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.
Recently Paradox Interactive and Most Wanted Entertainment have released a new video showcasing their newest game, Defenders of Ardania, giving us a new reason to have our eyeballs glued to our computer screens.
Snoooooooooooow! Run for your consoles! Much of the country seems to be have gotten or about to get snow, so it's a good time to game. It seems the recent Gears of War 3 DLC has reinvigorated some of the staff into jumping back in with Marcus Fenix and friends. The rest seem set on hitting up Steelport in Saints Row the Third. All of that is mixed up with some careful backlog clean up as we prepare to head into an unusually busy February month!
Sneaking mission?! ... Co-Op?!? ... HIGH DEFINITION?!?!! The 2010 release of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker saw the welcome addition of cooperative tactical espionage action to the otherwise solo only adventures of one Solid (or Naked) Snake, though being a PSP only release did somewhat limit the co-op (and screen size). So, does an HD release do anything to improve the co-op or the game as a whole?
Xbox Live Arcade games that require Kinect can be hit or miss. For every Fruit Ninja Kinect, there is also a Leedmees. But Happy Action Theater has something going for it that inspires plenty of confidence: it comes from Tim Schaeffer's Double Fine Productions. These guys are known for their creativity, and they've already demonstrated their Kinect expertise with Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster.
Despite the potential shattering of reality, Koei's Warriors Orochi crossover series has successfully combined the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors universes twice so far. Now the third Orochi game, Warriors Orochi 3 (aka Orochi Musou 2 for some reason) will be unleashed on western shores. But are we ready for all the hackin' and a-slashin'?
EA has just announced that Klei's upcoming downloadable game, Shank 2, will be available on PlayStation Network and PC on February 7th and on Xbox Live Arcade on February 8th. The hand drawn beat em up is a sequel to last year's Shank, a game which featured a two player co-op story mode. For Shank 2, Klei has gone back to the drawing board, and created a brand new survival co-op mode.
There is an almighty battle going on in the gaming industry between those developers that want to call their game Zombie something and those that choose Dungeon something. With the announcement of Dungeon Fighter LIVE: Fall of Hendon Myre, developer Neople are striking a blow for the side of the Dungeons. Co-Optimus does not care much for a name, as long as the game has co-op; Dungeon Fighter LIVE has been announced with 4 player local and online co-op. Joy!
Good Co-Op, Bad Co-Op - a tale of two friends who love playing games together. The man who gives the best upsidedown hugs, Sunflower4000 and the love wizard Locke have put their differences aside and teamed up cooperatively in a battle against fate.
Resident Evil 6 has been announced, and as we had hoped, the game will support cooperative play. None of the co-op details have been released, but we expect a minimum of two player local and online co-op, which was readily available in Resident Evil 5. A new action packed launch trailer shows off some new enemies, locations, and one of the worst haircuts in gaming. I won't spoil it for you here. Click away!
The PlayStation Network's exclusive RTS, Under Siege, has received some co-op love. Cooperative maps will now be available from the start of the game. Also, the difficulty has been scaled down to make the game more accessible to new players. You can see a full list of the additions and improvements after the break.
When the Indie-Ana Co-Op feature first began, I always intended to one day extend this space to the indie development community to share their trials and tribulations in game making. Today marks the first of what I hope to be many such pieces as Final Form Games, developers of our PC Co-Op GOTY winner Jamestown, share their story of making a four player 'shmup, and the challenges they faced along the way. This is a must read!
