Tickets which should be of interest to anyone loopy enough for all things Call of Duty will go on sale next Tuesday, July 19th. These tickets grant access to the first ever Call of Duty XP (short for "experience"), held in Los Angeles, California on September 02nd and 03rd.

I know what you're asking yourself: What, exactly, is the draw here? Well...in a nutshell, ActiVision has thrown in everything a hardcore fan could want. Read on for a full list of what the $150 (USD) two-day pass will get you.

Day 4 has come of the Steam Summer Sale extravaganza - and the co-op goodness keeps coming.  There's six co-op titles on sale today from the big names to the little unknowns.

Two Worlds 2 - $17.00
Transformers: War for Cybertron - $7.49
Modern Warfare 2 - $19.99
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days - $4.99
Men of War: Assault Squad - $8.74
Arma II - $19.99

Tempted to pick up Assault Squad as I've heard good things about the series.  K&L 2 should be worth that coin as well if you haven't played it.

Today the NPD Group released the final sales estimates for 2010 including console sales figures and game sales numbers.  On the gaming front, the top 10 best selling titles were unveiled, and there's not too many shockers on there.  What's good to know is that cooperative games held their own, or at least, games containing co-op modes.  

It's no surprise what the best selling game is, with a multi-platform release and millions in marketing, Call of Duty: Black Ops was an easy prediction.  But what's shocking is the fact that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a game from 2009, managed to crack the 2010 best seller list as well.  Very impressive.  

After the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops (without campaign co-op - again), we thought it was time to start looking to the future of the series to see what comes next. It sounds like the developer Sledgehammer games took that idea one step further and wants to see the next Call of Duty title literally set in the future. In space to be exact.

Now here's an odd one for you.  There's a glitch in the full and demo version of Modern Warfare 2, though to be fair, the glitch is really with SNK's Xbox Live Arcade titles - where you get free access to the full version of trial titles from SNK that are installed on your hard drive.  This includes all of SNK's games, including the co-op enabled titles like Metal Slug 3 and Metal Slug XX.

To do this all you need to do is fire up Modern Warfare 2, hit the guide button and go to the quick launch tab.  Now select one of the SNK titles and launch it.  Voila, full version.  The effect is only temporary though and quitting the game will reset it back to the demo state.  

Expect a patch from SNK shortly.  SNK - expect a check from Bobby Kotick shortly.

We've all made mistakes and most of the time, we feel better about owning up to them.  Valve recently had a little slip up when their anti-cheat software automagically banned 12,000 Modern Warfare 2 players from the PC version of the game.  Turns out though, they weren't cheating at all.

To make up for the little boo boo, Valve has responded in a big way.  They sent each and every user a copy of Left 4 Dead 2 as well as an extra copy to gift to a friend via Steam.  That's right, Valve gave away 24,000 copies of Left 4 Dead 2 because they are nice guys.  Talk about co-op!

The bans obviously have been reversed as well.  "This was our mistake," Valve President Gabe Newell wrote, "and I apologize for any frustration or angst it may have caused you."

A "relic of the Cold War". That's what M once called the star of 007: Everything or Nothing, the only James Bond co-op game to date. Although the line was spoken in one of the films, it applied to the Bond franchise inadvertently: Everything or Nothing was also the last 007 game to feature co-op, since Activision took the reins from EA and reverted a perfectly good third-person co-op action game back to its relic days of first-person shooter. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed Quantam of Solace as well...but there's a reason why it's not on my game shelf, and the former is.

Ben Griffiths of Platform Nation posed a question this week: is co-op a fad with an inevitable expiration date? It's a concern for the gaming community, because a large portion of us want to see co-op continue and grow. Single-player experiences change and evolve, multiplayer pushes the bar both online and off...is co-op a true hardwired method of gaming that deserves to be encouraged, or just a facet of the overall multiple-player experience?

Looking to finally hop on the Borderlands train?  There's room for four!  Steam has the game on sale this weekend for 50% off - that's $24.99 with a four pack available for $74.98.

Other deals include Modern Warfare 2 on the 360 and PS3 at Amazon for $40,  as well as the Splinter Cell Conviction pre-order deal for $50.

What co-op deals have you seen for this weekend?

Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.

The stories for this week:

- Xbox 360 Getting USB Storage in Spring Update?
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Skate 3 and Kane & Lynch 2 Dated
- Third Echelon and Sam Fisher Descend on Social Networks
- Activision Announces $15 Price on MW2 Stimulus Pack
- Just Cause 2 and Red Steel 2 Highlight Releases This Week

In a follow up to a story we posted yesterday, Activision has confirmed that they have let studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella go from Call of Duty development house Infinity Ward.  In the investor press release Activision also made a surprise announcement, a new Call of Duty game would be coming in 2011.  Not surprised?  What if I told you it wasn't a first person shooter.

Infinity Ward, developers of the well received and best selling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, might be in a bit of turmoil with their publisher Activision.  According to reports Activision is trying to get rid of studio founders due to "breaches of contract" and "insubordination."

Jason West and Vince Zampella both met with Activision on Monday morning, but neither was seen since that meeting by any Infinity Ward employees.  What makes matters more suspicious is that several "bouncer types" showed up at the IW offices throughout the day, and when approached, refused to answer why they were there.

Despite the success of Nazi Zombie's in Call of Duty: World at War, we won't be seeing the likes of the undead shamble across the modern battlefield.  While many had hoped to see a similar style mode in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, it's been confirmed by community manager Robert Bowling that we won't be getting anything of the sort.

 "There will be no Nazis or zombies in any piece of Modern Warfare 2 downloadable content." 

The reason?  Most likely Infinity Ward is too busy patching their game from the constant griefers and cheaters that exploit it every week.  But perhaps if there's time we'll see some sort of new mode.  Maybe the psychotic Ooompa Loompa Survival mode everyone's been craving will finally see the light of day.

Two Amazon sales today will be of particular interest to co-op fans.  The XBox 360 version of online juggernaut Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is discounted, down to $39.96.  If you prefer comic book style Juggernauts, then Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is a good bet (though Juggy is only available as DLC).  The game was recently discounted down to $40, but today's sale allows you to pick up the Wii, 360, or PS3 versions for a mere $19.99.  The game wasn't as good as it's predecessor, but it's worth playing at that price for the story, alone.  Click on the boxart for the deals, and help support Co-Optimus!

BAFTA have announced the nominations for their 2010 Video Game Awards.  Contrary to popular belief, BAFTA does not stand for Badgers Are Fairly Tense Anglers, but British Academy of Film and Television Art.  The BAFTAs are considered the UK equivalent of the American Oscars.  Since 2005 they have given out gongs to video games and have become one of the most prestigious awards for the industry.  Click on Read More to find out which co-op games have been nominated.

"If you ever get some MW2 going when I'm on hit me up. I just got it the other day."

This is the Xbox Live message I received from our very own Jackel, whom I know as Dan. Someone who took a genuine interest in meeting the Co-Opticrew at PAX, he is easy to talk to and hang out with. Pile on the fact that he has a daughter of a similar age as mine and a very open mind...the possibilities are great.

Recently, we finally had the opportunity to be online simultaneously. Despite my unhealthy addiction to the ranked versus modes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, I proposed that we power through at least one Spec Ops mission, with success (Dan's a very agreeable guy).