Has the GOG downloader ever been fixed? I bought Gothic about a year ago, tried downloading it 3 times and each time it failed validation. Had to download through the browser.
I have a crappy connection, so that's kept me from buying games > 1GB from GOG, while I got tons of humongous games from Steam during the holiday sale.

As if the addition of DLC support wasn't bad enough. Ugh.
That reminds me... during the new UI beta I was shown a very interesting advertisement (see attachment). "Madness" indeed.
Not just Bobby, other sites are catching on too. Direct2Drive has started using Steam's super-accurate currency conversion, but only if you are buying through the or [url=http://www.direct2drive.co.uk]UK store fronts. It is theorised that they will stop allowing UK and Europe residents to purchase through the .com site.

The GoG downloader has always worked for me. I only started about 6 months ago, so give it another try.
Cheers MarkL
As for steam and impulse, it seems the new generation of gamers like it. But for older games like me (over 50) it is strickly off limits. I still expect to own what I pay for and be able to use it as long as I have the hard ware to run it. I know we only have a licence but expect it to be ongoing. With activated games you use them on the good will only of the supplier and for sommercial companies they only operate for commercial reasons only with no garantee of future use or reinstalls.
I recently purchased an addon for Flight Simulator X and did not know it had to be activated. Luckily it was from a site in my country as I had a problem activating it and had to make phone calls to resolve it. Not an option for most activated games.
Also I like the concept of the modding community. Look at Fallout 2, there are still mods being made for it. With the limited installations on some games now this concept is out the window.
I used to spend between $400 to $600 on games a year. (Myself and children) Now it looks like GoG will be my only supplier. I am not even going to look at the new titles even though some look good as I just do not want to be bothered with the new DRM's.
But then again game distributors are not interested in my age group or market area which is odd because a lot of people I know are about to retire and have the money to invest in a good PC and games but do not want the hasses of DRM, so thre are turning to consoles.
My desisions also determine what I buy for my children as well so DRM costs them some games for the kids as well.
The only reason I post on this subject is to add my support for GoG.
Cheers MarkL

Another Impulse fail.
indie game with region restriction

darn double post
Chers MarkL

When someone linked that to me my first thought was snazzy Oakley sunglasses for MW2.

LOL.
But catch up on this new one, which is worldwide available "snazzy":
http://us.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=1100000942
Yes, Blizzard is now selling a virtual pet for $25 in WoW. And 140,000 stupid people bought it already... Hmm 140,000*25=$3.5 million in just one or two days.
EDIT: Well, not so worldwide accounts.

Gamersgate seem to have put a tap on their bonus system. Back in January I bought ME2 and The Saboteur and got enough to buy Cryostasis and a game guide, with over £1 left over.
Now, preorder Splinter Cell Conviction and you get blue coins to the value of (gasp) 16 pence.

Ah ok...so the reward system is funded more by publishers than GamersGate itself? either way, a bit odd!

I guess that's possible. I'm just looking at the emails and the pro-order bonus was established at 250 coins. There was an EA Week where EA game pre-orders got 3000 coins (and it seems, they've gotten 3000 coins ever since).
Only other instance of 3000 coins instead of 250 I have a record of, is one of the Football Manager games, which I assume is a SEGA game as it also came with Outrun 2006 as a bonus free game.
Also, 1750 coins were awarded for preorders of the King's Bounty Armored Princess game.

Responding to a comment in another thread regarding Valve getting/not getting permission from publishers for sales...
Stardock thinks differently:
""The problem in my experience, based on what we're hearing from developers, is you'll see online, "Oh look how great Steam is, they're doing this stuff on sale!" Developers complain they just put stuff on sale, they don't even talk to them."
"Let's say Stardock releases Galactic Civilizations and it's $40, and I put it on digital distributor X. Our system is they get 30% and we get 70%. If I don't do my contract just so, there's nothing stopping that digital distributor from putting it on sale for $5, because if it's just a percent, they can do whatever. So that's been one of the big complaints we've been getting from developers."

Food for thought but I'd want to see a source other than Brad Wardell confirm the relationships Steam has with the publishers.

That'd be nice but highly unlikely.

Stardock thinks differently:
Oh what a surprise. More whining from Stardock about something they haven't really got a clue on. If they put as much effort into their business as they do their whining about Steam (and their hounding of anyone who speaks negatively of them), they'd probably be able to claim the 5th spot in the digital distribution race -- as opposed to rock bottom which they have right now.
As for permission on sales, it's most certainly covered in the contract for selling games in the first place, that contract which is covered by an NDA and which the publisher and Valve have to negotiate and agree to. So they certainly have permission from the publisher to put games on sale -- that permission would have been given (at the very least) in that NDA covered contract. Now, if a publisher didn't read their contract closely enough, who's to blame?
I'm no fan of Valve, but this conspiracy theory whining of Stardock as to why they should be better than Valve (and Steam in particular), has gotten so old, it's pathetic. Stardock are a broken record when it comes to why they are failing (in terms of gaining market share) as a digital distribution service.