Anyone from the US wanna gift us some games and ill paypal you? I just wanna play skyrim but i dont want to be ripped off.

90 fecking dollars for an EXPANSION @#%! #$%. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE

thanks ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ god i preordered it b4 the massive increase. why does it always seem to take them a couple of months to shoot the price to the heavens?

just did a quick pricecheck from another online site which will deliver a boxed copy to my door on (or before if possible) the release date...

for $40 AU

steam can shove it.

sorry had to vent the rage.

so, fallout las vegas ups its price beyond ridiculous... i'm positive i'll be able to buy it in the stores cheaper than steam's online price. go figure, an instore purchase cheaper than an online download version.

Possibly, but with the warning up front I don't think anyone's actually stupid enough to enter their details there :P

The hackers are now trying to use sex to sell their links - user "}seXy{ niKKi" is spamming "ur cute! <3 is that really u?", same link as below.

More spammer/hackers, this time the link is "http://steamcommunity_com_profiles_756321848545.9hz.com/"

We have more spammers. User called GiftFreeGame is spamming the following:

The steam is proud to present free games for steam
http://communitysgamessteamm.t35.com/

Obviously, don't follow the link, just report them.

Yeh we arent blaming Steam, we are blaming the publishers who create unfair prices on Steam: 1) Charged in US dollars 2) Charged more for the same product, digital distribution should be cheaper as there are no transport and logisitc costs, no cost to print disks etc...

Don't blame Valve, don't blame Steam, Valve set the prices for their own games and no-one elses and Steam is just a distribution mechanism. Blame the publishers and (**rumour alert**) the retail stores that pressure said publisher to rip us Aussies off.

I can order a physical copy of Super Street Fighter IV from the UK, ship it half way across the world, and get it a few days after release for $37.90 - if i walk into a local store it's a minimum $79 (JB)..

Something wrong there?

Oh and the publisher/manufacturers solution - lock the software to the hardware by region locking so that I HAVE to pay the $79 and not the $39.. The local distributors aren't ripping us off (I've seen how much they pay to get them from the manufacturers).. so why is a US company thinking it's okay to charge $50 usd for a game from US citizens but $50 usd is not enough for someone from outside of the states..

..because they can?
..because we let them..

We need to fight this region locking bullcrap - if i order a book from the united states and ship it over i can still read it - why should games be any different (lets not get started on ebooks.. *shudder*)

Well Cerzei - that's another problem.. not that they're matching local prices - but that local prices are so seriously inflated it's stupid.

The reason games are so cheap in the UK is because piracy is so high.. I think that's our problem.. we're too good and actually follow the systems that are in place to buy and own (sorry.. license) all our games.

Until stupid people stop paying stupidly high inflated local prices.. nothing will happen. For a while when JB first started getting into games.. new releases were 69-79 dollars.. now people 'trust' JB in games.. that happens a hell of a lot less - people will just assume that jb is cheaper without actually bothering to look.

Also to add another random rant - never buy unsealed games from a store that sells second hand ;) - (they say they don't but they do)

Oh, come on. Mass Effect 2 was out for how many months before this price change? This is such an unbelievable ♥♥♥♥ move on their part.

As for Metro 2033, turns out JB Hi-Fi have it in their online store for $90, which turns out to be about the same as it is off Steam now, 'cept that from JB Hi-Fi you get a free shirt.
http://www.jbhifionline.com.au/game/pc-games/metro-2033/475773

Oh I'll pay higher prices on Steam if they're closer to Retail ONLY if they charge in AUD, and register to pay the government GST..

Until then, it's an import from the United States, and as such - I'll only pay the USD prices that people in the US pay.

So true, seems this is the way MOST big publishers are now going.... vote with your wallet and dont purchase games on Steam which have inflated prices.

Looks like EA have increased their prices across the board.. looks like Battlefield BC2 was a test.. and now Mass Effect, Dragon Age etc. are at least 15-20 usd more expensive..

Oh well.. Steam was fun while it lasted.. no more purchases from me unless they're equally priced sales with what the US are getting.. So much cheaper to order a physical copy on disc from the UK - have to wait 3-4 days for delivery.. but meh.. Saves the cost of my download allowance (25 gig for 89.99 - one game can easily take half of that)..

You've just lost sales of the Dragon Age Expansion, Mass Effect 2 (was wanting to finish the originals), EA.. good work.. good work!

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1095594

read and lol bwahahaha

Battlefield Bad Company 2 was reduced to $49.95 after the Limited Edition release had finished. Presumably this was their excuse for charging the original $69.95 price point. However, I've just noticed now that it's back up to $69.95, we're being taken advantage of here.

It's definitely time to consider seriously whether to use Steam for digital purchases. Personally, I can recommend an alternative site www.GamersGate.co.uk . I picked up BC2 for £29.95 on release day (~$50 AU), and it's still priced at that! They let me take the download the install files wherever I want (burn to DVD, etc.), the only thing you need to do is have an internet connection open to start the install. But after that, it doesn't need to authenticate for anything.

The Aussie dollar buys a lot of English pound at the moment and they don't do regional pricing. Hell, you can even put the game's shortcut in your Steam list. It's win/win.

How retarded is steam ? they lowered the cost of Metro 2033 only to jack it back up...Idiotic.

Well, it seems to have been set back to $80 since then, KILLfactor. That's the reason I'm in this group now.

Metro 2033 seems is now selling for $50 US in Australia, we are unsure if this is an error or the price has been released, but for anyone still thinking about buying the game now would be a good time :)

I now only buy games on Steam that are priced the same in USD for us as they are for Americans. I consider it to be an import, especially since I'm paying a US company in USD.. Amazon doesn't Jack up the prices just because Im in Australia and books here a sometimes more expensive.. They count a sale as a sale.. I'm sick of hearing how were in a global economy now, as it appears to only be so when it benefits the corporations and not the consumer!!

I'm not actually Australian, but I agree that the pricing over there is just pathetic. I will hapilly sign any petitions you like.

More hackers. The message this time consists of
"Hello! Pliz Join My Group Only 2 Members http://www.steamgroups4frags.t35.com Thanks!!"

I'm not sure that it's the retailers are doing it, PC games seem largely dead in Australian retail stores thanks to publishers being greedy with the rise of AUD the last few years.

I am much more suspicious of the local subsidiary of each publisher, I very much doubt they get to count steam sales even when an Australian buys it. As a result management and sales reps tasked with Australian PC games have likely had their sales rapidly decline and any bonuses slashed as customers shift to steam and unofficial imports. I can imagine this results in massive amounts of bawwing and ridiculous demands that Aussies be blocked from steam releases etc.

Now I can sympathise somewhat as money the local subsidiary is spending on marketing and classification that is arguably going towards sales likely claimed by an online division. However inflating prices on steam to avoid needed corporate restructing is an idiotic short term solution. They are going to have to deal with this sooner or later.

Hey guys - Yesterday II got an invite from someone named Community from your group, and asked an invite to chat. I was like OK sure... anyhoo they had a link - steampowered.tk -- I stupidly without thinking went to the link.. and went to sign in... thinking god knows why it was to do with Aussie Pricing on games...

They Hijacked my account. Luckily - I realised and requested to change my password whilst still logged in. They did get a hold of my acocunt - but kept sending the message to everyone. Anyhoo now all my friends are deleted - save for my groups.


So beware guys! Some ass wipe is hacking accounts here! -__-

Credit card number alrady has its own country code built in to it. thats how retailers know where you're buying from (and can match the billing address and see if the CC owner is genuine or not)
so if you create forged postal address and purchase it via steam, steam may pick up later on as CC company may flag the transaction as a fraud.
This may result in Steam account ban (yikes) CC number get ban as well. (bit of a hassle if you have lot of direct debit on the card.

I always thought publisher is jacking up the price because they can, and there were some posts from publisher regarding 'Borderland' price hike.
as the initial cheaper price was indeed a MISTAKE and had to be raised to 80USD or something.

i mean i cant realyl MOVE country to buy some game at chaper price is it.

I'm not really familiar with the Steam groups system, is there any way to stop these scammers joining the group and sending pm's? (apart from making it private)

If retailers are complaining about steam prices it makes no sense to do it to dlc items aswell. Discrimination against aussies plain and simple.If you buy from the new zealand store is the credit card and location checks less inclined to flag your card?

WARNING

It appears scammers are targeting members of this group. I have had multiple group members ask to open chat logs with me, and then post a message asking me to visit an account harvesting site. The message usually goes as follows:

"NVIDIA and ATI Gives GTA4,l4d2 tf2 ..STEAM Games for FREE!!! (there has to be at least 1 game ) http://steampowerdacc.tk"

Obviously, don't click on the link.

i think we assume retailers are complaining the price difference, but can this be confirmed ?
Even if its true, Why would 1 retailer (steam) jack up the price for other retails ?

I think the main reason is store retailers are complaining about unfair competition.... however this is not a problem in the US because the store retrailers there charge about the same rate as Steam does... say $40 to $60 max US.
I really like Steam and would prefer to have all my games from Steam, but this is getting a bit annoying and no one wants to be ripped of like this.

I'm looking at buying the Borderlands DLC, but even thats $3 US more than the price in the US! $3 is not much but it's still 30% more ....

Steam nor EA/THQ/Activision wont pay tax to australia, why do they need to jack up the price just for Australia ?
Also, if thats the case, how come there is no price hike in NZ ?

Im more puzzled to see NZ's not changing the price but AUS store does for many games.

Usually we have been told numerous times that we pay higher fees/costs due to lack of population!!!

I am truly disappointed to see way this thing is working, I will not purchase any games that shows this kind of price hike. =(

Thats a pretty interesting thought lizardmech. I havn't been buying any games that we have been price discriminated on but its getting to the point now where steams going to be for valve and indie games only for me.

I too went to grab metro 2033 the other week saw the price and was totally shocked at how much they wanted for that, especially considering the 65 for avp made me angry and pass that aswell.

What are the tax implications of their "Australian" versions? They evade paying GST by charging the CC in America on the basis that we are essentially buying it in America and privately importing it. It seems like it would be rather difficult to claim this when they are selling localized Australian versions with specific Australian pricing.

I'm pretty sure steam has the ability for them to sell them in AUD with GST but they are chosing to bill it in the US to evade tax on top of gouging prices.

EA just boosted the price for BFBC2 for aussies.

Images here

Australian Steam Store:
http://i49.tinypic.com/bjisqs.jpg

American:
http://i48.tinypic.com/w0rtvt.jpg

Have a friend who has reported his credt card being blocked by steam after using the US Post code method to buy games from the US Store, does anyone have a similar experience?

Unfortunately cannot change the name once made!

Group name needs to be "Australians". It shouldn't have an apostrophe.

This is the ultimate insult to Australian gamers and price gouging at it's very sickest. I was going to buy Metro and it gave an error while purchasing then disappeared and reappeared at a whopping $80 US!! Australians should send a strong message here by NOT BUYING these GOUGES.

Just posting to say I am happy to gift to anyone getting rip-off prices (basically everywhere outside US/UK), or censored games. I have plenty of people who can vouch for me, and at this point I have gifted over 100+ games, to 75+ people. Just add me on steam and I'll get you sorted out :)

On the internode isp gaming sister site games dot on dot net search for in "Search News:" Weekly Digest - 21/09/2009 and then click on "Economical Gamer's Bargain Bin - September 14" then read the first paragraph and click the second link this website sells games at a very cheap price plus free delivery.

thq could have had my money with metro but as soon as it went up to $80us that was the end of that. these publishers sure know how to kill off sales.

While your in steam

Click on community tab
Click on "Manage your *number* friends."
Where it says "Select: All - None - Inverse" click on "All"
Where it says "Actions: Block Selected - Unblock Selected - Remove Selected - Invite Selected to Group" click on "Invite selected to group"

I'd do that Pirateguybrush but I've got too much of a valuable steam account to risk it.

The only reason I use steam is because it's generally cheaper then getting it from say Eb-games but if a game I want is 80 bucks then I may as well push out an extra 30 for the collectors edition of it.

Yeh I heard about getting around the shop, but id rather not do it... we shouldnt have to should we!

Had to put the space in Steam because the word "Steam" is not allowed in Group name!

Also lets not swear too much, its mainly the Publishers at fault!

down with ameri-♥♥♥♥. Give us free games!

http://store.steampowered.com/?cc=us

Go here (US Steam Store), claim you're in America, use Beverly Hills 90210 as your location, and you can buy at US prices.

Also you've got an extra space in "Steam"

Sega also practice unfair pricing.

Maybe something can be done or explained if we speak out! Spread the word :)