Each week Jeff Engel and Geoff Brooks contribute Counting Rupees, a column on the business behind gaming:

Braid was released just over two weeks ago to critical raves and a few complaints regarding its slightly higher than "standard" price of $15. Despite Jonathan Blow, the creator of the game, having to defend the price for essentially a full week bracketing its release, Blow has now confirmed via his blog that his Braid will probably make back enough money to allow him to work on his next game. This is certainly great news, as Braid is one of the best games to be released on Xbox Live Arcade, or if you use Metacritic, the 8th best game to be released so far on the Xbox 360. Jonathan Blow certainly deserves the chance to follow up his brilliant effort, but something about his post regarding the success of his game actually revealed a warning sign to me for indie games overall.

We were a bit caught up in Braid hysteria earlier this week, so we thought we'd table this post until the scalding heat of our passion cooled down a little bit ...

And here we are! Braid artist David Hellman tipped us off to a pair of adorable Braid-themed papercraft projects depicting the game's time-manipulating hero Tim and his ubiquitous foe ... uh, Creature thing. Print out one of Tim, thirty of the Creature, figure out how to control the immutable march of time, then reenact all your favorite scenes.

[Thanks, David]

Source – Braid papercraft, Tim
Source – Braid papercraft, Creature

Whether or not we think Braid is brilliant (and we do) no game is too angelic to escape our probing eye. We dig deep to find the real dirt that the big boys don't want you to know about, like bugs. We've used our investigative skills to find out about two from a secret source who ... oh, who are we kidding? They came from Jonathan Blow, the guy who created the game.

The bugs are a bit too specific to fully explain here, suffice it to say that if they hit you it's going to mean a fair amount of backtracking. They don't seem to be especially common, but they're serious for those who've been afflicted. The good news? While Jonathan Blow is spilling the beans he's also working with Microsoft on solutions.

Update: Blow's posted a few temporary fixes for one of the bugs.

Jonathan Blow's masterwork, Braid, has quickly become the water-colored poster child for indie game development. However, while both critics and players alike have been singing the game's praises since it was released a week ago, there are some things that Blow wishes would have turned out differently. Specifically the XBLA demo, which he originally wanted to represent a larger portion of the full game, a bubble that Microsoft was only too happy to burst.

"There was one little issue at the very end of development when [Microsoft] wanted me to make the trial version shorter than it was," recalled Blow in an interview with SavyGamer, adding belief that "it's ok to give people a significant portion of the game because if they like it, they'll want to play the rest." Nevertheless, this apparently didn't jibe with Braid's publishing overlords, as Blow noted that he and Microsoft argued back and forth over the demo's length before settling on the teaser we have today. So, tell us, was the result enough to make your virtual wallet 1200 MS points lighter?

Jonathan Blow's Braid is drowning in critical acclaim, just now hitting an average of 93 on Metacritic and becoming the 8th highest-rated Xbox 360 game on the console. The official Braid Blog takes the opportunity to point out that indie developers don't need to make cheap PopCap clones to be successful; if they do something different, their work can be recognized. Yeah? Well, this industry is all about sales so ... how's the game selling on XBLA?

Blow cites VGChartz's ballpark figure of 28.5k copies sold and estimates that the number "seems to be in the right neighborhood" as of last Saturday. Does that mean his struggle with the game's pricing has paid off in a big way? Apparently not. Blow contends that Braid will need to sell a lot more to be profitable but "things are looking promising now." We'll say! Let's put that estimate up against the top XBLA launch figures in a thoroughly unscientific breakdown*:

1. Braid, ~28.5k units
2. Rez HD, 25k units
3. Ikaruga, 22.5k units
4. Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 1, 16.5k units
5. N+, 13k units

*(Figures represent sales gathered from the first three days of availability. Blow's ballpark figure was posted on Saturday, three days after Braid's Wednesday launch).

Blow explains, "I talked to some folks at Sony but they were not interested in carrying the game. Later on I talked to someone from a different division who *was* interested, but by then I had signed with Microsoft and started the XBLA port." Sounds like Sony may get a second chance of having the downloadable hit on its PSN service. In an interview with GameFocus, Braid creator Jonathan Blow says that a PlayStation 3 port "might happen in the future." He explained, "It's a limited exclusive, so if I were to try to make a PS3 or WiiWare version of the game, I would have to wait a little bit."

While Blow did not elaborate on how long the Xbox 360 timed exclusivity would last, he did reiterate that a PC release – presumably outside the limitations of any exclusivity contract – will "definitely happen this year" while a WiiWare release "is not going to happen for this game." With over 30K downloads already logged on Xbox Live Arcade, adding two additional platforms should go some way towards obviating that whole price dilemma situation.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

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.

Braid is good, but the biggest hurdle seems to be its pricing (frequently discussed lately by creator Jonathan Blow). With most of the Joystiq staff too busy playing the XBLA time-bender this weekend, our cohorts at X3F (the blog formerly known as Xbox 360 Fanboy) have stepped in to lay out the reasons why you should really care about Braid. Click here and get edumucated.

Braid is great. Braid's 1200 MS point ($15) price, on the other hand, has been a point of contention. Designer Jonathan Blow sat down with 1Up and discussed what went into the decision of the game's price point and some of the tough choices that needed to be made.

Blow explains if the game maintained sales among a niche audience at 800 points he would be "bankrupt or in debt." Then again, if Braid sells moderately well -- and if the buzz over the title keeps going, it should -- he says he could have stuck it out at 800 points and then the game would have probably sold even better. Check out the developer's dilemma in the video after the break.

Capturing the essence of Jonathan Blow's Braid within a single sentence isn't the easiest thing to do, especially not if you want to avoid run-on monstrosities like: It's the game about a tie-wearing, time-traveling gentleman on a quest to rescue a princess, inconveniently held captive at the end of six beautiful worlds filled with all manner of puzzles which require fiddling with the flow of time to solve also it's really, really good according to reviews. So, let's go with "it's really, really good according to reviews" and leave it at that, eh?

• IGN (88/100): "Xbox Live Arcade needs more games like Braid. Heck, gaming on all platforms needs more titles like this. Imaginative, innovative, and engrossing, Braid is a spectacular achievement. If only the experience lasted a little longer and there weren't as many puzzles with singular solutions."
• Edge (90/100): "Braid remains a beautiful and brilliantly demanding game that barely contains its dense population of ideas, taking its place alongside Geometry Wars and Pac-Man Championship Edition as one of the finest original titles available on Live Arcade."
• Eurogamer (100/100): "I've gone to bed thinking about Braid, and I've woken up thinking about it. From the fragments I remember, I'm pretty sure I've dreamed about it as well. Braid is that sort of game."

If Braid is causing you some trouble this week, let us direct to you designer Jonathan Blow's official walkthrough for the newly-minted Xbox Live Arcade title. Sort of. Let us explain... No, there is too much. Let us sum up. In a nutshell, Blow's advice is to "deal with it."

According to the guide, "Some of the puzzles will be hard. But when you manage to solve those hard puzzles, you will feel very good about it. [emphasis theirs] The game will feel very rewarding. Don't rob yourself of that feeling by reading a walkthrough!" While we agree with the sentiment, for irony's sake, our fingers are crossed that Braid will hit Top 10 Wanted FAQs on GameFAQs.

There's a really interesting discussion going on in the comments section at Braid designer Jonathan Blow's official blog, as he attempts to explain why he's a bit disappointed the game has to arrive for 1200 ($15), rather than the 800 ($10) points he would have preferred.

Though he says Microsoft pushed the $15 price point, he admits he's also got his own financial concerns to consider that make the price a lot more palatable. Blow also says he's worried about ending up like Jeff Minter, who wanted his game Space Giraffe affordably priced but didn't recoup enough as a result. It's a surprisingly frank discussion, and one well worth checking out.

This Wednesday marks the opportunity to become a tie-wearing time traveler in Jonathan Blow's Braid, an "artful puzzle-platformer" and the next volley in Microsoft's all-out August Arcade assault. You'll traverse multiple worlds as you search for a princess (yes, the abducted kind) and wrap your mind around various instances of time behaving badly -- that includes rewinding, time streams, parallel realities, time dilation and "perhaps more."

Oh, and you'll be wanting to know the price of all this. Well, we hate to rain on your Braid, but despite Microsoft's earlier denial, the game will indeed cost 1200 ($15).

The official Japanese Xbox 360 blog has posted prices for Xbox Live's "Summer of Arcade" series (i.e. five weeks of awesome releases). Let's review:

• July 30: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (800 MS points / $10)
  
• August 6: Braid (1200 MS points / $15)
  
• August 13: Bionic Commando Rearmed (800 MS points / $10)
• August 20: Galaga Legions (800 MS points / $10)
• August 27: Castle Crashers (1800 MS points / $22.50)
  

At $22.50, Castle Crashers would hold the record for most expensive XBLA title. The total price for the Summer of arcade is $67.50, which is a little bit more than a standard Xbox 360 title + applicable tax. The prices are currently set for Japan only, but they generally don't differ with the North American releases. Is your wallet prepared?

Update: Microsoft tells Shacknews these prices are incorrect, and that the final prices won't be revealed until the Monday before each respective game launches.

[Via X3F]

The official Microsoft Gamerscore blog has just outlined how you'll be spending our weekly allowance for the next month. Five major Xbox Live Arcade titles are debuting over the next five weeks (that's one each week). Pause your game of Coffeetime Crosswords and check out the schedule:

• July 30: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
• August 6: Braid
• August 13: Bionic Commando Rearmed
  
• August 20: Galaga Legions
• August 27: Castle Crashers

Only the previously-dated Geometry Wars 2 has a price at the moment (800 MS Points / US $10).