That doesn't make sense. Unavailable doesn't mean abandoned. A company doesn't have to keep supporting and making something available. That's their prerogative. Doesn't mean they abandoned the products, leaving them open to be downloaded by whoever. I wish I could get a copy of Eye of the Beholder. It's unavailable. That sucks. But me going out and swiping a copy is still me stealing. It's like saying it's okay to go after the treasure because the guard stopped giving a shit and went out for nachos instead. If you're not supposed to be there, then you're not, regardless of how many guards are involved.

It brightened up my day a bit too ;) Enjoying life's simple pleasures...

We are going OT here, however I want to respond. Theft is when one loses something and other gains it. It does not work like that with information... I do not much agree with the whole concept of copyright and such, in my experience it does not work much and are abused by big monopoly like organizations... I think that paying for games and ideas to author is right thing to do, but when owner of rights asks for unfair price or makes product unavailable in your country or requires you to buy it with DRM... I do not see that as fair. It is probably about point of view, but one thing is what is right and quite another what is leagal. And laws change.

Hear, hear.

Imho all this current noise on the forum is mostly irrelevant. The majority of GOG users rarely use the forum anyway, or only come here when they have problems with some game they bought. Let's just wait until those great (?) new games are actually available for purchase/pre-order, then we ( including the GOG team ) will see where we stand. I'm quite curious, both about the new games, but also about whether or not they'll sell well with the whole regional pricing controversy.

( And what kind of retarded boycott is that supposed to be anyway, @ MW2. If they already bought the game, why would EA care, even if they all stopped playing? *facepalm* )

[edit: deleted, something weird just happened]

Ditto - the wider introduction of regional pricing does bother me though, since the next step is regional restrictions, and implementing that properly (i.e. preventing out-of-region installation or play) does then require DRM. There's no justification for regional pricing on cost grounds (bandwidth costs don't vary by customer location) so it's no more than pandering to publisher prejudice.

Which then begs the question: if GOG are prepared to compromise on this, how long until DRM-free gets splatted on the same altar of convenience?
Games using Steamworks DRM (e.g. Napoleon Total War, Civilization V) require a Steam account and all that comes with it, however they are purchased making Steam a monopoly in those cases.

It has to do with licensing in a location, not actual nationality ... I'm American, but I can't continue to demand the American price if I went to Australia and tried to buy a game from there.

Some times it has to do with local taxes (like Brazil charges insane tax rates on imported electronics) but usually it has to do with how captive the market is; before Amazon, publishers actually used to quietly bill different rates depending on the state you were in.

Don't ask me. I've never played a COD nor have I plans to boycott GOG. I've posted this just for fun. ;)

So much epic in just one post.

Regional pricing... Not cool, GOG. Unless you do something similar as you did with the Witcher2 (another game as a compensation for higher price).

It can work with information, though. Example - you can pay someone to introduce certain kinds of pleasurable information into your brain. (Was trying for a hypothetical, but that actually sounds about right for anything a person might find enjoyable.) That person charges. I do it instead, using the exact same kind of information, but not charging you. The one charging will lose in that exchange more often than not. I also agree that copyright needs to be revamped, that the culture of video games in general needs to be preserved before it gets nuked entirely. Don't think region-based pricing is fair, either. Unless you've got a hell of a lot of stats to back up exactly why Person A should be charged less/more than Person B, it strikes me as bullshit. And of course, right versus legal, legal versus sensible, is often in conflict.

Many of us are understandably upset about the regional pricing, whether it affects us directly or not, however, let’s try not to lose our heads, and be rational. Take a moment to think things through. Pricing is going to ultimately be decided by sales, our voting with our wallets, and pricing will be adjusted over time.

If we are ever to move the DRM free Revolution forward, then we must get the big AAA Developers and Publishers on board with us, in the DRM free distribution markets. And this isn’t just about Gaming, we can expand the cause to Movies, Music and Literature or reference materials as well.

GoG has made a compromise in their pricing principles to make this happen. The AAA Devs and Pubs have made a compromise on their DRM policies to make this happen. Unfortunately the current structure of the large business models are bound to regional pricing and content restrictions, but that doesn’t mean that it will always remain so.

We must be constructive in our criticisms, expressing our influence as a community to be more forward thinking. Let’s welcome these new Devs and Pubs that release their Titles on all DRM free sites.

When it comes to restricted access to content, that is something we can petition Governments and businesses to ease up on, if we make a compromise with possible posted warnings and/or age restriction guidelines, to let individuals decide whether the content is appropriate for them.

(an echo of my post in another thread... ) :P

I always accept higher prices with specific bonuses. In germany, books in german war often quite expensive, because of the translation costs. movies have to be synchronized. etc. but i buy my books and my movies in english and import much. and its cheaper. the same product with different prices and 1:1 content -> no thanks :)

This is what was posted on the front page. we will be offering anyone who pre-orders or buys one of them a free game from a selection as a gift from GOG.com, just like we did for The Witcher 2

No. You don't have to take my wishful thinking at face value. But neither do I have to take your endless speculation and doom spelling for granted, as well.

I don't want to be rewarded nor recognized for any kind of sacrifice, and I'm sorry if I left you thinking some sort of reward had to be monetary. I actually think this "reward" can be in the form of better customer service, more titles and options to choose from -- perhaps some that had been requested and coveted for a long time. That's what I think can -- notice I said can, not certainly will -- happen, and it's ultimately good for the customers.

So, according to your logic, it's fine the way the system is now, because Europeans and Australians pay less, even if Russians and some Euro Zone countries actually pay more?! I fail to see the "fairness" in that, sorry.

Everything you said is fine and dandy, but there's one thing in which I beg to differ: DRM-free is not as vague or open a concept as you make it sound. I'm no expert in law and economics, nor will I pretend to be, but, working in the business of book publishing, I can assure you I have to work with DRM every single day, and trust me when I say it is very real and not as a matter of image and ideology as you make it out to be. DRM is not "EULA" or "ToS", it's actual, practical, sometimes invasive measures publishers take in order to control customer access to digital content. Stuff like limiting downloads, making always online mandatory, having you register your product, etc. I'm not going into that whole "owning/renting" issue, because my background in philosophy and literature taught me some notions that will most definitely go against your "practical" knowledge of the world and how it works or should work.

In short, DRM-free is no "minor" thing on GOG, it's arguably the most heavyweight argument in their favor ever since the beginning. It's a really huge showing of consumer rights respect, believe it or not. For most consumers, albeit important, all their other core values are secondary. DRM-free is not secondary by any means, and even if the games that will have regional pricing are available everywhere else for the same price, they're only available fully DRM-free on GOG. And if gamers care more about selfish needs, by buying a DRM-riddled title just because it's a bit cheaper, then it's not GOG's values that are at stake, now, right? DRM-free is what draws most of the GOG user base in here, as much as you and this vocal minority -- so vocal you might get the impression it's actually a majority -- may think otherwise.

I'm as sad as the next man about these changes, don't get me wrong -- I truly am. But, right now, let's have a bit more faith in the guys at GOG, they're learning as they go, as well, and if this turns out to be a huge mistake, then I'm sure they'll learn from it and try a different approach.

At this moment, anything other than waiting to see what really happens and where this actually leads and leaves us is rushing things and is ultimately futile. You don't need to take my wishful thinking for nothing, I don't ask you to. Just simmer a bit down, let the chips fall where they may, we'll see what to do when things are actually happening.