Just wait until GOG gets Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It had the most obvious and also stupidest looking bit of censoring I've ever seen in a game, and I've actually played that nerfed version when I was still living in Germany. Look at all them pretty black squares! *le sigh*

Also, can we expect C&C with cyborgs now? =P That was another bit of absolutely ridiculous self-censoring, while they also changed some missions and even removed certain cutscenes because "OMG! Totally unrealistic looking pixel violence!"

Naturally, I imported the original version of Red Alert after that. ;)

Yay, the wonderful digital distribution era, that removes all borders, allowing us to buy things from anywhere in the world, without asking our friends for help or buying personally from overseas!

I can confirm that gifting "Commandos Ammo Pack" to Germans work
Added to Library with no Problems and i was able to download the German and English Version of it

Thanks to yogsloth for the Code

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/a_commanding_giveaway/post23

+1 for the info.
We spanish already got blocked on Steam some time or another due to nonsense stuff (LEGO: Batman was not released on PC on this country, so they blocked it on Steam for spanish players, wtf?!, thanks again, GOG), so I fear this also happens to us spaniards soon.
I don't want El GOG coming to my casa!

Some interesting comments from and EU Commissioner you may want to hear:
http://torrentfreak.com/eu-commissioner-wants-to-abolish-netflix-geoblocking-150227/

I realize I'm diverting the topic back to Australia, but I did some looking-into as far as the current Hotline Miami 2 controversy.

Apparently, as has been noted by others, the classification board is OK with labeling games with sex OR violence with an adult rating - but "sexualized violence" is a no-no still. There's some rape animation early on in the game, that fit into that category - thus the ban, and the ensuing controversy over whether the devs should keep that scene or not. The pixellation/lack of realism isn't the point - it "crosses a line" for many.

Of course this brings up interesting points given that it's all happening in the context of a hyperviolent nightmare scenario to begin with.... why *are* we more upset viscerally over such things, while we're used to shotgun blasting heads off without a blink? Does one form of violence really feel that much more "real"? Does abusive violence hit closer to home than cartoonish slaughter? Or are we just dealing with taboos being broken?

The whole thing does kind of smack of a big PR stunt, though. Especially if this ends up devolving into another shouting match between the internet tribes. I'm still planning on picking up the game - I was a big fan of the first - but the arguments about it have been all knee jerk responses as opposed to a sensible debate on those taboos.

We know that the censored versions are already here for several games (alongside with the uncensored ones).

The question is if they will lock out members from certain countries (e.g. Germany, Australia) from the uncensored content. Right at the moment we can decide ourselves which version we want.

They did it in the past already - Witcher 2 on GOG was (or still is?) accessible in censored version to users in Australia or New Zealand. You should assume that if they will have to do it, they likely will.

So you cant by cerrtain games in certain regins?

Exactly. You cannot buy the commando games on gog when you have a german ip adress. They simply do not show up in the store unless you already bought them. Then you can still find them in your library.

IP address based censorship? Ridiculous.

It just shows that lawmakers who are trying to federalize the Internet have no idea what they're dealing with. It's not very hard in this day and age to circumvent this kind of "regional lock" system.

This is regrettable nevertheless. I always thought the Internet should transcend borders and politics, but it's turning into an increasingly regulated zone.

I'll be damned, but at this rate I think we may start seeing Internet border pass pages/proxies when going from one server to another in under half a century.

The point of it being ip based is that it is the only way of checking from what country you are. They have to enforce the laws of the countries that are affected or they will get into a lawsuit. It is common practice on steam for years.

Sooooo...if I gift code a game that is IP blocked in the recipients nation. Would they be able to redeem said code?

If not, what is stopping the recipient from just making a new account with a proxy in a sane...I mean download friendly nation? =D

Gift a game to a person via email then they use a proxy to get it...whats the problem?

In fact why not just trade a game of equal value to a friend and have them send it snail mail on DVD or whatever??

Its retarded to assume they would get sued in poland from friggin germany or australia!

They DON'T have to abide by foreign laws. If that were the case then you would all be subject to american laws, as the US thinks they own you anyway just by breathing. lol

Agreed on why they do it, but what I'm trying to say is that the system itself is flawed.

An endpoint IP address is just an endpoint IP address, it may not be the point of origin at all. It's not a reliable way of checking what country you are from. If I used VPN you could theoretically register me at the south pole right now.

The Internet was initially designed to be a free zone (still is mostly), so any restrictive laws applied to it are sketchy in their effect at best. But... clouded the future is.

And users should just friggin' appreciate that fact rather than express concerns. Law makers being always ten steps behind the average internet user is the best thing possible for the internet community.