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[JaseC]

Gabe is the boss but that doesn't mean that he needs to know every single thing. That is why there are teams that are in charge of certain aspects of Valve. Gabe trusts them to make good decisions.

I'd say that Valve pulling a game from Steam at it own discretion counts as a significant decision.

you can't mean that retail keys will be locked too or can you?

The region-lock that Valve has broadly applied is just ACRTAG. The way it works and the list of regions it affects hasn't changed.

 

[Knurek]

you can't mean that retail keys will be locked too or can you?

Well, there's always a runtime level regional lock

 

[baterism]

It's quite alarming when the head of the company has no idea what's going on in his own company and has to step in after people bomb him with emails. Same with Diretide, same with Hatred and who knows what else? It's time to restructure, Gabe.

Shush, let GabeN work on

Spoiler

L4D3

in peace.

 

[dex3108]

I'd say that Valve pulling a game from Steam at it own discretion counts as a significant decision.

It is up to Greenlight team to make that decision and deal with consequences. That is why there are teams for specific features and games. Imagine if every decision needed Gabe approval before executing it.

 

[ShogunX]

If anybody still has gems left to buy games......

http://steamcommunity.com/auction/item/1276-Resonance


Fucking buy it. The game is currently going for about 1300.

Oh and -

Key Features:
◾Voiceover work featuring fan-favourite Logan Cunningham (Bastion)

◾Four simultaneously playable characters

◾A twisting, riveting storyline influenced by player decisions

◾Long and short term memory system - ask anybody about anything in the game!

◾Over ten hours of gameplay!

 

[spindoctor]

I just realized if activating cd keys with VPN is also banned, that would be the final nail in the coffin for SE Asia gaf to get games that were not available in their region, which is like almost everything Konami and SEGA made.

You could always ask someone from America to gift it to you.

 

[JaseC]

It is up to Greenlight team to make that decision and deal with consequences. That is why there are teams for specific features and games. Imagine if every decision needed Gabe approval before executing it.

I know how Valve operates, and I'm not saying Gabe needs to be made privy to every little thing, which is why I said "significant decision". When the Greenlight team and the most senior employee of the company have different ideas regarding what Valve would and would not publish on Steam, there exists a bit of a problem that needs addressing.

 

[Kaleinc]

Gabe is the boss but that doesn't mean that he needs to know every single thing. That is why there are teams that are in charge of certain aspects of Valve. Gabe trusts them to make good decisions.

The boss doesn't have to know every little thing but all the big stuff should pass through him still. Shit they do now is pretty big so there you go.

 

[NingenJanai]

I know how Valve operates, thanks, and I'm not saying Gabe needs to be made privy to every little thing, which is why I said "significant decision". When the "Greenlight team" and the most senior employee of the company have different ideas regarding what Valve would and would not publish on Steam, there exists a bit of a problem that needs addressing.

Actually we don't know what happened, maybe Gaben gave the ok to remove the game, and with all the backlash and emails he has changed his mind.

 

[Chairmanchuck]

What happend while I was gone?

Et tu, Volvo?

 

[Stallion Free]

If Valve had any honor they would just shutdown at this point.

 

[PandaPedinte]

I think so.

Is that your way of saying "Does not compute"?



That's a bingo.

Crap. I was planning on doing a small giveaway near the end of the year.

 

[JaseC]

Actually we don't know what happened, maybe Gaben gave the ok to remove the game, and with all the backlash and emails he has changed his mind.

Maybe, but there's no reason to believe that's the case.

 

[cicero]

The change wasn't and won't be made retroactive. It applies to newly-bought gifts only. I'd say pre-existing region-locked gifts being made region-free was a result of whatever measure Valve put in place to ensure pre-existing gifts wouldn't be affected.

Edit: Or not.

The rouble lost like 20% of its value against the US dollar in one day just a day ago, are we seeing this upheaval in Steam prices too in that region? I hate that this uncertainty is an issue so close to the sale, I was hoping to go the Russian Gift/Paypal route for most everything I could if possible.

 

[JaseC]

The rouble lost like 20% of its value against the US dollar in one day just a day ago, are we seeing this upheaval in Steam prices too in that region? I hate that this uncertainty is an issue so close to the sale, I was hoping to go the Russian Gift/Paypal route for most everything I could if possible.

No, but there is a rumour that Valve will drop RUB support, meaning Russia will share the lower USD prices seen in the rest of Eastern Europe.

 

[poopninjamvc3mk]

I knew I should have bought a DOA5LR key earlier. Guess that's out of the question now

Thanks for all responses, I'm leaning towards x1 controller, simply because I really liked xbox360 one I still use, but I'm bit worried about supposedly not so good sticks as on 360 one. Is it true?

Been using Xbone controller for a couple of weeks now, it's honestly probably my favorite controller ever made so far except for fighting games

 

[Danielsan]

Figures, 1 hour after purchasing some gems the gems appear to be dropping like a rock.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

hey guys, just woke up what's going on?

 

[derExperte]

Figures, 1 hour after purchasing some gems the gems appear to be dropping like a rock.

Was the same yesterday, they'll go up again later. Maybe. But 1€ seems to be the limit so I hope you didn't buy them to speculate.

 

[Vuze]

I wonder if devs can still remove the ACRTAG themselves? Or if Valve sorta patronizes them in this regard?

 

[YianGaruga]

I wonder if devs can still remove the ACRTAG themselves? Or if Valve sorta patronizes them in this regard?

They can.

Not this new kind of ACRTAG, they can't. If you read the message that was posted on the dev forums, it is now automatically added to all new purchases.

 

[JaseC]

I wonder if devs can still remove the ACRTAG themselves? Or if Valve sorta patronizes them in this regard?

I'm inclined to think "No" as the Eden 3D Screensaver dev said that the program shouldn't be region-locked and yet nothing ever happened.

 

[Atraveller]

You could always ask someone from America to gift it to you.

But that would still be cross region trading for those in the zones wouldn't it?

 

[JaseC]

But that would still be cross region trading for those in the zones wouldn't it?

Cross-region trading as a whole hasn't been disabled. It's just ACRTAG is now applied to everything -- nothing more, nothing less.

 

[cicero]

http://www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/interviews/0012301-interview-gabe-newell.html

In general, we think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable. Most DRM solutions diminish the value of the product by either directly restricting a customers use or by creating uncertainty.
Our goal is to create greater service value than pirates, and this has been successful enough for us that piracy is basically a non-issue for our company. For example, prior to entering the Russian market, we were told that Russia was a waste of time because everyone would pirate our products. Russia is now about to become our largest market in Europe.

Oh my sweet Gaben, bring back the innocence of 2011.

 

[ViviOggi]

So it's back to the olden days of when finding an American gifter was the real deal. My gaming budget stays the same so, like most users who took advantage of Russian pricing, I'll just be buying less games.

 

[Ban Puncher]

It means we come together as a cohesive unit and vote for Ikaruga during a Community Flash deal and rejoice once it is 75% or more off.

I forgot about Community Flash Deal voting.

Watch the worst thing get picked every time!

 

[Blu(e)]

Reposting before I go to bed. Hopefully more people see this.

Instructions for Blu(e):
Press the quote button to the left of this PM, select the quoted text, copy, and paste in the thread. You can remove these lines from the version you paste.

Instructions for participants:
I am giving away 67 Steam keys. To enter this giveaway, send a PM to ModBot with any subject line. In the body, copy and paste the entire line from the message below that corresponds to the game you want. (if you include more than one game, you will be blocked from entering). Confused? Watch this GIF tutorial or ask for help.

ModBot Basics:
- I really appreciate thank you messages, but please send them to me (Blu(e), not ModBot!) via PM instead of in thread.
- Do not trade keys you win off-site to enrich yourself. Don't try to claim games you have no interest in collecting or playing. Don't claim games to give them to friends off-site.
- If the key is already taken you will not receive a reply. Replies may take a minute or two.

Rules for this Giveaway:
- This giveaway is a raffle. The winners will be selected by random draw 24 hours after the draw was created. Any games not claimed after that point will be given away first come first serve.



The Walking Dead -- MB-57C72049795AA2BE - Taken by Gallantioh. 19 entrants total.
Capsized -- MB-7C902D25435235A2 - Taken by Spring-Loaded. 2 entrants total.
Dynamite Jack -- MB-2E84684E7D6B360B - Taken by TheMadMan007. 1 entrants total.
Kingdom Rush -- MB-2DE14A6E4F702BBF - Taken by sapsari. 3 entrants total.
Natural Selection 2 -- MB-348A83EDCC32AADC - Taken by Belgarion. 2 entrants total.
Oil Rush -- MB-BF040D2545D46EDE
Avadon: The Black Fortress -- MB-FB9512648E5964DB - Taken by Tesseract. 1 entrants total.
Ravensword: Shadowlands -- MB-2A94A015C3ED2652
Eufloria -- MB-0DEE045223DF99CC - Taken by KageZero. 2 entrants total.
Thomas Was Alone -- MB-A08DBFB065661CC4
Bastion -- MB-3CC7C1D972DD900B - Taken by texhnolyze. 1 entrants total.
The Showdown Effect -- MB-A608F93D5B8409DB - Taken by nja. 1 entrants total.
Galcon Fusion -- MB-5E3E8A41047BC612
Zen Bound 2 -- MB-6197BADB61E4183A
Guardians of Middle-earth -- MB-3E39ADE8269467FC - Taken by sensoft04. 1 entrants total.

Serious Sam 3: BFE -- MB-9E57B6A5EC9981F1 - Taken by EdmondD. 5 entrants total.
Nightsky -- MB-F9A61A16DC82D7EE - Taken by Eternal Gamer. 1 entrants total.
Crayon Physics Deluxe -- MB-1E6038613C343797

2​

Botanicula -- MB-456791EEBB11A21D - Taken by ashecitism. 2 entrants total.
Cities in Motion 2 -- MB-A6842DC407AF7322 - Taken by Shalashaska. 2 entrants total.
Mark of the Ninja -- MB-22112220FD16CD08 - Taken by Anustart. 2 entrants total.
Breach & Clear -- MB-894D7F5229CB39D5 - Taken by tjohn86. 6 entrants total.
Dead Space -- MB-6052EA8DBDA2065D - Taken by Abhor. 2 entrants total.
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome -- MB-40D6E5D338F4A010 - Taken by Natty1. 2 entrants total.
Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition -- MB-B5E930FFBF132FE0 - Taken by okiemok. 1 entrants total.
Crayon Physics Deluxe -- MB-F5B719A52E3CE120
Dungeon Defenders Plus All DLC -- MB-81CF6BA26FCC1745 - Taken by The Reloader. 4 entrants total.
Awesomenauts -- MB-378D908D74A36559 - Taken by S1n1st3r. 2 entrants total.
Super Hexagon -- MB-D2E82AB5A0876A32 - Taken by autoduelist. 1 entrants total.
Solar 2 #2 -- MB-B0B479B3C2D1B091 - Taken by billmcdougal. 1 entrants total.
Splice -- MB-F8A449AEE0027766 - Taken by topyy. 1 entrants total.
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP -- MB-4EE651D865C31AE4 - Taken by darkchewie. 3 entrants total.
Starseed Pilgrim -- MB-04B5E06E73CF80B4 - Taken by arts&crafts. 2 entrants total.
Beat Hazard Ultra -- MB-F3FEB82078CACC28
Fractal -- MB-410B062940F8262D
Solar 2 -- MB-CA1A56A8660D3496
Waking Mars -- MB-5C5580687E16D972
Rochard -- MB-7CABEE7C1BE56192 - Taken by XShagrath. 1 entrants total.
Nightsky #2 -- MB-B3C0D6F8A87954C9
Jack Lumber -- MB-00C35C6D07F3E6E5
Little Inferno -- MB-14684C88BDF7EA53
Cogs -- MB-81C6383545281ABD
Bad Hotel -- MB-720A460CD7D1D5E8 - Taken by electroflame. 1 entrants total.
Terraria -- MB-1FC65DC1E38625CD - Taken by AsylumX. 1 entrants total.
Swords & Soldiers HD -- MB-2E35AE8F9B92440B - Taken by nightstorm. 1 entrants total.
Stealth Bastard Deluxe -- MB-1C7F7C6B6F8FC957 - Taken by CrunchyFrog. 1 entrants total.
Eets Munchies -- MB-7CBA542E21C760A4
PixelJunk Eden -- MB-D84083CDDCC52C66 - Taken by Alastor. 1 entrants total.
Frozen Synapse -- MB-AE3556B4E9BE2E16 - Taken by $h@d0w. 1 entrants total.
Bridge Constructor -- MB-7D347C21B8D93DE3 - Taken by fernandes. 1 entrants total.
LIMBO -- MB-B2B6FAD224391E20 - Taken by roadrunn3r. 1 entrants total.
Machinarium -- MB-9AE40FB80A7CFEBE - Taken by Sammichu. 1 entrants total.
Hero Academy -- MB-3A9BE512B8765746 - Taken by drakaenae. 1 entrants total.
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians -- MB-64CDBBF374C7F8C7
Fieldrunners 2 -- MB-D0056FAE92B071DC - Taken by Pakkidis. 1 entrants total.
Fieldrunners -- MB-859C0843CCF96C86
Magicka Plus 2 DLC -- MB-AA73183879CA6239 - Taken by SSPssp. 2 entrants total.
A Virus Named TOM -- MB-BD18FFAABBC0CCEA - Taken by AkuMifune. 1 entrants total.
Medal of Honor -- MB-621DB780B006CA6F - Taken by SeZMehK. 1 entrants total.
Sanctum 2 -- MB-3EDDC0A81A38B5D8 - Taken by iosefe. 2 entrants total.
Galcon Legends -- MB-831AE1BD41327E73 - Taken by Scipius. 1 entrants total.
Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine -- MB-8569868A7BF72F7B - Taken by Adnor. 1 entrants total.
McPixel -- MB-AB7C8F35112C84FE - Taken by Leg-End. 1 entrants total.
Broken Sword 2 -- MB-5A5D26B35C6B3759 - Taken by Axass. 1 entrants total.
Red Faction: Armageddon -- MB-263BD25DF70771E4 - Taken by tioslash. 3 entrants total.
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North -- MB-B376B15CE0484FA5 - Taken by hepburn3d. 6 entrants total.
Indie Game: The Movie -- MB-A3F23125DDFDB450 - Taken by trailmix16. 4 entrants total.

 

[NingenJanai]

I forgot about Community Flash Deal voting.

Watch the worst thing get picked every time!

This time you don't vote, you bid gems to the item you want to be featured as a flash deal, the item with most gems is the winner that will get flash dealed.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

I forgot about Community Flash Deal voting.

Watch the worst thing get picked every time!

Or a game that has been a daily- and a flashsale already.

This time you don't vote, you bid gems to the item you want to be featured as a flash deal, the item with most gems is the winner that will get flash dealed.

Don't even joke about that.

 

[Snakethesniper]

Tomorrow will be like:

ARE YOU READY FOR A MIRACLE* ?

*: miracle might be region locked due to recent changes

 

[Arthea]

This time you don't vote, you bid gems to the item you want to be featured as a flash deal, the item with most gems is the winner that will get flash dealed.

now that I totally can see happening
We just can't win anyway, most of the time

 

[Nzyme32]

http://www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/interviews/0012301-interview-gabe-newell.html

Oh my sweet Gaben, bring back the innocence of 2011.

I think people have different definitions for what they consider "region locked". To me, I always associated it with the Game not being available in a particular region, rather than being able to purchase it in a region but not transfer it to another.

Am I completely wrong?

 

[abracadaver]

Completed Dead Island yesterday and got all the achievements

I liked it on 360 a few years ago and wanted to replay it to get in the mood for Dying Light and got addicted. Took me 51 hours to complete. I really love the game. Sucks that the Steam version does not have achievements for the DLC.

Now I'm going to play Dead Island Riptide. Its new for me and hopefully its just as good.

 

[baterism]

I think people have different definitions for what they consider "region locked". To me, I always associated it with the Game not being available in a particular region, rather than being able to purchase it in a region but not transfer it to another.

Am I completely wrong?

Yeah, I'm with you. It's more stricter region pricing than region lock.

GFWL reg-lock is the real bs. I still can't buy MGR or DS.

 

[Sini]

Yeah, I'm with you. It's more stricter region pricing than region lock.

GFWL reg-lock is the real bs. I still can't buy MGR or DS.

MGR - Metal Gear Rising?
That never had GFWL.

 

[Arthea]

I think people have different definitions for what they consider "region locked". To me, I always associated it with the Game not being available in a particular region, rather than being able to purchase it in a region but not transfer it to another.

Am I completely wrong?

That's actually not region lock as ridiculous as it sounds to you, if something is not available in your region, well though luck, who knows why, maybe censorship, maybe not worth bothering releasing locally, but if you buy something in other region (doesn't matter if it's available in your region or not), and can't play or watch or whatever in your region then it's region locked. Region lock is preventing other people from accessing something that it's not sold or acquired locally and it's one of stupidest things humanity ever invented in my honest opinion.

 

[JaseC]

MGR - Metal Gear Rising?
That never had GFWL.

Yeah, that's just Konami exercising its disdain for Asia:

PurchaseRestrictedCountries
BT Bhutan
BN Brunei Darussalam
KH Cambodia
CN China
HK Hong Kong
ID Indonesia
JP Japan
KR Korea, Republic of
LA Lao People's Democratic Republic
MO Macau
MY Malaysia
MV Maldives
MN Mongolia
NP Nepal
PH Philippines
SG Singapore
LK Sri Lanka
TW Taiwan
TH Thailand
VN Vietnam

AllowPurchaseFromRestrictedCountries
No

 

[The_Super_Inframan]

The lock down is the worst news ever to wake up to.

So, I'm supposed to play my games now instead of buying them? Madness!
And of course one day before the sale...

But for real, I believe that Valve is doing this because of the situation of the Russian economy but I would bet that it is also a nice excuse to do this without to much moaning from the community and that the lock is here to stay even after things should get better in Russia...

Sad times

 

[baterism]

MGR - Metal Gear Rising?
That never had GFWL.

That means is just plain reg-lock? I heard DS was reg-locked because GFWL so I assume every other reg-locked title are result of that. Gotta apologize to MS then.

WTH Konami? You don't like rupiah?

 

[The Reloader]

Ok, I now accept that if I want to win my bid I will need more gems but I refuse to buy more. So I will reluctantly need to use Idlemaster (even though I wanted to keep an accurate playtime record).

question, can I choose which games to idle in Idlemaster?

Edit: nvm figured it out.

 

[Kiru]

So... any reason I should wait to craft 5 badges now. I do get holiday cards already ?
Any indication of a new holiday event ? :/
I am in need of gems and I don't want to buy those stupid sacks. Just want to win one auction before it ends.

 

[The_Super_Inframan]

So... any reason I should wait to craft 5 badges now. I do get holiday cards already ?

sell them now for profit and buy them again at the end of the sale when the prices are low. The market will be flooded with wintersale cards over the next two weeks

 

[JaseC]

That means is just plain reg-lock? I heard DS was reg-locked because GFWL so I assume every other reg-locked title are result of that. Gotta apologize to MS then.

WTH Konami? You don't like rupiah?

Just to be clear, it's not region-locked in the sense that a gift copy/retail key* would be useless to you; it's simply not available to purchase.

* You'd require a VPN to activate the key. While using a VPN to skirt region-specific pricing on the Steam Store itself is a big no-no, to date Valve's looked the other way when it comes to activating region-locked keys, presumably because it doesn't see a cent from them.

 

[Nordicus]

My friend is pissed about the regionlock because he lives in Lithuania, which isn't exactly a rich country, but has to pay the more-expensive-than-US euro prices

 

[cicero]

Just to be clear, it's not region-locked in the sense that a gift copy/retail key* would be useless to you; it's simply not available to purchase.

* You'd require a VPN to activate the key. While using a VPN to skirt region-specific pricing on the Steam Store itself is a big no-no, to date Valve's looked the other way when it comes to activating region-locked keys, presumably because it doesn't see a cent from them.

So for now Nuuvem is still an option because they are selling region-locked keys?

 

[Kurt Russell]

"Today we have propped a change that will affect all packages on Steam which will not allow them to be unpacked to an account, if gifted or traded from a lower priced region to a higher priced region."

Does that mean that I can't get games from a Brazilian or Mexican? I'm on Argentina, which is in the same region of those two countries for ACRTAG purposes, but our store prices are higher.

 

[JaseC]

So for now Nuuvem is still an option because they are selling region-locked keys?

Most of Nuuvem's offerings are region-free. Outside of Deep Silver titles and to a much lesser extent Sega games, region-locked BR retail subs are decidedly rare.

 

[Nzyme32]

That's actually not region lock as ridiculous as it sounds to you, if something is not available in your region, well though luck, who knows why, maybe censorship, maybe not worth bothering releasing locally, but if you buy something in other region (doesn't matter if it's available in your region or not), and can't play or watch or whatever in your region then it's region locked. Region lock is preventing other people from accessing something that it's not sold or acquired locally and it's one of stupidest things humanity ever invented in my honest opinion.

Yeah I get that. Ultimately though, there are two sides to this. Either they focus on regional pricing relevant to those regions, but people will circumvent their own regional pricing to get it cheaper, which leads to what happens now. The alternative is to have a universal price available in all regions, but then this screws over those living in regions where pricing will be higher than domestic products of similar types and value, which may make them completely unaffordable.

I'd argue that regional pricing is the better option, but it is a bloody slow road to try and actually get fair pricing in all territories.

Yeah, I'm with you. It's more stricter region pricing than region lock.

GFWL reg-lock is the real bs. I still can't buy MGR or DS.

This is another issue, where asian devs / pubs don't make their games available at all, for no known or logical reason. I don't live in those areas and it pisses me off too.

 

[FloatOn]

seems that after burner climax is off the marketplace.

another game to add to the sega petition I think.