Merry Christmas.

One year of chainsaw dueling -- that's what Epic Games is celebrating this holiday season, and a nice Gears of War 2 playlist changeup is rolling out for your enjoyment.

Starting right now, players can rack up triple XP in Horde Mode and multiplayer. Plus, all public Horde matches are automatically bumped to Hardcore difficulty, and playlists are being tweaked so that you can find your favorite game more easily. To top it all off, "tactical mode" is available in all game modes, limiting ammo and increasing damage.

The special event lasts until November 16th, so get your Horde on asap!

Source: Link

EA Vancouver invited Co-Optimus to their headquarters in Redwood City to come check out the pre-alpha build of Skate 3, announced in September and due May 2010. We came away impressed; find out why in our hands-on preview.

From the darkest depths of the internet, we bring you this startling insight into the minds of today's youth.

Begin chat transcript.

TaylorFan4Evah: r u buying band hero?

Sparkles14: omg ya of course it has Taylor! why wouldn't I buy it? you can meet her if you buy lol

TaylorFan4Evah: MEET HER?  how?

Sparkles14: just buy the game and enter a code u can go backstage and meet her i think i would die shes so awesome

TaylorFan4Evah: i know right? but what about gwen stefani she's all mad at band hero or something

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It appears the boycott isn't really working at all!  Preorder sales for Left 4 Dead 2 are doing quite well, according to CVG's interview with Valve's Chet Faliszek.  How well?  Try four times the level of the original Left 4 Dead.  After playing through the demo, I can easily see why; the game looks to be one of the year's best.

Maybe you are on the fence about the game, and can't decide whether to preorder?  You might want to check out this video at G4TV.  It's a twelve minute walkthrough of the new "realism" difficulty level.  There's quite a lot of interesting information, including a few tidbits about the AI Director, which controls in-game events.  The new and improved Director will monitor how well players are progressing, and alter the environment to compensate.  For example, if a group of players is working well together, the amount of rainfall might increase to make shooting more difficult.  A nice touch, for sure, and we can't wait to get our hands on Left 4 Dead 2 later this month.

Source: Link

Activision has announced that the demo for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 has hit the Xbox Live marketplace for Gold members.  The demo allows players to check out the Washington D.C. mission in the game and also allows local co-op play.

Also available on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is the $10 DLC content pack which contains five new playable characters including Carnage, Cable, Psylocke, Black Panther and unveiled today - Magneto.  The DLC also includes four new challenge missions and boss encounters.  You may also optionally purchase the previously exclusive pre-order character Juggernaut for $1.99.

Some blurry images were apparently leaked for Halo Reach.  Not much can be garnered from the shots, though we do see at least two new weapons.  Graphically it looks like Halo...with a return to the familiar HUD with a radar.  The game also apparently uses a perks system with three on display: sprint, cloaking and halogram.  

And that's about it.  This one is still a year away so there's a lot to be seen yet, including a beta for ODST owners sometime next year.  There's no details as of yet on co-op play, but with the shadowy figures of four Spartans on the logo - you can bet your MJOLNIR there's gonna be some kickass co-op.

Source: Link

Sports games are inherently cooperative, providing a focus on teamwork and communication. But it's rare to find games that cater to that strength, instead the focus is on the competitive nature. Today we examine NBA Live 10 from EA Sports and what it offers to co-op NBA basketball fans.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 launches next week on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.  We won't be getting a full co-op campaign, but we will be getting 23 Spec-Ops missions that are fully playable in two player local and online co-op.

The launch trailer was unveiled tonight and it'll get your blood pumpin' for the game.  It's filled with tension, guns, helicopters, and big explosions all set to Eminem's "Till I Collapse." 

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Codemasters has made good on their promise, and officially announced the first content pack for Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising.   The pack is called the Skirmish pack and features two new cooperative missions for four players as well as four new maps for competitive play.  There's also a new sandbox mode called Island Tour which can be played cooperatively.

 The new co-op maps are called All Round Defence, which looks to be a survival mode type map with support and attack helicopters as players defend a fortified complex against waves of PLA; and Uphill Struggle has players trying to capture a bunker under heavy fire from hillside reinforcements. 

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Devolver Digital's Twitter account has announced that Serious Sam HD has gone gooooooooold for the PC.  The PC version of the game is going to have "at least" 16 player co-op play throughout the game.  

The remake of the classic game is done in Croteam's new Serious Engine 3.0 and will also be available on the Xbox Live Arcade about the same time as the PC release.  Sadly the Xbox version will only support four players.  At least it still has sunshine and lollipops though...right?