I remember there being some discussion around the Humble Bundle brand getting "diluted" by the Frozenbyte bundle last time, and I have to wonder if that's becoming the case.
Agreed - at this point it's nothing more than a every so often flash sale with a name your own price system. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing - but I have far less interest in donating larger amounts "to support the community" when it's becoming a deal site - instead I am starting to get the mentality to get everything at the greatest deal I possibly can.
Your post made me realize something. Just like you, I'd previously been generous in my payment to "support the community". When I loaded up the page today and saw the offering, I mentally said "I don't have $20 to blow on this right now" and left the site. Until I read your post, I never even considered that I could just pay less than $20.
Even odder, once I finish writing this, I'm still not heading over there to buy the bundle, even though I could only spend $0.01.
With the Frozen Synapse bundle, I had come to the conclusion that there is be sufficient market for the HIB to never stop running (eg, a new bundle every two weeks) if they only did one game at a time.
One game a month is a little more sustainable. Hopefully there will still be a big packs once in a while.
Is it better or worse? Not sure. Though it is telling the HIB guys did not even record a trailer for this one.
I'm not following you; in what sense is that crowdsourcing? I assume that the "future content" will be developed by the original developers, possibly using the revenue from this deal.