Console Monster writes: "A Braid Premium Theme was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace on Thursday at the standard 250 Microsoft Points price tag though the Braid team are not happy with it. Despite the money they will earn from the theme, a blog post on the Braid Blog states they wanted "to make it free."

"Unfortunately, we had to charge the standard Premium Theme price of 250 Microsoft Points (which is about $3.10 in American money). We want to make it free, but Microsoft doesn't like giving things out for free." The blog post continued: "But if you do buy it, you can be secure in the knowledge that you own one of the few Premium Themes that is not an advertisement - there is no text in the Braid theme anywhere..."
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Here we are then, the final installment in our Top 50 Games of 2008. It's worth reiterating once again that the list is not intended as a definitive rundown of the 50 best games of the year, but instead reflects votes cast by our staff and contributors based on the games they have played and enjoyed.
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Braid: An Xbox 360 big hitter that's on its way to the PC next year, could also meet the PlayStation 3. If Sony approves that is.
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Braid creator Jonathan Blow shares that Braid will be coming to PC hopefully February or March 2009. He also is looking into making a Mac version of the game and possibly a PS3 version.
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In a year when most businesses tried to figure out how to stay alive, the video game industry thrived thanks to two things: great games, and you. So give yourself a pat on the back; your thirst for single-handedly saving the world with magic, guns, and fast thumbs has kept the gaming industry going strong when all else seems to be going wrong.
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Ripten: "In a new interview with, Xbox LIVE boss, John Schappert, tells us that Xbox LIVE offers a way to get games out in front of consumers that would have a difficult time doing so via the traditional retail channels."

He goes on to explain the recent success of XBLA in this area.
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Kotaku reports: So Microsoft's Xbox 360 Summer of Arcade promotion has come and gone, a five-week blitz of the best that Xbox Live Arcade has to offer, all part of a commitment made by the company at E3 to shift their focus more towards quality rather than quantity. According to a media alert issued today by Microsoft, the push was a massive success, with a 58% increase in Xbox Live members purchasing games over the course of the month, shattering the monthly revenue high for XBLA by 67%.

Out of the games released, Castle Crashers is being heralded as a stand-out title for all of XBLA, while Braid wound up as the highest-rating XBLA title of all time, with Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 and Bionic Commando: Rearmed also making the top 10. That leaves poor Galaga Legions. There there, little retro redux. We still love you...just not as much. Hit the jump for the full text of the press alert!
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MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo writes:

"Lead "Rachet & Clank: Quest for Booty" designer Brian Allgeier tells me his reaction to complaints from some gamers about the $15 price of Xbox Live Arcade game "Braid," complaints he saw a couple of weeks before "Booty" was released on the PlayStation Network for that same price."
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WSJ writes: "While videogame budgets at big studios can be millions of dollars, Mr. Blow estimates that he spent more than $180,000 of his own money during the past three years to develop Braid. He also took time off from his job as a videogame-industry consultant to focus on his project. "I have no idea how well Braid will sell," he says. "Realistically though, I could lose all of that [money]." Microsoft picked up the game in 2007 and decided to publish it for Xbox Live Arcade. It will sell for $15, a higher price than most downloadable games on the platform."
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From gameplayer's Quotes of the Week column: "I don't think they are really teaching anyone anything; they are just taking your money."

Also includes the dirty lifestyle secrets of Sam Houser, some cop-outs from Jonathan Blow, and a disturbing glimpse inside the mind of Will Wright.
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Jonathan Blow, the guy who created the game, has revealed there are still 2 minor bugs left in the game. The bugs are a bit too specific to fully explain, 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.
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Jonathan Blow, the designer of the breakout XBLA hit Braid, has said that he may never use the service again due to the restrictions placed upon small developers.
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Jonathan Blow writes: "When all those people on forums complain about the price of XBLA game, what they don't realize is that almost everyone is losing money on these games. (It's just economy of scale; if only 60,000 people buy a game, and it costs $10, not enough money ends up in the developer's hands to justify anything but making shovelware.)

For me to truly break even (i.e. not be financially punished for choosing to make this game), I would have to earn back:

(1) The testing, localization and ratings board submission advance that was put forth by Microsoft. (This is a significant chunk of money.)
(2) All the money I paid other people to work on the art, sound, and extra programming. (This is A LOT).
(3) Replace the savings I spent for cost-of-living, buying software and hardware, and stuff like that, during the years spent developing Braid.
(4) Pay back other misc debts that accrued during this time due to me being broke and / or focusing money on finishing the game (e.g. the taxes I did not pay last year.. that's sizable).
(5) If I hadn't been working on Braid, I would have had a job for those years, so… years worth of income at a reasonable-to-high-end job. (Realistically speaking, this part is just not going to happen - I used to do game technology consulting and bill at a very high hourly rate. So rather than expecting to make that, my attitude is just, to make *something* reasonable)..."
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Jonathan Blow, developer of our latest addiction Braid told Game Focus in a special interview that he is considering working on a new game similar to Myst.
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Jonathan Blow told GameFocus that XBLA game "Braid" might hit the PS Network later on. The Wii? Nah...
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"Braid is the highest-rated Xbox Live Arcade game of all time (out of about 150 games!) Geometry Wars 2, released a week prior, is the second-highest. There are some strong games coming up in the next few weeks, so we'll see if these positions hold.

But 92 is not just a good score for a Live Arcade game; it's a good score for any game. In fact, Braid is currently the 10th highest-rated Xbox 360 game of all time - including all AAA high-budget games..."
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Braid is now available for download on Live.
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The second week of Summer of Arcade is hitting XBLA with Braid on Wednesday.

Jonathan Blow brings you this new take on the platformer through Number None, Inc. and Microsoft games. It can be yours for 1200 Microsoft Points and is rated E 10+ for Everyone over the age of 10 by the ESRB.
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Four Japanese websites are now saying that two titles in the upcoming "Summer Of Arcade", 'Castle Crashers' and 'Braid', will be costing a little more than the usual XBLA title.
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Wondering when Castle Crashers, Bionic Commando Braid and Galaga Legions are hitting Xbox Live? Wonder no longer.
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