Rize was always a good buddy of mine at the many E3s we attended. I remember him looking at a brick wall and making comments about impossible it would be to actually make graphics that detailed. We had a lot of fun laughing about the LithTech engine, which I only remember to be funny because I may have forgotten all about what exactly was humorous about it.
I totally agree with his misgivings about online activation and DLC stuff. It's a pain in the ass to have to keep doing that, especially if you live in an area with only marginal broadband access like I do (just for the record, satellite internet sucks. Go over their meager limit and BAMF, back to dialup, which makes working for a site such as this almost impossible.) And worse yet is the odious practice of selling "DLC" that merely gives access to things already on the disk. We need GameSharks just to access the material we've already purchased. It's ridiculous.
Anyway, keep the faith, Rize. Hope you come back soon.