Because the build-up to the PC release of Modern Warfare 2 has been so pleasant and trouble free, anyone who bought the game over Steam in the UK is being treated to two extra days of it. Steam claims the game's not out till Thursday, but if you buy it in a shop or have it posted to you, you can play now. On Steam. This is where it gets stupid.

Our new extra-thick issue is now on shelves, and available online with free delivery anywhere in the UK and Europe (USA is only £1 extra). We've also got a new podcast up, discussing Dragon Age, Borderlands, Left 4 Dead 2 and deadly spiders. Subscribe to our feed here.

The news that Modern Warfare 2 will not include code for dedicated multiplayer servers, instead relying on a yet to be revealed, peer-to-peer matchmaking service called IW.net, hasn't gone down well. At the last glance, 90,000 gamers had signed a petition asking for dedicated server support to be reinstated.

Those gamers are right. I've signed the same petition, and I think you should, too. Here's why.

Imagine a world without PC Gamer. No, I know it's frightening but I'll hold your hand. Close your eyes and just imagine it. BRRRR! Right?! Awful isn't it? Fortunately no such thing is true - PC Gamer has been around since before the universe burst into existence and will continue on long after the galaxy is wiped out by our exploding Sun. It is a constant in a world of terrifying change. One beautiful, brilliant constant.

This month's new issue only underlines that point. What a thing it is to behold. And hold. Just hold it against you. It will make you strong.

Mafia 2 is going to be amazing, Champions Online has gone a bit wrong, Cataclysm has a secret you can see from space, Majesty 2 is hilarious and Section 8 is rhymingly great. Oh yeah, and there's a new Dawn of War 2 expansion. We have to keep pretty tight-lipped in this podcast, but all the disgusting details are in our new issue, including a screenshot of a demon riding a robot dog. It'll be with you any moment if you subscribe to the mag, and it'll be on-sale with free delivery from our shop shortly after that. Get the podcast here and subscribe to it here.

We'd like to make a new website for you. We already have loads of ideas for it that we're really excited about, but we want to make sure it's what our sexiest readers want, too. What do you think of games writing on the internet? What do you want to see more of and what should we avoid? Click through our quick survey and we'll take your tastes into account.

People know where they were when the Berlin Wall crumbled, Apartheid ended and Obama won the US Presidency. Those moments are embedded in the global consciousness, events where the world came together, everybody feeling tingles traversing nerves, their eyes filling with tears, hugging strangers and friends alike, to look on as history was made. So, does anyone want to come to a Windows 7 launch party?

This afternoon we're going to be firing up a few King of the Hill maps, our old favourite Badwater Basin and sparring with you: a person reading this who might show up. Join our Steam Community group so we can tell you the server password in the chatroom when the time comes.

In case you haven't seen it yet (unconfirmed reports suggest not everyone follows us on Twitter), this is the slow-motion video of Robin Walker using his ridiculously unfair Valve Rocket Launcher, with ten times the clip size, a hundred times the damage, five hundred bonus health for every hit and an accelerated rate of fire. He says he kills himself with it as often as not.

Tim, Tom and Graham reveal Napoleon: Total War, talk up Batman: Arkham Asylum's strengths and problems, compare notes on Brink, rave about their time playing Diablo 3, and discuss Starcraft 2, WoW Cataclysm, the TF2 update and Lego Universe. Download the podcast here, subscribe to it here, and buy the magazine with free delivery anywhere in the UK and Europe here.