Granted, these activity posts don't change much and are usually swayed by new releases, but the latest post by Major Nelson struck me differently...

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)
1 Call of Duty 4
2 Halo 3
3 GTA IV
4 Gears of War
5 Madden NFL 09
6 Guitar Hero III
7 Rock Band
8 Castle Crashers
9 Mercenaries 2: World In Flames
10 Star Wars: TFU Demo

I'm seeing seven games -- out of ten -- that feature some sort of dedicated co-op gameplay. Now, this post doesn't necessarily mean that gamers are playing co-op modes specifically, but it does send a message to developers: last week, the chance of a game with co-op being in the top ten games played on an Xbox 360 was 70%...not bad odds. Take note, devs!

After the jump link, you can see the ratio of Xbox Originals co-op games that were played, and co-op titles downloaded from the Live Marketplace (also impressive).

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I've always had a sweet spot for classic and/or older co-op games. Maybe it's because it takes me back to my childhood, or maybe I just like games to be simple sometimes. I've mainly covered newer games in this column, and recently covered an older one. So I decided to meet somewhere in the middle with my current co-op game of the week: Halo.

To tell the truth, my sentimental attitude towards older games was not the only factor in choosing to play Halo this week. My 360 Red-Ringed on me, and I just wasn't in a Wii mood this week (I know, something must be wrong with me). However, I was fortunate to discover that my trip back to 2001 would not have all the downsides that some "back-to-the-past" game journeys have. The first Halo holds up quite well, and does the co-op as good as, if not better than many new games.

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