With the success of Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS, Nintendo saw it fit to release a sequel for the title called: Super Mario 3D World. Among the wide variety of games shown off at Nintendo’s E3 press conference this morning, including Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. Wii U, we know for sure that Super Mario 3D World will boast a 4-player co-op mode.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 for 3DS is less than two months from release, which means it should be pretty much done development-wise. In certainly looks that way, judging from the huge batch of screenshots Nintendo released this week. We've chosen our favorites to share with you now, including lots of shots with Mario's co-op partner Luigi tagging along. You can tell the green guy's loving the modern cooperative gaming renaissance.

Premium downloadable content or PDLC is a highly contentious issue amongst gamers.on the one hand you have people who see DLC for a game and either choose to buy it or not buy it. Then there are folks to whom the simple mention of optional downloadable content is like being forced to eat a bag full of black licorice while watching Adam Sandler's Jack and Jill. Pure horror! Yet PDLC is here to stay, as evidenced by stodgy old Nintendo finally embracing it. That's right, New Super Mario Bros. 2 on 3DS will have microtransactions.

One of Nintendo and videogame's greatest and most influental developers is taking a step back.  Shiguero Miyamoto, creator of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda has decided to retire from his current position within Nintendo as a lead producer and developer on major projects like the recent Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.  Instead the 59 year old wants to work on smaller projects.

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.  

Retailers are getting more and more aggressive with prices in order to get our precious gaming dollars.  The latest deal is one of the best we've seen on a new release.  Gamestop is having a 20% off sale on Wii and DS games over $30, which includes the latest greatest Super Mario Galaxy 2.  The 20% off takes it to approximately forty bucks, and Gamestop will also toss in a $20 gaming credit for your next purchase.  Effectively, you are paying around twenty bucks for what we here is another fine iteration of the Mario franchise.  There are similar deals for other games, including New Super Mario Bros. Wii.  Interested in the details?

Nintendo's console and mascot both sold incredibly well this holiday season, with the Wii setting a new record for consoles sold in a month, 3.81 million.  The New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a four player co-op title, was the leading seller for the month with 2.82 million copies sold.  

For the second time in a row, our family Thanksgiving meal was hosted at my house. Seven guests attended, three of which were gamers at heart, and three casual gamers. Since none of us are football fans in anything more than minimal capacity, the most obvious post-dinner activity is firing up a video game console and pile into the upstairs entertainment room.

The Mario Bros. series has remained incredibly popular through the years. But one thing that has been missing from most Mario Bros. games is co-op. The latest game in the series, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, goes back to Mario's roots in co-op, allowing four players to join together to beat Bowser.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year.  A short week of work, good food, football, time spent with family, and the thrill of shopping make me very thankful.  Best of all is a bit of extra time for gaming, and this year was no exception.  This week in co-op, we'll take a look at what was on our family's Thanksgiving table of gaming goodness.

Out today in North America is the New Super Mario Bros Wii for the..uh...Wii.  The four player co-op title is a game true to its roots, providing side scrolling platforming set in the Mushroom Kingdom.  We played the game at PAX this year and enjoyed it quite a bit, but I have to say, after watching the video posted below it's now on the must buy list.

As always, the holiday season is jam packed with great new releases.  For the Wii, one of the biggest co-op titles we're looking forward to is New Super Mario Bros. Wii.  A return to the classic platforming gameplay of the well received DS title, NSMB Wii features four player co-op.  Another feature of the game, somewhat mysterious, is "Demo Play".  Originally, indications indicated that "Demo Play" was "hold left on the D-Pad and the game plays itself for you".  Apparently, it's not quite that simple, according to SiliconEra.

The stories for this week:

Nintendo has officially announced that their wildly successful Wii console is now only $199.  The $50 price cut comes after a few weeks of rumors, and of course, denial from Nintendo.  Included in the press release is also word that the New Super Mario Bros Wii will ship on November 15th.  

Game: New Super Mario Bros Wii
Co-Op: Yes
Type of Co-Op: 4 player offline campaign
Publisher/Developer: Nintendo EAD
Release Date: Winter 2009