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Brazilian issues with games
Recently a Brazilian gamer contacted us over Steam saying that they have a lot of problems with Steam in Brazil.
First of all, the retail game distribution sucks over there, it sucks so much that they can’t even buy games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (or other Steam registerable games) in stores, they are forced to buy them on Steam which is obviously overpriced as usual. Games from Rockstar Games aren’t mostly available on Steam (only the last one – Episodes from Liberty City).
Secondly, Brazil has very loose laws when it comes to DRMs but unfortunately the developers/publishers don’t give a fuck about their regional rights and they force them to install SecuROMs and other bullshit DRMs anyway – even on Steam (well, Steam is a DRM on it’s own to be honest…).
Moreover, they are even fucked with Games for Windows Live because when they actually try to activate their game in Brazil they lose it.
We do realize that this isn’t mostly Steam/Valve’s fault but the publishers but seriously this can’t be that way. The publishers need to realize that people hate DRMs, in fact this is the main reason why people crack games and “steal” them because they don’t have “X activation times left” or DVD needed in the drive all the time.
This is just a simple rage post and ignore it if you want, but if your country has similar problems feel free to contact us and maybe we will figure something out soon and let them all know what we think.
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I’m Brazilian and while I do agree with most of this post, Steam games are a lot cheaper than games in retail. Actually Steam made possible for me and my friends to start buying legal games and thanks to it I haven’t downloaded a game in a long time. Personaly I have no qualms with pirating games that are not made available here or that have overabusive DRM (aka all recent Ubisoft games, but they all pretty much suck anyway).
You are probably right frango, I personally don’t know the situation in Brazil, I just posted what someone told me.
It’s not a true Steam issues, is just Brazil has tough law on computer game violence.
Counter-strike, all GTA games even like the MMO Everquest are banned. WoW is facing a ban like court order.
When I login with a Brazilian IP Steam blocks my access to Counter-Strike. Steam have no choice otherwise Steam would be facing a shutdown for violating the laws.
As far I know they want expend the law to make it easier to ban violent games.
http://gamepolitics.com/2009/12/03/brazil-discussing-violent-game-ban
i dont get it quite, why are brazilian users fucked with GFWL?
I know Counter Strike did get banned once but the ban was pulled some time after that, it didn’t last long. I can atest that I have CS Source in my account and can play without a hitch nowadays, and on Brazilian servers nonetheless. Also I don’t think violence is the issue with Rockstar games as Episodes From Liberty City is available here and it wouldn’t make much sense to ban every other game except it. Actually other countries such as Australia and Germany seem to have much stricter laws regarding videogame violence, there was that issue with L4D2 in Australia regarding ratings and a possible ban if I recall correctly.
As for the prices, I should’ve made myself clear before. The main issue here are the absurd import taxes that can get to a staggering 60% and while it makes retail games impossible to buy it can’t affect Steam. That combined with the great sales they put on from time to time make it the best platform for anyone trying to “go legal” over here. The taxes hit the console game market hard though, since there’s no alternative. A PS3 game costs at most stores R$200, give or take, wich rougly translates as US$111. Then there’s the fact the the overall income is much lower than in the US and that game prices don’t drop over time…you do the math.
Oh also, that news article on Game Politics make it sound like a new law has been cast in stone or something and it’s just a project that passed the first necessary voting for approval, but there are several steps and votings it would have to go through to become a law, and I’m pretty positive that is hasn’t gone much further than that. It’s so irrational even the biggoted politicians in this country couldn’t let it go I suppose.
Oh, one other thing regarding GFWL. I don’t know much about the situation, all I know is there is no official support in Brazil and you can’t really make a “brazilian account”. I play a few GFWL myself and had to create a new email account with a fake US address to be able to registar for the service. I’ve never heard of anyone losing their license when trying to activate it here though, I’ve tried it myself before using the US email trick and had no problems. The service sucks balls either way so I don’t think anyone here feels like their missing on much.
Brazil may have loose laws regarding DRM but it’s still allowed for publishers to use it. The users are just allowed to crack the DRM to be able to make a personal backup copy.
Well, since the Microsoft said this year they’ll give Brazil a Live support we maybe don’t get anymore problems.We hope!
the only thihg that sux in steam for brazilian are:
a) lack of some titles: at least I have a friend living in USA.
b) slow downloads: downloading a 10Gb game in 10kbps is a pain in the a**.
and c) 1US = 1,7BRL. The average wage in Brazil is less than a half from the average wage in USA (i guess). I earn only US$350/month. This is why I cant buy most of the new releases. :(