Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.

Gears of War 3 has kicked off a promotion allowing users to obtain unique digital and real world items for the game and for your Xbox by finding hidden codes throughout the web.  These codes can then be entered on www.xboxcogcodes.com for said items.  Today we're happy to provide you with two unique codes for some real world goodies.

I can't believe it's September already.  The gaming rush is almost here, I can hear the stampede just over the horizon.  It starts next week with Dead Island, Resistance 3 and Space Marine.  In other news the Co-Opticrew has been quite mobile lately, with Nick just returning from PAX in a travel ordeal that took him through 6 airports.  Mike is making his way across the country, Jason is out of town, Marc is traveling to an undisclosed location, Andrew is in Ohio, Sam is on wherever there is to vacation in the UK and finally Jim is traveling from Texas to New Jersey to be with family.  

Everyone aboard the Halo 4 hype train, helmed by the Master Chief himself.  343 Industries have released a trailer which showcases some motion based concept art for the game, giving us a glimpse at strange alien worlds, possible new enemies, and much more.  

Having never played more than a few hours of Demon's Souls, I can't comment on that game's world or story much.  But the latest set of trailers for the game's sequel, Dark Souls, makes it feel like a darker Tolkien-esque world.  You can view parts 1 and 2 of the prologue below, with the rest of it to be released in the coming weeks.

Peter and Ruth have been waiting patiently to share their co-op experiences as our run of guest submissions continues! The co-op couple talks a bit about the game's they've been playing lately and why each one is great for a co-op couple.

We poked and prodded, stopping short of threatening violence - but we just couldn't get the co-op details out of THQ for their upcoming action game, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine.  Finally, mere days before release, we've got the official details of the mode.

Coming this October, fans of Dungeon Siege III will have a bit more game to play around in.  A DLC pack, with the loot-tastic title Treasures of the Sun, is coming for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.  Like all good expansions, the DLC will add "several hours" of gameplay in addition to several other nice perks, all for $9.99.

As Crimson Alliance's release next week nears, the last character class video is now available for your viewing enjoyment.  The final heroine is an assassin, with all sorts of crazy moves, sneaky attacks, and poisoned blades, as you'd expect.  The game looks gorgeous, as you can see.  You might recall our hands on preview, in which Crimson Alliance was very impressive.  Starting September 7, you can team up with three more friends, either local, online, or a mix.  We are all but drooling in anticipation!

We go hands on with Renegade Ops from PAX and bring back some impressions of the gameplay. Afterwards we talk with the game's director, Axel Lindberg to talk about co-op design and gameplay as well as some of Renegade Ops' inspirations...like Cannon Fodder!

The latest batch of screenshots from House of the Dead: Overkill Extended Edition on the PlayStation 3 showcase the second of the two bonus episodes found in the game.  Called "Creeping Flesh" these screens focus on a slaughterhouse environment that is over run by not only zombies, but some sort of creepy infection.

It's been awhile since we've reported on the upcoming Double Fine Kinect game, Once Upon A Monster. With its October release fast approaching, the studio has released a trailer for the game, co-starring Tim Schafer and Cookie Monster. While the trailer is short on information about the actual game (and never actually answers the question of whether an Xbox 360 can play a chocolate chip cookie), it serves as a reminder that Double Fine will certainly be applying their classic humor to this young kids game.