One of the real highlights of the day for me was sitting down with Jason Ing, Group Product Manager for for Xbox LIVE Games. Jason’s responsible for getting the word out on anything and everything that offers a complete gaming experience through LIVE, so I just had to ask him about the Braid pricing debacle that got under everybody’s skin a few weeks back. I asked him point blank: Microsoft said one thing and did another. What happened?

To clarify, I mentioned exactly what was reported on ShackNews. Here’s a refresher: “Microsoft has informed Shacknews that the reported $22.50 price point for Castle Crashers and $15 Braid price, believed to stem from a now-removed Microsoft Japan listing, are incorrect for both domestic and international markets.” Here’s what Jason Ing had to say;

We said that the information posted is incorrect from the standpoint that… it was incorrect that they posted, but we didn’t say the price (was incorrect).

So was it simply just a misunderstanding on ShackNews part?

I’ll be honest, it was messaged poorly. That’s a problem. I was a little upset with my PR agency and how they messaged it because we meant to say “No no no, we’re not announcing pricing yet.” And when you use the word “incorrect”, even when I think out loud, yeah, it could sound like (the information posted was wrong).

So there you have it. Somewhere between Microsoft, PR, and ShackNews the information got a little muddled. It’s kind of like playing telephone, only this time hearing “purple monkey dishwasher” at the end instead of “we’re not announcing pricing yet” gets a lot of gamers really pissed off.

A few weeks back we posted about Sony hinting at an upcoming price cut for Canadian gamers. Looks like it’s going to come true as of May 1st. No word yet on exactly what the price adjustment will be, but my guess still says par. Here’s the official word;

In conjunction with the PLAYSTATION®Store weekly update on Thursday, May 1, Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) will adjust pricing for downloadable content available through the PLAYSTATION Store for the Canadian market. The adjustment comes as a result of the strengthening Canadian currency and SCEA’s ability to localize pricing within the PLAYSTATION Store. SCEA will execute the adjustments in a phased approach prior to the regularly scheduled PLAYSTATION Store update, with prices adjusting during a window of time prior to the scheduled update on May 1st.

“We are continually looking for ways to enhance the player experience on the PLAYSTATION®Network, and downloadable content through the PLAYSTATION Store is just one of our areas of focus,” said Grace Chen, Senior Manager for the PLAYSTATION Store. “We anticipate that this price adjustment will meet the expectations of our Canadian consumers and provide them with a better PLAYSTATION Network experience.”

UPDATE: I’ve just received confirmation from PlayStation Canada PR rep Kyle Moffatt that the price adjustment will in fact put the pricing even with the US price. Sweet.

Sometimes being Canadian sucks. Sure we’ve got health care, civility and the french, but what about that damned exchange rate?

Things have evened out over the past year or so putting the Canadian dollar more or less on par with the US on a consistent basis, and we’ve actually seen that reflected in everything from the price of books to (gasp — you guessed it) gaming goods, both hardware and software. But digital downloads? Not so much.

Last year Sony was the first (and thus far only) company to make an adjustment in their Canadian pricing. For the most part items are only a dollar more on the PlayStation Store in Canada than in the US. Bigger ticket items like Warhawk and Prologue have a larger price difference, but all in all a much fairer pricing structure than anyone else. So who is going to be the next company to lower their prices? Turns out it’s Sony again.

Yay Sony! Boo everyone else!

The above image is a screencap from a post on the Playstation.Blog, and the response is from none other than Senior VP of Marketing and PlayStation Network Peter Dille (so we know it’s not just a heinous rumor). There’s not much lower they could go at this price without hitting par, so I’ll assume that’s what they’ll do.

My advice to the big three? Just charge us in US dollars. It keeps it fair and above board for everyone. When the exchange starts hitting 40% again, then we’ll talk about separate pricing — sound good?

Further Reading: Our very own Ryan Hewson wrote a fantastic piece on the pricing problem in Canada last summer. It’s what brought him to our attention in the first place and it’s well worth a read. Check it out here.