Larry Hryb is Xbox Live Director of Programming. That's his job. Major Nelson, though...he's a community guy. Over the past year or so he's emerged as a go-to guy for 360 owners, since his blog and podcast have served as an excellent "bridge" between the 360 userbase and Microsoft Corp. As such, the Major has been an invaluable PR asset for Microsoft, regardless of whether that's his job or not.

At least...he was.

On his latest podcast, the Major and his guest "e" (Xbox Operations Manager) get onto the subject of the new Gears multiplayer maps, and in particular how much they cost. This is a sensitive issue - since they're crazy expensive (800 points) - so in light of the backlash he received over his comments on the Guitar Hero II downloadable content, you'd have thought he'd play it safe.

Nuh unh.

He mocks. Get to the seven-minute mark of his podcast and hear what it sounds like when a man and his show's guest not only completely undermine more than a year's worth of community-building PR, but take a nasty little swing at the team behind the 360's sole AAA title. Highlights:

• Major Nelson on the new Gears maps (in his best comic-book-nerd voice): "Oh, wait a minute, 800 points, we want it for free!"
• When discussing Epic's influence in convincing Microsoft to increase the 360's memory from 256MB to 512MB, we get:
• 
  

  
  e: "I do find this amusing that on the one hand Epic are saying, "Ha ha we cost you a billion dollars", and on the other hand saying, "But these [map packs] should be free!"

  Larry: "They love spending other peoples money"
  

  
  Larry (and "e"), 360 consumers don't give a SHIT about Microsoft's business decisions (though I'm sure Epic just love the fact you're blaming them for the map pricing). Telling us why you think four maps are worth $10 means nothing, because that's not our problem. On our end, as consumers, we judge a product on its worth, not its cost, a point everyone involved in the Xbox Live marketplace would do well to realise. Luke Plunkett

  Show #224 The one with e and the Pac-Man expert [Major Nelson]

Send an email to the author of this post at plunkett@kotaku.com.