When I first heard that Rise of the Triad was getting a reboot, I instantly thought to myself, "What the hell is a triad?" Fortunately for me, our own intrepid Sam Tyler is quite fond of the game. He reminisced about the bygone era of flannel shirts and grunge music, or whatever they listened to in the UK in 1995. He recently did a small write up for the game's recent announcement trailer, recalling an improvised co-op mode he would play with a pal.

It seems like porting downloadable console games to Steam is the cool thing to do these days. Iron Brigade just came out on PC this week, and now The Behemoth has announced a Steam port of their popular co-op brawl-PG Castle Crashers. With the relative scarcity of local co-op in PC games, we're pleased to report this one will feature both online and offline 4-player co-op. Plus it boasts such modest system requirements, even Co-Optimus' own Andrew Gaskill should be able to run it! Check out those requirements and the feature list after the break.

Iron Brigade (formerly known as Trenched) won many Xbox 360 gamers' hearts with its retro sci-fi setting, unique combination of third-person shooting and tower defense, trademark Double Fine charm, and of course: 4-player online co-op. Last week, Double Fine surprised us all by announcing the impending arrival of a PC version. Now Iron Brigade is on Steam at last, complete with Games for Windows Live support for the Achievement lovers out there. Good news: the game is just as great on computer as it was on consoles.

With Rayman Origins being one of the best local co-op titles this generation, excitement is high for the sequel, Rayman Legends.  The game is planned for release across most platforms, but the leading version is coming to Wii U.  Rayman Legends will make heavy use the touch screen controller, even when playing in co-op.  Check out the new trailer to get a feel for the controls.

Recently, another behind the scenes video of Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two’s development has surfaced on Youtube by Disney Interactive. This time, the footage features Creative Director, Warren Spector, discussing the two main characters of the game, Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Rabbit, who work cooperatively to traverse their magical world of The Wasteland.

Looks like the Mechromancer, a machine manipulator that controls a giant, Claptrap-type robot on steroids called a “Deathtrap”, might be arriving to the Borderlands 2 much sooner than we have come to expect.

Machinima's Inside Gaming series continues to profile Aliens: Colonial Marines. This video has the fellas from Gearbox discussing how they develop tension in a game like A:CM. The setting, lighting, and sounds all come into play. Of course, the most effective tool is the motion tracker, which lets you know when the xenomorphs are closing in. Pretty much every personal radar in every game, ever, is based off this device.

A new Dark Souls trailer has invaded our world. A PC version of the dark fantasy game is coming out next Friday. The Dark Souls: Prepare to Die edition will include new content in addition to the core game that is already available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken is coming to PC via Steam later this fall. If the following promotional video is to be believed, this is one heck of a game I've overlooked. It's a 2D shooter which features Hardboiled, a super bad chicken who's on a mission to kill the evil penguins who have taken over Albatropolis. 

Insomniac have revealed their next Ratchet & Clank game, called Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault, it mixes the classic R&C formula with a hefty dose of tower defense.  You'll be building bases, defending bases, and fighting back waves of enemies with the usual dose of insanely powerful weapons at Ratchet and Clank's disposal.

We've got a fresh batch of screens from Gamescom in Germany for Activision and Toys for Bob's upcoming game, Skylanders Giants.  The sequel to last years addictive hit, Skylanders, Giants adds new giant characters to the mix of this two player co-op adventure.  Also new this year are light up figures, called LightCore, which are capable of displaying unique effects in the real world and have added benefit in the game world.  

With the economy bottoming out more often than the characters from classic 90s flick 'Flatliners', we could all do with a bargain once in a while.  News that The Adventures of Shuggy has had a permanent price reduction on XBLA to only 400 Microsoft Points is a boon.