Looking for more info on the upcoming third-person shooter, Mercenary Ops? Well, here some new info on the game's modes to hold you over until the summertime comes around.

Everyone expects shooters these days to receive downloadable content down the line; it helps keep the multiplayer community going while bringing in the bucks. Gears of War 3 even went so far as to allow players to prepurchase its first four DLC packages at a discount as part of a Season Pass. The fourth and final Season Pass component, 'Forces of Nature' just launched this week. It packs five maps, four character skins, numerous weapon skins, the classic Guardian multiplayer mode, and of course, 250 GamerScore of Achievements. For players without a season pass, 'Forces of Nature' costs 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

As I walked to the living room, and called for my faithful ten-year old sidekick to fire up the 360, it occurred to me that a friend had left his copy of Gears of War 3 at our house. I walked back to the kitchen, where super-Mom was dutifully preparing dinner. Grabbing her hand, I put a controller in it, and invited her to join us in some Horde mode. She protested a bit, but I insisted.

Nobody can say Gears of War 3 doesn't have staying power. Not only is it massive to begin with, but Epic keeps pushing out downloadable content and title updates. In fact, the fourth and latest title update has just appeared, a week ahead of the 'Forces of Nature' DLC (pictured). It contains a number of minor tweaks and bug fixes, all of which should make the multiplayer experience more enjoyable.

Amazon's deal of the day today is Gears of War 3 available for the low price of just $29.99.  It's a title we felt was one of the best games available last year, giving it an Editor's Choice as well as awarding it our Co-Op Game of the Year for 2011.  With four player campaign co-op and five player online Horde and Beast modes, as well as plenty of couch and online options we couldn't help but fall in love with Gears 3. 

We love when the Xbox Live Marketplace has weekly deals on co-op games because hey - who doesn't love saving a buck or four on additional content for your favorite co-op games? This week (from now until Feb. 27th), Xbox 360 owners can snag some Fable 3 DLC from 33%-45% off. This includes quest packs like Traitor's Keep (which we did an impressions piece on) and Understone. And if you've been on the fence about that dog breed DLC.... well, that's on sale, too.

Earlier today, SEGA uploaded a special cutscene from their newest Third-Person Shooter title, Binary Domain, showcasing an extended dialogue and a few, gruesome twists.

We've got another guest submission from Peter and Ruth for Co-Op Couples this month. There are plenty of great co-op games out there, but sometimes, the well goes dry, and you run out of money for all the latest, shiniest titles. What's a co-op loving couple to do? Get creative and share the experience any way they can, of course!

A new title update is out now for Gears of War 3 on the Xbox 360 and with it comes numerous tweaks, fixes, and balancing improvements for both Horde and versus gameplay modes.  The title update should be out now, just in time for the Fenix Rising DLC which should hit Xbox Live tomorrow.

Microsoft's one day Xbox Live deals are moving right along this year and today's deal is for our Co-Op Game of the Year in 2011, Gears of War 3.  On sale are some Gears of War 3 avatar items as well as the obscenely priced skins collection.  But the real gem of the bunch is the Gears of War Season Pass, on sale for 1800  down from 2400 .  

2011 was an incredible year for co-op gamers. We saw 100s of releases of co-op games. When we started this site, co-op was barely a bullet point on the back of a box, now it’s a standard feature in many AAA titles. After sifting through all the titles we've weighed in, discussed and voted on our favorites for the year. Here are is the 4th Annual Co-Op Game of the Year Awards.

The third piece of Gears of War 3 DLC has been announced, detailed, priced, and dated.  Titled "Fenix Rising," the new content will feature five new multiplayer maps, four new player skins, three new weapons skins, two turtle doves*, and one brand-spanking-new experience system.

Gears of War 3 has received two, count'em, two new DLC's in past few (okay, six) weeks.  The first was the Horde Command Pack, which features new multiplayer characters, weapon skins, Horde mode upgrades, and a few new maps.  That's all well and good, but the meatier of the two DLC's came out yesterday.  RAAM's Shadow offers a whole new co-operative campaign which takes place before the events of the first Gears of War.  

Didn't some pessimistic jerk just claim that there's nothing coming out this week?  Man, I'll have to talk to the boss about him.  Anyway - Gear of War 3 DLC is coming out tomorrow, December 13th.  It's titled "RAAM's Shadow" and it's a prequel to the trilogy we all know and love.  You'll experience a new take on the Gears universe as you step into the heavy boots of the Locust General and unleash hell on the COG forces.  That's right, this additional storyline will include a campaign from the Locust perspective.  Not only that, the whole thing will support two player local co-op and four player online co-op.

By now many of you would have completed the Gears of War 3 campaign and it was pretty awesome. Perhaps some of you joined the Co-Optimus team on their recent 4 player jaunt through the game on Insane Arcade mode (this mode is also excellent and feels like a different gaming experience.) However, if you still crave more, some co-op campaign DLC is on the way in the form of RAAM's Shadow. Check out the first gameplay trailer courtesy of G4TV.