During the community event at PAX, we hinted at a feature that would allow you to create custom face mask and armor designs for Army of Two: The 40th Day so you can give Salem and Rios their own special flair.  EA announced yesterday that the Custom Mask and Armor Creator is now live and everyone's free to make a mask that makes the co-op friendly heroes look like your worst childhood nightmare.  The Custom Mask and Armor Creator is based off the same web-based art tool that was used for Skate 2, and which will undoubtedly return for Skate 3, so all you need is a valid EA.com account and your time/creative juices.  Best of all, the designs you create now will be available to you the same day that the game goes live in January.  So go get cracking on those custom masks and armors, and be sure to share your designs with us!

Crowd: "We've found a witch!   May be burn her?!?!?"

Well...crap.  I was wrong.  If you listened to the latest Co-Opticast I managed to open my big mouth and pretty much guarantee Serious Sam HD on the Xbox would be released this week or next week.  According to a tweet from the game's developer, Devolver Digital, it's not hitting till next year now.

The Rock Band series of games is arguably the best in the genre.  The first Rock Band pioneered the full band experience.  The sequel brought us the disc export feature, allowing you to play previous disc-based songs using the latest and greatest game engine.  The Beatles Rock Band is the best band-centric game ever.  And LEGO Rock Band is far from just another easy cash grab, full of features that make it appealing to gamers of all ages. 

It's been just a few short weeks since Left 4 Dead 2, the sequel to the highly popular Left 4 Dead, shambled onto store shelves.  While we can safely say that we big are fans of it and the wonderful co-op that it brings, you may be wondering how has the game fared overall.  Was it released too soon after the original?  Did that petition hurt sales at all?  Didn't Valve say all that needed to be said in the first game; must we go Southern?  Well, what are you still reading this teasing/fluffy intro for?  The official press release with the sales numbers and some other interesting news is right after the break!  Go go go go!  

We talked a bit yesterday about the size and scale of the co-op action game Brink.  After watching the video, people were itching to get their hands on the game this coming spring.  Sadly, it looks as if the game is going to be delayed until next fall.

Crackdown, the classic 2 player co-op sandbox title, is now available on Microsoft's Games on Demand channel on Xbox Live.   The title is available worldwide, except Korea, Germany and Japan.  Did you know Crackdown was called Riot Act in Japan? 

While I tweak and add features to Co-Optimus on an almost daily basis, it's rare that I promote them on the front page.  Today I'm proud to announce a new feature for those of you that are fans of RSS feeds. 

It's another exciting episode of the Co-Opticast! We're rapidly approaching 2010 as Nick and Mike take a quick breath to look at 2009 spouting all the wonderful titles they've been playing. News is of course on the agenda, with a few items that may peak your interest. Finally they discuss the eternal question in co-op - Do more players make a better experience? Find out all this and more as Mike and Nick save Christmas during Episode 32 of the Co-Opticast.

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By way of the Capcom-Unity blog comes the most retro news of the day, and great news for fans of the old-school beat 'em up.

Somehow during the holiday rush, we missed that Dawn of War 2's first expansion pack, Chaos Rising has been given a release date!  I know I'm looking forward to continuing my testosterone-fueled domination of the galaxy, how about you?

We hop into the shoes of the main characters from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series for a romp around the galaxy. Can two-player co-op change the destiny of future Star Wars video games?