As details are being revealed from the unveiling of the Xbox One, it appears Microsoft is going to be changing what it means to "own a game."  The changes could have a drastic affect on the used and rental market for games while also making it easier for co-op gamers in a single household. How are they going to do that? Every game for the Xbox One will be installed to the hard drive, and if you want to install a game to another Xbox Live Account you'll need to pay a fee. Perhaps this is the end to having to buy multiple copies of games to play co-op in one house?

This generation has seen a variety of change occur on the gaming landscape with the introduction of microtransactions, the mass appeal of DLC, the rise of game prices, and the controversial "online pass system." At least one of those things are changing for the time being, with EA announcing it's no longer going to require an online pass for its games.

As of now you can claim your free game from EA if you had purchased SimCity and activated it via Origin. This is in response to the many, many server and gameplay issues the game has had since launch. Co-Op wise you can snag Battlefield 3, Dead Space 3 or Mass Effect 3.  

It was only this morning we told you how server woes continue for EA's SimCity. Many users are unable to connect, join regions, and play the basic game. There are long wait times similar to an MMO for users as they attempt to play the game.  Unfortunately things seem to have gone from bad to worse as the first major patch for the game has been released. Patches are normally a good thing - but in this case - not so much.

Sony officially unveiled the PlayStation 4 yesterday at an event in NYC.  While the actual console wasn't on display, we did get to see the brand new Dual Shock 4 controller, plenty of games, and a look at a brand new interface and infrastructure that focuses on video streaming technologies and social interactions.

Fallen Frontier was first announced back in March of 2011 and since that time we haven't heard much from the game created by ex-Bungie developers.  We went hands on with the title during PAX East of that year and were particularly impressed with some of the cooperative mechanics for the platformer, and equally drawn in by the "concept art" style of its graphics.  

Day Z clone War Z has been through some rough times lately. The game launched on Steam in a buggy and unfinished state, prompting numerous customer complaints and the raising of pitchforks and torches. This culminated in War Z being pulled from Steam. Throughout the whole process, the game's creator Sergey Titov  behaved in a manner that many gamers consider to be arrogant and dishonest. Apparently the game's initially brisk sales had gone to his head. But all that's behind him now, according to an apology letter he recently sent out to players.

Every year we get holiday cards from various companies around the industry - whether it's from developers or PR, it's always great to see what interesting card reaches Co-Optimus HQ.  This year we scanned in some of our favorite ones to share with everyone.  

THQ, publisher of such co-op titles as Saints Row The Third, Dawn of War 2, and 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, have filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the United States to bring them out of some troubled financials that have plagued the company over the past few years.  Since 2009 the publisher has tried to reinvent itself and image, trim the fat so to speak,  focus only on top tier titles to stay afloat, and even offer up their games on the Humble Bundle website - sadly it seems nothing has worked.

GameSpy has recently come under new ownership by a company called Glu Mobile.  Unfortunately it looks like the first thing the incoming regime did is what happens a lot in corporate takeovers, they trimmed the fat so to speak.  With that they shutdown a lot of multiplayer servers for several older PC games.  Many co-op titles like Neverwinter Nights, Hidden and Dangerous 2, SWAT 4, and Star Wars: Battlefront no longer had any multiplayer functionality - though some games do allow LAN or direct connection options.

In a world dominated by the Call of Duties, Battlefields, and Halos of competitive multiplayer - it was refreshing to see this year's Spike TV VGAs Multiplayer Game of the Year didn't go to a game based on competitive multiplayer, but rather to a game that solely support co-op gameplay in Borderlands 2.  The game also took home an award for Best Shooter.

Axis Animation became famous for their award winning trailer for Dead Island, but their more recent work is even more impressive - creating all of the CGI cut scenes for Halo 4 and Halo 4's Spartan Ops mode.  A video posted on Axis Animation's Vimeo page showcases some of the cutscenes from Spartan-Ops and all of the passes of work it took to get them there.  It's an interesting watch for anyone that wants to know the process of how something like this goes from paper to video.

Bungie seems to be having a tough time keeping the lid on their upcoming project code named Destiny.  After some details leaked from an internal demo a few weeks back, we now have actual concept art, story, and more leaked via a marketing firm.  Instead of denying or downplaying the leak, Bungie actually went and confirmed it and released their own concept art image on their site to match the ones that IGN received via the leak.

Grand Theft Auto V, or GTA V, has been revealed in the latest issue of Game Informer and it looks to continue the Rockstar Games tradition of making open world games that push the boundaries of technology and story telling.  But one thing the team has yet to tackle is a true co-op campaign in any of their open world games.  Sure GTA 4 had some co-op missions and Red Dead Redemption took things a bit further with gang hideouts and free roam, but we haven't seen anything to the depth the team at Volition have done with the Saints Row franchise.

It seems someone at the production facility had the wrong disc in the duplicator when it came time to press the copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 for the PC.  Several users are reporting their copy of the game, which comes on two discs, is incomplete.  When prompted to installed the second disc, it actually launches what appears to be the second disc of Mass Effect 2.