Azrael360: It only affects the items in your Inventory to be used as an item in the Trade Window for the next 30 days, nothing else... (:P)
You can still send them as I did last night, completely bypassing the trading, but still the trade can be done, which makes this new rule really stupid... (:P)
liquidsnakehpks: lol i guess they thought everyone trades on steam via the trade window only haha.
I hope no giveaways were affected by this , some people tend to get the gift to be gifted sometimes via a trade before for the giveaway.
actually it's more to how valve trying to avoid take responsibility from trader scam. you know, in the past if someone's game revoked because of bad trader (chargeback because of unvalid credit card or else) you can get your items back, because you're protected by trade record, and valve can rolling back the trades.
meanwhile, if you gift the game, you responsible for your own item/game. no record of trade, so valve no longer have to worry about it anymore.
but more or less this has nothing to do with gifting, as it's running just like usual. so for people in this thread, nothing to worry about i guess.