AI War, the co-op RTS/4x title from Arcen Games, LLC, has been out for some time now, but the game is about to hit a major milestone this Wednesday.  Not only will the game hit version 2.0, which will include new features and a few bug fixes, but it will also be available on Steam with 129 Steam achievements and online leaderboards.  We chatted with Christopher Park, CEO, Lead Programmer, and Lead Designer for Arcen, about this unique co-op game, how the taking on the AI with a group can be more satisfying than going alone, and the power of co-op gaming.

We've waited quite some time for Trine to show up on the Playstation Network, and its time has finally come. Nobilis Games has finished the games translation to the PSN, and this Thursday the beautiful 3-player-co-op title Trine will arrive in style.

After complaints that the previous 2D Mario Bros. title on the Wii was embarrassingly easy, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto kicked New Super Mario Bros. Wii up a notch or 3. Instead of the cake walk we had in 2D before, expect a solid challenge with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, even in co-op - maybe the Demo Play feature will come in handy after all.

In this week's installment of The Co-Opticast, we run a fine-tooth comb over the latest and greatest co-op news, and pass the savings on to you. Listen as Mike and Nick discuss what games we prefer to play online or splitscreen, tell Infinity Ward to put up or shut up when it comes to smack-talking Treyarch's co-op modes and a surprising number of playable characters in a game we previously hadn't covered are revealed, all in a nice, tight 29-minute package.

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The subtitle for the original Lost Planet was "Extreme Condition".  For the sequel, perhaps "Extreme Customization" might be more appropriate.  Some really interesting details about Lost Planet 2's character customization have been revealed at the Capcom-Unity Blog.  All sorts of different options are available for your soldier, including weapons, abilties, and, coolest of all, nicknames.

There's five co-op releases this week, highlighted by the monster that is Borderlands.  On the opposite end of the spectrum we have two family friendly titles and a karaoke game that's sure to make anyone's next party a blast.  All the games release today and are available from Amazon.

We already knew that Halo 3: ODST has sold like gangbusters, and now we have further proof that the four player co-op title ruled the month of September by a long shot thanks to the latest NPD numbers.  While the game has sold over 2 million copies world-wide, in North America alone ODST sold 1.5 million copies

Ah, the rumor mill is turning early today!

Quite a bit of Band Hero news for you today.  We've been curious about whether Band Hero songs would be importable to Guitar Hero 5.  Turns out 61 out of 65 of them are, for a fee of $5.  Songs from World Tour, Smash Hits, and Guitar Hero 5 will be importable into Band Hero, as well.  Confusing?  Yes, but at least the feature is being offered.

Microsoft has just released a bunch of screenshots for Halo Waypoint, the NXE Channel that'll be your insider guide to everything Halo on the Xbox 360.  One thing we've heard about Waypoint for some time was your Halo career, and now we seem to have a clearer picture of what that means.

In what's most likely an effort to help combat piracy, Microsoft is potentially hurting thousands of legitimate customers by disabling unauthorized third party memory cards and storage on the Xbox 360 following the upcoming dashboard update.

On yesterday's Bonus Round on GameTrailers, Wedbush Morgan Analyst Michael Pachter had this to say about Borderlands, which releases tomorrow.