Kane's back and he hasn't brought his good mood with him. We go one-on-one with producer Jim Vessella to find out why now, of all times, EA is adding a strategic mode to C&C3, and whether or not it's going to make the game completely awesome.

Beyond Kane's Wrath, we also spend a little time with Team Fortress 2, get hands-on with Timeshift at last, and poop our pants with FEAR: Perseus mandate. It's all part of our new "hands on only" preview section, so you know we've played the games you're still drooling about!

You want reviews? How about we kick off with some Quake Wars. You might have played it, but we've played it to death. Either have your suspicions confirmed, or if you've held off on your purchase, find out if this team-based shooter is going to be your cup of tea.

Speaking of sado-masochistic horror, Clive Barker's Jericho finally drops, and it's not what we were expecting. Fortunately, Settlers VI: Rise of an Empire is what we were expecting: a return to form. But does it go far enough?

There are more tasty reviews in store, including our new "Free MMO" review, which you'll find in the mag each issue. This time it's Drift City because we keep getting letters asking us if there's a cell-shaded MMO racing game out there...

Since most of the tech section this issue is really down to earth and practical, emphasising value over stupidly high level of performance, we thought we'd better spice things up with a bit and take a look at a $100,000 home cinema set up.

So Lindsay and I suffered the tribulations of having to go all the way out to Taren Point to watch movies on chairs that move around in time to the action on screen. Sounds intriguing?

Or if it sounds instead like a pipe dream, flip the page of find out exactly what you get when you choose a premium motherboard over a standard model. Then we get back into the dream scene with a $6000 PC (the RAM alone costs a grand!) followed by a selection of tasty tech, from the Logitech G9 gaming mouse to a PCI-Express TV tuner. At last a use for those tiny little slots on your mobo!

That's right, you heard right, we've built the Beastie just so we can show you how. Not how to plug in the cables, that's obvious. But how to sound-proof the machine, how to maximise and optimise airflow, and of course how to squeeze every last drop of performance out of its increasingly impressive spec.

In fact we got so excited about building the Beastie we had to share it with you. So readers who subscribe from PCPP#145 go into the draw to WIN the Beastie! And not just any Beastie: a special, upgraded Beastie with extra goodies! It's a complete machine: including tower, monitor, speakers and keyboard!

And did anyone ask if the hardware prize was back for MyPC? Hmn...

Not much on the disc this issue: EXCEPT COMMAND & CONQUER FOR FREE! EA has released the game to the public domain at last, and rather than waste good quota on an admittedly also good game, we thought we'd bundle the isos on the disc for you. Even works under XP and Vista!

Speaking of quotas, if you don't want to waste 700MB+ downloading an HD gameplay trailer for Starcraft II's Terran faction, don't worry: we've included it on the disc. See this awesome game in action, and hold your breath for our upcoming hands-on preview!

This issue's demos cater for everyone. There's team-based action with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, strategy with Settlers VI, and hardcore racing simulation with Race 07. Want more? Have kick in FIFA 08, wonder at the wonder of Two Worlds and test drive the BMW M3 in a free racing game built specially to pimp the new car.

Naturally there's also a pile of indie goodness, and for music lovers, the orchestral score to BioShock.

So much content! Can you get through it all before PCPP#146 comes out on the 14th of November? Better get reading!

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