the Wii U, which seems to offer some improvements and additions over the original. One of the biggest additions is pictured above: Ayane as a playable character in both single-player campaign and the online co-op mode. A new list of features for the game has been revealed along with a release date - November 18, 2012, the Wii U's launch date.

The full list of features for Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge can be found below. While none of them include a full online co-op mode, or any specific mention of improving some of the problems we found with the original NG3, hopefully it will prove to be a true upgrade as opposed to a slight patching.

Belgium based Larian Studios recently announced the latest entry in the Divinity series, Divinity: Original Sin, which is a "return to roots" for them as this Divinity will offer a gameplay experience similar to a tabletop RPG and, for you RPG old-timers, Ultima VII. What's more, the game will also allow you and a friend to play through the entire campaign cooperatively as you control the main protagonists, the condemned warrior and the mystical sorceress. However, up to four players can join in on the fun, so how does that work?

We sat down with Swen Vinke, founder of Larian Studios, last week to talk a little more about these features and what we can expect from the co-op portion of the game. He was readily forthcoming about what co-op modes will be implemented, how character progression will work, and what was the inspiration behind all of this. He's also a man that seems to share our passion for cooperative gaming, and maintains a blog that provides some "behind the scenes" type views into games development. Check out our full interview with Swen after the break.

Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski, famous for his work on the Unreal Tournament and Gears of War series, has gone on record stating that many Japanese developers are leaving an opportunity on the table by skipping out on co-op and multiplayer modes in their games.  While Bleszinski said he doesn't believe every game has to have a tacked on multiplayer experience, there's definitely room for it in titles because of the replayability it adds.

...The dialogue (in Shadows of the Damned) had me laughing out loud, just even the key-door systems in there; it was a beautifully crazy game with really fun gameplay, but no multiplayer co-op experience in there. 

There will be no need to "breach" your 360 or PS3 in order to enjoy the 4 player online co-op mode in Starbreeze's upcoming revival of the PC classic Syndicate. In a move that's a bit different from how they (and many other publishers) are currently releasing games, publisher EA has stated that no online pass will be required in order to play the game with friends. This means that whether you buy the game used or new, you'll have access to all of the content that originally comes on the disc.

Jeff Gamon, EA Partners executive producer, had this to say about the decision:

We want as little resistance or barriers to entry as possible...The co-op is equal billing in this. We wanted everyone who owns a copy of the game to have access to the entire product.

I have a secret.  For many years now I've secretly desired a game like Hitman that allowed multiple players to plan and execute a kill.  In fact, almost 3 years ago I thought about starting a column here on Co-Optimus with the premise of having the community contribute to co-op game design ideas, with the first column being about the very topic.  Sadly, it looks like a true Hitm​an game with co-op isn't coming anytime soon - mostly due to the fact that Agent 47 as a character is a bit of loner.

Of course we have been discussing co-op for many Hitman games but it never felt right," Blystad confessed to OXM in a recent interview, extracts from which you'll find in issue 81, on sale now. "Agent 47 is a loner and we have never found a way to give him a partner, because to be honest, he doesn't need one.

This means the new Hitman game, Hitman: Absolution, won't be featuring any kind of cooperative multiplayer.

News of a new Syndicate game had a few of us here on staff rather eager about the possibility of co-operating together in a cybernetically enhanced future, though there was some concern over how that would fare when it was revealed that the game would be a FPS instead of a tactical shooter. Nick got a few more details and information at the hands-on event he attended, and in a recent blog post and interview with Eurogamer magazine, the game's developers have revealed a bit more.

When speaking with Eurogamer, EA Partners executive producer on Syndicate, Jeff Gamon, had this to say about the co-op aspect of the game:

Co-op for us was always equal partners in this. It wasn't about, we need to tick a box here. This is Syndicate. We're Starbreeze, so we're going to do a single-player campaign with a great narrative, really immersive, but it was a given to us this was going to be equal partner in the billing, with the co-op mode recreating that experience of the original game.

So, last week we brought you the new trailer and some screenshots for Battlefield 3's co-op campaign, which is a two-player side story. This week we have some good news and some bad news to reveal.

Bad news first: no splitscreen. Yes, we know. It sucks. But, really - who didn't see this coming? With the level of visual detail we've seen so far, and EA's "buy new" perks and the way they're pushing Origin...there's no technical nor fiscal reason to believe that this game would ever support splitscreen. It's just not economic.

That's a bitter pill to swallow for all of us. So take a few breaths; hopefully the new co-op gameplay details from the DICE Battleblog and Lead Co-op Designer David Spinnier will help wash the bad taste out.

As great as it is to have online co-op in a game, nothing beats good ol fashioned couch co-op.  There's something visceral about the experience, the ability to turn to your buddy and high five them when you beat a boss, it just brings an additional high.  So while online co-op may have ushered in a cooperative revolution, it's local co-op play that drove it there.  

Gamasutra sat down with Insomniac Games' Studio Director Chad Dezern to chat about Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One - a game that features both online and local co-op play and, according to him, has taken a great inspiration from titles like Battletoads and TMNT.