...unless you're one of the ninnies who paid for it when it first came out, like I did.

It's bad marketing, imho. I've upgraded trueSpace several times, since v2, only to watch the price drop until first-time users were getting it for less than it cost me to upgrade. I'm just a hobbyist, so it got to the point where I had to wonder why I was letting my wallet take such a beating just so I could have the latest version of what is, for me, just an entertaining toy. I stopped upgrading with v5. Last week I got an email offering v6 for 129 bucks...ain't gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent.

A few weeks back Newtek was offering a competitive upgrade price of $400 on Lightwave 8. If I were a little more serious about the hobby, I'd have done it. I used Lightwave a few years ago (v5.5) and loved it, but could never justify the full price for my own copy.