Nobody knows what it's like to be the Badman

...but that might all soon change.

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This?, a creative, minimalist gem of a game from NIS made a splash in the months leading up to its release (if you haven't downloaded the demo for your PSP, get on that). However, some interested gamers hit a snag when the game was only released digitally.

Weighing in at a paltry 41MB, it was an obvious choice for Sony's push to migrate to downloadable games. It would certainly be a waste of the comparatively vast amount of storage a UMD had to offer.

We won't go into the misgivings some have over digital distribution, you've probably all heard them before, and that isn't that point here — This is news.

NIS America has taken note of Badman's fans request to have a hard copy of the game, and has made an offer: If 1000 pre-orders are made for a UMD version before November 13, it will go into production

However, don't go running to your local GameStop. These pre-orders must be made online at NIS's official shopping Web site, Rosenqueen (for those of you hoping for a brick-and-mortar method, you'll have to wait for a thousand of your friends to make it happen for you). Pre-orders are offered at $19.99, plus shipping. Customers will not be charged until the game is actually printed and shipped [UPDATE: It appears PayPal customers are charged immediately], which NIS estimates will take about a month after closing the pre-order.

In an internet age where hundreds of customer-driven petitions clamoring for products fall on deaf ears, NIS's offer turns the tables by soliciting support. If this trial proves not just successful but wildly successful, other companies may take note. This could lead to a whole new consumer-controlled business model, where we have the opportunity to vote for new games with the most persuasive ballot we have: our dollars.

Perhaps XSEED could duplicate NIS's experiment and offer to translate and box Retro Game Challenge 2 if enough people were willing to pre-order it almost a year in advance.

Badman cover-art mockup courtesy NIS America.