Hard to believe, but Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition was released exactly one year ago yesterday. What better way to celebrate the first year anniversary of the sandbox classic than to make a free set of birthday skins available to all players? That is exactly what Microsoft and Mojang have decided to do. Aptly titled the "1st Birthday Skin Pack," this particular skin pack will add an additional 23 skins to the already huge assortment of 319 skins that can be found in eight other packs. Here's a list of all of the skins that are included in the birthday bash:

Civilization V's next expansion pack is entitled Brave New World, it's the second fully feature content expansion for the game adding nine new civilizations, eight new wonders, two new scenarios, four new gameplay systems and dozens of new units. This isn't your kid's DLC folks.

Coffee Stain Studios has been releasing a steady stream of teaser trailers these last few weeks, getting everyone hyped up for its follow-up to 2011's Sanctum. Combining tower defense mechanics with a first person shooter core, Sanctum was a surprising hit. The sequel takes a slightly different path, riding the action train to Shoot-All-The-Things Town, leaving some of the strategy behind in favor of hands-on alien killing.

If you are more lover, than fighter; or pointy eared, buxom wench, than cleric - perhaps the latest character class for Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara is for you?  The new trailer introduces us to the Elf class, an intelligent, but slightly weaker option.  Use spells and distance weapons to help tackle undead minions in the upcoming 4 player co-op game.

Slowly but surely, things are getting better for the Defiance video game universe. Trion World’s commitment to providing the best possible experience for everyone hasn’t changed since their rocky release of the game, releasing a brand new patch to the public, Title Update 1.014.

From the creators of Dead Island comes the next new IP from Techland. The name of the game is Hellraid, and up until now, not much was known about the game. According to the latest news that has been released about the game, it looks like quite an engaging cooperative experience. Set in a dark-fantasy world, Hellraid is a cooperative first-person action-RPG that seems to draw from games like Hexen and DIablo. The producer, Marcin Kruczkiewcz told Eurogamer Poland "We want you to feel that the game is made by guys in their '30s,"You can't forget about the past. As young enthusiasts we enjoyed the first Quake, second Hexen or Diablo, and all that remains in us somewhere."

Co-Optimus didn't get to check out PAX East this year in full, so we missed the unveiling of Saints Row IV. The game was on display on the show floor with a hands off demo which showcased all of the game's new features. Lucky for us, Deep Silver have released the entirety of the demo in video form and put it on the interwebs - isn't technology grand?

After a year since release, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition continues to be a well-supported XBLA title. We will soon to be receiving yet another Skin Pack DLC, along with the 11th Title Update to date.

Sanctum 2, the sequel to the two-year-old tower defense/FPS crossover Sanctum, now has a release date. In just a week's time (May 15th), Sanctum 2 will be storming onto XBLA and PC for your alien-killing, laser-firing, core-defending pleasure. It should be released on PSN shortly thereafter, but the exact date is currently unspecified. 

The latest Diablo 3 patch for PC has been released, and with it comes a great boon to cooperative players. The latest patch brings the game up to version 1.0.8, and adds a host of changes to both the single player and cooperative aspects of the game. The biggest news is that playing with a group of people is now the most effective way to earn better rewards. Players that adventure together will earn an extra 10% to their Magic Find, Gold Find, and Experience gains for each additional player in the game, up to a max of 30%.

The weekly XBLA sale is the place I like to go to pick up a co-op bargain once in a while.  However, it sometimes feels like the same games appear over and over again, seriously what is the problem?  There is no problem, as long as it’s the Serious Sam games getting reduced.  The man's back catalogue is all reduced by 50% until May 13th.  Check out read more for the Serious Sam offers and the rest of the XBLA content incoming.

It was around this time last year that Blizzard unleashed their 3rd installment to the Diablo series. Coincidentally, Neocore Games recently announced that their own gothic title, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, will release close to the same date.