~

Sam Gibbs: What made you become an iPhone developer? What was the original spark that you thought, there’s not an app for that, yet?

Daniel Leivers: Pretty much! I was sat in a pub waiting for a friend to arrive and wanted to see if he’d actually finished playing Killzone 2 or not. Later that night we also wanted to see who had the better Killzone stats so two apps actually came out of that night! Really I’m just writing apps that I find useful and hopefully other people do too.

Of course it wouldn’t have happened at all without the support of my wife (who also happens to be a graphic designer – all the logos and graphics are her work!)

~

SG: You’ve got several gaming apps in your library currently, primarily based around the PS3. Are you a PS3 gamer per-chance?

DL: Sort of… I’ve been playing games ever since I was six years old and they’ve been on all kinds of formats. While I was a University I became mostly a PC gamer as taking over the living room TV with a console was just a pain. A couple of years after I had graduated I was still mostly playing PC games and really only bought the PS3 as a blu-ray player with the idea being that I might play the odd game or two – little did I know how wrong I would be! As it turned out I played on the PS3 a lot more than I thought and it’s on almost every day now. I do also have a 360 but I don’t seem to have enough spare time for both consoles,  with a full time job and iPhone app development!

~

SG: Talking about your apps. We’ve had a look at the recently updated myPSN, which allows you to see who’s online, what they’re playing and allows you to compare your trophy stats with your friends. Do you have any plans to expand myPSN’s feature set with messaging features or any other value adds?

DL: Messaging PSN users is by far the most requested feature for the app, ever since day one! It’s certainly something I would love to implement but even the Official Playstation website doesn’t let you send or receive messages. Should that change or Sony open up a proper API for third party developers then I will be adding it in ASAP.

As far as other features go I’ve got a few ideas to add in there but nothing I would really like to promise just yet. Though the biggest thing is an iPad version of myPSN, I’m hoping to fill all that extra screen real estate with some really useful stuff!

~

SG: Given that Sony hasn’t yet opened up any APIs for the PSN, have you had any contact with SCE and do you know whether they are likely to expand the PSN past the Playstation and onto the web?

DL: I’ve not heard anything at all from SCE, though I would very much like to (especially if they would like another employee!). The PSN is still in it’s early days compared to Xbox Live and I’m sure the PSN will grow in ways we can’t even predict in the future.

~

SG: You’ve also go apps such as myKillzone and myCOD5, the latter allowing you to track your stats on both PS3 and Xbox 360. Do you have any plans for a Infinity Ward’s newest Call of Duty game Modern Warfare 2? Currently there are a number of apps in the App Store that let you manually track your stats in MW2, something automated would be really handy.

DL: Before MW2 was released I was pretty sure they would have some stats available on the web following on from Treyarchs fine example, so I had begun writing an app. Unfortunately Infinity Ward seem a lot less focussed on the community than Treyarch (other than all the blogging, twittering and Facebook-ing that Robert Bowling does such a good job on!) and have yet to show any signs of any stats being available, which is a real shame.

I’ve seen the manual tracking apps as well, I guess you’d have to be REALLY in to MW2 to use those, I haven’t got the patience to enter all my stats in to something like that after every game!

~

SG: Have you been in contact with IW about perhaps opening some APIs for outside access to the online stats of the game similar to what Treyarch provided?

DL: I’ve emailed IW a few times but I’ve never had anything back unfortunately.

~

SG: That’s a shame, perhaps Robert Bowling might be able to help you out as the front facing social media king of IW.

Onto the App Store. We’ve heard of a lot of horror stories from Apple App developers in recent years about rejections without real reasons, and a lot of complaints over the vagueness of the guidelines Apple provides. What’s your take as an App Store developer on the whole approval process and the revenue sharing deal that Apple has?

DL: When I started writing my first app I have to admit that I didn’t pay too much attention to Apple’s guidelines for several reasons. Firstly I didn’t think I was doing anything controversial enough for a lot of the guidelines and secondly I had so much to learn already that the prospect of more documentation to get my head round was not very appealing. Funnily enough my app was rejected three times before it was finally accepted! However, each of the rejections were totally understandable and actually improved the app, I was also lucky enough to have gone through the rejections when Apples review process was relatively short.

To me the App Store approval process is a funny beast. Short of having some long waits for approval (one update to an already approved app took nearly six weeks!) I’ve not had any real problems with it. Any rejections I’ve had have always had clear reasons for rejection along with advice on how to sort it out. Then you hear about apps which are rejected for duplicating Apple’s functionality, such as web browsers, or Apple deciding to bar “adult” apps except from “recognised brands” which just seems crazy.

The revenue sharing is really a pretty good deal in my opinion. Sure 30% is a lot but if I was developing for another platform, such as a PC, I would have to sort out a website to buy the application from, some kind of payment mechanism, some way of advertising the website to people, etc. With the app store I can just concentrate on writing apps and not worry about the rest.

~

SG: It does seem from an outsiders point of view that the App Store essentially levels the playing field a lot more for independent developers compared to the big boys and in my opinion that can’t be a bad thing.

Given that the App Store has such a large install base and therefore market, it’s no wonder developers have been clambering over each other to get a piece of the pie, but the effect has been that it’s seemly very difficult to get your App to stand out and not be washed out by the vast number of Apps available. How have you gone about trying to make your apps stand above the parapet and do you have any tips for would-be developers along those lines?

DL: It is certainly a big problem with the App Store, I’ve heard that Androids App Store does a better job of randomising the “Featured Apps,” but this still doesn’t solve the problem entirely. I’ve not really done a huge amount to promote my apps, I post on a few forums and I show the apps to friends and it seems to mostly spread through word of mouth or people searching the app store for the game they’re playing on their PS3/Xbox 360.

If I develop my own iPhone game in the future, I dread to think how I would make it stand out as it really is swamped. Only the fortunate few get any real recognition for their iPhone games and that seems to be getting less regular now that the bigger developers like EA have gotten involved.

~

SG: Have you ever thought about expanding the audience for your apps by developing them for any alternate platforms? The Android market place is gaining ground as the Android market share grows, but there’s also web OS, the newly announced Windows Phone Series 7 and of course Blackberry. Do you have any plans for any of these other platforms?

DL: It’s certainly something that I keep thinking about, it’s mostly a matter of finding the time. Android would be my first port of call for porting my apps on to as in my mind, if I hadn’t bought an iPhone then an Android phone would have been my next choice.

I’ve actually got some experience of writing Windows Mobile applications and after doing some iPhone development I can safely say I’ve no real desire to go back. Windows Phone Series 7 does look like Microsoft are finally getting the idea that they can’t just try and shoe horn a mouse driven OS on to a mobile device, but the whole thing looks like too little, too late to me.

~

SG: Yes, Microsoft have finally ditched the pocket Windows paradigm, but things like lack of copy and paste do seem to say that they haven’t hit the nail on the head just yet. A step in the right direction however.

Do you have any new Apps or goodies up your sleeve that we can look forward to?

DL: Lets just say I’m really looking forward to Battlefield Bad Company 2 (and not just because I was a huge fan of Battlefield 2 on the PC!).

~

SG: Last but not least, we know about SofaRacing’s iPhone apps but what’s in a name?

DL: Hahaha, I thought you might ask that. When I was at Uni my housemates and I had had a few drinks and for some unknown reason we decided to take the sofa’s outside and race them down the street. This wasn’t the best idea for many reasons but the first one that made itself known to us was that our road had speed bumps, the next reason that struck us was that our landlord happened to be driving past at that moment…

Skip forward a couple of years to when I needed a name for my website and there you have it!

~

SG: Daniel, thanks again for taking the time to talk to us.

~

For more from Daniel and SofaRacing, check out our review of myPSN or head on over to SofaRacing.com.

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.

PC: Well that would have been a good enough answer for any normal rational person, but these people I was talking to were very artsy fartsy people. Then I thought, well… how about I make a movie with it because I was going to anyway.

The thought started out as a fun, crazy 5 minute short or something with a bunch of marines riding around in their Warthog getting really intense and just ending up parking next to a supermarket.

It was going to be really silly. Just a bit of fun.

i7: That has to be in the film somewhere, if you can do it.

PC: Well, we are thinking of doing some sort of spoof trailer in time for April Fools day. About 2 or 3 months ago, we heard that song “I’m on a boat,” so we might be toying with that. It may be a bit of fun.

i7 & PC: I’m on hog! I’m on hog! Take a good hard look I’m on a motherfuck’n hog!

PC: But yea, that will be a fun little project, fun little short. (Back on the film) So, my friends start telling me, “you’re spending all this time and money making all this armor and making all these guns. Let alone the vehicle,” they thought “why not make a full feature?”

I responded “Well, I’ll think about a short, like a half-hour maybe, do a little story there. But then that developed more and more and more. As time went on, and as people kept telling me that a project like this, the sky the limit. I guess I just listened to them too much. Far, far too much.

And that’s how we ended up with a massive feature film project.

i7: So, back to the topic of the London MCM Expo.  What was the response like from the unveiling of the Halo Warthog from the fans around the world or around the car at that time?

PC: Well, around the car at the time, I was thrown a bit because, not many people could hear me because of the noise was so loud in the expo.  I’m not sure if you could see that from the (YouTube) video.  There was about 200 people waiting around the car to see it.

That was a bit scary.

I did a little spiel and did it completely on the fly.  I wasn’t prepared for it. I may have made myself look like a dofus. After the spiel I yanked the sheet off then see a flurry of camera flashes and I couldn’t see what was going on.

I made out a slight “ooooo” from some of the people. There wasn’t very much clapping or I couldn’t hear any because of all the noise. So I asked the crowd, “well, is it cool?”

i7: *chuckle* I think the response is yes.

PC: Yea. I was so blinded by all those flashes and drowned all the sound of the “ooo”s. I didn’t realize that everyone was too busy taking photos to clap. But the people that did respond was drown out by all the generators and other noise in the building.

So, yea.  The reaction at the event was absolutely brilliant. People kept coming up to me saying “the Warthog is brilliant.”  They weren’t saying this is “a Warthog” or “this is a Warthog replica.” No, they were saying “this is the Warthog.”

With that being said, there were still some negative feedback about it on the internet. I wish those people could appreciate the difficulty in making something like this–

i7: Well, it’s the internet.  There’s one thing I learned from a friend of mine, Joe The Peacock.  If 50% of the people hate what you’re doing and 50% of the people love what you are doing, you’re doing something right. So, don’t worry about all the negativity.

One of the wow negative comments I’ve heard or read on the internet, though, was “why is the steering wheel on the wrong side?” I was like “oh, come on. Really?”

PC: Yea, that’s the one negative comment that’s starting to get to me now. But, it’s like “come on!” We live in the United Kingdom.  We can’t just go to France and get a Land Rover. I mean, PLEASE.  Give us a chance!

i7: Yea. It’s the internet. What are you going to do. *Turns towards “the internet”* Hey, internet? Lay off. This is a totally awesome project so far. Just…just…throw him a fricken bone. *Turns back to Peter*

PC: Ya, ya. I know. It’s ok. All the criticisms about the vehicle, I actually agree with.  It’s just that I knew what our means were and those people don’t.

i7: So, back on the film project, how far along is it? Also, can you give us an estimated release date for it?

PC: Well, as far as pre-production goes, we’ve been in pre-production for full on year since the 31st of October last year.  It’s been a hard year.  I won’t lie.  This is my first ever film.  It’s been very hard at times convincing people that this grand plan we’ve got, this big script, this big story, lots of effects, it’s absolutely mental that something like this could ever get made. But, things are starting to get real now and getting really exciting.  We’ve now reached a point where things are developing at such a rate that I don’t think anyone of us (the crew) could have foreseen.

Because of this, hopefully, we’ll start filming in 2010.

Also, we are pushing for a sneak peak trailer just in time for the release of Halo Reach. If all goes according to plan, we could be finishing up filming after March, and release in November. This would give us enough time for post production with special effects, editing , sound, and soundtrack.

i7: Oh, ow have your own soundtrack and composer?

PC: Yea. This guy is brilliant. He just signed on.

i7: This is way more than just “a fan film” already.

PC: Yes.  But it still is a fan film.

i7: Ok, next question.  Did you ever consider a short film web series rather than a full length feature film?

PC: I’m going to put another “cog” in this question.  Why not a TV series? Like Battlestar Galactica?  I think, if one can make a feature film, why can’t it turn into a TV series?  The plot could be completely independent of the games, do your own thing.

i7: So, congratulations on your progress so far and your Warthog. So awesome to see the photos of it.  I wish I was there to actually touch it and say “ooo, it’s real.”

PC: It does have a slightly electric feel. Especially because of it’s steel frame.

i7: One last question, have you had a chance to drive it around?

PC: We took the frame around, very quickly.  It’s not as stable as I would like.  It’s a bit scary.  Another thing is that you don’t truly understand until you are sat in the driver’s side or even in the passenger seat, the bonnet (car hood) is so long and the dashboard is so long, that you can’t even see the road for about 10 or 15 meters ahead of you. It’s the scariest experience ever.

If you take a look at the behind the scenes photos from the Landfall series that Neil Blomkamp created.  You can see this at work.  Because the ODST drivers, they only drove with their heads stuck out the side. They couldn’t see out of the windscreen.  Take a look at those photos because It’s quite enlightening.

i7: Wow, that is not good.  So, the Halo Warthog. Fun to sit in, not fun to drive.

PC: It’s a death trap. An absolute death trap.  But it’s an awesome death trap and I love it, with all my heart. But, I would never take that on the road. It would just scare the crap out of me.

i7: I think with a big gun strapped to the back of it, if would just scare everyone else though.

PC: Yea. I wouldn’t mess with a Warthog if I saw it on the motorway (freeway).  That would scare the living hell out of me!

i7: *chuckles* imagine seeing that in your rear-view mirror. Ok, Peter, before we go, can you give us ways to follow your project online?

PC: Sure. My twitter is @opchastity and aside from that you can visit www.OperationChastity.com. Yea, just follow the project, I hope you guys like it.

i7: Yup.  Can’t wait for it.  Thanks again for your time and we’ll keep following up with you.

PC: No problem. Thank you so much.

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.

SG: In your opinion will the dichotomy of the hardware platform between the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS split the App Store market?

MB: I don’t believe so. You may see some 3GS only titles, but we are looking to support both through the same app, you may get additional features and or video performance/effects with 3GS.

SG: Has the iPhone and Apple’s App Store brought about the age of independent developers with a distribution platform that is relatively independent of publishing costs?

MB: I certainly believe that App Store has contributed greatly to the opportunities for independent digital publishing (along with Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade, Sony PSN, WiiWare and Steam/PC). Of all those platforms, Appstore is the easiest to get involved with from a start up perspective but it also has its own challenges simply due to the massive amount of titles on there.

SG: After the success of Worms on the iPhone (No.1 paid app in the UK app store), do you have any plans for any other mobile platforms such as Android, Windows mobile, symbian or even Blackberry?

MB: Worms will be coming to other mobile platforms, but through EA Mobile, whom we licensed the title to. We were only interested in supporting iPhone directly in our studio as it made more sense to do so.

SG: Do you think piracy, which hits most platforms in one way or another, will play a large part in the new mobile space? Would it for instance impact on your budget available for any future iPhone projects?

MB: I can’t really answer that until we see how the title performs and we can gather information on any piracy impact there is. Obviously if there is a ton of piracy, it will certainly put at risk new projects & budgets will be lower.

SG: And finally, what do you think about the state of British game development with development studios and developers closing up shop and moving to places like Canada and France? Would tax breaks be able to make Britain a fertile place for game development again and fight the ‘Brain Drain’?

MB: With the digital opportunities, location of development has become secondary. However, being a Yorkshireman and a Brit (in that order!) I don’t feel like we should have to move continents to get the most out of our industry and I think it’s time for our government to finally act and support what is a market leader. I know there are movements to do this, I just hope it’s not too little, too late.

Two more questions briefly answered by Kelvin Aston the producer on Worms iPhone.

SG: To Kelvin, do you have any iPhone 3GS specific plans and increased horsepower, especially in the graphics department?

Kelvin Aston: We plan to offer extra visual effects for 3GS users in the first update (not the patch). We released a patch that hopefully fixed a lot of problems that people have reported to us. The update will come later.

SG: With regard to Worms on the iPhone, do you have any updates, additions or DLC planned for Worms for iPhone such as online or bluetooth linked multiplayer?

KA: BlueTooth multiplayer will be available in our first update (later this year), online multiplayer will be due this Winter.

So you heard it here, both BT and online multiplayer will be coming to Worms on an iPhone near you later this year (if you’re interested in what we thought of the  game check out our review). I don’t know about you but I’m looking forward to seeing what Team17 have in the works for the iPhone and the increased visuals available on the iPhone 3GS. Will this be the start of a trend of divergent games split between the hardware platforms of the iPhone 3G and 3GS? Either way many thanks to Martyn and Kelvin for taking time out from the perpetual grind to talk to us.

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.

I also learned some LEGO Master building tricks like “S.N.O.T.”  SNOT means Studs Not On Top.  Don’t get it? Yea, I didn’t at first either.  This is when the builder uses a brick sideways and the pegs or studs aren’t at the top to make it thinner and longer.  Another trick I learned was that inside all big LEGO models is a lightweight metal structure to keep everything in place.  I always thought the models had a bunch of LEGO bricks inside but, in fact, they are all hollow.

Today, Mariann works as a freelance LEGO builder building big models and murals for big clients like Warner Bros. with a couple of projects “in the oven.”  To find out more about Mariann and her book, check out her website at http://www.modelbuildingsecrets.com/.

Follow Mariann on Twitter | Flickr | Blog | Website

* – NOTE: Don’t say “LEGOS” on the internets.  You will make the internets very angry.

Click to Play

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)

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.

Click to Play

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:

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.

PG: Were you satisfied with the story?

W: Not really, i felt like i was just running to finish the level and not to see what happened in the next cutscene and the average person completed the game in 6 hours, that’s way to short.  The best parts were chasing Jacknife and *SPOILER* kicking him out of the helicopter at the end.

PG: Do you feel that ME should have a sequel?

W: That is a definite yes for me as i love the time trials and speed runs that the game has to offer, but they really do need a longer campaign and maybe something that you unlock for completing all the time trials in 3 stars, like special shoes or something.

PG: *SPOILER* Admit it, you cried when Merc died, right?

W: Haha, of course! who didn’t?

PG: How many records do you hold on XBL and on which courses before the new DLC?

I actually own all 23 of the courses that were on offer before the DLC came out! :) It would take forever for me to name them all!

PG: It is now 1 day after the DLC for ME. Are you happy with the new courses?

W: Definitely I thought they were better than the ones you get with the game, the only one I didn’t particularly like was Actino Rise. Its almost based on luck and climbing all the way up there just reminds me of how much i hated Atrium One. :P

PG: Out of all the courses from the regular game and DLC, which do you feel is your favorite and why?

W: It’s a toss between Chroma and Flow, i picked Chroma because its kind of like an army assault course going over then under obstacles and you can keep almost all of your speed from start to finish on that level, But i think Flow has to be the better one, the huge slides on that level are great fun and its very well made how you have to use each and every move in that level, it doesn’t get repetitive.

PG: Ok, we’ll check back with you in a week to check up on your progress to become the Michael Phelps of ME. Any shout outs you would like to give out before we end here?

W: Haha, yeah i would like to thank WHITE HOT SPEED for taking the time to help me get really good at time trial based games hes always there to lift up my spirit, without him i probably would’nt have been very good at Mirrors Edge, your the best man! Also thanks to FAST N BULBOUS for being a good friend dispite a few disagreements, Mman235 and NoLunchMafia for being too good at speed runs, Immortalitas for making me spend hours beating him back at convoy one every day! also x ad3on x, Absent Atavism, AnGelNuKer, Ninja Infinity, Shivar, XThe Shockster, z iRush o, K4rn4ge, Ash my best mate and anyone else i might have missed!