The idea and practical applications of marriage barely come up in video games. Sure, there’s not much of a place for it in Angry Birds, and it theoretically might be the ultimate goal of dating sims. But what about games where you’re playing as a character or interact with NPCs who just ARE married? Sean and Vinnk (gamers who are, apparently miraculously, each respectively married with children) explore the reasons why games might actually shy away from the trapping of matrimony, and how the few games that do use it (Fable, The Sims, Alan Wake) want to milk it for emotional impact. But how "emotionally impacted" might an 8 year-old gamer feel about such subject matter — and is that right there the reason it’s a subject few developers dare to tread? And when is Mario just going to marry Princess Peach already! How many more times does she need to get kidnapped by Bowser for him to get the hint??

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Master Chief or Commander in Chief? If you’re in the US, thats what you’re facing on November 6, as Microsoft will be launching the first chapter in the next Halo trilogy, Halo 4. This day also happens to be Election Day, with national and local offices including the Presidency on the ballot in all states and territories.

Halo 4 is still pending a rating, but is expected to be rated “M” like others in the series. M rated games are available to those age 17 and up, while those 18 and up are eligible to vote. Just a friendly reminder to vote by absentee ballot if you’re planning to attend a midnight launch and spend all night playing.

Halo 4 is on the cover of the next issue of Game Informer (see image) and many details from the interior article are already online. Expect the Covenant to return in reduced numbers, a Forerunner planet, and a new faction that will challenge players beyond previous games.

The video starts with the closing cinematic from Halo 3, so spoilers beware if you managed to not complete that game since the last time Earth had a leap day.

The designers and producers at 343 Industries walk through some of the changes to the Spartan armor and do reveal that multiplayer features the next generation Spartan IV equipment. Master Chief himself was (or is?) a Spartan II, and much of the Noble team from Reach were Spartan IIIs. 343 were not kind enough to talk about armor abilities, but it does seem that dual wielding is gone for good.

Only a small fragment of campaign footage appears, and they’re not revealing the enemies just yet. We’ll probably have to wait until E3 in June for more answers.

When Nintendo reported two straight quarterly losses in early 2011, followed by a less-than-stellar initial release of its new 3DS handheld console, it didn’t take long for the naysayers to begin spelling the company’s doom.

This is a familiar dance. It started in the ’90s, when Nintendo’s veneer of dominance started cracking in the face of competition with the Sega Genesis. Or maybe it was the decision to abandon the CD format for the Nintendo 64 when Sega and Sony made the leap. Or perhaps it was because, even with the GameCube, no Nintendo console had sold better than its predecessor — that is, until the release of the Wii.

However, despite calls that Nintendo abandon its hardware ambitions — even with the new wrinkle of the ever-rising iOS platform — there are plenty of reasons why Nintendo would never, could never, and should never stop making TV or handheld consoles.

Here are the top five:

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The Wii U is set to launch by the end of 2012… but is it really? We’ve been seeing the same tech demo since E3 2011, but no actual titles running on Wii U hardware. Will Nintendo make the projected launch date, or is it all smoke and mirrors? Sean and Vinnk disagree about what this means, encourage Sony to get out of the hardware market since the PS3 has never gotten above third place in North America, the PS Vita’s launch has been a larger thud than the one for 3DS, and rumors that the Next Xbox from Microsoft will somehow ban used games. RAMPANT SPECULATION!

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Click “more” for the show notes!

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The most popular platform for MS points has been the Xbox 360, where they debuted with Xbox Live Arcade releases in 2005. In the past 5 years there have been several modifications to the system, including lowering the smallest pack for purchase. When Games On Demand appeared with retail releases available for direct download, Microsoft allowed publishers to charge an actual amount to a credit card.

With the Zune and Windows Phone added to Microsoft’s virtual store fronts, the company no doubt wants to streamline their service. No indication has been made if the retail gift cards will be recalled or if existing points credited to accounts will be converted to their nearest dollar and cent equivalent.

Are you excited to be done with points? Or did you like having a little virtual pocket change rattling around your account waiting to spent?