You can bypass it by not using the game launcher and starting the game directly from the .exe.

NV DRM is Steam only (of course, it depends on whether you consider Steam much more serious DRM).

I'd insta buy them.

I'd grab NV if it came to GOG. Not at $30 though, I'd probably wait for a sale.

If I don't buy it elsewhere before then, I would. If I did, that'd at least mean Bethesda/ZeniMax would be on board, and I'd snap up DOOM and whatever else they have to offer in an instant.

I don't see it happening, but I would squeal like a 14year old girl if it did!

I have 2 copies of Fallout 3, one bought right when it came out and the GOTY. I was all set to buy New Vegas when it came out but passed when I saw it was tied to Steam. I really wanted to play New Vegas and was crushed by not being able to. It was even worse when some FO3 modders I knew came to me for help with NV mods, then there were several players asking how soon I would port my FO3 mods over to NV. Saying "No" to myself was bad, saying it to fellow modders/gamers was agonizing. I reached out to several people at Bethesda about Steam, at the most I was asking them if the Ultimate edition would be available Steam free. If it included all the patches and DLC then what really is the point of having it tied to an online service. After several months of trying I finally found a member of the development team to answer me. He was very eager to try to help me but the answer was definatley No, New Vegas will require Steam now and for forever.

There were many vocal gamers upset by the use of GFWL in Fallout 3 and Bethesda dropped it. When the vocal gamers were upset by Steam no official word came from Bethesda. Not only have all recent Bethesda releases been Steamworks titles but now the Steam Workshop has been integrated into Skyrim. Based on these events and my converation with the developer I'm guessing that Steam was worried about being dropped by Bethesda like GFWL was and made sure that Bethesda signed a long term contract with Steam. If I'm right I would expect to see new features added to Steam that are not available on most games at first but are built into anything made by Valve or Bethesda well before we ever see anything made by Bethesda here on GOG.

I'm all for getting Id games on here... but to be honest, I don't see much of a point. Just buy the Steam version and run it through Chocolate Doom and voila... DRM-free Doom. Same goes for Quake.

I think that Bethesda will never put any game DRM-Free here.

Also, Fallout NV is Steamworks. (is it?)

it is

Fallout 3 is basically DRM-free as you can ignore GFWL and the disc check only applies to the launcher, which can be ignored or replaced with that mod.

I only pay $5 or so to get a DRM version of a game I already own. That's a flaw with GOG's current plans IMO, stuff like Assassin's Creed is overpriced to appeal on that basis.

Also FO3 was DRM free already.

Steam is the definition of DRM. Love it or hate it... it IS Digital Rights Management. ;)

As for the launcher of F3... the version of Securom they use (if I'm remembering correctly) actually forces the original disk in the drive. It does a check and discards any form of emulations regardless of how legitimate it is. I own the game, so I can bypass this by putting the disc in... but I've learned to research before buying future games to try and avoid this. (this may only be to install, which is annoying, but slightly less intrusive).

I'm well aware of that. I said it depends whether you consider it much worse DRM. ;)

I own F3 as well and you can play without the disc in the drive if you launch the game directly from the .exe. Don't use the launcher. Not sure if this still works with the GOTY edition, but it does with the original release.

It does. I have the GotY edition and it runs fine from the .exe instead of the launcher. I only had to put the disk in the drive to play once, and that was after a hardware change, as it apparently was forcing the launcher to run. After the launcher ran once, it went back to working as expected from the .exe, and has continued to do so since. I use FOMM to launch the game, though, so I'm not sure if that makes any difference.

I'd be interested to get a steam-free version of FONV, but I wouldn't be soiling my undergarments or anything over it.

GOG doesnt use cracks, as far as im aware of. They would have to ask Bethesda to remove DRM, NOT hacking groups. Theres a HUGE difference there. Getting a crack is MUCH different then getting a DRM-free game. And we all know Bethesda well. They wont go through the hassle of removing steamworks from NV. It wont happen. And im pretty sure there is some kind of contract involving the use of steamworks.