The stories for this week:

If you listened to the latest Co-Opticast, you'll know that one of the things I talked about was the expandability of Left 4 Dead, specifically in the case of "zombie scenarios."  I talked about the fact we'd probably see a Dead Rising style mall, and sure enough, there's one already in the works based on the Dawn of the Dead mall.

It's time for another new feature on Co-Optimus.  I know... "Nick, enough with the new features already!"  Nay!  Everyone loves Fridays...why?  Because that means an extra amount of time to get our game on!  Every week the Co-Optimus staff will let you know their gaming plans, and then...we want to hear yours!

PC shooter games and patience don't generally mix, but fans of semi-realistic games like Operation Flashpoint, America's Army, and the SWAT series will attest that there are a couple of titles out there that make Rainbow Six Vegas look like Unreal Tournament, especially when considering user-created mods.

If you're reading this, you love co-op.  Apparently, so do many others, including IGN.  They have released a Top 10 : Where's My DLC? list.  Of the top ten, seven of them are co-op titles.  That's a rather impressive ratio, don't you think?  Our thoughts on each below.

One of the best features of Xbox Live is the extension of it that exists in web format.  Friends lists, messages, achievments and now the marketplace are all available anytime, anywhere.  After 2 years, the folks at Sony have finally matched suit - as PlayStation Network accounts are now available on PlayStation.com. 

With all the avatars and Netflix and overall slickness, you might have forgotten one long-awaited feature of the New Xbox Experience(tm).  Installing games to the hard drive to speed up loading was certainly overdue.  I know there are a few games I have that make the disc drive on my 360 sound like a jet engine.  It seems to be a good thing that Halo 3 isn't one of them.  Installing the game to the hard drive actually increases load times!  Wonder how that works?  Bungie's Chief Caching Officer Mat Noguchi (there's a catchy title) explains.

  Blake "Broodax" Corner's Great Features in Co-Op Gaming couldn't have landed at a better time. Hot off the heels of this season's Saints Row 2 and Mercenaries 2 releases comes the news that Halo 3: Recon will feature open-world gameplay for a significant portion of the story mode. CVG reports that New Mombassa will be part...

  In celebration of the New Xbox Experience, game blogger site Joystiq has posted a gallery of 34 Avatars of the Rich and Famous, of which our own Nick Puleo is #20! Congratulations, Nick, on your fame and fortune! After the "Read More" link, I've posted the avatars of our staff as they currently appear on Xbox Live, as...

Echoing our earlier post about LBP levels being pulled, it appears the first round of user created songs has been pulled from GHTunes in Guitar Hero World Tour.  A few songs that were made available shortly after the games launch, such as the Legend of Zelda theme, and some music based on Super Mario Bros. tunes, are now gone.  We all knew this would be happening, as we were warned about it before the game was even released.  It's still sad, however, and I'm glad I was able to download a few cool tunes before they were pulled.  I still don't think cell phone ringtone style music makes for good rock and roll, but it was fun while it lasted.  Isn't it too bad that we live in such a lawsuit-prone world?  We hope to have a nice interview and editorial about user created content up soon here at Co-Optimus, so keep your eyes peeled for that.  In the meantime, download what tunes you can!

Co-Optimus reader roland sent us a tip about the PC version of Valve's 4 player co-op zombie shooter Left 4 Dead.  In fact, we almost missed the tip because we are all so busy knee deep in zombie guts.  It appears, at least at some point, the PC version of Left 4 Dead will support the same split screen option has the Xbox 360 counterpart.  In fact, it's already there - just disabled.

USA Today has reveled the long awaited details on the exclusive Xbox 360 DLC that's coming to Grand Theft Auto IV.  Launching in February 2009, the pack is called "The Lost and the Damned" and features a character named Johnny Klebitz, a member of Liberty City biker gang The Lost.  That's right, no Niko Bellic here, though Rockstar's Dan Houser assured us we haven't seen the last of him.