Magicka's sales have been strong enough to conjure up a sequel.  In a recent interview with Joystiq.com, publisher Paradox Interactive dished the dirt on the game's sales numbers.  Magicka "sold over 30,000 copies in the first 24 hours" of it's release.  The five dollar "Vietnam" expansion pack, which moved the game setting from a fantasy realm to the Vietnam war (Seriously!) has reportedly sold "well over 100,000" units.  This comes as no surprise to us.  We really liked the game, giving it a 4.5 out of 5 in our Co-Op Review.

Our This Week in Co-Op series has run since almost the site's beginning and during that times we've seen it evolve through a few different styles and subjects.  The next batch of articles we decided to do an "assignment" - play co-op with public players and report back on how it goes.  The online gaming public gets a bad rap - especially when you play with "randoms."  Whether its potty mouths, verbal abuse, or incesant singing - there always seems to be something not so nice.  I decided to give Portal 2 a spin via Xbox Live to see just what the great wheel o random would turn up.

I fear the day Civilization World launches on Facebook.  As if the Civ games aren't already enough of a time sink, now Firaxis and Sid Meier plan to make it accessible just about anywhere and everywhere.  In an interview with CNN, "The Sid" as I like to call him, discusses the upcoming Facebook title which plans to launch this summer on the social networking service.  What's on tap for fans of the series?  How about cooperative gameplay.

Battlefield 3 looks like it will top previous titles in the Battlefield series, what with destructible maps and a co-op campaign... But wait - what's this? From the shadows appeareth the arch-nemesis!

It really didn't take long for the co-op puzzle adventure game The UnderGarden to appear on the Xbox LIVE Arcade price drop list.  Not to say it's a bad game on closeout, just that you can get a decent co-op game at a reduced price.

It would appear that Ubisoft has been busy working on another sequel for the Splinter Cell franchise, as we are starting to see some images of an apparent menu screen. The dissection of this image is very straight forward, as VG24/7 states:

It's finally here. Brink is one of our most anticipated titles of 2011. Promising a seamless integration of single player, co-op, and multiplayer game modes, Brink seems to have something for every FPS fan. Was it worth the wait? Find out in our Co-Op Review.

Atlus has just sent over a brand new trailer for their upcoming action game, The Cursed Crusade.  The two player co-op title supports both online and local co-op play through the campaign as players take up the roles of Esteban the Thief or Denz the Templar.  

Valve have released the official mod tools for Portal 2 on the PC via Steam.  Now anyone can get their hands on the game's inner workings, customize and create their own levels.

Giant scary gorilla thing - I choose you!

It's possible you may not have heard of Dungeon Fighter Online, but is among the most popular MMOs in the world.  Known as Dungeon & Fighter in Asia, the game has more than 200 million players across the globe.  That is a lot of co-op buddies!  An Xbox Live Arcade version is coming later this summer, marking the first time the game has been available on a console.

In a recent lecture at a Kyoto University, former Capcom studio head and game design legend Keiji Inafune revealed just how close we came to missing out on the Dead Rising and Lost Planet franchises.  Apparently, Capcom's sequel-itis wasn't due to a lack of creativity, it had to do with banking on a sure thing.  Everyone knows we are actually on the 14th or 15th installment of Street Fighter.  Resident Evil has been around forever, and no mortal knows how many Mega Man's exist.  Dead Rising and Lost Planet were rejected outright in the prototype stage.  One would assume that if Inafune would have titled the games "Dead Rising X4" or "Lost Planet Alpha 3: The New Challengers" they would have been green-lit for a dozen games each.