I believe this is the first time that we've seen any type of time frame talked about for Saints Row 3. According to THQ, a lot of marketing effort and money are being pumped into the project. We should expect to start seeing major exposure in the near future, and THQ is counting on the game's retail performance to boost their earnings in fiscal 2012. In all of the Kinect craziness, some quiet coverage on one of our community's favorite series is a welcome sight.

WHA Entertainment have announced a new version of their PSN brawler based on the Kick-Ass movie.  Kick-Ass New and Improved is an enhanced version of the two player co-op game we reviewed earlier this year.  

Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West is free to play this weekend on Steam as well as on sale for 50% off its normal $15 price tag.  The game is primarily a versus multiplayer affair but it does offer a two player co-op survival mode called Gold Fever.

It's been a couple months since we've heard much about Darkspore from developer Maxis. You may remember we did a couple of previews over the summer which included some screenshot and trailery goodness. Good news, though, for all of you hack-and-slash PC gamers: you can now sign up for the Darkspore beta! Sign-ups are on their website. 

Last month we hinted at a new arcade game mode in the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops.  Two listed Achievements/Trophies refer specifically to Dead Ops Arcade.   According to CVG.com, videos are surfacing for a top-down, twin-stick shooter called Dead Ops Arcade hidden in the game.  Activision is pulling videos as fast as they pop up, so instead of embedding a blank screen that says, "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claims by Activision Games, Inc.," I'll just offer you this link instead.  Here you go.  Industrious net users can probably find the videos by other means, as well.

Last month we took a look at the things that scare us in games with quite a few brave souls spilling their guts - well, not literally. This month we’ll look a little lighter on the subject of gaming as work picks up for the holidays and mid-terms roll around for students everywhere.

Dead Rising 2 was somewhat unique in that Capcom did not develop it in-house, but rather produced it while giving the development reins to Canadian studio Blue Castle. The upcoming Devil May Cry reboot is being handled in a similar fashion, and rumor has it that SOCOM: Confrontation and Fireteam Bravo 3 helmer Slant Six may have its hands on the development of a future Resident Evil title.

Nathan "Rad" Spencer will be getting some help for his upcoming mission.  Capcom has just released some details on the supporting cast of Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2.  In the first Bionic Commando: Rearmed, two players could play co-operatively through local shared screen play.  One controlled a green Nathan Spencer and the other controlled a red clone. (How evil the clone was is debatable since he was, in fact, blonde.)  They were both equally 'rad,'  and it didn't adversely affect the story at all.  Do you hear that, Treyarch?

DigitalMindSoft have just announced an open beta for their upcoming RTS/Action game Men of War: Assault Squad.   Players will be able to try out the new co-op skirmish game mode on two maps with up to four players.  There's also Assault Zone, Combat and Frontlines available to play - all of which have all been improved according to the publisher. 

Do you like dragons?  Do you like fantasy?  Do you like co-op games that let you burn villages?  Do you like gooooooooooooooooooold?  You do?  Well good - because out now in PSN is a game just for you called Hoard.  We've been covering it for some time - it's a four player co-op action/strategy game where you control a dragon and try to amass a wealth of gold to sleep on at night in your Dragon Lair (patent pending).

Microsoft's answer to motion control gaming is here with the Kinect. Combining a video camera with voice control and facial recognition, the Kinect looks to revolutionize the way we interact with our video games. But does it deliver on that experience, or is it merely a gimmick?

This past weekend was a 31 times XP modifier for Gears of War 2.  Tally and Marc, determined to get in on the mega-leveling action, logged in only to discover the weekend actually ended on Sunday, not Monday, as previously expected.  Undaunted, they played Horde mode, assisted by Marc's youngest son, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time on the Normal mode of the Day One map.  Instead of a detailed report, Tally and Marc teamed up in true co-op fashion to bring you the Official Co-Optimus Gears of War Co-Op Quiz.  So grab a pencil, put all four legs of your chair on the floor,  and keep your eyes on your own paper.