So the standard protection is SecuROM? AKA the DRM that caused Spore to become the most pirated game of 2008? Alright then.

CD Projekt, please tell whoever is publishing this(Atari I think) that they are idiots and should fornicate themselves with a rusty spoon for putting such a horrid thing in the game. SecuROM is more like a cancer, and I refuse to let it on my PC. So please, publisher of Witcher 2, please go die in a fire for putting SecuROM on this game.

Sincerely, a disgruntled fan who will be punished by you for buying the game.

Buying digitally isn't really an option for me. My connection is just too slow. I am also in the "least likely to pirate" group, so even that is right out. Instead, I must instead choose to not buy what will be one of the very few "true" RPG's of this generation, or to deal with the anti-consumer filth that is secuROM. Hopefully you release a patch that gets rid of the DRM. Until then, I think I'll just save my money.

I know that its not as bad as Ubisoft's, but even though a punch to the stomach isn't as bad as a punch to the balls, it still hurts like hell and should be avoided.

I also suggest that you let people who register the physical copy to their account here be able to download the full game DRM free. That won't really help me in my situation, but I think it would help others.

EDIT: It seems the physical copy is still rather hazy in terms of DRM. Even if it doesn't end up having horrid DRM, I still stand by what I say. SecuROM is awful, and should not be in any game at all, physical or digital.

SecuROM is "lovely" actually. It doesn't install when you install the game. After installing don't run the game, but go to your famous crack site, GCW, or something similar, and download a cracked exe. Copy it into the game's installation directory, and the DRM is gone.

Hard? :p

Its TAGES and similar crap that suck, they install during the installation of the game.

What you don't seem to understand is this: cracking DRM is a competition of sorts to "The Scene". I don't believe any "warez group" would make a release that has no challenge. It would be like giving up, because anyone could do it.
Besides, physical copies often became available sooner than digital because there are multiple steps where they can be leaked and made available before release day.

Now more to the topic: YAY! I've already pre-ordered from GOG and plan to buy it from here as soon as it becomes available.

As far as I remember they said that the GOG preorder wouldn't have DRM, I don't remember them saying that every other versions of W2 would also be DRM-free; knowing CDP anti-DRM stance peoples inferred that it would be the case but I don't think it they ever officially announced it.

I'd like to apologise for my complaint, the place I was planning to order it from had the date listed as the 18th March and the timing of this announcement and the Q&A date in it only seemed to confirm that so I thought it was less than a week to release.

I've checked the site again and the date is now the 17th of May, which also seems to be what's listed on other websites. Not having the DRM announced two months is advance is much more understandable, although I do hope Namaco Bandai/CD Projekt will be announcing what the DRM will require closer to the time (and not just the name of the supplier, 'SecuROM' has several different schemes for example).

Well no its not really hard, but I should't have to do all that to play the game.

I am relatively new to GOG.com, but I have two questions, both are for GOG personnel.

1) Will the Witcher 2 be like any other downloads that we have where they can be downloaded multiple times if we want to delete the installer from our computer and then later have to reinstall the game?

2) I noticed that the games offered are to be honest, not games I am interested in, could you maybe convince your sister company to part with the Witcher the Enhanced edition for an extra ten to twenty bucks? Where I am in the US, there are no copies of the Witcher in the stores unless you opt to drive for long periods of time, and I would prefer to have the first and the second Witcher together and not be a part of horrible service types such as Steam, EA digital, etc.

I apologize to anyone who uses Steam but I find it offensive that it is essentially a rental service masquerading as a game seller, though I feel the same way about EA too especially in light of recent events. I purchased the game, I feel that I can do what I want with it such as installing it on all the computers in my home or even uninstalling the game and with games such as Spore (i.e. Securom, you can't uninstall all of the software, at least not easily) and the only things I cannot do are copying and distributing it to others outside of my household. I miss the days where you filled out a cd key and then input your email address and potentially your name or address and that was it beyond disc checks.

Well I really like RPGWatch but I think they blew it this time. Not only did they post the sight but also the password for access. What's the point of this being a GOG pre-order exclusive if its now open to the world?

woah i did not know impulse had its own forums :O nice time to sign up and blast someone for the regional limitations

I'm not a GOGgler, but welcome aboard!
You can be pretty sure it will be - GOG don't operate an online activation service and would have to modify their existing setup to accommodate such a system.
It would be a good idea to offer the first Witcher on GOG but I suspect that Atari (the publishers) may have a veto on that. Do note that if you can get a physical copy (from a mail order outfit like Amazon, etc) that the latest patch will remove the media check, making it effectively DRM-free. And the Witcher Enhanced Edition does have a lot of nice physical goodies (map, 3 manuals, music CD, making-of DVD).
I'm with you on Steam (the most dangerous DRM ever in my view since Valve can blackmail their users by bringing in an annual or even monthly charge to keep accounts open - fail to pay and bye bye Steam games collection) and have just been posting at EA/Bioware about the risks to buyers of their online activation requirements for Dragon Age 2. I think most people here will be in agreement with you.

As to not finding games that you like here - it may be worth taking a longer look. GOG may stand for Good Old Games but there are a few recent (2007-2008 release dates) gems also.

Unfortunately my comment was a bit broad, but I was referring to titles from them that are specifically marked as being DRM-Free.

Witcher 2 pre-orders in Poland go for about 80-90 zł which is €20-23, more than twice cheaper than here.

Well, as long as I appreciate DRM-freeness, I'm not going to spend twice as much to get it...

I'm going to buy Witcher 1 tomorrow, though.

The pre-purchase option + pre-load goes into effect today, right?