Summary: The Skylanders iOS games -- Cloud Patrol, Lost Islands, and Battlegrounds -- surprised everyone this year except Vicarious Visions CEO Karthik Bala. He joins us this week to talk about the development and success of those mobile games as well as share a personal history of one of Activision's hardest-working studios. Otherwise, it's Kat and Hugh and I talking about changes at Beenox, the awesomeness of Back to the Future II, Pitfall on Android, inflatable birds, Joey Hines' random act of kindness, Dan's burning secret about Critical Path, and wishing you and yours a happy 2013. Get the podcast on iTunes Get the podcast on your own with RSS Feedburner Or use the links below to listen in the browser or download direct. More info after the jump... Special Guest: Karthik Bala, CEO, Vicarious Visions Host: Dan Amrich, Activision Community Manager, author, musician, fire juggler Co-host: Katrin Auch, photographer, graphic designer, bassist, Mechromancer, and inventor of Headshotmas Co-host In Abstentia: Hugh Sterbakov, screenwriter, author, comic creator, and Emmy-nominated writer/toy wrangler for Robot Chicken Soundtrack: Yameen - available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and all online music stores Relevant show links: The Lost Treasures of Infocom iOS Angry Birds DLC Changes at Beenox Pitfall! on Google Play for Android Vectrex Regeneration iOS Lost Cities iOS You Don't Know Jack iOS Cannon Brawl on Greenlight Gloopstik Kat and Hugh and Dan on Twitter Dan's book: Critical Path: How to Review Videogames for a Living Hugh's book: City Under the Moon Enter your own question for Hugh Don't Know Jack (or Stick It To The Dan) Suggest topics for The Third Degree Write to the show's Megamailbag
