The August 2009 issue of GamesMaster magazine was its “Hands-on E3 Special” and I was those hands – quite literally, too, because loads of the “hands-on” boxes in this issue are written by me – even if I didn’t write the rest of the article.

So a slightly odd way of doing things, but if you’ve got this issue, I wrote the full previews for Milo and Kate, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, APB, Halo: ODST and Red Steel 2.

Meanwhile, I wrote just the hands-on boxes for Forza Motorsport 3, Blur, Split/Second, Gran Turismo PSP, Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Mini Ninjas, Army of Two: The 40th Day, Heavy Rain and Splinter Cell: Conviction.

It’s all tip-top content, though!

If you’re wondering why it’s taken me till Feburary 2009 to post about previews I wrote for GamesMaster over six months ago – admittedly these previews featured in the October 2008 issue of GamesMaster – well, the answer is that I forgot to ask for a copy of the magazine for months.

Well, I have a copy now and I’ve seen my previews of Mirror’s Edge, Fable II, Left 4 Dead, Lips, Guitar Hero: World Tour and MadWorld, and they please me.

If you’ve never seen a copy of GamesMaster, it’s pretty unusual – very kid-orientated, it’s got an astonishingly crowded, text and image heavy design – sort of like Famitsu or the (now departed) EGM have been at points in their history, but far more irreverent than either have ever managed. It was my great pleasure to write for the magazine (which is itself a unique experience, fitting my text around the design…) and I look forward to the next time I do it.