singh, what resolution do you play at?  I play at 1024x768, and zoomed in that much, it's HORRIBLY pixelated.  
I would think McNeal running him through the heart with a sword would be about as close to dead as you can get...
Yeah, because getting impaled is much worse than getting vapourised by an orbital superlaser. 
What I was getting at, was with the Ion Cannon, he was vaporized, as was the building he was in.  Therefore, there was no confirmation of his death.   When McNeal stabbed him, I would assume he'd make DARN sure he's dead.  Also, the first CnC, Kane's alive.  When Tiberian Sun gets relased, supposedly Kane's been killed by a team of "GDI Assassins" who disappeared if I remember right.  Then, McNeal killed metallo-Kane at the end of TS.  For all of Firestorm, Cabal and Slavik were leading Nod, not Kane, as he'd just died.  Now, mysteriously, he's alive again