The title, or something along the lines of the title, refers to the achievement in Halo Wars for beating the game, start to finish, in co-op mode. Now I have to say right off the bat, that Ensemble did a wonderful thing by making a co-operative campaign. Playing games by yourself is fun, but if you play with a friend, the fun get multiplied by two.

In the older days of gaming, there wasn’t much co-op, it was more of a pass the controller style. You know, you’d die in Super Mario Bros. and you’d pass the the controller to your buddy, who would die sometime and this would just continue. This type of co-op was very crude, and hardly effective, reason being that half the time you weren’t even playing the game. If your buddy was really good at said game, you were watching for a while. We eventually got to the point where multiplayer was introduced, and this meant now  you could play together, at parties, etc. There was a certain point where the multiplayer got stale because you were essentially doing the same things over and over again, however this didn’t happen for a while.

Next came an online system, which astounded people because now you play with someone and they didn’t even have to be at your house. They could be halfway around the world and still play with you, and people thought this was the pinnacle of peer to peer gaming, until we got co-operative campaign, and this in my opinion is the best aspect of any online type. Sure you can play different game types, kill some people, have a good time while playing online multiplayer, but with the campaign comes a shared experience, one that is unique from online multiplayer. With online multiplayer you work together for a common cause, you share the achievement of victory, and you share the laughs and the outrages. What co-operative campaign does is that that foundation, and add a story for you and your friend(s) to experience. Now you get more out of it.

Halo Wars feels to me like a dumbed down RTS, which is true in all perspectives, although it features co-operative campaign. A co-operative campaign in an RTS?! Are they crazy?! It’s possible, but it’s more like one of the best ideas introduced. I’m not sure if Halo Wars was the first to implement co-operative campaign but it sure as hell does a great job at making the experience fun for everyone and when you’re doing co-op, that’s what matters.

Sometime ago, there was this fast pace game with absolutely no need for story and the game was just pure action – you jump in, kick ass, and come back another time. It was the time for Quake III, this frag fest was all about the game play and action, and it still is with a new incarnation – Quake Live. Quake III was one of my favorite games of all times and getting into the Quake Live beta, I creamed my pants. But the closed beta is over, and the game is in open beta to all the public to play and for free.
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I am sure everyone has at least played one online multiplayer game, ranging from First Person Shooters to Real-Time Strategy. This is the new form of competition that has arisen within the past decade and a half due to video games and the internet. This new form of competition has come up so strong that there is a whole entire country dedicated to it, though it maybe only one game, it still applies. Then there is of course the tournaments, LAN parties, even conventions that celebrate these competitive games; things like QuakeCON or the World Cyber Games. It has come to the point that this new form of competition should get their own ESPN or something but let’s take it to a smaller scale, that simple internet lobby where some gather to play competitively, lobbies like Battle dot net, Steam, Playstation Network, and even Xbox Live. But I’m not here to talk about the new age of online sports, but rather online sportsmanship – what the hell happened to it?
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There is a pretty heinous trend that seems to be appearing more and more in this next-gen era, and it has already started to destroy some potential good times. I am referring to the fact that games these days are starting to avoid or limit one-console multiplayer for the ability to play online with friends.

In particular, I must bring up Left 4 Dead.

Picture renting the game with the intent of making a weekend of it. You tell your friends to come over Saturday night for beers and zombies. Truly it will be an event that the gods themselves might envy. You set up, every-one’s settled in, you turn on your console and… you come to find out that you can only have two players per console. The rest of the night everyone is arguing about whose turn it is.
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When you think about the Wii, you immediately think crappy multiplayer party titles that everyone can only enjoy only if they’re A: ten years old; or B: drunk off their asses (except for the rare first-party and third party gem here and there, of course). Now it seems that Platinum Games, that blessed company made up of the imaginative people that brought God Hand screaming into the world, is looking to change that, with their upcoming title, the gory and noir-laced Madworld, featuring some multiplayer segments that should be pretty fun, seeing as the  game itself isn’t your usual sports-related title.

Of course, it’s not yet explicitly stated just how much of the game will be multiplayer, but it’s this bit in the official MadWorld website that got our attention:

Take control and compete in a variety of ultra-violent ‘Blood Bath Challenges’ which can be played offline multiplayer with your friends or enemies.

Hopefully it lets us play online multiplayer, too. Man Darts will probably be a nice way to vent all that rage from lost Mario Kart matches.

You’re stranded in a city full of infected, you’re the only survivor you know. What should you do to survive? Here are 5 tips to make sure you survive a zombie infection in the universe of Left4Dead.

Tip 5

Two guns are better than one

Find plenty of guns, and plenty of ammo. Guns kill infected. Since there are stacks of infinite ammo scattered across the city, definitely use them. You’ll never know what you’re up against. Also, don’t forget to find a second pistol, which can probably be found on a random car in the neighborhood.

Tip 4
Find other survivors. The more, the merrier. Furthermore, you can use other people’s bodies to run away and survive, if it has to come to that. Oh, and they can also help you if you’re friendly to them, which is probably a better option. Otherwise they’ll leave you alone with zombies ripping your guts out.

Tip 3
Get some exercise. Seriously, you’ll be running all day long. If you don’t have any stamina, well, good luck. Don’t forget there’s an infinite amount of zombies. And you don’t want to be left behind by the others because you’re so tired while there are 20 zombies coming from behind.

Tip 2
Take a lot of pipebombs with you. They’re the white things that you can throw and they go boom. For some reason you can find them everywhere. Don’t just take one, stuff your pockets with them. You don’t want to be left without any pipebombs as there’s a zombie raid coming after you.

These zombies are running away from Chicago Ted

Tip 1
Find Chicago Ted. No zombie is safe from Chicago Ted. If a smoker grabs him, he rips his tongue out and uses it as a lasso. If he meets a tank, the tank will run away in fear. If a witch startles Chicago Ted, that witch is dead. If you find him, you’ll be sure to survive all zombies you encounter.

FREEEEEEDOOOOOOOM!

Much has been made of the current health of PC gaming, with developers and fans alike voicing their opinions one way or the other. Leaving aside piracy, the casual market, and all that nonsense for a moment, I’d like to offer my reasons why I’m about ready to fly the PC gaming coop.
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