We've always said that playing co-op games online is a much different social experience, compared to typical multiplayer versus play.  Just hop into any versus game of Halo 3 and compare the chatter to that of a co-op game of Halo 3.  It's absolute night and day.  Perhaps the reason is John Gabriel's Internet Fuckwad Theory, or perhaps it's has to do with aggressive behavior trigger by the game type.

The latter theory was studied at the University of Missouri and its findings published in Evolution and Human Behavior, a popular science journal.  To create this test they set up groups of players that would compete in co-op/team oriented gametypes and deathmatch gametypes both with/against friends and strangers in Unreal Tournament 2004.

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Epic has announced that Unreal Tournament 3 Black will be available for free this weekend on Steam.  Unreal Tournament 3 Black is the full version of UT3 along with the free Titan pack.  In total you have enhancements which include new maps and environments, the Titan mutator, the Greed and Betrayal gametypes, the Stealthbender vehicle, weapons, deployables, and characters.  The game also provides 50 Steamworks Achievements. 

UT3 sports a single player campaign that has drop-in and drop out co-op available throughout the entire story.  Up to four players can play in this mode, though it may be limited by the map.  

The game is available for free right now until Sunday.  

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