Borderlands 2 hits store shelves in a little over a month. The hype train is thundering full speed ahead. Today we've got a new video featuring the villainous Handsome Jack. We also have some new information about end-game content for high level characters, as well as some details on the downloadable Mechromancer class. 

Happy Monday my co-op people! The long, boring summer is coming to an end. Okay, so most of these games have been out for a while in some form or another, but hey, at least we got a little action this week. 

Since its release last year, Age of Empires Online has continued to grow thanks to a steady drip of both free and premium content. Whenever a new premium (paid) empire debuts, Gas Powered Games also rebalances and tweaks the game for all. Such will be the case when the Babylonian Empire and Fertile Crescent Booster Pack (both paid content) debut this week. The Anniversary Update will usher them in, adding new features like the Empire Vault for all players to enjoy.

It may seem odd that we're covering a story that puts co-op in a negative light, but I think that's only true at first glance.  To truly understand what's going on with Diablo 3 and just how over 10 million people are playing the game requires a look at the history of the franchise.  It's easy to have a knee jerk reaction to a quote, but sometimes it's better to sit back and examine the full picture.  First, lets start at the quote in question.

I'm always amazed by the sheer number of video games that are out there. This weekend, I had some friends over, and we spent some time playing games on my arcade cabinet. While scrolling through the list, one buddy was overjoyed to find Xenophobe, a game I was previously unfamiliar with. Later on, a different friend was similarly thrilled to find Xybots, one of his favorite games from many years ago. Today, we'll take a closer look at these twin X-titled classics.

Happy Saturday, gang! It's time for another edition of Beyond Co-Op. Here's where we cover the big industry news unrelated to co-op gaming. Let's do this.

There's absolutely oodles of DLC for Tower Defense/RPG hybrid hit, Dungeon Defenders. Happily for us, the generous folks at Trendy Entertainment even make some of it available to us for free! For the next couple of weeks, the Jester Hero DLC will be available for absolutely free on Steam for PC players.This DLC comes complete with the Jester class, "the Fool" costume for the Jester, a GameLand campaign mission, and 4 new weapons. 

While humanity sent a robot the size of a jeep to Mars this week, most of our gaming feats look pale in comparison.  Sure some of us are finally wrapping up some backlog titles, but....we put a giant friggin robot on Mars.  Luckily you can too with the free Xbox 360 game where you do the same.  None of us are playing that though.

We all know Borderlands 2 will feature an exorbitant amount of loot. On top of all the guns, grenades, shields, and class mods, players will also be able to pick up new skins and heads for further character customization. Who doesn't love interchangeable heads? We've already shown you the heads and skins which will be unlocked if you have original Borderlands save data on your system of choice.Today, we have some new body parts for you to admire.

In Episode 11 we tackle Mission 5 which consists of us trying to steal money from a van while a tanker truck burns beside us. Sunny does some slick driving, hp1703 carries our bags, and Locke mostly just runs around shooting his pistols into the air. Warning - we die many times. 

Last week, Co-Optimus broke the news that Ascend: New Gods will be coming to PC in addition to Xbox Live Arcade and Windows Phone. That information came from our enjoyable visit to the game's developer, Signal Studios in Kirkland, WA. It wouldn't be any fun to visit and just talk about the game, though; I wanted to see it in action!  Ian Scott, Ascend's lead designer, was kind enough to showcase some of the new environments and features Signal has added to the game since its June E3 demo. Check out the video after the break.

Warframe may not accurately convey the combat and characters in which it contains.  The mental image I get of the free to play game from Digital Extremes is of some big hulking robot, but as the latest alpha trailer shows a warframe is anything but.  Can you say robotic ninjas?  There's no slow lumbering combat here, just fast paced third person action with plenty of explosions, swords, and co-op.