Sega's path to reviving its Super Monkey Ball series is the path of the remaster. First, Super Money Ball: Banana Blitz rolled in for a moderate reception in 2019. Now, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania promises to collect the stages from the first three Super Monkey Ball games and add 4-player local co-op to the mix. Given the volume of content and the fact that it's coming to all major platforms, that's possibly even more exciting than a new game.

Next month is all about upcoming games with E3 as well as Summer Game Fest, PAX Online and several publisher-events most likely chock-full with new announcements to get us excited for autumn and beyond. We are however not here today to look forward to June but instead look back at May which was a bit lighter in terms of new releases compared to the rest of 2021 so far but still saw quite a few highlights including the surprising re-release of couch co-op classic Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Another note-able achievement was the release of Divinity: Original Sin II - Definitive Edition for iOS. A huge game you would think would never work on a iPad let alone with full splitscreen-co-op-functionality but Larian actually pulled it of. And if RPGs are not your cup of tea: No problem! How about playing around with old people in Just Die Already, scaring your pants of with Outbreak: Endless Nightmares or shooting huge block-bugs in Earth Defense Force: World Brothers? As always there's something for every taste and friend circle. Just take a look below.

We just hit a milestone with our friends over at HyperX. We've now written and covered over 30 pieces of gaming gear from headsets, to mice, and finally keyboards. It's the latter today we wanted to focus on with a special giveaway sponsored by HyperX.

ROCCAT is back with an new gaming mouse in its Kone lineup, first introduced in 2007. The new Kone Pro though is taking design cues from the recent Burst Pro Extreme. What sets this apart from other mice out there? Let's fine out.

The headset wars continue on Co-Optimus. In our quest to find the ultimate gaming headset for your co-op communication needs, we're working through the ever growing list of options. Up next is from a manufacturer we haven't looked at in quite some time - Logitech. Their Pro X Wireless Headset is a fully featured DTS set of cans with a Blue technology microphone to capture crisp chat. Let's dive in.

After the insane month that was March full of new releases, the publishers and developers allowed us coop-fans at least a bit of rest in April with "only" around 35 games hitting the store fronts - many of them smaller indie titles with interesting concepts and/or visuals. Definitely worth to take a look down below at which gems you may have missed.

I’m a big proponent of HyperX’s Alloy mechanical keyboard line. Over almost five years, I’ve reviewed a lot of variants of the Alloy, and I’ve never come across one I haven’t been impressed by. A lot of this is probably because HyperX knows what they’re doing right with the Alloy, and new variants don’t dev...

Did you see that?! Holy Moly! More than 70 (!) new co-op releases across various platforms in March - including some very high profile titles like Monster Hunter Rise, Balan Wonderworld, It Takes Two as well as the start of the Open Beta (PC-only) for Magic: Legends and the long-awaited co-op patch for Watch Dogs: Legion. It's safe to say that there was (and is) something for everyone with their friends and family to enjoy.

As is becoming increasingly common in this era of gaming, the Co-Opticrew's weekend plans are largely preoccupied with sequels.  Many companies these days seem content with adopting the "if it ain't broke" mode of thinking, and you know what, it looks like it's paying off for them.  Not that I'm complaining, though.  Good games are good games regardless of how high the number is in their title.

To celebrate the awesome lineup of co-op games coming to us in 2021, we're hosting a Steam giveaway thanks to the developers over at Windwalk Games, a development team of former Riot Games devs working on an upcoming co-op experience. More to come on this soon! *hint hint*

The Co-Opticrew is reaching into our usual bag of tricks this weekend, with co-op shlooters and co-op sloopers taking up a fair amount of our time.  What's this, though?  It appears a few of our esteemed staff are also diving back into the realm of wooden tokens and translucent card sleeves for a couple days of board game goodness.  We can only wish these adventurous souls (and their wallets) the best of luck.  They'll certainly need it.

February was a busy month. More than 50 co-op offerings across all platforms and many genres were released making it hard to choose which ones to buy and enjoy with our friends. No, "all of them" is sadly not an option both in terms of available money and time.