We've just posted our co-op review of Army of Two for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  Is it the game that every co-op gamer has dreamed of?  Or do things fall short of expectation?    Find out in our full review - and don't forget to stick around for the 60 second video review!

Read the full review right here.

According to Destructoid, Army of Two's online co-op mode is limited by disc region.  What exactly does that mean?  That means if you've got a buddy with the game in England, and you are located in the US of A...well you are SO of L.  The lone clue to this fubar situation came from the PAL version game's manual.

"NOTE: The online game modes in Army of Two are not cross region compatible and is only supported between PAL discs."

While not a big deal to most people, it's still suck-full situation for those of you who have international friends that you game with.   Thanks to Xbox Live I've personally made some aquaintances located in the European and Asian markets - looks like I won't get to do a fist pound after a massacre with them.

Source: Evil Avatar

Update: Joystiq got the explanation from EA regarding the situation:

According to Schneider, said super slow connections are what prompted the region blocking. Using a deterministic (peer-to-peer) network model enables the game's synchronized gameplay animation, but requires parity on both systems. If a slow connection is thrown into the mix, "the person with the worst connection brings down the whole group to his/her worst connection level," explained Schneider. "While not generally a problem for COOP (since most people play coop with friends) when playing in Versus mode 3 people can be highly adversely affected by one player with a bad connection. We use the region lock to minimize the likelihood of this occurring."

While we plan on posting our own review of EA's Army of Two sometime next week, we figured what better way to kick off the weekend than with Gametrailer's excellent 8 minute long video review.

The review highlights just how good the co-op is.  That is, playing with a friend yields rewarding gameplay and re-playability.  Playing with the AI is just downright frustrating at times.   One thing many people might not realize is the level of customization available in the game, whether it's customizing your characters appearance, or customizing a weapon to use. 

The full video is posted after the jump.

Read More...

We've just posted our interview with Army of Two Assistant Producer Matt Turner.  With a game designed from the ground up for 2 player co-op, the folks around Co-Optimus HQ are highly interested in Army of Two.  So what drove EA to create a game based around the cooperative experience?  How difficult is it to make a cooperative game?

Find out in our full interview!

The fine folks over at the Wall Street Journal...yes THAT Wall Street Journal have gotten their hands on the latest build of EA's Army of Two.    The game is set to hit the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 next week, and as we get closer, more and more details trickle out. 

From the looks of things the game's AI has been beefed up significantly since journalists previewed the game to mixed reactions last fall.  There's a whole new aggro system in place which allows one player to draw the enemy fire more than another.  The advantage of this is it allows the secondary player to sneak around and take out badguys from the back.  Nice!  Being a co-op game, what would happen if you'd try to leave your partner behind?  Well the WSJ asked the same question.

In this game, you can't leave your partner behind, no matter how miserable or arrogant he or she might be. What happens if you do? "The game gets too hard," says senior producer Reid Schneider. Army features lots of co-op-only tactics such as a back-to-back mode for heavy fighting, and firing sniper rifles simultaneously.

The article also covers the online mode in which it pits pairs of players against other players.  This doesn't necessarily mean fighting against each other, but perhaps it's racing to achieve the same objective.  Sounds pretty unique, and it's something we'll be on the lookout for come March 4th.

The boys over at Worthplaying conducting an interview with Bethesda PR man Pete Hines regarding the recently announced title Rogue Warrior.  The game is a tactical squad based first person shooter set in North Korea.  The good news from the interview is the game will features seamless online 4-player co-op.  

WP : Rogue Warrior features co-op play for up to four players. Will co-op play be available online, or just on a single console? Will this be available on all platforms?

 

PH : It’s supported online across all platforms. Basically you start playing the campaign and any of your friends can see your playing and jump into your game. At any point they can leave and control gets turned back over to the AI. So you don’t have to wait to start a game until your friends are online, and you don’t have to quit out and start again on your own if they leave.

These right here developers are what gamers what.  A slick and pain free co-op experience in which anyone can enjoy at anytime.  Make it so!

Rogue Warrior will be available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC this fall.

The folks over at TeamXbox have a nice 3 page hands on preview with EA's upcoming Army of Two on the Xbox 360.

 

What really differentiates Army of Two’s co-op style of teamplay are the unique moves never seen in a game before. One of the best was what I like to call “the man train,” where one player grabs a portable shield (a car door can suffice) and crouches, holding it up in front of his face, while the other player gets behind him and can shoot out from behind, either blind firing or by popping up and aiming. The best thing about it is to initiate it, all you have to do is run up behind your buddy and you’ll be locked together—no A Button pushing necessary. The guy with the shield is “driving” and the guy in the back is like a walking turret.

Army of Two is set to come out on March 4th on both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  The game has been designed from the ground up to be a cooperative experience.

This week we've got a brand new co-op game on the horizon.  Conflict Denied Ops will be released on the 12th for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC and features a game designed around the 2 player cooperative experience.

Co-Op release alerts are brought to you by The Weekly Release.com

There's a new trailer over at Gamevideos for Army of Two.  The trailer is called Two vs. Two and shows off quite a bit of in game action of this cooperative focused title.    I gotta say graphically things look to be coming together nicely, lets hope the gameplay is equally as impressive.

The game is set to come out in early March on both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Want a taste of Co-Op things to come?  Then look no further than the Conflict: Denied Ops demo for both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  The demo is out now on both systems and available to download.  It features 1 level in which you can play Co-Op.  The level features two characters to choose as, each with a distinct weapon set. 

I played through it tonight with a friend and I was a little dissapointed at what I saw.  Not only was the demo extremely short (it took about 15 minutes to complete), but everything just seemed very basic.  And while the co-op aspect was fun, there just wasn't much there to impress me.   It is a demo though, so perhaps the full game will provide a deeper and richer experience.