It seems that the long awaited launch of Lode Runner for Xbox Live Arcade on the 360 was marred by an unfortunate pricing snafu on Wednesday at launch. When the new Lode Runner finally appeared available for download it was incorrectly priced at 800 Microsoft Points for the first five hours or so after release.

Normally, this might not be a big deal, but forums are buzzing with angry Xbox 360 owners that decided to buy Lode Runner for 800 points only to go back and attempt to purchase it and then found out that the price had been raised to 1,200 points. As we had explained previously, the pricing for the new Lode Runner had already been set at 1,200 points prior to the actual release date.

A good number of potential buyers explained in forums that they had played the demo and decided that for 800 points they wanted to buy the game, but they didn’t have enough Microsoft Points in their account. By the time they were able to get additional Microsoft Points credited to their account the price had already changed to the corrected 1,200 Microsoft Points that the title was always supposed to retail for and thus they were still short on points.

It seems that those who took the time to call Microsoft and complain did not fare any better, and in fact some report their frustration level increased by a lack of understanding they received from Microsoft on the other end of the phone.

As we have written previously, it seems that the price of Xbox Live Arcade titles is a sensitive subject for many buyers as well as the developers who are putting the time in to create the products. In the case of Lode Runner, the developers have three years in working on this product and polishing it. This is evident in both the depth of features, modes of game play, and the level editor add-on for the product. The new Lode Runner is not a typical Xbox Live Arcade title, and is a cut above many that are intended to be casual games that don’t have the depth that this version of Lode Runner does.

In the end it is unfortunate that the pricing error happened. Those that were able to snag it for 800 points got a good deal and everyone else who is complaining just needs to understand that the price was always 1,200 points. You can’t blame the Lode Runner folks for the problem and you should not refuse the buy the title because of a pricing error that they had nothing to do with.