It took a while to go live today, but Happy Wars, the first free-to-play Xbox Live Arcade game is finally available. Xbox Live Gold members can grab the 464 MB download, run through the tutorial, and start battling in no time. To celebrate the game's opening weekend, all premium items are on sale for twenty percent off through October 15th. If you find yourself enjoy the game, grabbing a few items on sale is a great way to customize your character while supporting the developer, Toylogic.

This week we got crushed by a flood of new content. Not all of it was co-op, some of the new releases were simple game add-ons, but still, we were overwhelmed. This weekend we'll continue the good fight. Some of us will be sneaking our way through single player adventures, some will be playing more whimsical games, and many of us are still roaming the dangerous world Pandora. We'll all be gaming in one way or another. 

Pid was announced way back in 2011, but it didn't appear on many players' radars (including my own) until E3. After seeing the game in action and speaking to the developers at Might & Delight (many of whom worked on Bionic Commando Rearmed), it quickly became clear that Pid is the 2.5D platformer to watch this year. Lovely BCR-esque graphics, unique gameplay mechanics (you throw beams of light that thrust your character through the air), challenging old-school design, and 2-player local co-op could all help make this game a new classic. We'll find out on Halloween, when Pid launches on both XBLA and Steam. PSN users will have to wait a bit longer, as that version doesn't have a release date yet - a reverse Retro City Rampage situation.

Anomaly: Warzone Earth is described as a "tower offense" game. It has been a success on many platforms, first on PC and Mac, then for iOS devices, Android, and finally on Xbox Live Arcade last spring. One thing was missing from the package, though: co-op. The Playstation Network release fixes this oversight with the inclusion of a co-op mode for two local players. So how does the "tower offense" work exactly, anyway, and does the co-op make the experience better, or worse?

Magicka was released almost two years ago and despite a troubled launch the game got solid reviews and then a steady stream of both free and premium DLC.  Today the game continues to get content to keep folks coming back for the four player co-op spell weaving mayhem.  The new content is called Dungeons & Daemons and looks to be themed in the realm of dungeon crawlers with plenty of dark underground passages and of course...barrels.  Also included with the content are new monsters and obstacles.

Back in the days of the ZX Spectrum I used to buy huge collections of game called things like '15 Massive Hits for £10'.  On November 6th Rockstar are bringing back this tradition, but for $59.99, by bundling several of their games together and selling them at one price.  Rockstar Games Collection Edition 1 will house the co-op friendly Red Dead Redemption, but also Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, Midnight Club: Los Angeles Complete Edition and L.A. Noire.  

This LEGO Lord of the Rings developer diary, “Journeying Forward”, has a great amount of information on the game for any gamer looking for a different experience of the legendary book and movie series.

As one of Nintendo’s first games to ever run in 1080p, New Super Mario Bros. Wii U has everyone talking about the kind of graphics we’ve been waiting for from the company. No, there won’t be much difference in gameplay from the other New Super Mario games, but this one will definitely look the prettiest of them all.

I haven't touched my 3DS in over a year. We got it at launch, and that was pretty much the end of that. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate may force me to find the thing. Heck, I may even pick up a Wii U. This new trailer features a wide variety of play options. Gamers will be able to co-op together with both the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game. 

I was going to start with something like "Thar she blows," but I thought that would be uncouth. Besides, Melville is a little too dry for a Thursday. Anyway. Borderlands 2. DLC. More of it. Dropping next week. "Capitan Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty" will be available on October 16th. I can only assume that Ms. Mechanically Enhanced Sexy Pants up there is Captain Scarlett. She's got a badass claw for a hand. Kinky. 

It's one of the biggest Resident Evil games to date and certainly the most co-op. Resident Evil 6 sees three character campaigns from the universe playable in two player co-op and adds in the unique four player co-op intersection element. We dive into this monster of a title with our opinion.

No, that image is not the TCS Tiger Claw you see above, though the ship's creator is very familiar with the famous ship from Wing Commander.  That is a screenshot from Star Citizen, an incredibly ambitious new project from Chris Roberts.  Roberts is famous for his days at Origin systems creating the Wing Commander series and then moving on to launch Freelancer and Starlancer.  All of these games are from a genre that is all but extinct lately, the space simulator.