Nathan Drake and the Raiders of the Plot Rip Off

Hoard is a variety of things we come to adore in arcade titles. It’s part dual stick shooter, part leveling RPG, part strategy, and even a dash of co-op that we so adore on the side. Even with all of those elements the gameplay is fairly straight forward and simple enough to learn for many players.

About a month and a half ago, XBLA's Monday Night Combat got their title update which consisted of various tweaks and fixes. Upon its launch, they told fans that a free DLC pack was on the way. That DLC, entitled Spunky Cola Special Free DLC, launches tomorrow, packed with new arenas, private game options, balance tweaks, and yes, oh yes, churros! Sounds like a pretty good haul for, well, $0. Read on for the full release notes:

Happy Gift Giving and Getting Season, people! We start off our holiday buyer's guide with the Xbox 360. In this little guide we'll have something for everyone; from those of you new to Microsoft's game box to the FPS player looking for an edge. Read on and enjoy!

Jon Favreau, director of the Iron Man and Iron Man 2 films (and season-appropriate comedy Elf), is currently editing Cowboys and Aliens. The film - based on the comic series of the same name - stars Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, and Olivia Munn...but you probably already knew all that.

Halo Reach's first piece of downloadable content has hit the digital shelves today, showcasing three new multiplayer maps for the game.  Sadly - none of these maps feature co-op support for Firefight - they are a versus only affair.

November has come and gone, and once again, it was one of the busiest months for gaming.  We had almost 20 new co-op games released, 11 of which we reviewed.  Black Ops was the biggest story of the month, garnering in millions of buyers and thousands of visitors to Co-Optimus looking for the latest cooperative info on the title.  Thing should calm down for December, allowing you time to catch up on gaming and spending time with the family over the holidays...hopefully playing co-op games.  

There's a few deals this week for Xbox Live Gold members and among them are two co-op titles.  

And so it is complete.  Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light has been patched on the PC to support online co-op play.  This brings to end a  3 month journey where the feature was delayed on all platforms and slowly patched into each version.

A couple of weeks ago Gamasutra.com mentioned a few postings on the Blizzard Entertainment Job Directory concerning console developers for Diablo 3 .  A few weeks before that someone at Co-Optimus (me) posted an article decrying the lack of Diablo 3 on consoles.  Well, it looks like I may have to eat my words.  Sort of.  Maybe.  Probably not. 

Dead Nation has been on our radar for awhile now.  From the game's announcement over a year ago, to the premiere trailer at E3, this top-down co-op zombie shooter looks fantastic.  When we heard that the expected two player local co-op was being upgraded to feature online play, we had to talk to the game's developer to find out what inspired the change.  Housemarque CEO, Ilari Kuittinen, gave Co-Optimus an interview explaining the decisions that went into adding online co-op support.  Ilari's comments got us even more excited about the coming zombie apocalypse.

My still reigning co-op favorite shooter Rainbow Six Vegas 2 has come under fire this holiday weekend due to an unexpected - and unpleasant - surprise. It turns out that Vegas 2 and other titles featured on Xbox Live's Games on Demand service may or may not be compatible with their disc-based brothers. The worst part? There's no way to tell without buying and trying...and if your gamble doesn't pay off, Microsoft still will not give you a refund nor credit.