I haven't even scratched the surface of how the UK edition is chock-full of witty (but appropriate) jokes, reviews written in both layman's and expert's terms, and the inclusion of some really awesome stuff (like big contests, a beta-monitoring column, and spotlights on MMORPGs and their development). Seriously, it's better.

They're starting to review more hardware now (a feature both magazines were lacking in previous years). The reviews aren't exactly unbiased since one month Falcon may be the "ultimate gaming system", then the following month Alienware, and back and forth it goes. I've never actually seen them compare these systems head-to-head and come up with a winner. Not surprising as it so happens both companies are major advertisers in the magazine. Same thing with major components like video cards. They're good about giving a thumbs-up (Editor's Choice) and it's hilarious when they trash on a product, but they're not really good about specifying which product(s) are cream of the crop. I wish they'd be a little more like PC Magazine or even Consumer Reports when it came to reviewing gaming-related hardware.

In the past, the biggest sell with this magazine was the free CD they gave out each month containing demos of new games. It was great at first since they could pack it full of games. Nowadays, through no fault of their own, these demos are getting so big you can only get a few on one CD. Still, they do a pretty good job of getting the "big" releases on CD now that they have to be more selective on which ones to publish.

The number of reviews seems to be shrinking and the Vederman and Coconut Monkey jokes are getting really, really old, but it's still the magazine of choice when it comes to deciding on a PC game to waste my hard-earned money on.