At the start of any dating relationship, there are always a lot of firsts. First date; first kiss; first time introducing one another as boyfriend/girlfriend. For a gamer, perhaps one of the more important firsts, though, is first game played together. The question is: which one?

Sad news comes our way today, with news of a co-op classic retro-remake cancellation.  The ironically titled Bonk: Brink of Extinction is going the way of the dodo and the Tasmanian tiger.  The game was announced in 2009, and we hadn't heard much about it since then.  Developer Hudson cancelled the title, along with a Bomberman game for the 3DS, in the aftermath of the recent disaster in Japan.  Though disappointing for fans of classic co-op like myself, the news is certainly understandable given the circumstances.  Perhaps Bonk will turn up again at some later date; we can always hope.  But for now, you'll have to headbutt your friends in real life instead of over XBLA or PSN.

As this generation of consoles age, potentially reaching the end of their cycle, it’s time to start thinking about what comes next. The one thing that we’ve been somewhat spoiled on is the digital distribution for each console, with Steam topping the sundae that is customer accessibility.

Classic arcade and Nintendo co-op game Jackal might see a WiiWare remake by Konami, as suggested by some screenshots on a digital artist's web resume.

Curse those Lizardmen!  With their scales, and the slime, and their...green-ness.  In Hudson's upcoming WiiWare title, Shootanto: Evolutionary Mayhem you'll be able to put a stop to their lizardly tactics once and for all!

Hudson has announced a remake of the classic Turbo Graphix 16 game Bonk, and they've added a twist, co-op!  The game is title Bonk: Brink of Extinction and it's a downloadable game for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the Wii; though the WiiWare version of the game will be slightly different from the others.

If you happened to catch our first interview with the good folks from Telltale Games, you'll likely remember that we had the opportunity to do two separate interviews with two different groups of folks from the development company that's leading the revitalization of adventure gaming.  In our second interview, we sat down with Mark Darin, Designer/Programmer at Telltale Games and the director for Tales of Monkey Island Episode 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay, to talk about what influenced the making of the Tales of Monkey Island series, as well as how you can find co-op in the least likely of places.

Konami has announced that Contra Rebirth is now available on Nintendo's WiiWare service for 1000 Waggle Points.  The game features brand new graphics and art as well as two player local co-op play that made Contra so popular.   Once again you'll be tasked with saving planet Earth and blowing up everything you see on the screen.  

Dave Grossman, Dominic Armato, and Chris Schmidt

This week saw a new co-op release to Nintendo's WiiWare platform.  The game is called BitBoy and is from small developer BPlus.  

With a name like Eduardo the Samurai Toaster, there's not much Semnat Studios needs to do to sell me on the game.  But then they just go off and release a kick ass trailer showing off the game's four player drop-in and drop-out local co-op mode with plenty of toast tossing action.  

It's a good week to be a fan of old school co-op!  One of the most beloved franchises in co-op history is headed to the Wii.  The appropriately titled Contra Rebirth will be released on Japan's WiiWare service next week.  As you can tell from the screenshots above, Contra Rebirth is quite retro, looking like it popped up out of a Super Nintendo cartidge.

WiiWare fans can get their hands on Hudson's Onslaught this week.  The downloadable game features 4 player co-op play ONLINE.  That's right folks, through the magic of the internet you too can play with friends over the intertubes.  

Everyone appreciates the value of a good, reliable breakfast appliance.  And of course, samurai are totally awesome, too; just go watch this sometime if you don't believe me.  Putting Samurai and toasters together seeems brilliant, and when you add in the cool art style and, most importantly, co-op, you get a package that is hard to resist.

The WiiWare has been pretty sparse with co-op releases, but it's beginning to show some promise.  With titles like Eduardo the Samurai Toaster and now Onslaught - the WiiWare looks like it could have some great original cooperative titles.