Episode 14 of the Co-Opticast is now live!
Nick and I recount our games of the preceding fortnight, talk about the top co-op gaming stories, review 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, and wax poetic about cheesy movies only a nerd and/or gamer would love.
Hello, gentle reader(s)! With PAX and work keeping my ass busy, I’ve been letting old, terrible habits resurface! I shouldn’t neglect this site any longer!
In exciting news, I helped launch a new podcast over at Co-Optimus! The first episode of the Co-Opticast was posted online today. It stars yours truly and Nick Puleo, the Managing Editor of Co-Optimus and Editor In Chief of Evil Avatar. At 30 minutes, it’s light on fluff and moderately packed with content. It’s both of our first attempts at creating something like this, so any comments are welcome. Either here or any of the myriad locations I’ve pimped it.
Played some of the new Xbox Live Arcade title, Schizoid with Nick tonight - I’d have to say it’s one of the greatest cooperative titles I’ve had the pleasure of playing in a long time.
The basic premise is that each player controls a little spaceship, either red or blue. Enemies are also red or blue, and you can only kill the same colored enemy as you. If you ever played Ikaruga, you’re instantly familiar with the concepts presented here. The catch, however, is that as the levels increase in complexity, you have to pull off some very tricky (and ultimately rewarding) stunts in complete coordination with your partner.
A pair of good level examples:
1. Both players start in the center of a level, surrounded by a sea of blue enemies. The blue player must almost immediately start clearing a path for the red player to fly around in, since they cannot do anything but try and avoid getting hit while the level is cleared out.
2. A level is filled with enemies who fire the opposite color of bullets - each player must use their ship as a bullet shield while the other one maneuvers through the newfound path to kill off the enemy.
With 120 levels, a great balance of achievement difficulty, and some of the best co-op this side of Gears, this is a no-brainer to recommend.
Welcome to the personal site of Mike Katsufrakis, designer extraordinaire. Mike currently works as a Web Developer for a defense contractor by day, is the main artist/designer for Co-Optimus.com and Colony of Gamers.com by night. He lives in sunny Fairfax, Virginia with his wife and two cats.
