You forget, people do still actually buy from shops

As for myself, I don't think i've bought a game from an actual game store since...uh...WARhammer Online was released

Retailers (be they online or B&M) are generally free to set prices however they like once they've bought the product stock.

Aye I know, my point was: if those cheap shops can sell a game for €40 and still make a profit (most of them do quite well actually) why do the big shops price them at €50? The only reason I can think of is just to max out their profit, which is their right ofcourse, but I think they are ripping off average consumers that don't look around before they buy (which ofcourse is largely their own fault).

So, if the cheap shops can sell games for €40, then other shops that complain about digital downloads being too cheap actually have no solid reason as far as I can tell. The only reasoon those shops complain is because they see their cash cow in danger.

Because people will still buy it.

DD is a different issue than shops competing with each other, because the prices are specified by the publisher. In that context, the shops would basically be competing against their own suppliers (whose unit costs are based on actual expenses rather than wholesale pricing).

Fair enough, you make a good point. The 'funny' thing is, I wouldn't be so focussed on DD prices if store prices would be a bit more normal (read: closer to US prices).

I guess, you just have to wait for exchange rate to go back to 1USD = 1 EUR, like 5 years ago .

Man I remember the first year of Steam. It was the worst thing I had ever put on my computer. But years later when I got the episodes for Half-Life 2 I found that it had improved enourmously. Although, it still seems to take up too much power or at least time for starting up compared to Impulse.

Overall I view them as pretty equal performance and functionality wise.