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Braid dev wanted theme to be free

But says Microsoft had other ideas.

Braid creator Jonathan Blow has once more sulked about Microsoft's enforced charges for content on Xbox Live, as fans are asked to pay for a new theme for the game.

"Unfortunately, we had to charge the standard Premium Theme price of 250 Microsoft Points [GBP 2.13 / EUR 3]," writes Blow on the Braid blog.

"We want to make it free, but Microsoft doesn't like giving things out for free."

The theme adds various painted wallpapers plus a slew of backgrounds for avatars on the Friends section of Xbox Live. It's quite pretty, and, as Blow points out, there are no advertisements or Braid slogans anywhere to be found.

To celebrate, Blow wanted to give away free themes to fans, but Microsoft disagreed. Instead, the creator offered up 20 copies of the celebrated Xbox Live Arcade game for fans to win via a Name That Game competition.

You can take part on the Braid blog now, and the contest will end as soon as all copies are taken or when 23rd March rolls around.

Braid was released last summer for the Microsoft-enforced price of 1200 MSP (GBP 10.20 / EUR 14.40), an inflated cost Blow was "less happy" with.

Still, he has every opportunity to set things right with PC version, which presumably he will be able to dictate the price of upon release sometime between February and March this year.

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