Raphael Colantonio, CEO and creative director of Arkane Studios, recently issued the following statement to Joystiq: "We ran into an unexpected financial challenge some months ago and we had to put The Crossing on hold." Why is this important? I'd like to tell you a story...

A few years back, Valve announced it was working with Arkane Studios on a game called The Crossing. Don't worry, there wasn't much news on the game, just loose promises to tie together a singleplayer and multiplayer experience in ways never before seen. Since then, they've made great strides at not only online gaming, but blending together versus mode with a singleplayer campaign. While Left4Dead certainly was light on narrative, it sure seemed like it was made with the same mindset that The Crossing was being developed with.

Now, fast forward with me, if you will, to 2009. Several months ago I remembered the game, and sent an email to Valve's Doug Lombardi, asking about the game. They went unanswered. This is strange, since Doug usually is good about answering questions. I even went as far as to let him know that I would run a story on the game's cancellation, but nothing ever came of it.

What does this story tell you? Nothing, I'm just pissed Doug Lombardi didn't tell me this 4 months ago. Hopefully we'll hear more at E3, where Valve has a room to show off something...