Yes, that is true - as long as you don't live in Germany :(
(Sorry, but I felt like I had to add this just to feel a bit better)

Do you want the Original Dead island GOTY or do you already own it? :P
(Germans aren't allowed to feel better, as our lord and savior Bethesda has decreed)

Since humblebundle once was activating steam keys from their side (meaning US) I was able to get both DI and DI:Riptide (GOTY) but I won't get the remastered versions for a discount. I could not even get it in steam store I'd have to buy them retail in store which afaik is possible. This whole thing is a complete joke.

Germany sounds like a bad place for gamers....

Probably because it is.
But that seems to be mostly due to shit publishers not actually checking German laws and confirming stuff by hearsay. xD

Not always. We have no problems with nudity here so games containing this are all right. "We" (meaning the politicians and such) just sometimes go a little overboard when it comes to violence and of couse swastikas and references to the third reich aren't allowed (I cannot tell you how happy I am that Hitler didn't chose a square as his sign - it would be very hard in Germany to live without squares ;)).
Also correct. Many things we are not able to buy digitally are no problem if we buy them in store (having identification). Some publishers don't understand that there are some things strictly forbidden to sell in Germany (like the forementioned third reich games because of swastikas and such) and some games are only on the so called "Index" meaning you are allowed to buy them if you can verify your age. Sometimes however publishers only are releasing special cut versions in Germany (so they self censore their games) to prevent being on the index in the first place - meaning more money (or less because nobody buys that shit).

Edit: There is also something good in this: we Germans have learned how to circumvent those hurdles. There mostly is a way. Fun thing: because of these problems I bought some games JUST because they are hard to get here (like hatred in example which I never played long because it is not very good).

Just make games art already, problem solved. ;)
That reminds me wasn't Turok one of those censored games?
Games that replaced people with Robots or whatever.
I do like Hatred's art style.
*end of praise for Hatred*

You are so right. For reasons I will never understand games are still not considered to be an artform (they surely have never played Dear Esther or Mountain - it's nothing BUT art). Afair in Turok the blood was replaced with green blood - I don't remember that having robots in it but I'll check this.

Edit: OMG you are correct:
http://www.schnittberichte.com/schnittbericht.php?ID=3320

They even censored the game cover!

Now I'm intrigue. What could a square do that German can't live with it?

I once met a German and he told me that law in Germany is very protective especially to young ones, like you only allowed to ride a scooter with 60km/h top speed until you reach a certain age or something like that? I guess this whole things with weird game regulation also part of it?

I meant that the swastika is forbidden in Germany because Hitler used it as his sign. If he had used a square instead maybe this sign wouldn't be allowed as well. Please tell me how to paint a building without using squares. Many traffic signs would have to be circles or triangles iunstead and so on. And don't even start with geometry - desaster!

Yes, most of the laws were to protect minors that is why theoretically as a grown up you should not have a problem to get a game at all. BUT since they cannot be sure that a minor is in your household it's not that easy. The postman has to deliver such things personally to you and you have to sign it. You can still give such games to a minor but that obviously does not count. It's a bit craazy. The real problem however is that a game which is hard to get is also hard to sell meaning the publisher is trying to make special versions just for Germany so they would get a lower rating. Age verification mechanisms like the German law demands it are expansive so digital distributors rarely implement them (and no, I am not talking about "enter your age" I am talking about passport numbers and such).

And it's not just games it's movies as well. To prevent minors from buying movies which are for grown ups only our politicians decided that on each DVD and Blu-ray there has to be a biiiiiig rating sign covering a big part of the otherwise nice cover. Fun thing: they decided to doo this with ALL ages even if they are rated without age restriction! As a movie collector myself you may guess how I felt when they invented this.

I'm just kidding about the square, but thanks for explaining anyway :)

But seriously??? Passport number to buy a game??? Wow, that must hurt many German gamer's head so much o_0

That's why Steam doesn't sell some games to Germans.
They can't be bothered implementing that system.

^Might be wrong on that one though.

Yes, it's ridiculous. What I find even more interesting is that so far until now there is not a single bit of proof that a game or a movie EVER lead to real violence if the person playing/seeing it isn't already unstable. This whole thing is a big joke. I've seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Evil Dead and such when I was about 12 and I've played countless FPS - so far nobody has seen me getting a Chainsaw and doing gruesome things. It's just a simple way for politicians to explain violent behaviour. It's the wrong way and it does not help a thing (the opposite is the case because we all do love forbidden things) but it's easy.

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Absolutely correct. For steam ist was the easier way to check the German ip and automatically install the cut version of a game.