You can almost hear them... the rallying cries of Earth's last and only hope against the bug- I mean space alien threat. "..df... edf... EDF... EDF!" Yes the very co-op friendly, and different, Earth Defense Force 2025 is still headed to our shores some time this year and I know for a fact that some members on staff can't wait for it to be here already. While we don't have an exact release date just yet, an alert Co-Optimus reader (Martin) pointed us to a video where we can see the option to play the game in splitscreen mode.

ArmA 3 has hit alpha phase and is actually available to purchase via Steam right now for $32.99. By doing so you get early access to the game, can contribute feedback to its development, and will get full access to the full release once it's ready. If you aren't familiar with the series, ArmA is all about real tactical combat in a sandbox type environment. We've already seen the potential of the series, with ArmA 2 allowing 100 player co-op missions. 

Still hard at work on their punk rock-inspired brawler/RPG Charlie Murder, Ska Studios recently released a trailer teasing some more information about the upcoming co-op XBLA game. Introduced and narrated by a dishwasher and a unicorn, the trailer shares some behind the scenes info on the game's development, including new tidbits about customizable clothing and character upgrades via tattoos. Quite a bit of gameplay footage is also shown.

It's co-op dungeon fighting time! Jochum Skoglund and Niklas Myrberg's Gauntlet-inspired Hammerwatch is still under heavy development, but the duo has already released a demo to make sure we stay excited. The teaser includes the entire first act of the game, complete with secrets, money, shops, a bonus level and a boss. Three of the four classes are currently playable, and co-op play for up to four players (online, local or LAN) is ready to roll.

I have many great skills to my name; I can consume chocolate at an alarmingly fast rate, rest hot drinks on my belly and know the entire opening speeches for both Quantum Leap and Star Trek: TNG.  Unfortunately, none of these skills prove useful when translating Japanese.  Therefore, take of the new Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge trailer what you will, but some new co-op footage is definitely present.

Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, the weekend piece that rounds up some of the more interesting stories of the week from the industry outside of the strictly co-op sphere. This week we have some exciting news for fans of old PC fan-favorites Thief and Planescape: Torment.

I've got to give major props to Lucy Bradshaw, general manager of Maxis at Electronic Arts. She's put out a letter to consumers that's pretty frank regarding the SimCity launch - which we all know hasn't been the smoothest.  

So the SimCity launch didn't go quite as planned.  That said, we can still play it.  Heck - Is streamed over an hour of the game last night.  But that's ok if you don't want to play it yet, I don't blame you. There's still nazi zombies to snipe and emblems to fire.  Also Andrew refuses to put Dark Souls down once again - except now he wants to do it naked. Send help.

Longtime fans of God of War and lovers of co-op rejoice! God of War: Ascension will contain a special cooperative mode that can be played with two players. The mode is called the "Trial of the Gods," and it is the first cooperative mode in a God of War title to date. The trial will find you teaming up with another champion in order to survive five waves of enemies in a timed event.

Boom goes the infographics!  Everyone loves them. I think.  Either way we've got them for you to check out for Fuse, the upcoming Insomniac Games co-op shooter that looks to have some solid potential. The one sheets show off the character, some background, their weapons and skills and how they'll behave in the game's four player co-op campaign.

Aliens: Colonial Marines may not have lived up to its potential, but Gearbox isn't sitting back with the title. Updates continue to flow for all version of the game fixing issues and enhancing the game as we work towards the first official piece of DLC.  The Xbox 360 version of the game has been updated today with a bunch of these corrections, while the PS3 and PC version will be updated shortly with similar fixes.

We've heard rumblings of this sort in the past, but now it's pretty hard to ignore. Speaking to Official Xbox Magazine UK, Crystal Dynamics has confirmed that not only is there no sequel in the works for Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, but nothing further is planned for the sub-series in the future. For a game that had one of the best co-op experiences in the last several years, that's very sad news indeed.