Collect - Yes, Video Games are political. Thanks Mike Martinez via Slashdot.
Perhaps the most profound shift in the games industry in the last few years has been the explosion of co-op. Not only are developers dedicating more and more time to providing co-op experiences in their games, they are also finding new ways of exploring the dynamic within it. Perhaps the best example of this is the work by Valve in the Left 4 Dead series. Here, rather than just providing a space for a team of individuals to progress through the game, they are explicitly designing them to punish those who do not co-ordinate their efforts.

IncGamers - MMO Weekly- A Flatter, Funner MMO.
This tepid realization actually caused a bit of discussion. Are the levels really necessary? Is this meaningless sojourn through sub-80 (again) really needed? Is a level-free MMO possible?

It seems that the answer is yes. Unfortunately, this is something of an anathema. Since D&D introduced the leveling concept waaaaaaay back in the 70s, role players have been leveling up character after character. There are very few examples of level-free MMOs to point to, and some folks don't want to give up the leveling mechanic we've all grown so accustomed to. (Story would be lost! Players would have no opportunity to build their skills! Players should have to *earn* their status! So, the noobs would basically start out the same as level 80s? Unthinkable!) You'd think the “level up – gear up – skill up” triad was a law of some kind.

One Last Continue - Don’t Ask About Rock Band On IGN’s Music Hub – UPDATE.
Instead of covering each title in the plastic-instrument genre, MusicHub focuses on pumping out story after story in Activision’s Hero series. Wanna know who’s going to be in Band Hero? They have that info. Did you hear about the DJ Hero Special Edition? They have that too. But don’t ask about this week’s Rock Band or SingStar DLC releases – that info just doesn’t exist. In fact, the only mentions of Harmonix on the site muck this up even more. For example, a revisionist history wiki page seems the suggest that Harmonix got out of the music game biz when they moved to MTV/EA. And the only mention of Rock Band on the site’s Twitter account states simply “Guitar Hero 5 to Outsell The Beatles: Rock Band by 2-to1.” Thanks, IGN MusicHub! You fulfill all of my rhythm action game news needs. So, what’s going on here?