Flakk wrotePeople who are from europe, united states or japan are probably the only ones who can afford this kind of pricing for the games. They are able to pay 50 or 60$ a game because their income allows it.
While here we have so much stuff to worry about and so much to spend on to keep on living and our income really sucks, thats why most lebanese prefer buying games for 1 or 2 $ instead of 50$.
I personally have bought alot of original games from outside (i used to tell my dad or my cousins to get me this or that) and all the games that i got are either MMO's or have online compatibility.
For example i have Guild Wars Prophecies and Eye of the north, which is game that cannot be found here at all.
I also have Battlefield 2, Supreme commander forged alliance, Homeworld 2, Warhammer dawn of war. I also have some games on steam. I bought these games to play the multiplayer part.
If our income was pretty high as to europe or US standards i think we will all go and buy original games from stores, as they have better support and easier patching, online compatibility, easier modding no trouble in installation etc....
Regardless of any income, everyone should adjust their gaming needs according to what they have.
I say again, if one is very meticulous with the games they buy ---> they would only buy the games they really want. If a game seems interesting and you don't want the risk of shelling out 50 USD or so, then don't buy it immediately. Wait for the reviews, gameplay trailers and impressions that you can find easily on various sites and forums. Plus, most games these days come in the form of demos and trials which you can easily download and play. If you like the game, go ahead and buy it. If you don't, you simply would spend it somewhere else.
We don't have to go and buy every single little game that comes on PC, X360 and PS3 just because the title or the cover art seems nice.
You gave very good examples, Flakk, of games you bought because you liked and wanted to support. Original games as you said have much better support, much easier updates and the most important thing is the online compatibility (an important factor this console generation).
Anyways, this is only my opinion.
Cheers :D