Hello together,
I just found the thread via google, because I have exactly the same problem with buying "The Witcher" from Steam. So I looked around this forum and found out that the people here have a polite way to interact with each other. That's something, that makes this forum a place to come by more often.
Since I also don't like opening new threads for every little thing, I just append to this older thread. Could perhaps anyone from US or Russia gift me the game? I use paypal and could do instant payments.
And to the discussion about Steam. Well, at first (back when it was introduced) I was very angry that CS1.6 was released via Steam. I always loved to have a DVD/CD in my shelf. But now a few years later, I think a little bit different about it. Now my opinion is that it is just the way the internet and with it the distribution channels change. I is a convinient way to buy games without much copy-protection/drm stuff which hurts my system. So I see no problem in installing Steam. For me it is only a launcher. A positive side-effect is when I lose my harddrive or my install disc (happened to me when I moved and didn't find the game case in the boxes) because of a hardware failure it doesn't matter. I can redownload the games.
The only thing that sometimes drives me nuts is the way regional sales are being enforced by the IP and CreditCard/Paypal Account origin. Something which was really annoying for me when I first got the Valve Complete Pack as DE Version. (the games where cut, even the old Half-Life). It cost me a few letters to the support, and a way to buy the Valve Complete Pack again in UK until the support exchanged the game and refunded the original price.
So in the UK Store it is no problem, but the US or Russian Store have much stricter Checks for buying.
So, if anybody could help me with this I would be very thankful.
Bye,
Sven