Can you believe it's been ten years? The Co-Optimus team has raised $19,586.75 since we joined Extra Life back in 2012, and we couldn't have done it without our community. Thank you to everyone who has donated, participated, cheered us on, or spread the word! The generosity of the Co-Optimus community and their network of friends and family is astounding.
It's a good time to be a co-op gamer, don't you think? What? You don't? Well our release calender showed 69 (nice!) releases for September across all platforms. Is that not enough to convice you? Yes, not all of them offer the classic couch gaming experience many so heartly desire. We know. But at the same time not everyone has the luxury of readily available friends in close proximity. As such having the option to go online is something we appreciate, too.
While gamescom 2021 didn't see nearly as many new co-op game announcements as E3 2021, we still had a good time watching the event unfold - and not just because we are of course eagerly gobbling up every bit of Elden Ring news. August did also hold a very delightful surprise for all of us 30plus old PC Gamers: A remaster of Quake not just with all existing expansions but a new episode from MachineGames on top. Oh and it's available for consoles as well with full 4-player split-screen support and online multiplayer cross-play on all systems! More than enough reasons for you and your friend to go and kick some furry Shambler butt...If nostalgia is not your cup of tea however, the releases of August once again offer a co-op opportunity for almost everyone. From colorful kids games like PAW Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls to killing hundreds of Xenomorphs in dark environments in Aliens: Fireteam Elite - there's enough variety to choose from. Meanwhile our database master, down in the dark (he likes to keep the light out) data entry mines added another 160 entries. So, take a look below at what you may have missed.
In the age of streaming in Twitch, it's important that you have a good quality microphone to pick up your chat audio. While most headsets these days do come with a solid mic, there's just something to be said about a true condenser microphone. Enter the ROCCAT Torch, a flashy desktop microphone with LED lighting, dual condenser mics, and a few really nice features that should make this a great addition to your streaming setup.
Turtle Beach has jumped into the controller market with a new wired controller designed for the Xbox Series consoles and also compatible with Windows 10 PCs. What sets this controller apart is it has a built in headphone mixer that lets you adjust and apply audio presets to any standard 3.5mm audio headset as well as adjust game and chat balance on the fly.
It was nice to have a bit of breathing room at the start of July after the absolute crazyness that was June. The calm didn't last long however as in the second half of the month the release calender suddenly started to get full again culminating in three days at the end full of long awaited releases like Blightbound, Samurai Warriors 5, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin or The Ascent. It seemed like the industry went on a two-week-vacation and then decided they needed to complete the missed work in a single day.
DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours is a shoot 'em up that really wowed genre fans back in 2016, especially the phenomenal Steam version. Five years later, Taito and publishers United Games and ININ have just unleashed an upgraded version of the game: DARIUSBURST: Another Chronicle EX . This version adds new content and fully supports 4-player local co-op in all modes.
Valve, the company that owns Steam, might not really make games anymore, but it doesn't just operate the Steam storefront, either. In May, an Ars Technica report foretold that a portable Steam device would be happening, and now that forecast has come to pass. Today, Valve announced the Steam Deck, a portable PC that will come in three configurations starting at $399. We expect it to be an excellent way to take co-op Steam games on the go.
Rumors of a 4K-ready Nintendo Switch have been swirling for a few years now, rumors that became something of a tornado just before E3 this year. E3 2021 came and went, though, with no announcement of new hardware. Today, Nintendo has finally announced the next model of Switch, the Nintendo Switch (OLED model), whose primary enh...
That was a wild month, huh? Seems like the industry has re-discovered how much fun a good PvE-co-op experience can be based on all those announcements made during the various E3- and Not-E3-showcases. Sadly our happiness is a bit dampened by the fact that many of those titles - especially the high profile ones - don't feature good old local couch multiplayer. Either the hardware requirements are too high for classic split-screen or connecting you with your friends through the series of tubes called the internet is the prefered way to go for the developers nowadays. We don't know and don't judge. We are just happy we have so much to look forward to even if our Database Master was sweating hard adding all those games. In the end our database saw an addition of 380 old, new and upcoming titles in June which also meant we breached the barrier of 9.000 entries!
In my infinite quest to find the perfect PC gaming headset, I've gotten pretty close to perfection, but always came up short. ROCCAT's latest entry into the mix, the ROCCAT Syn Pro Air, seems a worthy contender on the surface. Our latest look dives below the back of the box to see if this is the headset to use in your da...
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.
