Aliens: Colonial Marines has been in our database and on our news radar for quite some time.  In fact, our first article about the game came more than three years ago in February.  Delayed and pushed aside a few times, it seems the Gearbox developed title is finally going to see the light of day in the Spring of 2012.  Today Sega, the game's publisher, has put out an official press release stating such a date and an announcement the game would be on display at E3 2011.

White Knight Chronicles was released just shy of a year and a half ago. We found the game to be a pretty good single-player experience and a decent co-op experience. A week from now (June 9th for AUS, June 10th for UK, and June 8th for the rest of PAL), its sequel and prequel will simultaneously be hitting the store shelves on two different consoles.

Warner Bros announced today that the three player co-op title, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North was getting a new party member to join the fellowship of the Dwarf, Elf and Human.  While not a player controlled character, Beleram the Great Eagle will join you on your quest and assist in many ways.  And by assist I mean generally being badass and tearing things apart.

Microsoft has announced today that Age of Empires Online, the free to play MMO RTS with cooperative missions, will be available on August 16th for download and in retail stores.  You may ask yourself how exactly a free to play game can hit retail stores - I asked myself the very same question.   

This month we want to see what you've got under the hood so to speak. Our blogging topic for May requests images worth a thousand words on where you game. Pictures of your gaming setup, your sweet T.V., your pimped out PC, or whatever you deem most important to your gaming.

Inside we are laughing

May is over and E3 is upon us!  It was a jam packed month full of game announcements, feature announcements and actually - quite a few releases!  By our count we had 13 different titles released!  Of course the biggest news of the month was a bit of a downer...literally.  The PlayStation Network wasn't up due to a hacking attack.  

Didn't this game come out months ago?  It sure did, if you live in Europe.  Operation Flashpoint: Red River will be gracing North America with its presence next week.  This latest video is similar to the others in style.  An uber-tough military-type explains the situation:  American Marines versus the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, in a real (but made-up-sounding) country called Tajikistan.  It's the kind of video that will have you chanting "USA! USA! USA!" at your computer.  I'm home right now, so I'm only weirding-out a baby and two dogs, and who are they to judge me?  I was thinking of sending a copy of this game to my cousin.  He's currently rooming with a Chinese exchange student...  Nah, I'm just kidding.  Anyway, the video builds appropriate tension while showcasing some beautiful gameplay footage.  

Our own Sam Tyler announced Dead Block on Co-Optimus a few weeks ago.  In his article he subtly alluded to the gaming industry's tendency to occasionally overuse an idea once it has proven popular.  I like his style, so in the spirit of the industry, I'm going to "borrow" it.  (I'm even reposting one of the  trailers he linked.) Dead Block is the latest "dead" title to "deaden" up the "undead" market place.  Seriously, type "dead" into Co-Optimus' search box.  Attack from the Dead, Dead Block, Dead Horde, Dead Island, and Dead Nation pop up.  Don't forget Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Dead Rising 2, House of the Dead Overkill, etc.  And remember, we only cover co-op games.  I am officially copyrighting the titles Dead Dungeon, Dungeon Dead, and either or both of those titles with an "of the" crammed in the middle.  Okay, I came up with the title.  Now someone go make the game and give me 50% of the profits.  Game development is easy!

Hope everyone had a great long weekend.  Always nice when Sunday gets a "Continue."  It's slim pickens for new releases this week, but there is one shining light of co-op hope.  Today marks the release of Hunted: The Demon's Forge.  We'll have a Co-Op review posted for your reading pleasure as soon as possible.  The game will support 2 player local split screen or 2 player online co-op.  Read on to see the other weekly releases.

So here we are, one week from E3... What does that mean? It means that most of the good surprises are going to be spoiled. Whether by rumors and leaks or by publishers trying to get their names in your lunchline conversations, expect a solid amount of exciting info to come your way before the expo even begins. Case in point - Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, a game heavily delayed and short on meaningful details, has a couple of tricks up its sleeve that may have already been outed.

Despite today as being the original planned "full restoration" date - the PlayStation Store and several other Sony services still aren't back online as a result of the PSN Outage from the hacker attack.  All isn't lost though as Sony has assured us that the services will be back online before the week's end in all territories.  Its a good thing too, it would have made for an awkward E3 press conference next week.