The Splinter Cell franchise has always had a very unique and engaging legacy of cooperative gameplay. The different co-op modes have spanned from tandem stealth-play missions to special modes involving spies and hunters. An inside look at the cooperative mechanics of Splinter Cell: Blacklist has surfaced on Joystiq. In it, they share some of their impressions on the ways that co-op works in the latest Splinter Cell game.

Is the “Upper Echelon Edition” of Splinter Cell: Blacklist not enough for your uber fandom?  Get ready to dig deep into your wallet, for the whopping “Paladin Collector’s Edition” has arrived.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is only a few weeks away, so it might be time to clear out your backlog of Ghost Recon and other Tom Clancy games. At least, that's what Microsoft thinks, hence the Tom Clancy DLC sale on Xbox Live. Downloadable content for both GRAWs, Splinter Cell Conviction (my favorite Clancy game), and even the high-flying HAWX games are all on sale for half off for Xbox Live Gold members until Tuesday.

Hello, my name is Samoza and I have a confession to make - I like single player games. Co-op experiences are fantastic, but sometimes you want to be alone.  One such case is the sublime Heavy Rain - a game so infused with emotion that my partner sat and watched it like a film as I played (not so alone then). Rainbow 6: Patriots is a game aiming to do something very similar.  Therefore, the news that Heavy Rain designer Jean-Sebastien Decant is taking over as creative lead must be a good thing.  Or is it a sign of the development struggling?

A typical conversation between Ubisoft and Co-Optimus goes like this; "What do you want?" - Information. "Who is Rainbow 1?" - you are Rainbow 6.  "Co-Optimus is not a number, we are free men!" We may consider ourselves free and not Prisoners, but we would still like more information on the upcoming Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots and some artwork if you please?  Ubisoft have duly obliged.

My advice.  Don't vault.

Ubisoft is sending Ghost Recon: Future Soldier in to compete with other shooter games on the market, but they're making a tactical decision to delay its release and wait for the Battle of the Holiday Shooters to create a soft target.

My all-time personal favorite co-op game remains Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. If you're like me, you've been waiting for a "Six fix" for a while now. Luckily Gameloft has just the prescription to keep you distracted until Ubi comes through, and it's in the form of a portable first-person shooter fast-roping onto the iPhone App Store on March 17th.

Confirming that H.A.W.X. 2 will feature four-player co-op like its predecessor, VG247 taxied some gameplay details onto the deck, and blasted off with some more cool info straight from Ubi's Edward Douglas. In the interview, Douglas - who serves as the narrative director for H.A.W.X. 2 - treats readers to an inside look at some of the new elements we'll see this September.

Ubisoft has announced Tom Clancy's HAWX 2 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and for the first time Nintendo Wii.  The sequel to the one million plus seller plans to continue the intensity and "photo realism" the first game achieved.

Keep your infrared-nightvision combination goggles on and your undetectable UHF radio earbuds tuned in! Ubisoft's Michel Verheijdt told online publication Control (Dutch) that two new Tom Clancy titles were under way.

GameTrailers posted a nice, long video interview last weekend with Splinter Cell: Conviction creative director Maxime Beland, who was quite eager to blast through a lot of the new features that would be delighting fans next month.

We are big fans of Twitter here at Co-Optimus.  The site itself has an account, and so do most of the staff, including myself.  Many game companies have latched onto using Twitter as well, and often the latest news hits Twitter first.

Do you feel the need?  The need for speed?  Then you are in for a treat, pilot.  The demo for Tom Clancy's HAWX is up and running flying on Xbox Live.  If you're one of those brash, impatient types, perhaps a bit of a maverick, you can go ahead and queue up the demo right here.  Two missions, and three different aircraft will be available for you to choose from.  The best part, though?  The demo includes co-op support for up to four hotheaded pilots!  How about you, Co-Optimus reader?  Will you be downloading the demo, and flying right into the danger zone?

E3 is right around the corner, July 13th through 17th to be exact, and with that comes our first coverage of the biggest show in the games industry.  We'll be onsite to cover all the co-op games that are on hand, and hopefully bring you guys some great exclusive content like developer interviews and in game footage!