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[Niveras]

How exactly does Steam determine what prices you pay? Billing information, or the information of the card itself? If the latter, I can imagine that setting up a new account (presuming your payment information is still for your old Europe address) might not be helpful. However, if you do have a legitimate US credit card or other billing information, I'd create a new account with [accurate] US billing information and gift until your main account can be updated with accurate prices.

I'd also suggest doing some searching to see whether this sort of thing is legit or not. I don't think Steam would be so ticked as to ban your main account just to workaround a slowness of the system in updating your information, but I can also imagine there might be a whole black market for this sort of thing (e.g. a US account being paid US+X% and gifting, which would still be cheaper than an AUS or RUS paying directly) so maybe they could refund you and take the gift games back (though now as I say I think this is also highly unlikely).

[Sappho]

I didn't think of that. I can put my US address but I still would need to pay with my EU card. I thought they determined region simply by your IP address. I logged out of my account and the prices switched to dollars, then logged back in and they were back to euros. The thing is, there's no way to change your account billing address on the site. Apparently once they have you linked to the EU, they keep you there.

I could try to make a new account, set the region to US, and see what happens if I try to pay with my EU card - but somehow I think if I have the same credit card linked to 2 different accounts, they'll detect it and ban me or something. They seem to have a lot of measures in place to make sure anyone outside the US has to pay more, including the new no-gifting/trading flag on certain games, and the instant deletion of any thread on the forums that refers to the price difference between regions.

If I have my sister make an account with her credit card then gift the games to me, and I'll pay her back in cash, that might work... Except I also suspect that if someone creates an account only to gift games, they probably watch that too.

The strange thing is, on some parts of the site I see the dollar price, and on others I see the euro price. Like the site isn't sure what to do with my US IP address but EU billing info?

[PanH]

If you're planning on living in the US, you can ask the support to change the country of your account. Otherwise, they'll just tell you to buy steam things on a website (since you can change the country there).

[Sappho]

If you're planning on living in the US, you can ask the support to change the country of your account. Otherwise, they'll just tell you to buy steam things on a website (since you can change the country there).

On what web site? I don't see any option to change the country on the Steam site.

[PanH]

Usually, you have that : http://store.steampowered.com/ but it will give you the version of the country you're in. You can change the region on the website though (it's not with language, you have to add a country tag to the address, but I can't remember how to do it).
From what I've been told by the support, it's the only way to buy when you're in another region (but you get home prices).

[Sappho]

Usually, you have that : http://store.steampowered.com/ but it will give you the version of the country you're in. You can change the region on the website though (it's not with language, you have to add a country tag to the address, but I can't remember how to do it).
From what I've been told by the support, it's the only way to buy when you're in another region (but you get home prices).

I'm confused by what you mean. I can see the store fine, but it's giving me the euro prices rather than the US ones, even though I'm in the US. I can use the store without any problem, but I'm angry that I have to pay euro prices when I'm buying from the US. That's ridiculous.

My sister said she'll make an account with her credit card to buy the games I want then gift them to me, if I pay her back in cash. I just hope Steam doesn't give us any crap about her doing that...

[Flying Dice]

Usually, you have that : http://store.steampowered.com/ but it will give you the version of the country you're in. You can change the region on the website though (it's not with language, you have to add a country tag to the address, but I can't remember how to do it).
From what I've been told by the support, it's the only way to buy when you're in another region (but you get home prices).

I'm confused by what you mean. I can see the store fine, but it's giving me the euro prices rather than the US ones, even though I'm in the US. I can use the store without any problem, but I'm angry that I have to pay euro prices when I'm buying from the US. That's ridiculous.

My sister said she'll make an account with her credit card to buy the games I want then gift them to me, if I pay her back in cash. I just hope Steam doesn't give us any crap about her doing that...

Use this link:

http://store.steampowered.com/?cc=US

[Sappho]

That works until I try to buy it. "The current payment method does not match the country of the store. The cart has been converted and the updated total will show on the next page."

So yeah, apparently they base their prices off of the payment method you use. So I'll have to get my sister to add her card to my account, then pay her back.

In that case, is it possible to get US prices while you're in Europe, if you use an American credit card? Hm...

[dennislp3]

That works until I try to buy it. "The current payment method does not match the country of the store. The cart has been converted and the updated total will show on the next page."

So yeah, apparently they base their prices off of the payment method you use. So I'll have to get my sister to add her card to my account, then pay her back.

In that case, is it possible to get US prices while you're in Europe, if you use an American credit card? Hm...

I would assume thats the "easy" way for them. Since normally unless you reside in one country you will not be able to pay with a source such as a credit card from that country. Makes sense since you can say you live anywhere but its much harder to fraud an actual account or card to be from a different country.

[PanH]

That works until I try to buy it. "The current payment method does not match the country of the store. The cart has been converted and the updated total will show on the next page."

So yeah, apparently they base their prices off of the payment method you use. So I'll have to get my sister to add her card to my account, then pay her back.

In that case, is it possible to get US prices while you're in Europe, if you use an American credit card? Hm...

That's what I said. Once you created your Steam account, you're stuck with the region. I'm not even sure it's linked with the credit card, to be fair (and you could use paypal as a proxy), though I didn't tried when I could. However, to use an account (to buy something) in a different region, you have to use a country tag in the address, like the link Flying Dice gave.

[Flying Dice]

You might be able to get away with making a new account, buying giftable games on it, and transferring them to your actual one, though. If on some bizarre chance you actually are called out on it, explain the situation about your move. :|

[Sirus]

Euro Sirus Simulator 2 is on sale.

At 75% off, it's a hell of a lot cheaper than actually becoming a trucker

Any recommendations for Might and Magic: Heroes VI? Looks to be an odd combination of RPG and TBS, and the only other examples of that mix I can think of are Battle for Wesnoth and the Fire Emblem series.

[Darkmere]

Any recommendations for Might and Magic: Heroes VI? Looks to be an odd combination of RPG and TBS, and the only other examples of that mix I can think of are Battle for Wesnoth and the Fire Emblem series.

It's not *quite* like Wesnoth or (not having played it) my understanding of Fire Emblem. Heroes has you moving heroes around an overworld map, with an army attached. When you engage a hostile army, it takes you to a tactical battlefield and your army fights theirs in turns. The RPG aspect comes in hero stats, which (for might) boost stats of your army units or (for magic) cast spells to affect the outcome of battle. There are several skill trees available for the heroes (more varied an interesting in V, I thought) that determine what they can do. There's also castle management and economic concerns, seizing other castles, controlling mines and creature dwellings to reinforce your army... If you like Wesnoth and FE, you'll probably find something to like here, though. As for the game itself:

I've played Heroes III and V. In VI I didn't like the mechanical rework of some racials, and the battlefields look positively TINY to me in screenshots. Friend of mine is a rabid fan of most of them and he couldn't stay with VI for more than a week or two.

If you don't mind or take pleasure in metric tons of corny ham acting, V had a pretty good system, but III is by far the agreed-upon best in the series. Avoid IV like the plague.

[Frumple]

... Siru hasn't been exposed to HoMM? I'd probably recommend dropping two more bucks on this, instead, or seeing if you can get it elsewhere for cheaper. HoMM 2 or 3 is probably where you want to start, insofar as dipping into Heroes of Might and Magic, and 3's general aesthetic is a bit more modern.

[Sirus]

Sad to say I have not. I keep eying it (mostly on GOG, like you linked), but haven't yet taken the plunge so-to-speak.