Next Gen is Co-op

I've been hunting for a definition of this new generation of console. For quite awhile the industry has been trying to convince me that the new motion sensitive interfaces featured on the Wii and PS3 are the key. Is how I interact with my console the definition of the next generation? With the inaccuracy of the Wii and the limitations of the PS3's Sixaxis controller, that's pretty hard to believe. After all, the generations are never about the hardware, it's always all about the games.This generation has already been defined by the greatest games released thus far. Gears of War, GRAW, Rainbow Six Vegas, Resistance: Fall of Man and Crackdown all have one crucial feature in common; Cooperative gameplay. The next generation, this generation, is not defined by how we control the game but how we experience it with others, cooperatively.It's true that co-op gameplay has been available in the past but it's never been almost completely expected in every single game as it is right now. Gears of War brought cooperative gameplay to the forefront, allowing friends to jump into your game with the click of a button. This functionality is made possible by the seamless integration of Xbox Live, but even if you had to load your game from a checkpoint, like Crackdown, it's still incredibly easy.Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for the Xbox 360, released long before Gears of War, featured not only online competitive multiplayer, but also a collection of co-op scenarios to play with friends. While you couldn't play the single player campaign seamlessly online, having separate co-op maps definitely ushered in the next generation of gaming. Rainbow Six Vegas offers the most multiplayer variety on Xbox Live, with more competitive and cooperative game types than I can even remember. The highlight of the online gameplay is the co-op Story and co-op Terrorist Hunt game modes. Terrorist Hunt pits you and three other team members in one of the titles numerous maps with randomly generated enemies. Co-op Story pits you and up to three other players in an unaltered trek through the entire single player campaign, something many titles until this generation have struggled to accomplish.Resistance: Fall of Man, released alongside the Playstation 3, also features co-op gameplay. While you can't enjoy this game mode online, it still allows you to enjoy the single player campaign with a local friend in it's entirety. The co-op is never built into the storyline of the gameplay but just having it in the game at all shows that Incognito, a relative newcomer to the genre, sees the writing on the wall.Crackdown, released on February 20th in the US to critical acclaim, allows you to carry your "Agent" in and out of any game you please, blasting and leaping your way to your peak abilities. While you can't simply warp in and out at ease, the game will require the host to respawn at a local checkpoint, its well worth it. The co-op in Crackdown is incredibly fun and is quite possibly the most engrossing online experience I've had on any console.Don't forget Army of Two, in development by EA and scheduled for release the Xbox 360 and PS3. Army of Two will headline with the cooperative element in an entirely new IP. To see a powerhouse like EA risk a brand new IP on co-op might be enough evidence in itself.The Cooperative Generation is here right now, are you in? If so, click "Join Session in Progress" and I'll see you in there.

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