Well, I hope everyone's rude opinions on what is or isn't art and at what price someone should be allowed to sell something that they created doesn't keep the game's author from answering my question.
I think $500 is high, but I also know what it's like to work for countless hours and spend thousands of dollars on something purely for the love of it, and not ever come close to making any money off all your efforts. I created a theme for jailbroken iPhones, which has been downloaded around 14,000 times and i have received ONE donation for $5.
I also have never made any money (despite winning awards, and spending around $4000 to make them) from any of my short films.
But sometimes you just want other people to enjoy what you have created. I think he has every right to try and get whatever he wants/feels his work is worth. If you disagree that's fair. Not everyone can afford to give things away, and I think the limited run of 20 games is more of an attempt to be able to live off what he does than make his work unaccessable to the masses.
I don't see any need to talk crap about someone else's art just because something about it doesn't suit you.
The $20 version is definitely fairly priced, and while it may not have a real Atari cart included, at least he's made the experience of his work available to anyone with $20, not JUST the 20 people who can afford the limited edition. I'm sure people willing to buy one of the limited run are aware that they are making an investment in an artist they believe in, as much as they are buying a limited edition piece of artwork.
Ok, rant has concluded.