I'm personally a big fan of Raptr, the online service that tracks your gameplay habbits and unifies your friends across platforms.  I not only use the website but its IM client.  So when we were approached by them to be a launch partner for their new website which features gaming news, we were very excited.  Today Raptr has launched that site for all the world to see.  The idea is simple - provide customized news feeds for gamers based on what you are already playing. 

Celebrating in the middle of the race track proved to be an error of judgment

Double Fine's Brad Muir is a man I can relate to.  The project lead for Trenched knows his way around a press release.  Allow me to quote him:

In this video for Starhawk, Light Box Interactive President Dylan Jobe, explains some of the story and features we can look forward to next year.  As many of you know, Starhawk is the spiritual successor to the multiplayer-only game, Warhawk.  Starhawk will still have a multiplayer mode, but it will now include a single player campaign, as well as a four player co-op mode.  

Earth needs you!  Colossal robots and giant bugs are attacking New Detroit!  Holy crap!  Can anything else happen to Detroit?  The latest trailer for Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon starts off slowly and ends with a bang. Many, many, bangs.  Booms, even.  And the best part?  It's all in Japanese!  Which makes it super cool, just like that kanji ankle tattoo you got on spring break. You think it says "Strong of Spirit," but it really says, "poop party." You're never going to go to Japan anyway, so what do you care? It looks cool!

Last year's puzzle-platformer Ancients of Ooga received DLC last week entitled "the Forgotten Chapters." The DLC introduces 7 brand-new levels (the core game has 50+ levels), as well as 3 achievements (totalling 50G) for the very reasonable cost of 160MSP. The game also celebrated its PC debut on Steam and Direct2Drive last week. While the PC version includes this DLC for free, it sadly does not appear that co-op play is supported.

We're still waiting on some concrete co-op numbers for Torchlight 2 - something we hope to obtain at E3 in a few weeks - but until that time we're forced to sit back and watch the information roll out of the official website.  The latest combo of features focuses on the game's levels, their design, and some of their features.

After getting a major update earlier this year adding four player co-op support, Nation Red has received another update adding a new map, more achievements for co-op and various fixes.  The new map is called Oil Platform and the 7 new achievements are only obtainable in online or local co-op.  The tweaks to the game include improved co-op performance for online games and adding an in game text chat option.  After all - communication is key in co-op.

If there is anyone in the audience that hasn't tried out the latest in the Halo franchise, now's your chance to go at it with your buddies. Halo Reach has finally unleashed its free-to-play demo on Xbox Live. The Demo includes campaign mission "Long Night of Solace," a competitive multiplayer map, and a co-op firefight map for free.

Twisted Pixel today announced the first of its kind - an open beta for an Xbox Live Arcade title.  Registration for the Ms. Splosion Man early access program begins today and runs until all 10,000 spots are filled.  The beta will run from June 6th through June 26th and will focus on the game's cooperative multiplayer levels.

In preparation for the launch of Resistance 3, Sony is bundling Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2 together.  A leaflet packaged in the Battle: Los Angeles Blu-ray spilled the beans.  You heard me right - someone admitted to having an early copy of Battle: Los Angeles.  I should note the disc contains a demo for Resistance 3, so it's got that going for it, which is nice.  

Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 will be out in 2011.  Weird, we know.  Actually, the game will be out next month.  But I guess Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers June 15, 2011 the Re-Shuffling, didn't test well with focus groups.  That's right, Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the - oh, come on!  We'll refer to the game as "DOTP 2012" or maybe even "it"  for the rest of this post.  "It" will be out in just a few short weeks.  What's got us pumped for the latest digital version of MTG?  Archenemy Mode, of course!  In case you missed the IGN article, Archenemy Mode lets three players team up online to battle a series of bosses.  That's right, three player online co-op is supported.  AI will even take over if one of your lame friends backs out of the match.  (We hope the AI knows what it's doing) This is a welcome addition to the local two player co-op mode, Two-Headed Giant which (hopefully) will be returning.