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.

What I really want to do is be in the forefront of game development once again myself, probably working on a smaller project with even younger developers. Or I might be interested in making something that I can make myself, by myself. Something really small.

It's good to hear that the industry isn't quite losing one of it's greatest minds just yet, but it is a bit sad to see him not working on some of the biggest franchises he helped create.  Both Zelda and Mario have seen numerous cooperative games through the years.

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.  

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.  

Other co-op titles on the list include Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, which sold a combined 2.75 million copies on the 360 and PS3.  Left 4 Dead 2 sold a respectable 728k copies as well on the 360.

There's a lot of happy families playing four player co-op this year, hopefully they enjoy it more than we did. 

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 ladies elected to clean up the dining room and kitchen (no, really - they did!) while the men exercised our angst against each other by way of splitscreen Modern Warfare 2. After the chores were finished downstairs, the ladies decided that their lesser halves were not going to monopolize the TV, and proceeded to insist that we play a game suitable for all.

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.

The video shows four players co-oping through a level, passing Luigi around like a drunk college freshman at a frat party.  Luigi doesn't do a single thing the entire level except reap the rewards of his team; collecting coins and 1UPs and finally sitting atop the flag pole.

If you haven't picked it up yet, you can snag it on Amazon for $47 with free shipping and $10 in videogame credit.  

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.

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:

- Assassin's Creed II on PC delayed to 2010

- Wii Down to $199, New Super Mario Bros. Gets Date

- Splinter Cell Conviction and Gran Turismo 5 (Japan) Dated

- Rumors of Microsoft Acquiring EA Increases EA Stock Price

- Dead Space: Extraction, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, PSP Go and Gran Turismo PSP Highlight Releases

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.  

We previewed the game at PAX this year and enjoyed the four player co-op action.  Now your friends that don't own a Wii can enjoy it too, for much cheaper.  Don't forget you can snag the system at Amazon and support your favorite co-op site!  The price drop goes into effect this Sunday, September 27th.

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
 

Here comes more couch co-op! Nick and I got our hands on the New Super Mario Bros Wii title, and we had some good, classic, clean fun! There were no naked ladies, no suggestive sword poses, no barfing zombies, no brown-nippled serial slasher emperors...and we still managed to enjoy ourselves!

As you already know, New Super Mario Bros. Wii will feature 4 player co-op.  That's good.  Not so good is the confirmation that there will be no online co-op in the game.  According to Shigeru Miyamoto, the game is pushing the limits of the Wii's processing power already and online play wasn't feasible.  Disappointing news, for sure, but not really shocking.

Speaking of new Mario games, in all the hullaballoo of yesterday's announcements, we missed the revealing of Super Mario Galaxy 2.  Created initially from some leftover ideas from the first Galaxy title, Nintendo decided you can never have too much Mario and expanded it to a full fledged sequel.  Your wallet will be happy to know that Super Mario Galaxy 2 won't be coming out this year.  The launch trailer shows some spectacular levels, and the addition of Yoshi.  Co-op, as featured in the first Galaxy game, isn't shown in this trailer, but I'd be surprised if it was cut.  We'll be keeping our eyes on this one, but why not check it out yourself?

Read More]]> http://www.co-optimus.com/article/1936/no-online-co-op-in-new-super-mario-bros-wii-super-mario-galaxy-2-revealed.html http://www.co-optimus.com/article/1936/no-online-co-op-in-new-super-mario-bros-wii-super-mario-galaxy-2-revealed.html