Looks like the Xbox arcade is getting 2 new and weird adventures sometime next year
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom
"The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom is set in a macabre and comical silent film world and follows the villainous P.B. Winterbottom as he bends time to steal pies to co-operate with, compete against, and disrupt his past, present and future selves"
Mmm Pie
Axel & Pixel
"is a classic point-and-click adventure title. The story tracks Axel, and his dog Pixel, as they set off on a journey through the surreal, dangerous and hand-drawn Dream World."
Point & Click goodness by the sound of it
http://www.xbox360achievements.org/news/news-3405-2K-Snaps-Up-Publishing-Rights-for-Two-Exciting-Indie-Arcade-Titles.html

Axel & Pixel sounds like one of my favorite movies of all time, A Boy and His Dog, which is surprisingly similar to one of my favorite games of all time, Fallout.

Releasing niche, indie titles exclusively on consoles again? Smart marketing move :\

Yeah its crazy, why would you want to release a game on the only shopping option for a console that's sold 30.2 million units?
Dude no offense but whilst the PC is an important market for indie games, probably the most important, there's no fucking way to match that level of exposure. Even if you did it on steam you'd get what, 2 million users daily on average? Even if 10% of the 360 owners were on live and used the marketplace, you'd beat that exposure.
This is a fantastic business opportunity for them, especially if the games are priced at an 800 point mark because then it becomes an impulse buy.
Will exclusivity cost them sales? Sure.
Would they get more sales on the PC than on the Xbox if the game was released on both? Probably not.
Which is the most likely to make them more money so they can continue developing games? I reckon its the 360
Do I ask too many questions I then answer myself? Hell yes!

Actually the number of Steam accounts(20 Million Feb 2009) and Xbox Live accounts (17 Million Jan 2009) appear to be roughly comparable.

Ahh I knew there had to be total accounts somewhere, just couldn't find it.
From the times I've looked at the steam usage stats (not THAT often but every few months), there always seems to be about 2 million regulars online. Without firm data I obviously can't be accurate but I'd bet that a good percentage of those accounts were made for half life 2 and other attached games and not used much beyond that. Much the same can probably be said of the 360, they made the gamertag at the start and never used anything other than that but I wouldn't be surprised to find the total of regularly active accounts being higher.
Basically there needs to be a big arse statistical analysis to determine which is more used and for what. But if I were a software dev and offered the choice of platforms, I'd bet on the 360
Also. that photo in the article, Gabe Newell looks sad

Ha ha
You're probably right, I mean, I've got an account on both services but I don't use either of them anymore.
I still think it's a little odd these games are going to the 360 rather than the PC. It seems like more hassle than its worth, what with the lack of mouse control and the problems of the games getting certified by microsoft, a process which according to Jeff Minter (of Tempest 2000 fame and creator of Space Giraffe) in his old Edge magazine column was extremely thorough.

Well, exclusive seems to mean timed exclusive more often these days anyway.

Just done a little hunting around and The Misadventure of P.B. Winterbottom looks quite interesting.
It looks like it started out as a student project and after turning a few heads it seems 2K have picked it up. is the games website (click the Student Project link for more info on the game) and [url=http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/21/gdc08-pb-winterbottom-is-a-special-game/]here is one of the creators talking about it at GDC last year.