You're at the dentist's office, perusing a three-year-old copy of Highlights.  You're crushing the Hidden Pictures puzzle, easily spotting items that have yet to be circled.  Your total dominance of the children's magazine brings back memories of the previous night's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 shellacking you took at the hands of what were clearly uncouth, cheating adolescents.  Their wicked laughter causes you to shudder, drawing stares from other waiting patients.  Hanging your head in shame, you pause for inward reflection, knowing you were bested by boorish children half you age.

Diablo has paved the way for the Action RPG genre and Blizzard is recognizing this legacy this week with the Diablo 15 year anniversary celebration. Make sure to check out the extended retrospective video that is an extensive video covering the whole story of Diablo, the evolution of the series, and the timeline up until now. The video will have fans of the series bleeding with nostalgia and if you have yet to play a Diablo game, it is a great way to catch up on the 15 years of lore that you missed.

This past weekend I packed my bags and headed south to Washington, DC to check out Magfest - a festival that celebrates videogames and videogame music.  The show has plenty of stuff for folks to do including a free play arcade with many classic cabinets (including my favorite Moon Patrol).  There's also a LAN party area, table top gaming area, and plenty of independent artists selling their wares.  

Shoot Many Robots is a game we're excited about around Co-Optimus for many reasons.  Sure the game is going to have some kick ass four player co-op action with some insane items to use as you destroy wave after wave of mechanical enemies in your path.  But it's got Billy and friends and that alone is reason enough to get excited.

Co-optimus really enjoyed the recent 2D platformer Rayman Origins, but it lacked a certain something; ultraviolence. I did not grow up on a diet of video nasties and shocking images just to play a game a child could watch. I want blood, guts, chainsaws and viscera. Thankfully, as this new gameplay video shows, Shank 2 will provide all my grue based needs.

Aliens: Colonial Marines is sure to be an awesome take on the Aliens franchise, with its authentic design and 4-player online co-op. But you know what would make it even better? A Collector's Edition, that's what. Thanks to French gaming site GamesKyo, we now have a detailed picture of the Collector's Edition contents. Hope you like big boxes!

Praise the Sun!  We're nine days into 2012 and we haven't done a Dark Souls article yet?  Truly it is the end of days.  It's about time I fix that.  Over the weekend I received an email from a Co-Optimus community member concerning a petition to port Dark Souls to PC.  That's a mighty fine idea.  The more people playing Dark Souls, the better.  (I'm hoping for a sequel titled Darker Demon's Souls: Back to Boletaria)  I was curious if anyone would get behind the PC petition.  Lo and behold, as of this writing 52,392 people have signed on.

Last month for MMO Co-Opportunities we did a little preview of what the latest blockbuster MMO (the Old Republic) may have in store in way of Co-Opportunities. Now, a few weeks after the game's launch, we take and closer and more informed look.

The new trailer for Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City doesn't have gameplay footage, lacks any real co-op information, and seems to showcase the player versus player elements of the game. That said, plenty of stuff gets shot, stabbed, 'sploded, and sworn at.  The trailer is action packed, and really tickles my fun zone.

The problem with working on a submarine is that there is not much head room; plus there are sea monsters, nuclear meltdowns and crippling leaks. The solution to these issues was discovered by Fantasy Flight Games some time ago in their table top co-op game Red November - Gnomes. Fierce Wombat Games has partnered with Fantasy Flight to bring Red November to iOS, PC and Mac.

It's 2012, the year the world ends because some Mayan dude ran out of room on a stone slab. It seems silly to make a new year's resolution since the world is going to end, but let's do it anyway. Have you made any resolutions? Let's talk about it! I'm sure many of you have resolutions to work out more, eat better, or save more cash for the kids' college funds... BORING! Nobody wants to hear about that mundanity. Keep that garbage on Twitter!

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.