The deal with GTA: the Lost and the Damned was paid for by Microsoft to develop, no money from Sony was received. So the deal with the Microsoft marketing and the publishers were to have this game an exclusive for Xbox owners. Microsoft also back i up with a huge ad campaign in efforts to push more console. Sony is doing the same thing with their marketing crew and making  deals with publishers to make exclusive games, exclusive content and DLC. If and when it does become available for PSN, should you have to play full price ($20.00), even though Rockstar Games made their profit already and was already paid for to be developed? Of course, this is common practice for Microsoft and Sony to push their console sales, so why then should you be concerned?

The word "Exclusive" have been thrown around just to tell consumers this was made especially for those who had bought a Sony, Nintendo, and Xbox 360. For right now, we all can agree that Nintendo is not need to fight for the word "Exclusive". Nintendo is on a league of its own. Sony on the other hand has Metal Gear Solid 4 exclusive for the PS3. Now if they were to later release the game for the Xbox 360, as for any person who is passionate about MGS4 and bought the PS3 just to play that game, they have the right to be pissed off. Even if Konami did not make their sales as they wanted, the content is controlled by what ever agreement was made by the publisher and other party. Of course, if MGS4 was to come to the 360, the threads will be filled with such controversy, its a marketing tactic of its own because people are talking about it. Its a cheap and almost free way to market the game with little mainstream media to sell the game while media coverage will be free because its news.

The publishers and marketing group are not the ones who had worked on the game's development for the past 2-3 years. They are not the ones who put together the game. The developers are the group of people who had worked many hours to make that deadline. They sacrificed sleep, time away from family, put in their sweat and soul into the project. They are the artistic minds who are very under-appreciated. 2-3 years of development in a game relies mostly on the sales it make in the first two weeks of launch. Should we care for the developer's success at all?

What pisses me off is the stunts publishers pull on the developers like "High Metacritic scores for bonuses" or "Must sell this many to keep your jobs". Why is the pressure all on the developers and not the duecebags who promises their tactics will bring them profits. When its all over, no matter what,  win or lose, marketing gets their check. In the end, we hear news of another developing company closing its doors or sending home a portion of the staff.

This game has legs of its own with the potential of being the best Batman game ever made. Many of us first took notice of this game when it was shown at E3 2008 and on the covers of Game Informer magazine. The screenshots of the game looks gorgeous as you see many of our favorite websites that covers video games are littered with them. Game store have point of sales out right now creating excitement for this game to be released. The pre-orders of the Collector's Edition are ringing in. An effing 14" metal Batarang... for the win!

Lets all forget about how excited we are about this game and just create flame wars. PS3 owners should point and laugh at the Xbox owners. Xbox owners should just flame away and spam f*ck Sony on all forums. Right this moment, the official Batman: AA website has closed the forums, I wonder why. "Lets all focus on which console is the better". "Lets push more Sony PS3 sales". Lets take the spotlight away from the development team. Let it all burn. Edios is so smart in taking the money in advance to insure the survivability of their company.

Why should the games be the battleground for the console makers this late in the game? At what effect does marketing strategy help the publisher sale more games or more in over all profits?