Summer is coming, and that means blockbuster movies and their gaming counterparts.  Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean series is getting a fourth installment in May 20th.  Lego Pirates of the Caribbean will release ten days earlier, on May 10th.  The Lego adaptation will cover events from all four films.  This latest trailer focuses on the third film, At World's End, and then segues into the latest movie, On Stranger Tides.  You can even get a glimpse of the split screen co-op in action.  If you listen closely you can hear the horn from The Duke of Hazzard's 'General Lee'.  I hope that's in the movie.

What an awesome weekend!  The whiny Goth couple finally got eliminated from the Amazing Race!  I know they were annoying, but I don't really think their departure warranted a celebration at the White House.  Man, some people must have really hated that couple.  Celebrate by picking up one of these great games.

We've got a fresh batch of screens for the four player co-op hack and slash RPG, Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale.  The game is out this summer on the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and PC as a downloadable title - and its a game we previewed in detail back during PAX East.  

That sound you can almost hear is the millions of Blizzard fans quietly jumping up and down in excitement at the same time.  Giddy as a bunch of Japanese school girls these fans are a fluster for good reason - Diablo 3 producer Jay Wilson has gone on record to say the game is nearing completion.

Outland is a stunning new platformer crafted by the makers of Dead Nation. Players use light and dark energy to solve puzzles and traverse the gorgeous environments. Is it worth taking a friend along for the journey? Find out in our review.

Since this months blog topic seems to have gone AWOL a little early in the month, we've been checking out some other great blogs we've got going. In the name of community, here are the promoted blogs for the final week in April. Keep an eye out tonight or sometime early tomorrow for the Co-Optimus Community Blog topic for May. It's a collaborative effort by myself and Nick, hope you dig the topic.

Firaxis continues to tweak and fix their popular strategy game Civilization V. Just a few days ago a pretty hefty patch was released for the PC version which touches on many areas of the game. Probably the most interesting changes are the AI improvements which will likely make you grit your teeth a little harder as you're dealing with that jerk Montezuma. Other changes address some unit and city management issues and fix some problems with game's UI. The full list of changes are as follows:

Amazon's Gold Box Deal of the Day today is for the recently released Portal 2.  Your price?  $34.99.  The title features a two player co-op campaign as well as a highly entertaining single player story.  You can read our review here.

Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.

I was really quite shocked at the quality of FarmVille. I felt many of the same urges that kept me playing World of Warcraft and other similar games for so long. The social elements, the desire to keep up with the rest of your group, and the feeling of ownership were very powerful.

In a fascinating move by developer Vanillaware, they switch from their traditional action games (such as Wii title Muramasa: The Demon Blade) to a turn based RPG game titled Grand Knights History. The game looks to integrate players in seamless PSP multiplayer, which they're not giving specifics on just yet.

Platinum Games, the makers of such over-the-top titles as Mad World, Vanquish, and Bayonetta have a new action extravaganza coming our way this fall.  Anarchy Reigns will feature of the return of Mad World's ultra-violent protagonist, Jack, in glorious living color.  We originally announced Anarchy Reigns, then known as Max Anarchy, this past January.  We haven't covered the game much, mainly because we didn't know how the co-operative elements would play out.  Some developers consider team-bases-versus modes "co-operative," but it appears that Anarchy Reigns will have an actual co-op versus AI mode.