We travelled to LA to meet developer Team Bondi and play the game that isn't, contrary to widespread assumption, just GTA in a fedora. Yes, it's open-world and features its share of gunplay and fisticuffs, but LA Noire is rather more about sleuthing and casework.
Featuring leading-edge performance capture, dialogue and voice work, the game looks like it will do much to prove that if any company can make the jump from chaotic sandbox to sprawling urban drama, it's Rockstar.
We also travelled to Tokyo to meet personal hero Shinji Mikami and see the game he's been working on with Platinum Games for Sega - Vanquish. Japan takes on Gears Of War, and the battle's far from one-sided.
And while we're enjoying the delights of packing heat, we also see Bodycount, an FPS made by some of the team which made Criterion's Black. What you need to know to make you find out more: forget bombastic tag lines - Bodycount merely has the intention of being the most gratifying gun game around.
Finally, still on the subject of the FPS, we take a long, loving look at another of our games of the decade - Half-Life 2, discussing its making and legacy with Valve head Gabe Newell and its writer Marc Laidlaw.
Elsewhere, we meet Codemasters heads Gavin Cheshire and Bryan Marshall for a frank talk about the game industry and their place in it, ask why the UK stock market no longer lists a game publisher and developer, and take a long hard look at the tumultuous waters of Games For Windows Live.
There's a lot more besides of course, including interviews with Peter Molyneux and Xbox's Aaron Greenberg.
Previewed Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid: Other M, Alan Wake, Red Steel 2, F1 2010, Lost Planet 2, Armored Core 5, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Two Worlds II, Fable III, Dead To Rights: Retribution, Super Street Fighter IV, Monster Hunter Frontier and Monster Hunter Tri.
Reviewed Final Fantasy XIII, God Of War III, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, Aliens Vs Predator, Yakuza 3, Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love, Just Cause 2, The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom, Calling, Infinite Space, Alice In Wonderland (DS), Blazblue: Calamity Trigger and White Knight Chronicles.
Time Extend Fallout
The Making Of Gitaroo Man
Finally, look out, too, for our special Region Specific, our series of supplements on different development communities around the world, on the Netherlands.