We're just one week away from Monster Hunter Tri's release on the Wii, the first major game in the Monster Hunter series to be released on a non-Sony platform, and Capcom recently announced some new features for this title to entice fans and newcomers alike.  Rather than taking the usual DLC approach to extending the game's life, Capcom has revealed that they will host special online only events once a month that players may participate in in order to face off against rare monsters and earn unique items.  Each of the events are cooperative in nature and, of course, entail taking down gigantic monsters, one way or another.

The first Left 4 Dead's DLC is on sale this week on Xbox Live for Gold Members.  Normally setting you back 560 , or about $7, the pack is on sale for 320 , or about $4.   The content includes a new single player campaign mission with two levels that takes place immediately following the No Mercy mission.

Lindsay used the Mission Impossible Method to attack the old man

We covered Mommy's Best Games' vertical scroller Shoot 1UP during PAX East, but the Co-Optimus video crew also managed to snag some face time with the studio's one and only developer Nathan Fouts.

We rather enjoyed the first HD remake of Serious Sam.  While it offered little more than prettier graphics, the 16 player co-op on PC and 4 player co-op on XBLA made the game a total mindless blast.  So we're happy to report that Croteam, Devolver Digital and Majesco are all involved with bringing out a remake of Serious Sam The Second Encounter to both PC and XBLA.  

Your access to Halo 2's online multiplayer may be ending on Thursday, but Friday we're firing up Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST for a co-op night unlike any others. We'll be joining the Waypoint crew to help everyone get those long lost collectible items like Skulls in Halo 3 and Audio Logs in ODST.

Splinter Cell Conviction is sneaking onto stores shelves this week, and while the game has the return of Sam Fisher in single player, it also boasts robust co-op multiplayer options. To celebrate the launch we'll be having a co-op night on Tax Day in America, April 15th. Read on to join up!

My first experience with an MMO was way back in 1999: Everquest. A quirky set of circumstances led me to choose a bard as my character class. This was a fortuitous event, for the bard of Everquest is easily the greatest class in any game as far as co-op is concerned.

Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.

In a recent interview with Claptrap, we discover the lovable dancing robot from Borderlands will be making a grand entrance as an action figure of sorts. Figures.com got the scoop, and NECA is building us a Claptrap. In the interview Claptrap discusses some of the greatness of being an action figure, features this toy will be endowed, and the pros and cons of playing with children.

I can't recall a more varied list of games being played by our staff than this week.  From the casual to the hardcore, home consoles to portables, between the eight of us, we're playing all sorts of gamers.  Let's ust hope we get enough gaming time in to play them all...

Remember when Xbox LIVE was young, and the only available point values to purchase were 500, 1000 , etc? Those values were strange, because they didn't match the cost of the games and you always had strange leftover amounts. On a $5 (400) game, you had 100 leftover useless MSPoints (which is approximate $1.50). On a $10 (800) game, you had 200 unused MSPoints leftover. Not enough to do anything with, but no refunds on your real-life money.