Okay, so the big bombastic it-changes-everything news from today is of course the acquisition of Bungie, namely every one of the studio’s new IPs, by the ever-consuming behemoth that is Activision. It is absolutely and utterly huge news, and as such I’ll be discussing it a lot more in the next few days. As will you. As will everyone.

However, I think the news that’s gone under the radar consequentially – or maybe just because people don’t seem to think it’s that significant – is that The Sims 3 is coming to consoles in Q3.

Stop looking at me like that. I think it’s pretty big stuff. OK, it’s not Bungie and Activision big, but come on… this is still significant, isn’t it?

After all, The Sims is the PC’s best selling franchise – heck, it’s the fourth best selling franchise of all time. But now the third entry in the life simulation series is coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and DS. Yes, they’re coming a year after the game released on PC and Mac, and yes, The Sims 2 also made the leap eventually to the PS2 and other consoles. But shouldn’t we read between the lines? Isn’t this full-on assault on the consoles, in light of EA’s continuing attempt to make PC mainstays like Command and Conquer work on other systems, saying something about what the publisher might do with the series when it comes to The Sims 4? Or is that really reading too much into what are essentially just a few more ports of a series which has already been ported to high heaven?

Maybe it is a bit over-reactionary, but you can bet that EA will be keeping a close eye on how the series does on the likes of the PS3 and 360, and particularly the Wii given the wavering fortunes of the MySims games – EA seems to keep quiet these days about how well that series is selling. But surely the fully-fledged latest version of The Sims will appeal to the core user base of the Wii? Then there is of course the piracy issue, something that has really hurt the sales of The Sims 3 on the PC.

If The Sims 3starts selling enough on the consoles, EA will surely consider making The Sims 4 multiplatform, a move that could potentially devastate the sales of the PC’s trump retail card outside of World of Warcraft. What could that mean for PC gaming?

But maybe, at this stage, this really is just idle speculation. Still, can the console sales make any dent on the 6 million copies shifted so far? Watch this space.

So it looks like Luigi will actually be playable in Super Mario Galaxy 2. As someone who apparently cannot claim that he has completed Super Mario Galaxy because he only got 121 stars and not all 5 bazillion of them, the news of his return doesn’t tickle my fancy bone all that much.

If Nintendo really wants me to play through Mario’s second trip around the Galaxy more than just the one time, then I need more than just the lanky green-clad mustachio man as an incentive. On that note, was anyone else really disappointed by New Super Mario Bros. Wii not including the Super Mario Bros. 2 dream team of Mario, Luigi, Princess and Toad? It seemed to make total sense, yet Nintendo wasn’t about to reprise the formation that made up the black sheep of the family.

Still, after playing through Super Mario Crossover, I realize that Mario has and always will be built for lots of different characters to play through it. If you haven’t played the game over at Newgrounds, you really should. It’s essentially Super Mario Bros. but with the added option of being able to select from a number of NES heroes like Contra’s Bill, Metroid’s Samus, and The Legend of Zelda’s Link. Simply put, it’s this year’s win.

So yeah, Super Mario Crossover has taught me two things:

1. I want the option to play as Luigi and as Princess and Toad in Super Mario Galaxy 2.
2. If Mega Man doesn’t appear in the next Super Smash Bros. game, I’ll nerd-rage.

Of course, I'll still play (and probably love) both. But really, as great as Super Mario Galaxy 2 will inevitably be, it would be fantastic to see Nintendo shake things up and bring back a few Mario favorites us to play as. Even if the inclusion of Peach and her floating skills in the topsy-turvy world of Super Mario Galaxy lends itself even more to up skirt pictures…

Even with my ability to Schwarzenegger my way through it, I’ve quite enjoyed my first time with the Splinter Cell series with Splinter Cell: Conviction. The gadgets are cool, the story is suitably 24-style OTT, and the missions are varied up enough to keep things interesting.

My favorite thing about the game, though, is the very cool words-on-walls art style that sucked me in to its E3 trailer. They can tell you where to go and what to do (see above), presenting hints more stylistically than typical for a game, while the videos of past events played on the walls around you add an artistic element to plot exposition.

I’d love to say I was original in thinking what other games the art style could be applied to, but Eidos community manager Mike Oldman beat me to it a whole year ago with his amusing take on the idea. I love the Mario one pictured below – food for thought, Shigeru.

But seriously, I’d love to see other developers and art directors pick up on the style and evolve it. I’m not asking for copycat implementations, but it would be great to see similar ideas played upon in other games. Imagine how great it would be in something like Heavy Rain, for example. You could have hinted at the player characters’ inner thoughts at all times (rather than by having to press L2), and it would have fitted in perfectly with the game’s artistic aspirations.

Or maybe it could have worked in Uncharted 2. There was a bit early on in that game when Drake was talking to himself as he escaped a cave, hinting at what the player needed to do to get out safe. It was clever enough, but talking to oneself is always a bit of an unconvincing way to communicate hints in games, and something similar to what Splinter Cell: Conviction did could offer a more immersive solution.

In reality, Splinter Cell: Conviction's art style could be applied to a number of games, and hopefully it will be. The lesson to be learned, though, is that there are smarter ways of communicating things like what a player needs to do next or what the player character’s inner thoughts are than the staples of an information box or the character speaking aloud respectively.

May sees the battle of the combat-fueled racer as Bizarre Creations’ Blur takes on Black Rock Studio’s Split Second: Velocity, and it really is a battle of the heavyweights. Bizarre has plenty of racing experience in the form of Project Gotham Racing, but Black Rock are definitely not newcomers to the genre, and with Pure the studio showed plenty of potential and creative flair. So, unless you do know how to defy time, a decision has to be made. Which battling racer to choose?

I’ve already spent a lot of time with the Blur multiplayer beta, which definitely got me excited for that game. But, if anything, I’m even more excited about Split Second after playing its demo, which went up on Xbox Live yesterday.

There’s no doubting that Split Second is the prettier game, and the atmosphere is definitely more intense too. The whole shtick is that you’re taking part in an extreme reality show, driving for money and glory, dodging huge explosions and taking out your competitors. With the 24-style ad dramatis music alongside the color and fidelity of the visuals, Split Second’s presentation is spectacular.

The main difference between Blur and Split Second is that the latter’s combat is more indirect. Rather than featuring Mario Kart/Wipeout-type weapons, Split Second has trigger points where you can activate power plays. You gain the ability to do so by pulling off drafts, drifts, jumps and dodges.

The power plays take the form of giant structures crashing aflame onto the track, explosive barrels being dropped out of the air, and a whole host of other destructive disasters. And they are really destructive – we’re talking Die Hard destructive. Not only can these take out your competitors with these power plays, but they also alter the track. By the end of each of my sessions with the demo, huge portions of the map were totally and utterly devastated. Just like Die Hard.

As the race wears on, you can activate certain power plays that change the entire route of the track. In the demo, you’re able to blow up a piece of tarmac so that the next lap you have to drop through the hole left by your caustic actions and into an underground car park.

To me, that’s a bit more original than what Blur’s doing. And that originality excites me as someone who would probably take a Wipeout that came with the perk-based features of Blur over Blur itself.

Then again, Blur is bringing that perk-based multiplayer to the table and that does appeal to me. Also, there’s only one map in the Split Second demo, and that could play against it compared to the many hours players could plunge into the Blur multiplayer beta.

At this stage, it’s too close to call. Either way, what’s great is that we have two (most likely) cracking games to look forward to in a genre that’s been unloved by the industry in recent years. You can decide which one you'll be playing when Split Second releases on May 18 for PC, PS3, and 360, and when Blur releases a week later for the same platforms.

I’m not trying to start the rumor mill here – that’s just asking for trouble.

But let’s face it: all eyes will be on Valve at June’s E3 event in Los Angeles. The Half-Life developer astounded us with the announcement of Left 4 Dead 2 last year, when many were (possible foolishly) expecting the long-awaited unveiling of Half-Life 2: Episode Three. Nearly a year later and Portal 2 has unsurprisingly been announced, and we know that Valve will be showing it off at E3. And if you’re not excited about Portal 2, then you haven’t played Portal – or there’s something seriously wrong with you.

The question remains, though: will Valve be announcing anything new at E3? What they do this year will only come under increased scrutiny, and the patience of Half-Life fans is only wearing thinner.

Valve boss Gabe Newell has been very talkative about Half-Life in British games magazine Edge recently, going on about a scarier future for the franchise and how the next Half-Life won’t change Gordon Freeman. Newell is usually tight-lipped regards actual disclosures on the much-loved shooter series. With E3 on the horizon, this is surely a ray of hope for those of us who’ve been waiting for Episode Three since forever – or more accurately, 2007.

But we’ve been burnt before. And while Valve professes that it’s no longer a one-project-at-a-time developer, externally we only ever hear confirmation of one project at any one time. So should we wait until the end of 2010 and the release of Portal before we start hoping for Episode Three?

Will it even be Episode Three? There’s been idle speculation that the long development time between Episode Two and now might translate into a fully-blown Half-Life 3. That might be enough to shut up the detractors that Valve gained during the boycott of Left 4 Dead 2.

Of course, things could go in reverse. It seems incredibly unlikely, but it was this time last year when Left 4 Dead 2 was announced. What are the chances of Left 4 Dead 3? For all the nonsense of the boycott, Left 4 Dead 2 went on to match the 3 million that its predecessor sold. Clearly fans at large are not disinterested in yearly updates so will Valve and EA be tempted?

Maybe there’ll be a completely new Valve IP at E3? Hmm. I’m going to stick my neck out and say ‘nuh-uh’.

My totally speculative and meaningless prediction is that we’ll hear no announcement from Valve at E3, but we will see the next Half-Life game by 2011. If not, I’m officially throwing my toys out of the pram. You heard it here first.

In the aftermath of the plethora of games screaming, “Run away! Run away!” after seeing the killer bunny that was Modern Warfare 2, 2010’s Q1 has seen a glut of big titles as a result. We’ve already had Bayonetta, Darksiders, Mass Effect 2, MAG, No More Heroes 2, Star Trek Online, BioShock 2, Dante’s Inferno, Heavy Rain, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Final Fantasy XIII, God of War III, Just Cause 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, and Monster Hunter Tri – and that only scrapes the surface.

Yet, somehow, April has been relatively quiet. Splinter Cell and Monster Hunter aside, the only real major player left is Super Street Fighter IV, and that’s essentially a revamped re-release anyway.

Well, the lull is over. May is going to kick your ass, my ass, and all our asses all over again.

On May 11, the legendary Jun Takeuchi’s latest offering, Lost Planet 2, will hit retail shelves in North America and Europe. If another bout of mechanized massacre doesn’t interest you, then you can always get your tricks on with the third entry in the Skate series, released on the same day.

But don’t get too attached, because just a week later there’s a Q4-like mass congregation of releases on May 18. There’s Alan Wake, the long-anticipated (and actually existing) action thriller from the makers of Max Payne. There’s also Rockstar’s GTA-like take on the Wild West with Red Dead Redemption. Then there’s the makeover removal that’s been applied to the Prince of Persia series in the curious but exciting The Forgotten Sands. And we’re not done yet, because there’s Split Second: Velocity and Trauma Team as well, and both those games have shown strongly in previews.

If you somehow find time to catch your breath after the May 18 chaos, then you still won’t be ready for the rest of the madness, because there’s only Super Mario Galaxy 2 round the corner on May 23, arguable the most anticipated Wii game over the year. Then just two days later you have to get your racing helmet on with Blur and ModNation Racers, then the month closes out with the fun and frolics of Lego Harry Potter. There’s Bit.Trip Runner and 3D Dot Game Heroes to look out for too.

I hope you’ve saved up some pennies – oh, and learnt how to master time – because May is shaping up to be a very expensive, very hectic month of gaming.

This is Microsoft’s latest venture to promote the ever-struggling-to-be-noticed Xbox Live Indie Games on the 360, the formerly-named Community Games section which has produced the likes of I Made a Game with Zombies in It!, Avatar Golf, and Miner Dig Deep.

While Microsoft is proud of the many games that have been released and claim that there’s been a good response to them, critics and players alike continue to shun the service, mainly because for every good game on there, there are 10 terrible ones.

So here in the UK, the Xbox Inside team has launched The Independent Charles Show, a series of 8 fortnightly five-minute episodes for Xbox Live users to watch on their dashboards. Consolevania fans will recognize Robert Florence as Independent Charles, and in TICS there’s a hefty dollop of the surreal and dirty humor that pervaded through Florence’s cult show. At one point I failed to suppress a guilty snigger at a rather cheeky piece of editing during footage of the shameful Don’t Be Nervous Talking 2 Girls (pictured above).

Whether the humor is to your taste or not, and however much of a change it is from the fairly controlled video you see on the 360 dashboard, what disappoints is that there really wasn’t much in the way of actual focus on the games. It seemed more like a vessel for Florence’s humor, and the two games in question were barely touched upon. It was almost like an admission that people don’t even know about the Indie Games service, and this episode was just to highlight that it exists. Maybe future episodes will gives the games a bit more of the limelight.

But even if it doesn’t really get the word out there about some of the great games that actually do exist in the service, The Independent Charles Show still presents an entertaining 5 minutes to while away before you jump into Battlefield. For non-UK XBLA users interested in the show, Florence recently said on his Twitter account that it might be coming to the official Xbox YouTube account. Stay tuned.

What would actually help the Indie Games service? The inclusion of achievements is typically the first answer offered, but what about a bit more impetus on Microsoft’s part to actually get the good games promoted on the dashboard and in critical coverage?

I’ve played a few more games – if you want to call them that – of SleepisDeath since my last post. It’s been an unruly cavalcade of the surreal and cerebral. My last session involved a messenger angel sent by God to judge a cop who had shot and killed a man in cold blood. The angel presented her with the choice of either killing a sick old lady or killing herself. It was like Saw meeting Dogma.

The more I’ve played with it, the more I’ve realised that the rather complicated, maybe even hostile interface on the side of the controller (storyteller) can be unnecessarily off-putting. And I say unnecessarily because I think some of the SleepisDeath settings get in the way of getting accustomed to the game and its intricacies.

There’s a distinct possibility you're raising an eyebrow at the sheer mention of ‘settings’. The Readme file, the only manual-like item that comes with a download of the game, makes no mention of any such thing. If you go looking, however, you’ll find that there is a settings folder inside the SleepisDeath folder, full of files that you can edit.

The two you need to look out for are ‘fullscreen’ and ‘timeLimit’. Change ‘fullscreen’ to 0 and you can play the game windowed. This is vital because you can then keep a chat window open with whoever you’re playing with, maybe to ask him or her to cancel a turn if you didn’t quite finish getting everything sorted on your previous one, or whatever.

I use that example because a common problem raised by friends has been the game's imposed time limit of 30 seconds, which they’ve all felt is too constricting because it simply doesn’t give you enough time to think and plan out a move, especially if you’re the controller. Well, it’s actually changeable. Edit the ‘timeLimit’ file to read – say – 90 and you’ll have 90 seconds per turn. You can make it as long as you like, but it’s probably best to agree on a set time between you and your partner so that sessions don't drag on from too much dawdling.

My third recommendation is to download a virtual network creator like Hamachi. I’ve had lots of trouble sorting out the port forwarding SleepisDeath requires, but Hamachi has bypassed the problem by allowing me to play over an artificial LAN. It seems to make for a quicker connection, too. If you’re having any issues connecting with other players, it’s worth checking out.

The fourth recommendation, and this goes to budding controllers, is to simply step back and think out your story for a few minutes. Even if you don’t want to spend ages editing objects and would rather just jump straight in, it’s worth briefly planning out an idea and a few possible directions for it. Then take any improvisation from there. If you can get a good rapport going on with your partner and there’s a good story to frame it, SleepisDeath can be very stimulating, even without hours spent cultivating specific music and level design. You just have to go into it with the right frame of mind.