Edit* - The yellow text needs to go, it hurts my eyes :(

Answer: Piracy.

Has it occured to you guys that piracy is part of the reason why te price of games has sky rocketed?

That has been the biggest answer for gamers to basically stick it to the man. I know it's morally wrong and all, but then again, the publishers are doing it to themselves when they are purposefully marking prices up just because we're over here on an awesome island.

Awesome idea guys. Really quick suggestion (and it looks easy to implement with what you currently have) is to use Jquery Tablesorter (or similar) so that we can reorder it. Then it would be boss.

Piracy is the reason things like ozgameshop can be so cheap, publishers make games cheaper for asian markets because otherwise everyone would pirate them, and then someone buys those games in bulk and sell them here.

Er, the price hasn't skyrocketed...

Even back in the SNES days, there were games that occasionally retailed over AUD$100 .

Good idea but I have no clue how to order things from the US store so it's pointless for me. I see all these good deals I can't buy.

You mean wallet.

Next time a publisher price gouges us Aussies on a game through steam, give that game a BIG FAT ZERO on metacritic. Low review scores have a very real affect on sales. If enough Aussies do this it will cost them money in lost sales and maybe they will eventually realise that trying to rip people off is not good for business.

Good idea E.T.
But they have legitimate excuses for charging more for the physical product sold in Australia through retail outlets. Buying through steam is an overseas transaction and therefore beyond the jurisdiction of the Dept of Fair Trading.

The regional restriction may be entirely artificial and unethical, but it's not illegal (though nor is circumvention of it).

Good idea but I have no clue how to order things from the US store so it's pointless for me. I see all these good deals I can't buy.

If a product is purchased in Australia, online or not, the sale is protected under Fair Trading law. Remember, you are buying (forced to buy) from the Australian store. It is not being purchased from overseas. I think this argument has merit. Its up to the lawyers at the DFT to consider if its one worth pursuing.

If a product is purchased in Australia, online or not, the sale is protected under Fair Trading law. Remember, you are buying (forced to buy) from the Australian store. It is not being purchased from overseas. I think this argument has merit. Its up to the lawyers at the DFT to consider if its one worth pursuing.

But you aren't. There is no Australian Steam store. Only a separate set of prices that are offered to people with an Australian IP address and an Australian credit card. The store is still hosted in the US, by a US company and you are charged in US dollars.

it does seem like a bit of a cop-out by steam to say that they can't set their own prices

The point that you made about Dragon Age 2 implies that price is irrelevant and that users who take that factor into consideration in a review actually devalue the user review itself. If that were true, then most most proffessioal reviews of other products such as televisions and cars must all be worthless. I don't think so!

As for anyone who thinks metacritic scores have no effect, read this:

http://www.next-gen.biz/features/is-metacritic-damaging-games-industry

Can you please put a link to this article or this 'section' of your website on the main page?