Endymion86

I’m sure many will say this, but your music and writing was very influential in my teens/early twenties, and remains so today. I would sit in my room and listen to Animal Rights and rock out harder than I’d ever done before, dancing around with headphones, only to sit down in somber reflection while reading the essays you wrote inside the liner notes to your albums while listening to “God Moving over the Face of the Waters”.

While I am not personally a Vegan/Vegetarian, seeing how you view the subject in the things you’ve written + things you’ve said in interviews has definitely given me a better appreciation of the situation with how animals are treated today. My favorite song you have ever created, “Everloving” (it became my favorite while watching you play it live on the Jools Holland show from your Play DVD), was beautifully used in a documentary I watched on YouTube about that very subject. Thank you for opening my mind in that regard. I like to think that I make better choices now in regards to what I eat because of that.

Seeing your DJ set live last April at Coachella was nothing short of astonishing. I’d seen you perform in concert before, but the DJ set just felt so electric, so… alive!

All in all, I just want to say thank you for the music you create, the words you write, and the photographs you take. I’m sure you realize it, but in case you don’t: you have a HUGE positive influence on SO MANY people’s lives, mine included. Thank you so much.

Sorry for the long buildup – it’s just that you’re a major icon of mine, and have been for almost half of my life – but here’s my actual question:

What single artist/band has been your favorite choice to open for you in concert? I saw Buck 65 open for you in Seattle years ago, and was blown away. But who has been your favorite?

Igarashi-san,

First of all, I want to thank you for all that you've done for the gaming community over the years. Your games have given me (and many others) so many awesome memories; Aria of Sorrow will forever remain one of my favorite games of all time.

I have two groups of related questions:

1) Do you keep in contact with any other ex-developers who worked for Konami? Are you friends/associates with Hideo Kojima? If so, how do you feel about the recent press (or lack thereof) about his departure from the company?

2) What do you think of the Demon's Souls/Dark Souls/Bloodborne series developed by From Software? Do they remind you of your games in any way? Would you ever consider teaming up with From Software and co-developing a game together? A man can dream, after all...

Huge fan of your games, Ken.

May I ask, with all the back and forth news about people leaving the development studio, gameplay modes being ditched entirely, etc, are you as confident in Bioshock Infinite - its story, gameplay, and overall ability to enchant the player - as you were in the original Bioshock?

Alan, thanks for doing the AMA! I (and many others, obviously) are extremely stoked for New Horzons' approach to Pluto. I have a few questions:

1) Since this is a fly-by, and from a distance at that, how detailed of photographs of Pluto's surface do you think we'll receive? Will they be in color (wasn't sure if the camera handling that was b/w only)?

2) What do you expect the surface of Pluto to be like? How about its atmosphere (I remember reading that it has one, albeit an exceptionally thin one)?

3) Once New Horizons passes pluto and enters the Kuiper Belt, will you continue to receive data/photos on a regular basis? How long do you expect to receive data (other than a "hey, I'm still alive" ping)?

4) How do you plot the satellite's course once it enters the Kuiper Belt? I mean, plotting a course within our Solar System is hard enough, but once it passes what we're familiar with, how do you know you won't fly it right into a (relatively) small object?

Thoughts on other instrumental progressive bands, like Explosions in the Sky?