When we get on stage, naturally, you just get out there and work it as hard as you humanly possibly can do it.

It's a sense of pride, a sense of you set out to get a record deal, and we got that. We set out to get a No. 1 record, and then we got that. Then you say, 'Wow, that was impossible and now even more impossible is to stay No. 1 and stay current and put out new records that people care about,' and we really stuck to that.

We really earned our keep by going door to door, going to every town, playing in every club.

We would say we would play every pay toilet and use our own change. Across America and across the world, we just kept going and going.

I remember, when I was very young and going to the Fillmore East and watching three of my favorite bands in one night, I'd want a hit. I want to hear the songs that brought them to that pinnacle of success.

We love to make records, and we love to tour.

One of the greatest things about our band is that we bring the American dream to the world. Here's a bunch of kids that were living in nowhere New Jersey, and we made it through a lot of practice and a lot of work and a lot of luck. It shows the world, 'If we did it, you can do it.'

I don't find writing for the theater that different from writing a rock song.

Whether you're black or white, you're a human - and that's what matters.

Our job is to be performers and give everybody a great night where they can forget about their problems and the world's problems, because they're always going to be there. They were there since the beginning, and they're going to be there until the end.

We play anywhere around two, 2 hours, so we're always in shape, but you've got to get yourself in super shape so you can sing that long, play that long, and feel strong.

People ask me, 'Is there pressure to win a Tony for your next one?' I've got three on my mantelpiece; I'm good. If that's the end of the story, I'm fine.

The wild thing is that when I'm in the band, I can control my destiny with four other guys. As a composer sitting in the audience, you can throw good vibes at everybody, but you can't control anybody's destiny, so it's really unsettling.

Every time we do a new record, we do the best we can. For us, every record is stepping into the ring with another heavyweight champion.

We thought the hardest thing in the world was to get a record deal, then the hardest was to get a No. 1 record, and then the hardest thing is to stay at the top. It's a lot of work.

There's trials and tribulations in a band.

Usually for the tour, there's about 80 songs in our brain.

We have to play 'Livin' on a Prayer,' 'Bad Medicine.' We have to play them, and we want to play them, and that's what we're supposed to do. It's like going to see The Beatles and them not playing your favorite song. It's not the right thing to do.

It's really fun to just stretch out and not have any boundaries or just try something for the craft.

It's so much fun to be on stage and play. It really is.

I guess, for me, the therapy is walking on stage, playing all of our songs, and walking out. That's probably my therapy. That's a good time.

I think, bad times, I sit down and I play - there's definitely certain songs that touch in certain ways. I go back to 'Moonlight Sonata' by Beethoven; that usually takes care of everything.

Playing with light is something that is very important, especially when you want cinematography in your game.

'Indigo Prophecy' already brought a lot of new features to the traditional adventure genre, including the Action system, MultiView, Bending Stories, etc. 'Heavy Rain' will include features like advanced physics and AI, realistic characters and living environments.

People trying new ideas are a blessing for gamers and in the industry in general.

We called 'Heavy Rain' an interactive drama, for whatever that's worth.

In a movie, you're just passive; you're just watching a story that is told to you. But in games, I saw that you could be the main protagonist: you could be in the shoes of the hero and make the decisions.

We, as individuals, are defined by the choices we make. Some of our decisions can have very significant consequences and totally change the courses of our lives.

'Heavy Rain' responded to a period of my life, things I strongly believed in, things I wanted to suggest or experiment with. I'm really happy with the overall feedback; the reception was a success.

I try to get better at what I'm doing, game after game.

If 'Heavy Rain' is a huge commercial success, it will show everybody in the industry that the world is sick of first-person shooters, that people are ready for an adult gaming experience. If we fail, it will say, 'Please keep making the same old stuff.'

Games are quite shy at talking about different things. Most are about facing hordes of monsters or saving the world or whatever; few games actually talk about the real world, about real people, about their relationship, their emotions, their feelings.

I don't differentiate game design and script; it is one and only document. I think that one of the biggest problem with storytelling in games is that people tend to separate story and interactivity. Both should be conceived as one entity, each using the other.

On 'Heavy Rain,' the game started with something that happened to me when I lost my son, my six-year-old boy, in a mall. I was so scared. I was curious to see if I could create that impression, that fear, in a game, an interactive experience.

Working on 'Beyond,' I try to give an explanation to death that's different from the explanation religions have to give. So I made up my own story around all this and how life and death and souls work.

'Heavy Rain' is a cousin of the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books.

As a storyteller, I've always been fascinated with the idea of recreating this notion of choices in fiction. My dream was to put the audience in the shoes of the main protagonists, let them make their own decisions, and by doing so, let them tell their own stories.

Technology must remain a tool. It's a great tool, but technology is the pen to write the book. It's not the book. If you have a great pen, maybe you'll write faster or it will look better, but at the end, you have something to say, or you don't.

We're not going to just duplicate 'Heavy Rain,' because we are passionate about innovation and discovery, so we're trying to discover new ground and see how we can move from 'Heavy Rain' and create something even more immersive.

I think the difference between 'Heavy Rain' and 'Beyond' is that 'Heavy Rain' still had a lot of references to films. Especially in the mood, and it was a dark thriller... where, in 'Beyond,' we tried to create something truly original and doesn't refer to anything.

I'm not a big fan of free to play. And this is just me, but when I buy something, I don't like the idea that I start playing for free, but each time I want to do something a little more interesting or progress, I have to pay. I'd rather pay up front.

'Heavy Rain' was really close to a dark thriller, like 'Se7en.' 'Beyond' is different in terms of tone.

With 'Heavy Rain,' we're creating something that changes many traditional game paradigms.

I wish more people would be allowed to take risks and try new things and new ideas because new ideas are what this industry desperately needs. I mean, how many shooters can you make?

If you played 'Heavy Rain,' there are very few cutscenes and very few moments where you don't have control.

I'm inspired by film-makers such as Ridley Scott, David Fincher, Orson Welles.

The thing is, the better the hardware, the more time we spend to improve the visuals to take advantage of the hardware.

Some media used to talk about video games only to say how violent or addictive they could be. With 'Heavy Rain,' they talked about the story of the game and the emotions they felt while playing.

Not everybody's interested in shooting.

I try not to do traditional games.