For most people, Christmas is a day, but for us, it's a whole magazine. This year we're celebrating with Crimbo the Christmas Panda, who adorns our cover. What does Crimbo have for good boys and girls? Why it's an enormous twelve page feature on Blizzard's new games. From Mists of Pandaria to Heart of the Swarm, to Blizzard Dota, Christmas elf Rich McCormick has scooped all his Blizzcon news up into a big snowy wordball. Oh, and every reader gets a free copy of King Arthur - The Roleplaying Wargame .
You can read it all in the latest issue of PC Gamer UK, which should be on shelves shortly and arriving with subscribers right now. It's also available online , digitally through Zinio and Apple Newsstand , and it should already be with subscribers now.
Our second enormous feature this month is the Christmas gift guide, in which the PC Gamer staff dress up in their Christmas outfits and bring you the best novelties for your oversized stocking. There's graphics cards and gaming lights, touch screen gloves and a Minecraft pickaxe, Tim even dares taste the infamous Baconaise. He was rushed to hospital shortly afterwards. He will never eat bacon again.
In our previews section this month, Chris Thursten tells the story of twenty hours as a straight laced Jedi Consular in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Meanwhile Rich saves the galaxy from the killer spaceship robots in Mass Effect 3's new multiplayer mode and Graham learns how to kill a man humanely in Introversion's darkly comic Prison Architect. You'll also find previews of King Arthur 2, The Secret World, Crusader Kings 2 and Ghost Recon Online.
In reviews, Graham gives his definitive verdict on epic man shooter Battlefield 3, while Tom Senior discovers his inner pimp in Saints Row: The Third. Richard Cobbett straps on his spandex to check re-review the now free to play City of Heroes before quickly descending into villainy in Payday: The Heist. We also manage footballs in Football Manager 2012, defend dungeons in Dungeon Defenders and murder greenskins in Orcs Must Die! You'll also find verdicts on Might and Magic Heroes 6, Stronghold 3, Take on Helicopters, Renegade Ops, Deus Ex: The Missing Link, Serious Sam: The Random Encounter, Airline Tycoon 2, Train Simulator and Dead Rising: Off the Record. Finally, Steve Hogarty reviews The Sims 3: Pets.
Elsewhere in the issue, Adam Oxford checks out the best gaming laptops, Dan Griliopoulos uncovers the secret history behind the making of Football Manager. We also take a look at the Witcher 2's 2.0 patch, and reminisce about Croft Manor in Tomb Raider 2.
Want to know what the PC Gamer staff has been playing lately? Well it's a good job we have the Now Playing section then isn't it? In his last ever PC Gamer article, Craig Pearson builds himself and his girlfriend little place in the country in Minecraft before becoming one with the force. Graham shares the shame of how his addiction to Fifa 12 tore him from Supreme Commander's embrace, Richard Cobbett cries his way through Limbo's looming arachnids, Tom Francis gets stuck in an infinite loop replaying the Diablo 3 beta over and over again and Tom Hatfield makes a meal of attempting to cook soup in Project Zomboid.
Would you like to get an extra stylish subscribers cover next time your order PC Gamer? Perhaps you'd like to get it before it even hits the shelves? Well help is at hand, because you can subscribe now and save money. You can also get a digi-mag from Apple's Newsstand app or Zinio if you're some kind of futuristic science person.
