I want a physical copy of skyrim (for my shrine) but all the physical copies I have seen have been GFWL (which I hate) so will there be any retail steam copies?

The purpose of Steam is to keep from having physical copies. That would kind of defeat the purpose of Steam so I would say NO, you are out of luck there.

A Physical Steam copy... An Ice Copy?

You do realize Steam, being a digital distribution system, can't possibly give you a physical copy right?

Note To Self: Create and Online Gamestore called Ice. Make millions.

You do know you can add retail games to steam right?

Games for Windows and GFWL are different.
http://www.gamestop.com/pc/games/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/89143
I don't see GFWL there.

What he means is something like with New Vegas, where the physical retail copies all use Steam too for actual usage. He wants to have a physical disk, with case and manuals and all the other bits, but also for it too use Steam.

However, the OP is also wrong in that PC Skyrim is a 'Games For Windows' title, the images we've seen of the boxes do not Have the LIVE tag on them, it will not use GFWL.

That we know of anyway, it's not been confirmed yet, but Steam is the most likely.

Physical Steam copy? What does that even mean? That's like saying I want a cheeseburger without the cheese, or a boiled ice-tea. :shrug:

Oh. Since I haven't bought a PC game in well over 2 years I'm not up to date on them now. I thought Games for Windows and Games For Windows Live were the same thing? Now I'm thoroughly confused. :confused:

I hope not, I'm against Steamworks

& no there hasn't been any "GFWL" the Skyrims that I've seen, they have been "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_for_Windows" which isn't the same thing.

Games for Windows means it passes the criteria Microsoft states that all games must have to get a GFW title.

Games for Windows Live is the online distribution thingy that most people everyone hates.

Note to Self: Steal source code of Ice, rerelease it as Condensation, make minor changes, make billions.

Yes, I think it is very likely that the physical boxed PC discs will use Steamworks DRM.

When asked whether the game will use Steamworks DRM during the podcast in February, Todd responded cryptically to say only "We like Steam"

I assumed Steam would just be the DRM for all copies on the PC. So basically, the retail copy you buy in the store uses Steam, and you'll have the game added to your library and everything. That's how it usually is with games that get retail copies, like Half-Life 2.

I hope it runs through Steam, that's my personal preference though, I use it loads so I'd hate to lose out on achievements, auto-updates and all that. I get what your saying though because if it is available through Steam, but you buy a physical copy, unless you can actually activate it through Steam you cannot use Steam features. So you would have to chose between having Steam support or having a physical copy.

Happened to me with Dead Space 2.

The Games For Windows tag simply means the game was designed to to run on Windows. Most -but not all- PC games carry the tag now.

Games For Windows LIVE means that the game also supports LIVE. This usually means achievements for the most part and being able to purchase DLC.

It also results in......

Some games not being playable if internet goes down (Unlike Steam there seems to be no offline mode),
Stability problems (A lot of people found Fallout 3 ran better with GFWL disabled completely)
A complete inability to save the game or in some cases even play unless you were signed in.

Plus I found some games (First Kane and Lynch as an example) took so long to sign you in (Even when you had sign me in automatically ticked) that the intro started and the game froze. It was optional for some games such as the afformention Kane and Lynch, but was mandatory for others such as Batman A:A and GTA4.