The fearless face of the latest episode of our happy meal-sized series of staff interviews is Level Designer Jamie 'Fishbus' Manson, who, unlike what his name may suggest, is not actually a vehicle filled with marine life. What he is, though, is the pair of hands behind the popular Team Fortress 2 map cp_steel, which has served as the battleground of choice for at least several of our lunch-time TF2 sessions. And now the man is here and making maps for whatever it is we're working on, while being forced to talk like Sean Connery at all times.

To find out more about Jamie, how he ended up at Splash Damage, his work on cp_steel, and why he owns every Sims 2 expansion ever made, drive over to his dolphin-friendly profile.

With the World Cyber Games 2008 all wrapped up, title selection for the next year's WCG is underway. This process is open to the public by way of this handy page and as luck would have it, the PC version of Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars is one of the choices in the first person shooter category. So, let's all get over there and make sure the chaps at EnemyTerritory.tv get even more stuff to do next year!

From the fjords of aptly named Reachin Technologies in Sweden comes a new way to experience Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. Dubbed HaptX, this technology works in conjunction with the peculiar looking Novint Falcon controller to delivery physical feedback based on what's happening on screen. The controller is used in place of the more traditional mouse and not only looks like a contraption that fell straight out of a sci-fi movie, but has been getting some rather good reviews from the enthusiast press. A software add-on supporting ETQW is now available free of charge. If you're completely confused by all this, you can find videos of the thing in action on this page.

GameRanger, the long-time server browser application previously reserved for the Mac, is now available with full Windows support. GameRanger is completely free and currently supports 521 PC titles and 181 games for the Mac, including (naturally) Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. It also has support for handy things like friends lists, ladders, voice chat, so it's a neat little tool for keeping track of your mouse and keyboard-wielding peers and harassing them no matter which game they choose to seek refuge in.

EnemyTerritory·tv has been quite busy covering season 3 of CAL's 6v6 Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars league. The latest on-demand video to come out of this is a rather tense match between xR and JerkyBoys on Refinery, which is available on both streaming and direct download flavors. If you're looking for older CAL match-ups, feel free to peruse ET.TV's demo archive.

In other on-demand video news, the recent 12 on 12 Campaign Mode fragfest involving GzR and TAW is now available for viewing, as well, so you can relive the frantic action in the Pacific campaign.

Canadian Nefilav has become the very first Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars player to crack the 1 million XP barrier. This milestone comes after some 2573 hours of playing time, 3,198,349 shots fired, 180,391 kills, and 9427 rounds played. We tip our hats to Nefilav and would like to extend our condolences to his mouse and keyboard.

The War on Wallets is still in full swing, and the latest release barrage includes the testorone supertanker Gears of War 2, Mirror's Edge, Call of Duty: World at War, and World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Unfortunately for most of the games, Fallout 3 just won't leave our trays alone long enough to really take a look at them, and so most of this update is still basking in its post-apocalyptic glow.

As a special bonus, this edition also features TF2 level designer Jamie 'Fishbus' Manson who just joined us from the rolling hills of Mel Gibson's home turf Scotland.

Lock and load:

Continuing our epic series of staff interviews, we chat with our Graphics Programmer Luis 'Leftie' Alvardo. Luis is said to be 100% Spanish and joined Splash Damage earlier this year, after previously punching game code in the face in Don King Presents: Prizefighter and tinkering with a variety of mobile phone and unnamed other console games.

To find out how Luis ended up in the games industry and, indeed, at Splash Damage, what he does all day long, his previous work, and being a part-time painter/composer/photographer, you can either phone him up or read the full interview in his profile.

Over at the online premises of Edge, Splash Damage main man Paul Wedgwood can currently be seen chatting about Splash Damage's multi-platformed future. Paul discusses the challenges of packing the depth traditionally present in PC titles into a console title, the state of the PC market, and why now is the ideal time for multiplatform goodness. You can read the full interview by gently rolling your eyeballs to the assortment of words right over here.

The holiday madness is in full swing and thumbs everywhere have been working overtime. A special congratulations goes out to our friends at Bethesda who have managed to deliver yet another fantastic game with Fallout 3.

In general, the quality of games coming out at the moment is pretty spectacular and with postapocalyptic guns, fantasy guns, and realistic African guns, there's something for everyone, or at least people that are into guns. Better yet, with Gears of War 2 and Call of Duty: World at War just around the corner, more guns are on the way!

Predictably, Fallout 3 is all over this latest edition of Currently Hurling, but two other sequels starting with Fa make an appearance, as well. Read on to find out how we feel about it all: