What a lot of people don't know is that I got started as a professional gamemaker when I moved out to Texas to join George Broussard and Scott Miller and Allen Blum who created Duke Nukem, to join those guys and become part of the 'Duke Nukem 3D.'

And Duke Nukem, I think he is the most iconic videogame character in the industry. I think Lara Croft is the female and Duke Nukem is the male. Between them, they're the most iconic figures in videogames.

The philosophy at Valve and Gearbox is that if things can't be done better, they shouldn't be done at all.

I've only experienced it a few times where you get to have a thing that simultaneously gets some critical respect, some critical success, while also having sales success. Sometimes you get one or the other if you're lucky.

Before I had my son, I became obsessed by this painting I'd seen in an art gallery. It was a lot of money, but I felt such a rush of adrenaline when I wrote the cheque to buy it. I thought I was going to gaze lovingly at it forever, but after just two weeks, I realised I didn't really like it any more.

I got into writing to become a 'Star Trek' writer. I was a rabid fan. I had shelves and shelves and shelves of action figures in my bedroom that scared away more dates than I care to admit to.

Having imagination it takes you an hour to write a paragraph that if you were unimaginative would take you only a minute.

I love theatrics and have a huge imagination: Why would I want to sit onstage and sing a bunch of ballads back-to-back?