Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming. We like to take a look around the industry and see what news and links may interest you in the world fo gaming.
Our quad is down to trey after Mike is out for the count with a stomach bug. No worries, Jason, Locke and Nick come in with a hefty what you've been playing session to fill the void. Afterwards we discuss news and highlight some awesome user blogs. After that? It's onto the Vita with some hands on time live on the air. *NOTE* The video version is a little messed up for the first 12 minutes. We're still figuring out the technical aspects of this.
We've got a PlayStation Vita in Co-Optimus HQ, so it's time to dig into Sony's latest portable with impressions coming next week of the system and the games. Other than that some folks seemed hooked on Kingdoms of Amalur. Everyone else is busy with reviews of games, as we've been saying for weeks, we're suddenly inindated with lots of quality titles to check out.
You could describe Rising Star Games as the Atlus of Europe. No, I don't mean they hold Europe on their shoulders - that'd be Atlas. They just publish really cool and sometimes niche games, including King of Fighters XIII (an Atlus title in the US) and region-free co-op shoot-em-up DoDonPachi Resurrection. Now Rising Star is expanding to the US, which can only be good for gamers. Their first American release will be Akai Katana, another Xbox 360 co-op shmup from Japanese developer Cave.
North American Playstation 3 owners looking forward to Warriors Orochi 3 will have to make due with a digital download version rather than boxed copies, as Sony has struck down a retail release for the latest Warriors title. The reason it can't be sold in stores? No English dialogue, though it does contain English subtitles. This esoteric mandate from Sony's US branch has caused other would-be retail titles to go straight to digital in the past as well. Presumably, the Yakuza games received retail releases due to either pressure from SEGA or a bargain of some sort.
Can you hear that? That isn't a raid siren. That is the sound of carnage raining down on you from above. The latest Armored Core V trailer has some pretty powerful visuals, and just as aggressive words to go along with it.
First and foremost: there will be no plot spoilers in this post. There. That's out of the way. By now you've probably heard that the Mass Effect 3 demo has dropped. This little glimpse will allow players to experience two story missions from the main game as well as engage in the franchise's first attempt at cooperative play. Nick and I played a few rounds the other day, and we're happy to report that the co-op mode is accessible, addictive, and most of all, fun.
Probably one of the most overlooked games of 2011, Ubisoft has stated that its return to Rayman’s roots with Rayman Origins was indeed a profitable success!
The hero of Konami's latest action title may be immortal, but he's still capable of losing a few body parts. With a sharp premise and even sharper wit, NeverDead certainly dares to be different. Find out if the online co-op stands out as well in our in-depth review.
Din's Curse was a completely underrated Action/RPG on the PC. With near infinte amount of players and some truly dynamic core systems, we couldn't help but give it a 4 out of 5 in our review. The two man development crew of it, Soldak Entertainment, is back with new game. Like Din's Curse it's an Action/RPG - unlike it though it's all about space and ship to ship combat. The game is called Drox Operative and we're quite excited about the co-op possibilities of this one.
Continuing our column swap-up this month, Tally takes over for Jason in this edition of Indie-ana Co-Op. This time, we play All Your Creeps on XBLIG.
There is a Chinese proverb that goes along the lines of this: "Never admire a man by his strength; judge him in how he uses it." This saying seems to lie at the core of Qooc Soft's and 7sixty's recently announced co-op beat 'em up title for the XBLA, Kung-Fu Strike: The Warrior's Rise. Mixing up equal parts 3D brawler (seemingly in the vein of the Dynasty Warriors series) with a brush art style that is reminiscent of the most recent Street Fighter, Kung-Fu Strike certainly seems to be shaping up to be a solid co-op release title. Little is known at this point, though, about the game beyond its setting, core gameplay mechanics, and that it will support 2 player local co-op (possibly campaign). With a release date of "early this year," this announcement trailer and handful of screen caps will have to slake your thirst for martial arts mayhem until more details arise.
