have you even read this whole thread?

How many posts do we have complaining about steam on just the 1st page of the forum?? About 5?
Shock. Different stores sell products at different prices.
Shock. If you spend time shopping around you can find better deals.
Shock. Many people can't be arsed to spend much time shopping around, and go with the stores they use regularly.
Regional restrictions, Pricing and many other things aren't down to the store, they're down to the publisher. Not to say steam (or any other store) doesn't have some problems, or make some mistakes. But even GOG's had a few problems caused by the publishers, and some GOG pricing (again set by the publishers) isn't what i would have done.

Regional restrictions, Pricing and many other things aren't down to the store, they're down to the publisher.
Do you actually have proof of that from someone other than a puppet of the store in question?

Well, obviously some stores can't/don't sell in some regions. But assuming that a store is able to sell in a region without problems, why would they not do so?
It'd be like McDonalds only selling their Big Macs in stores in Arizona for no reason. It'd just be lost sales.
I'd imagine that if steam HAD the global rights to a product they'd try to sell it globally.
In many cases it isn't even down to the publisher. Different games have different publishers in different regions.
I get just as frustrated as you about the regional restrictions, cos i'm in japan too... but i doubt that it'd down to the retailer, except in a few specific situations.

It'd be like McDonalds only selling their Big Macs in stores in Arizona for no reason. It'd just be lost sales.
Your analogy doesn't work. Have you ever seen a Teriyaki Burger sold in the UK? Of course not, they're only sold in Mac Donalds in Japan. Is that causing lost sales for MacDonalds? Doubtful.
But the point is, many developers/publishers, both large and small have commented on how Steam *has* set the pricing, not them. And while there is no proof that stores such as Steam force regional restrictions (except in the case of Saints Row 2), there is evidence of them specifically delaying games in some regions, despite the wishes of the developer/publisher. So it's only natural to assume that they could be doing far more than they say they are and then blaming it on devolpers/publishers, who for the most part, will never even be aware of such claims.
At the very least, these regional restrictions are due to poor negotiations with publishers. As is evidenced by Impulse and D2D, who put very little effort into trying to get permission to sell games worldwide when other services are selling them worldwide.

Everyone I've heard has said that Valve suggests a price, but they don't have to follow it.

I know at least one developer who was forced to use the price suggested by Valve, or put another way, Valve refused to price their game at the price point the developer wanted it sold at.

I know several people on the Steam forums who have said if the game is not released on Steam, they will not buy it.
That's pretty hardcore and stupid.
That said, I bet most people buying Fallout and MDK on Steam are doing so because they never heard of GOG in their lives.

Heh. Mmmm. Teriyaki burger.
But i still think my analogy does work. there isn't a particular demand for a teriyaki burger in the US (as far as i know). I'm sure if there was one then McDonalds would be the first to rush it out. And of course setting up a new burger and advertising in new countries for McD would have costs... allowing a game in new areas for valve would involve flipping a switch.
I can understand why valve might, in some cases, not allow too low prices. It might undercut other products in their store.... which is exactly how any store would react.
Anyway. What i'm saying is that the whole Regional Restrictions thing is a complete mess of international contracts, copyrights, agreements, etc.... It's hardly fair to lay the blame squarely at the door of valve/gamersgate/etc.... and it's definitely not fair to single out steam.
It's the same crap that means i can't watch 24 on hulu, and i can't watch DrWho on iPlayer, and I can't use spotify.
Personally I hate it... but it's not usually down to the vendor.

That's exactly why it doesn't work. It's a geographical restriction enforced primarily (for the sake of this anology) by consumer unawareness. If Cheeseburgers had only ever been sold in MacDonalds in the US and not any other MacDonalds, consumers in the other regions wouldn't even know -- unless they traveled to the US. Thus, there would be no huge demand for something that most consumers have never even heard of.
With the Internet though, that geographical border no longer exists. Everyone can see every single product. Thus these regional restrictions which are still firmly based on times when geographical borders hid the existance of products from the consumers you didn't want to sell to, no longer work and no longer valid. The Internet should be treated as an entirely new region not bound by geographical borders.
Too bad the suits that make these choices are still living in the 1980s.

Was that Braid? I seem to recall some mention of that having pricing issues for the PC version
Ahh wearing a deconstructed linen suit, listening to A Flock Of Seagulls and doing lines of blow off the arse of an overpriced hooker... good times...
At least according to GTA Vice City

If you just like to try games, maybe subscription-based service like Gametap fits you. Pay a fixed amount of money per month/year, and you can play as many games as you like.

Do gametap have the games that gog does though? More importantly do they work with modern systems, since their client STILL isn't 64bit capable (though getting closer I hear) I'd hold doubts about the games

I've never compared complete lists, but Gametap has a large percentage of games that GOG sells. And since Vista comes in 32 bit flavors, yes their games do work in modern systems.