Awards season is over... or starting... or we're in the middle of it.  No one really knows, and no one really cares. We do care about the PlayStation Network Gamer's Choice Awards 2011, though. Why, you ask?  We'll tell you why.  The titles that win these awards go on sale to kick off Sony's Spring Fever Event.  So if you don't have Dead Nation, Castle Crashers, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, or Age of Zombies, now is your chance to pick them up for 30-50% off.  

Hard Corps: Uprising came out a few weeks back on Xbox Live Arcade, complete with two player local and online co-op play.  Its Contra with really, REALLY, pretty graphics.  While that sounds great, our review shed some light on the title - we liked it, but were generally annoyed by some nagging issues.

Blizzard has just released a new video retrospective that looks at the 20 year history of the company.  The beefy video that weighs in at almost an hour long shows the company history from Silicon & Synapse after founders Mike Morhaime, Frank Pearce and Allen Adham met at UCLA up until modern day.  Its incredibly facinating to see the work that went into early Blizzard titles like Lost Vikings and Rock & Roll Racing - a small team in a 600 square foot office coding, creating and goofing off.  Honestly the video is way more entertaining than it should be.

This month in MMO Co-Opportunities we take a look at one of the superhero MMOs for a change a pace: Champions Online. A deep character customization system and a personalized Nemesis experience offer some unique ways to play with others.

It's the lovable monster Marco's birthday, and no one showed up for the party. Well, that was before co-op was confirmed - now everyone should show up at his party. Or, everyone that fits in front of your Kinect anyway. Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster is now officially co-op through the most adorable Sesame Street storyline imaginable - no strings attached.

We've waited and waited for the release date of sci-fi FPS Interstellar Marines to be officially announced, in spite of quite a bit of turbulence surrounding its development. To tide us over until the full games releases, it looks like Zero Point Software is giving us a prequel story to the full game. This story will be released on Xbox LIVE Arcade, Steam, and Playstation Network long before the full title is released.

In a somewhat early form of a co-op release alert, we're letting you know that Slam Bolt Scrappers is out March 15th. Why the early notification? It's out right after PAX East, and we'll be bombarding you with news and hands-on previews until the 15th. We're definitely hoping for some hands-on time with this puzzle/tower defense/brawler at PAX East, but if we don't get any, it won't be long before we'll be reviewing it (after March 15. Got that? March 15th).

"Lighting, you've got company.  You know what to do."  And so begins the latest batch of trailers and screenshots for Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon.  We have fifteen new screenshots and two new videos for you today.  The screens cover armor and enemy types.  The videos preview some features of the game along with the new six man survivor mode.  Fans of EDF 2017 have a lot to look forward to here.  It appears like they've upgraded the previous title in every way.  Let's hope the fun factor remains intact.

For those of you who hate going outside, refuse to accept physical mail, and love being six months late to the party (and no, I'm not talking about PC gamers), Halo: Reach is coming to Games on Demand March 15th.  Halo: Reach earned our prestigious Co-Op Game of the Year award. The price is not yet posted on Major Nelson's blog, which means it's sure to rankle some gamers.  I don't know about you, but I hate being rankled. 

The Xbox Live Deal of the Week offers a great co-op game at a great price.  Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is 50% off.  You can pick up the two player co-op title for 600 Microsoft points, which translates to about $7.50.  We gave the isometric action/puzzler a 4.5 out of 5 in our Co-Op Review.  Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light also happened to win our coveted Best Downloadable Co-Op Title of the Year Award.  A slew of DLC is available for half off as well.

Last month we had a hands-on preview of the promising Gatling Gears.  It's a twin stick shooter that has some RPG elements, plus two player local and online co-op.    You will pick up "gears" throughout the thirty-level campaign and spend them on upgrades for your battle chassis. You can then pilot your own customizable mech in your friend's game.  Today we have some new screen shots showing plenty of destruction and explosions.  As big twin stick shooter fans, Gatling Gears is one to check out when it becomes available this spring on XBLA and PSN.

Looking to "Kill with Skill" as the tag line says?  Thought $60 was too much to do so, despite it being quite well reviewed.  Good news then - today only Amazon has Bulletstorm on sale for $39.99 - that price includes all platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.  Definitely a steal for a game that's only a few weeks old.