Several Japanese retailers are reporting that the “Summer of Arcade” may be more costly than we had originally imagined. Rumors state that Braid will cost 1200MS ($15.00) and Castle Crashers 1800MS ($22.50). If these prices are correct, which they very well may be, that would make Castle Crashers the most expensive Xbox Live Arcade game to date, beating out On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness by $2.50. Oh. Dear. God.

I really don’t know what to think here. On the one hand, the gap between a “retail” game and a “downloadable” game is insane. Saying that a box and disk is worth $40 dollars more than a download seems to be crazy. Castle Crashers has been in development by Behemoth for several years now, and while I am sure the game’s development cost is nothing when compared to games like Grand Theft Auto IV and Halo 3, it still takes a good amount of money to create videogames. On the other hand, $22.50 is a lot of money when compared to other downloadable titles like Alien Hominid, Lost Winds, and the Penny-Arcade game, which have lower price tags.

Well, what do you think? I’ve been looking forward to Castle Crashers for too long to write it off for an extra couple bucks, but Braid being more expensive may stop me from picking it up. Anyone on the same boat with this?

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