Joystiq

While it's not true that the entirety of Joystiq operates as a single hive-mind, singularly bent on delivering gaming blog posts straight into your skull, we do often share a common sentiment. This past week, that sentiment has been this: Braid is awesome. If you share our sentiment, you may be disappointed to learn that game creator Jonathan Blow is "not going to do a sequel to Braid" regardless of "how many copies it sells." Those are his words, people. What about fresh new levels, ala Portal: Still Alive, you ask? "I'm not waiting in the wings with a level pack, or DLC or anything," says Blow, appearing to take a peculiar satisfaction in dashing your hopes. But Blow knows better than to say "never" so he offers this caveat: "... maybe in five years when I'm motivated, if I have a really fresh idea for it." Deal!

While Braid 2: The Pony Tale might not be in the cards for creative reasons, an XBLA followup might not be in the cards for financial reasons – Blow cited the recent royalty adjustment on the platform as an impediment, stating, "If it's as I've heard that it is, I couldn't even necessarily break even." And while Blow was quick to point out that Microsoft isn't "Bad" (seriously, he's the first commenter) he was particularly frustrated with the oft-cited XBLA certification process, which he felt was time that could have been used to make Braid a "little more polished, little bit better." So if jumping to conclusions is your thing, you can blame Microsoft for whatever shortcomings you see in the game. To us, it sounds like business as usual and, despite any misgivings about the XBLA platform, it still managed to deliver a very polished, and very impressive platformer to a relatively huge audience for the not unreasonable price of $15.