Your ears are playing tricks. To sing backup on one of Al's songs -- especially one as good as Skipper Dan -- would be a die-happy kind of event in my life. I would have said something. :)

I think every magazine or website is aware of it, but the level of concern depends on the outlet. We sometimes would have the publisher come in and try to influence our decisions subtly, but the edit staff I worked with just said "Well, we'll let you know what we think when we're done playing the game." And of course, our bosses supported that and helped us navigate those politics. Other publishers I've worked with never even attempted to influence decisions or scare us with that stuff.

Some media publishers respect the ad/edit separation and some do not; it sounded like Jeff just got a staff that overreacted and didn't understand that balance. But yeah, I've heard game publishers complain about scores, threaten about scores...and they tend to shut up if you tell your readers about those complaints and threats.

The iBook edition is available in the iTunes store in Ireland, and you can get paperback editions for pretty reasonable international shipping rates from the link on the book's website: https://www.createspace.com/3798886

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, no doubt. I read a lot of non-fiction so novels are things I rarely read, but that was a huge influence on me.

That's not a question, jerk. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO ASK QUESTIONS.

Actually, thanks for saying this. Every business wants to be successful; a lot of companies would like to have the success that Activision has. But it's only natural to see skepticism increase as a company's profits rise. I don't think Activision is perfect and there are things I wish they did differently, but I really think the folks who say "Activision is evil" aren't thinking about it. So if my chatting with me made you thought more about it...that's something I should be thanking you for instead. :)

Commit. Whatever you're doing, do it 100%. Singing karaoke, writing an article, washing the car. Commit to doing that thing in that moment. Otherwise you're left with a boatload of half-finished projects from half-baked ideas and they all wind up looking and feeling half-assed.

Oh, so much cheese.

Not in the near future, due to licensing rights. The Marvel Universe license is only given to one company at any given time. Activision created MUA with it while they had it, but now Capcom has it (which is how they were able to make the very awesome Marvel vs Capcom 3 games in 2011). So until that license changes hands again, there won't be another chapter of MUA. (This license shift is also why there was so much confusion about and a short window for the DLC for MUA2.)

Corn. Always.

Assuming the events in MW3 are purely fictional, yeah.

Not as many as I've killed other people with it.

IP needs to be respected, but not like this. Good idea, bad law. Common tale.

I rotate friends on the friends list every so often.

I'll shoot him wherever I need to shoot him.

Well, I loved Interstate 76 and have nothing but fond memories of playing it, but the game I keep going back to now is Robotron 2084. Endless challenge. It still kicks my ass.

Quadrophenia. But I have to be in the right mood.

That was NOT me singing, I found it funny, but it wasn't me, and I have ample proof...!

O Holy Night is here: http://bunnyears.net/rrc/OHolyNight.mp3

My singing demo reel: http://playrecordpaws.com/DanAmrich_SingingSampler.mp3

Yes. I had taken a class senior year called Writing as a Critic, and it was as if all the stars aligned -- I was already getting regionally published in college (local papers etc) so when I left, it was just an extension of that.

You know, I don't hold grudges against fictional characters. If I don't like them, I don't play their games or select them as an option. I ignore them and thereby rob them of their power.

We have somewhat ambitious plans for the next thing. I'm afraid I don't know how long it will take but we are actively working on it, and I hope to get some more done over the holiday break.