Excuse us for a moment while we try to digest the record-breaking achievements that a little-known novel called The Da Vinci Code has made over the last two years, all courtesy of a 2K Games fact sheet. Best-selling novel…of…all…time. For two years it has sat cozily on The New York Times’ best-seller list, and here’s way: there are more than 38.6 million copies of the novel in print, which averages out to more than two million copies sold each month. It seems just about everyone is picking up on these newfangled forms of storytelling they call “books.”

Quite simply, Dan Brown’s murder-mystery has reached megacraze status, and a stroll down Lucrative License Lane means it’s about to become an ultramega summer movie blockbuster (with Ron Howard at the helm) and – hey, what do you know – a videogame. Publisher 2K Games isn’t entirely blinded by the Benjamins, though, as they’ve handpicked the respected team at The Collective (albeit opinions vary on their testament to graffiti culture, we know) to handle the dirty work.

The story should be familiar: “while attempting to solve a murder, Harvard professor Robert Langdon and brilliant French cryptographer Sophie Neveu uncover a 2000-year-old conspiracy through clues encoded in paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci.” Players will guide both Langdon and Neveu in a race through Paris and against time, by golly, to solve this potentially earth-shaking mystery.

The crux of the game will consist of puzzle and mystery solving, sprinkled with a blend of stealth, combat, exploration and, don't forget, “frantic chases,” many of which are game-exclusive experiences Players will have to snoop through world-famous locations such as The Louvre, Westminster Abbey, St. Sulpice in order to piece the murder together, ultimately taking them to the treasure protected by an ancient secret society. And no, they’re not looking for no members.

Suspense! Discovery! Survival! May 2006? You bet! We’re so excited, we can hardly wait to return with more updates.