News | 7/7/2008 at 5:13 PM

Co-Optimus Co-Op E3 Preview

E3 is right around the corner, July 13th through 17th to be exact, and with that comes our first coverage of the biggest show in the games industry.  We'll be onsite to cover all the co-op games that are on hand, and hopefully bring you guys some great exclusive content like developer interviews and in game footage!

Today we bring to you a list of co-op games that we will have a chance to look at E3 next week while the rest of the crew hold down the fort here. All of these games we either have an appointment with or they will be shown off at a Press Conference we’ve been invited to. If any games have been missed, please let us know. Not all publishers are covered, only ones we have appointments with.

Read on for the full list of almost 20 co-op titles at E3 this year!

Title: Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway
Developer: Gearbox
Publisher: Ubisoft
Co-op: 2 players online
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
Genre: FPS
Release Date: August 26, 2008

Recently given a release date, this often delayed sequel is finally coming. Hopefully the delays haven’t affected the fans of this series.

 

Title: Call of Duty: World at War
Developer: Treyarch
Publisher: Activision
Co-op: 2-4 player online supposedly
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
Genre: FPS
Release Date: November

It’s back to World War II with the next game in the CoD series, once again helmed by CoD3 developer Treyarch as Infinity Ward works on the next iteration. CoD3 was well received, but was just not as golden as IW’s offerings, maybe this game will change that.

 

Title: Diablo III
Developer: Blizzard North
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Co-op: 2-5 players online supposedly
Platform: PC/Mac
Genre: Action/RPG
Release Date: No idea

Just announced on June 28th and shown via a gameplay video, the unveiling of this game rocked the internet. Chances are good they will show this game off at either the press conference.

 

Title: Fable 2
Developer: Lionhead
Publisher: Microsoft Games Studio
Co-op: details still unknown, but there will supposedly be co-op
Platform: 360
Genre: RPG
Release Date: Fall/Winter 2008 (maybe)

Fable 2 is probably one of the larger offerings Microsoft has coming up, but no one knows for sure if it is coming out in 2008 or not. Recent rumblings have been that it won’t make the holiday season, but hopefully Microsoft or Peter Molyneaux can tell us exactly when this ambitious game will come out.

 

Title: Gears of War 2
Developer: Epic Games
Publisher: Microsoft Games Studio
Co-op: 2 player offline and online as of now
Platform: 360
Genre: Action/Shooter
Release Date: November

Probably Microsoft’s biggest offering this year comes in the form of a sequel to the mega-popular Gears of War. It is sounding like this game will be bigger and better than the original and Epic is evidently taking criticisms into account with this title. Be ready for Fenix to rise again later this year.

 

Title: Guitar Hero: World Tour
Developer: Neversoft
Publisher: Activision
Co-op: 2-4 players offline and online
Platform: 360/PS3/Wii/PS2
Genre: Rhythm
Release Date: October

Neversoft attempts to one-up Harmonix with this release. The guitar and drums look better than the ones supplied for Rock Band and all the songs here will be master tracks. Word is there will be an online career mode and you will be able to create your own songs. Now you just need to decide if you’re going to drop almost $200 on this in addition to what you spent on RB.

 

Title: Left 4 Dead
Developer: Turtle Rock/Valve
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Co-op: 2-4 players online
Platform: 360/PC
Genre: Zombie Shooter
Release Date: November 4, 2008

Left 4 Dead is a highly anticipated game for the Evil Avatar community since it involves one of our favorite pastimes: shooting zombies! Co-op play should make this a fantastic game to play with your friends.

 

Title: LEGO Batman
Developer: Traveller’s Tales
Publisher: Warner Brothers Interactive
Co-op: 2 players, supposedly online
Platform: All
Genre: Cute Action
Release Date: September

The next game in the LEGO empire comes this fall. It is also the first time Traveller’s Tales gets to tell an original story based around the Batman canon. Supposedly you will be able to play as both good and bad guys and we all know we’ll want to play the bad guys as soon as we can.

 

Title: LittleBigPlanet
Developer: Media Molecule
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Co-op: 2-4 players online
Platform: PS3
Genre: Party/Strategy
Release Date: October?

This game seems to have somewhat lost its luster recently with the realization that the game may not be everything people were dreaming it was. This is still a large title for Sony and it should be interesting to see what form it is shown in at E3. Still looking forward to the game, just not quite sure it’s everything we want it to be.

 

Title: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Developer: Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Co-op: 2-4 player online at the moment
Platform: All
Genre: Strategy/Action
Release Date: 2009

Supposedly the story will revolve around the recent [i>Civil War[/i> event. Given how good the original game was, chances are good this one will be good as well. Hopefully they will show it off.

 

Title: Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
Developer: Pandemic
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Co-op: 2 player online
Platform: 360/PS3/PS2/PC
Genre: Action
Release Date: August 31, 2008 (at the moment)

This game has been delayed a number of times with the latest probably revolving around EA purchasing BioWare and Pandemic, this game’s developers. The first game was quite fun and hopefully the second game will be as well.

 

Title: Prototype
Developer: Radical Entertainment
Publisher: Sierra (at the moment)
Co-op: 2 player online taken out recently, delay may put it back in
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
Genre: Sandbox Action
Release Date: 2009

Recently we heard co-op was taken out of the game and then shortly after that the game was pushed back to 2009. Does that mean they’re working on getting co-op back in? We’ll have to see. Prototype is going to have a tough road ahead of it trying to stand up to other recent sandbox style games.

 

Title: Resistance 2
Developer: Insomniac
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Co-op: 2 player offline, 2-8 player online
Platform: PS3
Genre: FPS
Release Date: November

Sony’s answer to Microsoft’s [i>Gears of War 2[/i>. Probably Sony’s biggest game for this holiday season at the show and it should be interesting to see how much better it looks than the original launch title.

 

Title: Rock Band 2
Developer: Harmonix/MTV
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Co-op: 2-4 players online, possible online World Tour
Platform: 360/PS3/Wii/PS2
Genre: Rhythm
Release Date: September (360), Late 2008 (the others)

Attempting to head off Guitar Hero: World Tour at the pass, Harmonix recently announced Rock Band 2 would be coming at least to the 360 before Activision’s game comes out. There have been some leaks of possible songs and much like Activision’s entry this year all the songs will be from masters. No idea on new peripherals outside of the new Fender guitar at this time. Should be on E3 floor in playable form.

 

Title: Saint's Row 2
Developer: Volition
Publisher: THQ
Co-op: Possibility is there with delay to October, no news yet
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
Genre: Sandbox Action
Release Date: October

Easily THQ’s biggest game of the year. The first game was well received and as long as they deliver on the things they’ve been talking about it, there is a good chance that this game will also be pretty good. Some delays have possibly made some people fearful, but we’ll get a hands-on look at E3.

 

Title: Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X.
Developer: Ubisoft Romania
Publisher: Ubisoft
Co-op: 2-4 players online
Platform: 360/PS3/PC/Wii
Genre: Flying Action
Release Date: Winter

This game so far looks good and promises co-op play and fun air combat action.

 

Title: Too Human
Developer: Silicon Knights
Publisher: Microsoft Games Studio
Co-op: 2 player online, supposedly joinable
Platform: 360
Genre: Action/RPG
Release Date: August 19, 2008

Previews of the almost final game have recently come out. Some opinions have been good and some have been bad. This game carries a lot of baggage that people may not be able to look beyond, but even [i>Eternal Darkness[/i> had the same type of baggage and look how good that turned out. We shall see for ourselves at E3 and you will see in just over a month.

 

Title: Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Microsoft Games Studios
Co-op: 2 player offline, may have online
Platform: 360
Genre: Strategy/Fun
Release Date: September 5, 2008

Given this is coming in September, chances are good this will be shown quite a bit. Sounds like at least local co-op will be included and there will be an Eye of Judgement style card system that will use the Xbox Vision to insert characters into the game.