Microsoft has announced today that the official release date for Fable 2 will be October 21st, 2008. That's right, in just 3 short months you will be running around Albion with your pooch by your side, avoiding falling bird poop - all in glorious 2 player drop-in/drop-out co-op!
The fine folks over at XboxAddict got some hands on time with a preview build of Ghostbusters for the Xbox 360. And while the folks had high praises for the games graphics and authenticity, they couldn't help but feel something was off. What was that thing that irked the author? Was it the scary ghosts? The cheesey one liners? The lack of slime in the box? No...it was the lack of a true co-op mode of course!
MCV has reported the rather interesting news that there will be a family friendly option for Gears of War 2. The option, once activated, will replace blood with sparks, and will replace all bad language with mild curses. The game, and its predecessor, are both rated 'M'. This is fantastic news, for me, personally. As a gamer and a dad, there are some games that I want to play but don't want my 7 year old or even 13 year old sons watching. Unfortunately, I have a huge backlog of these games since I really can only play them when the kids are in bed. My barber is a gamer, too, and recommended the first Gears game to me. I told him I had heard it was really fun in co-op, and he said it was a probably "daddy game" due to the language and violence. It looks like this won't be the case with Gears 2! With the news of this family friendly option, Gears 2 will definitely be on my "must purchase" list. Let's hope, for the sake of all gamers who are in situations like mine, that many other titles will continue this trend, and let consumers have some choice over content.
Ah, Halo Wars. The folks at Ensemble Studios have a lot to live up to in making this game. After all, they are making a Halo RTS. The jump from FPS to RTS is a big one, but there are several ways to make the transition easier. The main one is "have features from previous games." So far Ensemble appears to be doing great there, as the game has co-op, many of the familiar Halo characters and vehicles, and so forth. However, Ensemble isn't done placating the Halo masses. Through their monthly update, they have revealed another familiar Halo feature: Legendary difficulty. The game will feature the accurately-titled difficulty mode, which has claimed untold hours of peoples lives, as well as too many broken controllers to count. Apparently Halo Wars version of Legendary is no slouch.
Someone was chewing on some mushrooms, or possibly they just jumped the gun, but when we told you that Left 4 Dead would hit the PlayStation 3 courtesy of EA...we were lieing. Of course, we didn't mean to lie, who would have thought that magazines could be wrong? But that's just what happened, and according to Valve's Doug Lombardi, there "is no PS3 version in production." Why though?
Earlier this year, we brought you the news that Tetris will be coming to Nintendo's WiiWare service. That's hardly surprising, given that the classic puzzler has been released in some form on most Nintendo systems. However, thanks to 1Up, more details have arrived, some interesting and some that will make you scratch your head in befuddlement. News from the former category: the official title is 'Tetris Party', and the game will indeed feature a co-op mode, as pictured above. Co-op is one of 18 different modes, 10 of which are said to be new to the series. The head scratcher? One of the control schemes will be the Wii Balance Board. Yes, THAT Balance Board. The jury is still out as to whether this will be the best way to lose weight of all time, or the next Virtual Boy-magnitude failure. I guarantee there's more depth to Tetris than to Wii Fit, but somehow, I fear the repurcussions. It's bad enough to be beaten by Japanese virtuosos in Tetris DS Wi-Fi, but my self-esteem would plummet if some soccer mom whooped up on me while she was trying to make up for last night's Ben and Jerry's binge. One final note: I estimate 4 hours from the game's release before Wii Fit Girl wannabes hit YouTube shaking their buns to block matching action.
Ah, LittleBigPlanet. In some ways, the game could have one of the best co-op modes around. What is more cooperative than building levels and working with physics? As of now we can only ask questions, as the game is not set to come out until this October. Well, to tide you over, Kotaku has nothing short of an avalanche of information about the game. Some of the more interesting feature include the ability to wear a Tron suit in-game, as well as a simple-yet-complex emotion feature, which enables you so show varying degrees of emotion. Nice!
It seems it's been a while since we've had a retail release of a co-op game. Luckily this week PlayStation 3 owners get their chance to play Monster Madness: Grave Danger from SouthPeak Games.
Co-Optimus reader TheReaperCooL hooked us up with a bit of good information. It appears the co-op zombie survival FPS Left 4 Dead will be finding it's way to the PlayStation 3 courtesy of Electronic Arts. The latest issue of Official PlayStation Magazine (pictured above) broke the news. There's very few details available so far, but the PS3 version will NOT launch aside the 360 and PC versions which hit on November 4th. We'll keep you updated as soon as we know more.
The king of arcade shooters returns in Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 for the Xbox Live Arcade. The sequel has gotten proper treatment with the addition of co-op. Read our review to find out if it's worth your buck.
We know you're probably looking forward to the release of Gears of War 2 this November. However, it looks like you may want to pop in the original for a bit and make sure you've got all those achievements. Joystiq gives us some information from the recent Comic-Con, straight from Cliff Bleszinski. He announced that earning achievements from Gears 1 will unlock certain features in Gears 2, like extra playable characters, for example. At this time, it is unknown which achievements he is referring to. You may just want to get as many as possible in the meantime. Personally, I think this is a pretty neat little bonus for those who have played the first game, though I certainly hope there's an alternate way to get these same features unlocked.
Xbox 360 Fanboy points out a unique little post in the Bizarre forums. Someone found a small little hack that allows you to see what Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 would look like if it was fully 3D (which technically it is). The trick is simple, simply press right bumper and the back button at anytime to enter a 3D mode. The game pauses though, so you won't be able to actually play, but you can fly around and change the perspective for some neat screenshots.
