Peter Cooper - Credits Ben Smith

After a bit of small talk, and an introduction as to what Operation Chastity is all about, we got down to learning more about the film. Past the break is a transcript of the interview or you can listen to it below. We learn from Peter how and when he started this film project to the latest news about it.  Oh and btw.  Yes, I sound like I just woke up in the beginning because, yes.  I did just wake up at 9am Sunday for this interview.

i7: How and when did you start this project?

PC: It was actually around June or July 2008. That was when I took out a medium sized loan to get some camera equipment. It was actually going to be a project based on the Doom comic. I’m not sure if you have ever seen that, but it’s absolutely hilarious. But then we ended up scrapping that project because it wasn’t going anywhere.

But for the past 3 years, I’ve been visiting Dragon Con to hang out with my buddies and over a quiet a few beers, I was sat there with lots and lots of napkins and started drawing out Halo Warthogs. I thought, how can I build one?

So, really this whole thing started as an excuse for a really, really cool car.

I came back from America still wanting this Warthog and contacted a few engineers to figure out how to get this made. Everyone at the special effects studio I was working at was wondering “why are you doing this?” and “what purpose is this going to serve?”

i7: Well it’s because you wanted you’re own warthog.

Transcript continues past the break with 2 exclusive photos straight from Peter. (more…)

On day 2 of PAX, we were able to get a one on one interview with the CEO of TwistedPixel, Michael Wilford. Michael gives us some insight on how Splosion Man came to be and also answers some of our readers questions. Also, if you haven’t seen the reveal trailer to their newest game, Comic Jumper, check it out here.

Team17, the legendary British developers behind the Worms and Alien Breed games to name but a few, have recently joined the ranks of the App Store with Worms for iPhone. Based in West Yorkshire, this independent games developer has been one of the mainstays of British games talent (and one of my personal favourite studios) since 1987, starting with the Amiga (remember that thing? Awesome!). Martyn Brown, Studio Director of Team17 and Kelvin Aston, the Producer on Worms for iPhone, took some time out to answer some of our questions. Topics of discussion included their most recent port of Worms to the iPhone (which we were pretty impressed with) and their plans for future iPhone software , independent developers, piracy and the state of British games development.

Sam Gibbs: Firstly thanks a lot for taking the time to answer some questions.  I think you’ve managed an excellent port of worms to the iPhone and really made the best possible Worms experience with what’s available on the iPhone. Recent games such as Worms and Real Racing have proved that the iPhone is a legitimate portable gaming platform. Do you have any more plans for Apple’s device of choice in the near future?

Martyn Brown:Yes, we’re obviously taking the platform very seriously, we treated Worms iPhone as we would any console version and I think that shows in the implementation. We will look at games we are developing and also new IP for the platform. (more…)

We had the pleasure of spending a Sunday afternoon with one of the few LEGO master builders in the world.  Mariann Asanuma is one of those few but also has claimed the spot of being the first and (so far) only female freelance LEGO builder.  Before we recorded the interview, we began talking about her history with LEGO bricks* and how her love turned into a career. (more…)

Seth Killian is a co-founder of the annual and national tournament EVO. In the past, he won championship titles for Street Fighter 2. He is currently working at Capcom USA as the Community Manager. If you’re a fan of Street Fighter 4, you might recognize Seth’s name – that character was named after him. In this interview, he discusses EVO and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, which has been nominated and has won several awards for “Best Fighting Game of the Show” at this year’s E3.

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Talk about right place, right time. Charles, the voice of Mario and other Mario universe characters, stopped by the Nintendo booth near the New Super Mario Bros. Wii demo stations. Now, I want to apologize for Jamie for acting like a little schoolgirl whenever Charles spoke on the mic. I guess she was pretty excited. If you notice, everytime I speak, the camera doesn’t really shake. Whenever Charles talks, she freaks out and shakes the camera… A LOT. So, again. Sorry for the bad camera work. (tsk tsk Jamie)

Let me preface this with the announcement that I – admittedly – have really shitty presence on-camera. (P.S. Apologies for my ugly angle and kind-of shitty lighting.) But luckily, we had a chance to catch up with the one and only, the ultimate gaming sensation, Fatal1ty. He (rationally) becomes upset when I ask some hard-hitting questions:

PG: So, in spite of all of your amazing achievements, it seems like people in the gaming industry – both players and professionals alike – think that you’re a douchebag. How do you feel about that?
F: I don’t uh – I think that’s totally uh, bullcrap. Huh huh.
. . .
PG: So, you’re not a douchebag.
F: Uh, I definitely don’t think I’m a douchebag at all. Huh huh.

While the interview is slightly awkward and a bit tense, you’ll notice that never once did I call the good man a douchebag. The first three-fourths of the interview are boring, generic questions. And, again, I’m a really shitty interviewer. (This isn’t my day job). Therefore, if you want to skip to the “fatal” part, let the video load and fast forward to six-minute mark.

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Edit: I’m really excited because it seems like all of Fatal1ty’s friends are coming by to look at our web site (see comments). Thanks for the hits! We really needed them because I’m no-name interviewer writing for a no-name blog. Also, thanks to SK Gaming for posting our video.

It seems like nobody really understood my last comment about the Vanilla Ice pose. Does anyone else see a potential “Ice, Ice Baby” in his smirk (see picture above)?

For more comparisons between video game things and other pop culture things, here’s something a bit more interesting:

If you didn’t catch our live show last night, don’t worry. We have the clip of our special guest Yaya Han right here.

To see her past cosplay work, check out her in a Dead or Alive 4 costume.

Btw, I finally found out how to record our guests. From now on, this is what I’ll be doing. Hurray technology!

PG: What were your expectations of ME before playing it?

W: I expected it to be as realistic as parkour/free running is today with the exception of giant red checkpoints that you have to follow, and i wanted it to be really competitive for the top spot on the leaderboards.

PG: Has DICE/EA reached any of those expectations?

W: I think they have made it as realistic as it needs to be… but there’s some glitches that make it so unrealistic its not even funny, they need to fix those. Also it is quite competitive on the leaderboards too, but i don’t think anybody wants 1st as much as i do.

PG: How long did it take you to beat the whole game?

W: Haha i don’t really know to be honest, not very long though i had played the demo for a long time so i was already pretty good with the control layout and knew how to go about solving puzzles, i would say somewhere between 2-3 hours.

Read the full interview, click the read link below. (more…)

Jannica has caught the eye of DICE all the way in Sweden. We were allowed a short interview with Tom Farrer about Mirror’s Edge. Thank you again to Tom for taking time out for us!

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PG: As a big fan of your game, I decided to direct a Mirror’s Edge themed photo shoot. Has anyone else at DICE seen the photos? If so, what were their thoughts? How does Jannica match up as a real-life Faith?

(BTW. If you haven’t seen the photoshoots, choose a link -> Part 1 | Part 2 )

Tom Farrer, Producer of Mirror's Edge

TF: The team has been checking out the site and the shoot. We always love to see any Mirror’s Edge related activities that people are up to and this proved to be a popular one. Personally I think it’s one of the best I’ve seen. You really managed to get the details of Faiths clothing in particular looking very close to the game. The tattoo is cool too, it’s a pretty complex design and is tough to reproduce. If you ever want to do another one I’ve attached the actual tattoo design “unwrapped” for you. Did you know that there is actually a guy who has had this tattoo done on his arm now! As for whether or not it’s an accurate version of the real life Faith, I guess you should ask Jannica if she can run on walls?

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