Hitman star Agent 47 sneaks onto the cover this month, with an in-depth feature on Absolution joined by a PS Vita launch round-up and the results of our Greatest Games Machines Ever reader poll.

Metal Gear’s 25th anniversary is celebrated this issue with a 17-page dissection of the franchise’s past, present and future with exclusive insight from the creative forces behind it. Elsewhere, we speak to Ninja Theory and Capcom about DmC, chat to Brendan McNamara and chart the highs and lows of 2011.

Halo 4, GTA V and Wii U lead the charge as the latest issue rounds up 2012′s most promising games. Elsewhere, we go behind the scenes on EA’s SSX reboot and chat with Naughty Dog about the studio’s past, present and future.

New issue on sale now, with Nintendo’s ever-cheery mascot gracing the cover in celebration of his 3DS debut in Super Mario 3D Land. Elsewhere, we look at what the next few years may hold for the Halo franchise, pit Nintendo against Sony as we analyse the handheld market’s future and speak to prolific Japanese developer Level-5 about its finest achievements.

New issue on sale now, a special edition slipcase celebrating the exclusive review of From Software’s Demon’s Souls follow-up, Dark Souls. Elsewhere, we profile the prolific studio behind this hardcore RPG masterpiece, speak to the leading names in beat-’em-up development about the genre’s future and investigate what videogames could learn from board games…

New issue on sale now, featuring a studio visit to Sledgehammer where we speak with the team about the biggest game of the year, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Elsewhere, 343 speak on Halo Anniversary, Yakuza bigwig Toshihiro Nagoshi talks to us about Binary Domain and we profile prolific studio WayForward.

New issue on sale now, featuring an in-depth, hands-on playtest of upcoming racer Forza Motorsport 4 as well as a look at the future of Kinect – can Microsoft really win over core gamers to the idea of motion control? Elsewhere, we speak to Ken Levine about BioShock Infinite, chat with Markus Persson about the phenomenon that is Minecraft and go behind the scenes on Sega’s synaesthesia classic Rez.

New issue on sale now, a sleek slipcase carrying a lifesize Wii U controller as we go behind the scenes on the new technology Nintendo has in store. Elsewhere, we talk to Square Enix about Final Fantasy XIII-2′s uphill struggle, quiz Team Ninja on the return of Ryu Hayabusa and have a very interesting chat with love/hate Xbox Live Indie Games developer Silver Dollar Games…