It's Modern Warfare week for co-op gamers with Modern Warfare 2 hitting the 360, PS3, and PC with it's two player Spec-Ops co-op mode and Modern Warfare Reflex hitting the Wii with it's two campaign co-op mode.

Modern Warfare 2 offers two player split screen and online co-op through 23 missions.  These missions are quick offerings that differ from the story and offer various objectives like racing, survival, and laser targeting.   There's three versions of the game to choose from with normal, hardened and night vision goggle edtion.  [Get it @ Amazon] 

Modern Warfare Reflex offers two player same screen co-op on the Wii through the story of the first Modern Warfare title in this shooter.  Player one has full control while player two has their own cross hair and limited control.  [Get it @ Amazon]

Phantasy Star 0 offers four player co-op via local wi-fi or online via the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection.  Players team up to complete quests, chat with "visual chat" and take part in three different modes of play. [Get it @ Amazon]

Another classic video game console celebrates a milestone this week.  Sega's Dreamcast was released in North America ten years ago this past week, on 9/9/99.  Though the console was short lived, it has developed quite a following, even a decade later.  Many features of the Dreamcast were ahead of its time, most notably a standard modem and internet support allowing online co-op for the first time on a home console.  To celebrate the 10th birthday of Sega's final console, we'll take a look at some of the best co-op games the system had to offer, as submitted by staff and readers.

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Phantasy Star is back in portable form with Phantasy Star Portable for the PSP.  The latest game sports a four player co-op mode, allowing players to quest through various worlds with friends collecting loot.  We dig deep into this RPG and explore its co-op experience in our latest review. 

From the Sega USA blog page comes a joint post by the community team describing their impressions of Phantasy Star Portable for PSP. The game is coming to the United States March 3rd, and features 4-player ad hoc co-op.

Ruby Eclipse:
I think one of the best parts about Phantasy Star Portable is that they’ve changed the entire game to make it more like Phantasy Star Online. In our multiplayer session, it was a lot of fun teaming up and seeing some of the rebalances they’ve made to the game.

Kellie:
I could see myself getting really absorbed in this game on my own, but playing with a group of friends adds a whole new level of fun.

Edward@Sega:
I’m really looking forward to seeing kind of group-play on a larger scale. The classes for Portable (more on this in future posts) allow for so much more flexibility in terms of how you build your group, and the idea of having a readily adaptable group of players for running against the big bosses is really appealing… Can’t wait!

Our own impressions were quite positive as well. A free demo is available to anyone interested...and if you have a PSP and love co-op, you should be interested. To those of you that have played the demo: keep your save files -- you will be able to transfer your game saves to the full version once it releases next week!

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If you are looking to try out Phantasy Star Portable, a game that was recently bumped up in release date, then look no further than your PSN Store on either the PlayStation 3.  Sega has release a fully featured demo of the title, one that supports four player ad-hoc cooperative play.  As we mentioned before the game is set for a March 4th release date, a date moved up 3 weeks earlier than previously announced.

The demo itself seems pretty fully featured, it allows you to use a very in depth character creation tool.  You can adjust just about every feature of your character from the face, eyebrows, hair style and color, body type, etc.  Once completed you can either play through Story Mode or Ad-Hoc Multiplayer. 
 

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According to the official Sega America blog, Phantasy Star Portable for the PSP has had its release date moved up to March 3rd, 2009!  PSP on the PSP (huh?) was released in Japan last year and has been undergoing translation, localization and updates for a March 24th release date.  But I hear they hired the guy that translated Zero Wing so the game will be done a few weeks early!

Phantasy Star Portable features four player co-op play throughout the entire game via local Ad-Hoc play.

Sega was so excited about this news that they released a brand new trailer for the game that features some truly thumping beats.  Break out the glowsticks and enjoy!

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Sega has just announced that Phantasy Star 0 for the Nintendo DS is coming to the US and Europe in 2009.  The game features online and local wi-fi co-op play for four players and takes place on an alternate Earth in the Phantasy Star Universe.

With gameplay similar to Phantasy Star Online, Phantasy Star 0 allows players to quest together with one of 14 character types.  With over 350 different weapons players are sure find something that suits there needs when killing giant dragons (see above).  

Co-Op gaming is all about communication, and players can communicate visually in PS0 thanks to a new features called...you guessed it...Visual Chat.  It sounds like players can basically draw whatever and it will be displayed in a chat bubble to teammates.  My guess is there will be plenty of penis shaped attack commands.  

Phantasy Star 0 hits the Nintendo DS this fall.  Screenshots are available on the official Sega Flickr Site.

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Co-Optimus has been on a bit of a Phantasy Star mood recently. What with more info about the new DS game, Phantasy Star Zero, we were itching for more Phantasy Star info. Fortunately, we discovered more info about another portable version of Phantasy Star. 1UP has word that Phantasy Star Portable will be headed stateside this coming March. The game is coming out for the PSP, and takes place after Phantasy Star Universe. It will have a single-player storyline, as well as a multiplayer component.

The gameplay should be similar to PSU, and it appears to have a similar graphical style, but what is most important to the Co-Optimus faithful is the four player co-op. 1UP also has an interview about the game, so you might want to hit that up as well. So, any PSP fans out there want some Phantasy Star action?

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Not too long ago, we discussed the fact that Phantasy Star Zero would have online (and local wireless) co-op. However, details of the game have been scarce for a while. Fortunately, the crew at Siliconera got some hands-on time at TGS and walked away with some details. Some of the information is just confirmation of old news. The game is very much like PSO, and features the same action-RPG gameplay. Likewise, the game's messaging system is akin to Pictochat, though apparently it features a few chat bubbles that likely deal with common statements, like "resurrect me."

Some of the more interesting information is the news that the game appears not to be blindingly difficult, as long as you have a balanced party. The Siliconera team had a balanced group, having a magic user, a sword master, and so forth. They do note that boss battles are difficult, particularly one with the dragon. Siliconera was only able to play via local network, so they cannot attest to the online capabilities. However, they do say that the game successfully replicates the fun gameplay that made up PSO. Any other PSO/PSU fans really excited to have a DS?

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Online co-op is becoming the standard for console gaming. However, for handhelds it is still a somewhat untested field. However, Phantasy Star Zero for the DS will be testing the handheld online waters. According to 1up, Sega will be releasing Phantasy Star Zero for the DS in Japan.

The game will be akin to the classic Phantasy Star Online, all the way down to its name, Phantasy Star Zero, aka PS0. Zero will feature the classic action-RPG gameplay, as well as four player online and local co-op. The game will also utilize the touch screen as a PictoChat mechanism, where you can write messages to your teammates. The game is set for release this winter in Japan, with no known American release date. Any other PSO fans out there?