The 2009 Video Game Awards will be broadcast Live on December 12th on Spike TV.  While it's usually a fairly entertaining experience to watch, this year there's another reason to tune in - Halo: Reach.

According to Geoff Keighley's twitter account, we'll get the world premiere of Halo: Reach.  No details were given, but given precedence with the show, expect a video trailer.  We'll cross our fingers to get a glimpse of some cooperative action.

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Xbox 360 owners will be getting a shiny new dashboard update on November 17th that includes features like Twitter, Facebook, Last.FM and the Zune video store.  Also in the update will be a "News and More" section on Inside Xbox with feeds from MSNBC, The New Yorker and comics from Dilbert.  

So while the update doesn't have too much of an affect on your gaming experience, it certainly adds to the social and cooperative experience of Xbox Live.

Not to be outdone by the Xbox, Sony is planning their own Facebook app - as Eurogamer has confirmed today.  Leaked shots of the app hit the internet the day prior, and speculation ran rampant.  More information is coming "very shortly" on the update, though we have to wonder, is it really needed on the PS3?  After all, the system has a web browser.

We love 'Splosion Man. We really do. Good for a lazy weekend or tough-Achievement-gathering, this gem from indie dev Twisted Pixel had one major flaw in our eyes: online co-op laaaaag.

Devs to the rescue! Not only does today's title update supposedly fix this issue, it also finalizes support for Xbox Live Avatar Awards, such as virtual t-shirts. This update has been a long time coming, but we're glad for it. Don't forget to use the meetup forum to test out the online co-op!

Like Gears of War 2 and HAWX before it, Modern Warfare 2 will allow players to each choose their own respective difficulty in the game's co-op mode.  Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling announced the feature via his Twitter account.  

"Awesome #MW2 feature I've fallen in love with while on tour," said Bowling,  "[The] ability to play on a different difficulty than your coop partner in SpecOps."  This should be good news for co-op players as it allows a lot of flexibility when looking for partners to play with.  

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Microsoft's next dashboard update will be launching soon, and they are offering gamers a chance to get their hands on it early.  

What exactly will the update entail?  Twitter and Facebook integration for one, making it easier to find other co-op gamers and get games going.  There's also Zune Marketplace to integrate with that shiny new ZuneHD you have.  

So hit this link and sign up, chances are you'll get in.  They are looking for thousands of previewers.

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See that list up there?  That's all the people that Gearbox employee Mikey Neumann needs to play co-op with come Borderlands launch day.  Why?  Mikey offered, via twitter, to drop some awesome loot for anyone that preordered the game that day and posted proof of it.

How many folks made the list?  Mikey stopped after about 200 names, and has had to turn down any folks still attempting to hop on the train.

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If you read our impressions of the Uncharted 2 beta a few weeks back, and were a bit jealous to get your hands on the Gold Rush co-op mode, I have good news.  Today is the day that everyone else, those that didn't preorder from Gamestop, gets to have access to the same demo.  

The demo goes live at 2PM EDT and contains two co-op modes and a handful of versus modes across four maps.  The full game is set to release on October 13th exclusively on the PlayStation 3.

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We're only a little over a month away from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's release, yet we still don't know too much regarding the game's two player co-op mode called Spec-Ops.  Community manager Robert Bowling decided to answer some user questions via Twitter and there's some new information leaking out regarding this mode.

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Microsoft's portal into everything Halo will launch on November 5th.  The Xbox 360 channel will be home to exclusive content including podcasts, videos, screens, and events.  

One interesting feature of it is said to be a persistent ranking and accomplishment system tied to the Halo games including Halo 3, ODST and presumably Reach when that launches next year.  Waypoint will also host the Halo: Legends Anime series.  For more info on Waypoint you can follow the team on Twitter.  

You'll definitely want to keep an eye on this, we should hopefully have some great info regarding Waypoint and Co-Optimus in the near future!

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Are you not entertained?!!

The Call of Duty series has done nothing but build steam since the original title, and now Infinity Ward is pulling out all the stops with Modern Warfare 2; this latest rumor is one that should please fans of cinema.

Straight from the website of talent agency Gorfaine/Schwartz and via Kotaku comes the unofficial report that legendary Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer is providing the score for Modern Warfare 2. This follows official news of rapper 50 Cent and actors Keith David and Barry Pepper doing voice work in the game.

Hans Zimmer is my wife's all-time favorite composer; ever since I've known her, the Gladiator soundtrack has always been her most cherished album. This whole two-player couch co-op thing may work out yet...

UPDATE: Gorfaine/Schwartz has confirmed the report, as linked by Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling.

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