Hell no you don't, you can create a Google Checkout account with any email address, not just GMail. Yes, you need an "account", as in, you have to create a login and password. Since you use the internet I assume you're okay with that since it's hard to get anything done without it;)

They email my third party email address, I've never been hassled about anything except a phone number. Now, with that said, they may create some sort of shit behind the scenes that could be leveraged into a Google+ account or something, I've no idea about that, but I've never seen anything like that.

I don't know. Haven't they merged all their services into one account recently?
Still, I've cut all my ties to Google a few months ago, don't use any of their services any more - except watching Youtube videos, to be completely honest, but there is just no way around that - so I really don't want to go back on this.

Well most, and if you have a GMail/Google+ then yes you have Google Checkout, but they're useless as a payment processor if anyone can't make an account, so it's a quiet exception. My Checkout account predates that stuff and I never got any TOS notices as part of it (I did for a few other Google services) so, like I said, quiet exception:)

I think this game won't be released on GOG.com, at least not in the near future. According to seattleandrew's post to the Torchlight II's page on the wishlist, it won't appear here soon:

"I spoke with the guys at Runic Games during PAX about Torchlight 2 coming to GOG.com. Although their answer is understandable, it's still a little disappointing. They basically said that they're too afraid of piracy to release Torchlight 2 on GOG.com immediately. In the future they'll look to releasing it on GOG, but they said that'd be a year to two after the release on steam.[...]"

I also hoped this game will be avaible on GOG.com, but it looks like it may only happen later.

All right then, I only remembered this post from the Torchlight II wish page, but if they would bring Torchlight II to GOG.com earlier (within about 3 months), it'd be great. (Although I already own the game, I got it for my birthday.)

They're on record in multiple places as saying the only reason why their digital copy had DRM for TL was because they wanted to have the demo unlock into a full version. I think that's also why the activations was set at the maximum number that kit would allow.

Seems silly to me, but whatever.

As for the boxes, I don't recall ever having seen it in a retail shop.

I saw it in the Runic forums, and they're saying that Runic does not want to release it on GoG at launch since they're afraid of piracy because of the DRM-free but they stated they have interest in bringing it over here in time. Anyway:

https://twitter.com/RunicGames/status/221285577427910656

They really didn't ship all that many boxes so they didn't last long. I got one of the last ones at my local Best Buy and they said they wouldn't be getting any more.

I see what they mean, they think the conversion to purchase is easier if it's simply a key activation rather than another huge download. That also makes the demo realistically just like the game, which is good. Regardless, if people didn't know, they refunded those 10 activations extremely frequently during the life of TL.

I don't know about that, it's marginally easier than including a patch utility that adds the rest of the game. But, it makes people download the entire game even if they just want the demo.

It's also ultimately much easier to pirate as all the content is there, it just needs to be unlocked. But, that obviously isn't a consideration if they'd otherwise be going DRM free.

But, suppose that it is easier in the sense that they would have had to create their own utility to do that, although, I know that bitorrent can be made to do it if they arranged it correctly.

hmm, seems it's just a matter of time so I'll wait ;)

from what I've learnt from the demo it's really decent (and my female blond engineer with a huge two-handed wrench is just adorable :o), it lacks the atmosphere and graphics of Diablo 3 but that's about that - the loot is cool, the fights are frantic, there are tons of great skills... and you can bomb out the fishing ponds now! :D

and as far as I know, when you play the demo and then switch to full game you get to keep your character!

That's perfectly fine with me personally, and I actually approve that practise (first release the game with DRM (to secure the early sales), and later remove the DRM). I wouldn't have started playing it instantly anyway.

So I guess I'll use the same approach as I did with Space Pirates And Zombies (SPAZ): don't buy it until they offer a DRM-free version. Thanks Humble Bundle.

Come to think of it, I personally wouldn't necessarily mind even if GOG went that way, ie. they might release games with single-player DRM, for which they have somehow secured that the DRM will be removed in e.g. n months. Just so that they can also get a part of the early sales pie. And there would be some clause in TOS or whatever that if the DRM is not removed in due time, the customers can get their credits back for that game. :)

How they could secure that in practise, I have no idea. So maybe it isn't a feasible scenario after all (unless the GOG team has access also to the DRM-free version of the game, keeping it in their secure vault until the DRM-free release date). Too messy and complicated, I guess.

Actually, I would't mind this either, and I actually supported The Witcher 1 and Alpha Protocol because of this, while the witcher 1 had it's DRM removed, Sega failed to do so with Alpha Protocol and that's a real shame...

At least the GamersGate's notes for Alpha Protocol's 1.1 patch proclaim:

"1.00 to 1.10 (Will remove the DRM)"

And GamersGate also lists it as DRM-free. But since I haven't installed it yet, I am unsure if it means really DRM-free, or GamersGate's normal "you can make a DRM-free copy with an unofficial workaround".

I wasn't aware of that, that's really cool!