Spaulding

Game: Bad Company 2 on 360

Song: "Wings for Marie 2" by Tool,

Caller: I would call my girlfriend who is currently in the Peace Corps over in Africa!

Hahaha, good point. So basically what this means is Valve might make Natal games, but 6 years from now.

Why don't they just stop waiting for somebody else and make something compelling themselves?

Yeah, agreed. To me "early" is January-March.

Yeah you're right on the pricing, I should clarify: Bionic Commando: Rearmed was one of the first of the XBLA games with higher production values and likely costs, I more meant that it kind of ushered in the current crop of Shadow Complexes and the like.

This is true, but I don't necessarily feel like it's price gauging or anything (not that that's what you were implying). The first year and a half was full of small games and arcade re-releases, which by default are going to be cheaper to produce. Ever since Bionic Commando: Rearmed really the XBLA games have been rising in their scope, graphical fidelity, file size, and development cost. Makes sense to me, I'm glad that Microsoft is less strict about the memory restrictions. I'd be curious to see this data compared with the pricing data of PSN games.

@ playwhutyalike : nice vid link, that's handy!

Haha, it was indeed intended to be lame and cheesy. Perhaps inspired by the lameness of EGM. Does anybody really give a sh-- about that magazine anymore? I stopped caring in like 96. I'm all for games journalism, don't get me wrong, and I'm sure the writers there are good people, but whats the point of resurrecting a dead magazine and making it even more expensive to produce?

I guess that means they're putting the "electronic" into Electronic Gaming Monthly...

In 5 years I see myself working in an Art & Technology field and visiting a volcano to poke lava.