The Commission is investigating whether Apple worked with the five publishers to form a cartel over e-book sales, and whether they engaged in restrictive business practices. The publishers are Hachette Livre, HarperCollins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck.

"The Commission has concerns the publishers may have colluded to raise the price of e-books and that Apple may have facilitated this," Commission competition spokeswoman Amelia Torres told ZDNet UK on Tuesday. "We are starting a formal investigation. This does not prejudge the final outcome."

Torres declined to say which concerns the Commission had over Apple’s practices or technology. Apple’s iBooks application is available for Apple devices such as the iPad 2 and the iPhone.

The Commission’s formal investigation proceedings follow a number of surprise inspections carried out by Commission officials in March, according to a Commission statement.

The UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) shared similar concerns with the European Commission, and was running a parallel probe into Apple over e-books. The OFT closed its investigation before the formal Commission proceedings opened, but may reopen the probe if its concerns are not met by the Commission, an OFT spokeswoman told ZDNet UK on Tuesday.

"We closed the investigation on administrative grounds," said the spokeswoman. "During the course of the investigation, it became clear the Commission is well placed to address matters."

Simon & Schuster shares the same parent company as ZDNet UK: CBS Corp, a US company. HarperCollins is part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, a US corporation. Penguin is part of Pearson Group, of the UK. Hachette Livre is owned by Lagardère Publishing, France. The German company Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck owns UK publisher Macmillan.

Apple has not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing.

Source: ZDNet

Also guess what happens with Steam and the publishers who put their games on Steam? According to the Steamworks FAQ:

3. Who sets the price for my game on Steam?

Pricing is very title specific, and we’ve got a lot of data and experience to help you decide on what the best price is for your title. We’ll work with you to figure out pricing.

So this basically means that the problem EU sees with Apple is that apple "worked with" publishers to set prices. Steam’s Steamworks FAQ says it does the same thing.

Is it time we contact the European Commission once more?

News thanks to rottencat!

Top 10 benefits for consumers in the new Directive:

1) The proposal will eliminate hidden charges and costs on the Internet

Consumers will be protected against “cost traps” on the Internet. This happens when fraudsters try to trick people into paying for ‘free’ services, such as horoscopes or recipes. From now on, consumers must explicitly confirm that they understand that they have to pay a price.

2) Increased price transparency

Traders have to disclose the total cost of the product or service, as well as any extra fees. Online shoppers will not have to pay charges or other costs if they were not properly informed before they place an order.

3) Banning pre-ticked boxes on websites

When shopping online – for instance buying a plane ticket – you may be offered additional options during the purchase process, such as travel insurance or car rental. These additional services may be offered through so-called ‘pre-ticked’ boxes. Consumers are currently often forced to untick those boxes if they do not want these extra services. With the new Directive, pre-ticked boxes will be banned across the European Union.

4) 14 Days to change your mind on a purchase

The period under which consumers can withdraw from a sales contract is extended to 14 calendar days (compared to seven days legally prescribed by EU law today). This means that consumers can return the goods for whatever reason if they change their minds.

Extra protection for lack of information: When a seller hasn’t clearly informed the customer about the withdrawal right, the return period will be extended to a year.

Consumers will also be protected and enjoy a right of withdrawal for solicited visits, such as when a trader called beforehand and pressed the consumer to agree to a visit. In addition, a distinction no longer needs to be made between solicited and unsolicited visits; circumvention of the rules will thus be prevented.

The right of withdrawal is extended to online auctions, such as eBay – though goods bought in auctions can only be returned when bought from a professional seller.

The withdrawal period will start from the moment the consumer receives the goods, rather than at the time of conclusion of the contract, which is currently the case. The rules will apply to internet, phone and mail order sales, as well as to sales outside shops, for example on the consumer’s doorstep, in the street, at a Tupperware party or during an excursion organised by the trader.

5) Better refund rights

Traders must refund consumers for the product within 14 days of the withdrawal. This includes the costs of delivery. In general, the trader will bear the risk for any damage to goods during transportation, until the consumer takes possession of the goods

6) Introduction of an EU-wide model withdrawal form

Consumers will be provided with a model withdrawal form which they can (but are not obliged to) use if they change their mind and wish to withdraw from a contract concluded at a distance or at the doorstep. This will make it easier and faster to withdraw, wherever you have concluded a contract in the EU.

7) Eliminating surcharges for the use of credit cards and hotlines

Traders will not be able to charge consumers more for paying by credit card (or other means of payment) than what it actually costs the trader to offer such means of payment. Traders who operate telephone hotlines allowing the consumer to contact them in relation to the contract will not be able charge more than the basic telephone rate for the telephone calls.

8) Clearer information on who pays for returning goods

If traders want the consumer to bear the cost of returning goods after they change their mind, they have to clearly inform consumers about that beforehand, otherwise they have to pay for the return themselves. Traders must clearly give at least an estimate of the maximum costs of returning bulky goods bought by internet or mail order, such as a sofa, before the purchase, so consumers can make an informed choice before deciding from whom to buy.

9) Better consumer protection in relation to digital products

Information on digital content will also have to be clearer, including about its compatibility with hardware and software and the application of any technical protection measures, for example limiting the right for the consumers to make copies of the content.

Consumers will have a right to withdraw from purchases of digital content, such as music or video downloads, but only up until the moment the actual downloading process begins.

10) Common rules for businesses will make it easier for them to trade all over Europe.

These include:
A single set of core rules for distance contracts (sales by phone, post or internet) and off-premises contracts (sales away from a company’s premises, such as in the street or the doorstep) in the European Union, creating a level playing field and reducing transaction costs for cross-border traders, especially for sales by internet.

Standard forms will make life easier for businesses: a form to comply with the information requirements on the right of withdrawal;

Specific rules will apply to small businesses and craftsmen, such as a plumber. There will be no right of withdrawal for urgent repairs and maintenance work. Member States may also decide to exempt traders who are requested by consumers to carry out repair and maintenance work in their home of a value below €200 from some of the information requirements.

After publication in the EU’s Official Journal, governments will have two years to implement the rules at national level.

Source: Europa and thanks to rottencat for letting me know!

Lets expand the idea a little and say why not release games around the world in two versions, one cheaper (restricted to one language only and even one area only where you can’t play it in other country) and one in full price but without any limitations?

What do you guys think about that? Do you have forced localized games too? I didn’t notice that in Poland (well maybe MAFIA 2…) but I guess if Steam would force me to use Polish version only of most games I would be pissed. Especially while playing multiplayer games.

Oh hai btw, Dead Island fucking rocks. I’m back.

Guys this store has an amazing discounts for retail games (boxed) such as Bad Company 2 £9.95, Fallout 3 GOTY £10.95 and much more. Plus the shipping is free to customers from European Union (including UK). I think I’m gonna get Fallout 3 GOTY… Thanks to Dragoon for this info!

According to Voodoo Extreme 3D at IGN next month’s Steam client update will introduce support for much-hated microtransactions:

(…)

Microtransactions

Want to offer your customers a scabbard for their sword? New tires? The latest in night vision goggles? Now you can through microtransaction support in Steamworks.

Your item server can now be easily integrated with Steamworks so that Steam users can buy and instantly use the items they want – all without leaving the game. Steam handles all of the billing through the user’s Steam account.

Steam Cloud

Now with a greatly expanded capacity — now 100 MB per user, per game. The Steam Cloud API allows your game to write and retrieve files for each user.

Steam Total Makeover

The new Steam client makes finding friends, tracking achievements, reading news, organizing game collections, and keeping up to date easier than they ever have been before.

Even when creating visual aids, Valve remembers to screw mainland Europe.

Thanks to Kossak for providing the news from VE3D.IGN.COM (click for full article)!

Steam keeps growing even though the prices are very high in Europe – people are still paying for the digital downloads (although we can’t really say if Steam is more popular in USA or Europe).

Steam, now has over 25 million active users. Those 25 million users managed a peak concurrency of 2.5 million games players, racking up more than 13 billion player minutes per month.

But of course, the proof is in the profits: there are now over 1,000 games available on Steam, distributed by over 100 developers and publishers — big-boys and independents alike. All told, Steam sold 205% more units in 2009 than the previous year.

Gabe Newell added that Steam has grown immensely each and ever year of its existence. Steam’s only been around for five years, but in that time there have been numerous improvements and additions to the range of products provided by Valve, resulting in a greater-than-100-percent increase in sales year-over-year since its creation.

Source

6 November update: added new releases: Big Brain Wolf, Magnetis, Aztaka, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins Digital Deluxe Edition, RailWorks HST Buffer Version DLC, and Sacraboar.

7 November update: added League of Legends, Europe only.

2  November

• Men of War: Red Tide
• Men of War: Gold Edition

3  November

• Spellforce – Platinum Edition

4  November

• Shattered Horizon
• Massive Assault
• Massive Assault: Phantom Renaissance
• Massive Assault Network 2
• Massive Assault Collection
• Doom Rails
• Fatale
• Earthworm Jim Collection

5  November

• Big Brain Wolf
• Magnetis
• Aztaka

6 November

• Dragon Age: Origins
• Dragon Age: Origins Digital Deluxe Edition
• RailWorks HST Buffer Version DLC
• Sacraboar
• League of Legends

Men of War: Red Tide

US: $24.99
UK: £19.99 (33% higher)
EU: 21,99€ (31% higher)

Men of War: Gold Edition

US: $34.99
UK: £27.99 (33% higher)
EU: 31,99€ (36% higher)

Spellforce – Platinum Edition

US: $14.99
UK: £13.49 (49% higher)
EU: 14,99€ (49% higher)

Shattered Horizon

US: $19.99
UK: £14.99 (25% higher)
EU: 19,99€ (49% higher)

Massive Assault

US: $29.99
UK: £21.99 (22% higher)
EU: 24,99€ (24% higher)

Massive Assault: Phantom Renaissance

US: $19.99
UK: £9.99 (17% lower)
EU: 12,99€ (3% lower)

Massive Assault Network 2

US: $39.99
UK: £19.99 (17% lower)
EU: 28,99€ (8% higher)

Massive Assault Collection

US: $59.99
UK: £34.99 (3% lower)
EU: 39,99€ (1% lower)

Doom Rails

US: $9.99
UK: £6.99 (16% higher)
EU: 8,99€ (34% higher)

Fatale

US: $6.99
UK: £4.99 (19% higher)
EU: 5,99€ (27% higher)

Earthworm Jim Collection

US: $19.99
UK: £15.99 (33% higher)
EU: 19,99€ (49% higher)

Big Brain Wolf

US: $9.99
UK: £7.99 (32% higher)
EU: 7,99€ (19% higher)

Magnetis

US: $4.99
UK: £3.49 (16% higher)
EU: 4,99€ (49% higher)

Aztaka

US: $14.99 $11.24
UK: £10.99 £8.24 (22% higher)
EU: 13,99€ 10,49€ (38% higher)

Dragon Age: Origins

US: $49.99
UK: £29.99 (0% lower)
EU: 49,99€ (48% higher)

Dragon Age: Origins Digital Deluxe Edition

US: $64.99
UK: £39.99 (2% higher)
EU: 54,99€ (26% higher)

RailWorks HST Buffer Version DLC

US: $7.99
UK: £4.99 (4% higher)
EU: 5,99€ (11% higher)

Sacraboar

US: $19.99
UK: £17.99 (49% higher)
EU: 17,99€ (34% higher)

League of Legends

US: N/A
UK: £24.99
EU tier 1: 29,99€
EU tier 2: 29,99€
EU tier 3: N/A

Left 4 Dead 2 was rescheduled for today @ 9PM (Central European Time). Meanwhile Left 4 Dead 2 demo server files are already available and we have some good news, thanks to our friends at Strefa Gier TP we just setup 10 servers in Poland.

Click here for IP addresses!

Update:
Something is downloading right now:

Update 2:
Fuck it, still blocked and redownloaded the whole demo and nothing. Nice job Valve.

Join the forum discussion on this post

Previously only differing the price between US Dollar, Euro and British Pound, they now topped it by even discriminating between the European countries.

So we not only have the well known unfair price difference between Dollar, Euro and Pound:

US L4D2 Pre-Purchase: $44.99

EU L4D2 Pre-Purchase: 44,99€

UK L4D2 Pre-Purchase: £26.99

but also differences between european contries:

Germany, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and a lot of others pay the high, unfair price of 44,99€ (L4D2)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/550/?cc=de (or /?cc= fr, nl, dk, fi, se..)

while countries like: Poland, Norway, Italy, Spain, Lithuania and a few other – for incomprehensible reasons -, pay a much cheaper price of 34,19€, which is only slightly more than the UK price in Euro!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/550/?cc=pl

Thats a price difference of 10€ or even 20€ less when buying a bundle of four L4D2 copies.

Workarounds:

1.) Gifting cheap games to friends in an expensive, foreign region is thankfully still possible, eventhough it probably won’t be for long, judging from recent developements.

So have a good foreign friend who lives in a cheap priced region gift you L4D2, after sending him the money via PayPal or likewise.

2.) If you can live without the “exclusive baseball bat” weapon that comes with Steam Pre-Purchases: Don’t support the Steam Regime at all and Pre-Order L4D2 on Amazon.co.uk for the cheapest of all prices: £26.99 (29,26€)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronic-Arts-Left-Dead-DVD/dp/B002BSH9J4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1254503223&sr=8-2

German users should be aware that L4D2, like 1, will be censored again, when buying from their region.

Buy the game at Amazon.co.uk or have a foreign friend gift it to you, for uncensored Zombie Slaughter.

Join the forum discussion on this post

A user called gimpymoo created a thread on Steam Forums called Should Valve open a European Office?.

After few hours the thread got shut down…by the Steam Forums Administrator, and apparently for him an office in Australia (that’s where he’s from) is a priority and he decided to close the thread.

Do you think that Valve should open an office in Europe?

I personally think that this office would be invaded with furious customers from all over the Europe in few days…

If you’ve been reading the Steam forums or our forums lately you probably noticed that right now Valve divided Europe into some crazy 3 different zones.

Our friend Rhonin the wizard calls them tiers so lets just keep it that way.

So what’s it all about? It’s pretty simple, right now if you live in: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Netherlands, Sweden or Switzerland you’re paying the most in the Steam Store. You’re in Tier 1.

If you’re from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain or the Vatican City you’re paying a little bit less then the previous Tier. You’re in Tier 2.

And finally if you’re from Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania you’re paying the least for the games on Steam. You’re in Tier 3.

Here’s an example:

Team Fortress 2
Tier 1: 19,99€
Tier 2: 14,99€
Tier 3: 11,99€

More examples here.

Note: This conversion involves Valve games only!

United Kingdom is NOT on the list because UK has pounds as their currency, and apparently for Valve UK is not a part of Europe or the European Union.

What do you guys think about it? Is it better now, is it fair at all? Or is it totally wrong? I personally think that right now it’s even worse than it was before, they divided European Union/Europe like some countries are "worse" than others.

This is some serious mystery alright, this game is $19.99 in the United States and…29.99€ in European Union (nearly $42)! Boycott FTW. I think they don’t even realize how stupid this looks. They want us to pay double? No thanks, and publishers wonder why is piracy so popular. Of course we do not support piracy of any kind.

And ahh the weekend deal, don’t even bother buying this on Steam for "50% cheaper". You can easily get this game out of the box for less than 30€ or get the cdkey directly from one of the Alternative Shops (this game activates on Steam just fine).

Peace out.

All of their prices are $=€ today. Do not buy anything from Bethesda Game Studios!
I wonder what happens to people who bought those games few days ago at equal price in Europe (by equal I mean a proper dollar to euro conversion)? This is kind of amazing how they fucked it up right now!

If you’re one of those people please post here!

And here’s another one, Novalogic just presented most of their games on Steam and their conversion is really bad as well, well at least they have 1 dollar (or 1 euro) differences around the world… so if anything’s $15 in USA it’s basically 14€ in Europe.

Good deals people! Go buyzzzzz!1!!!11 Steam rawkzz.

Boycott? I think so.