OzGameShop price for Diablo 3 is $59 that's a company based out of the UK and has free shipping, however compared to a local store such as
Electronics Boutique at $88 (my only 'local' store) it's crazy, admittedly
JB hifi at $69 isn't to bad, a lot of their prices have been reasonably better recently. Still have to pay for shipping though from them. But still, why can I order it from Brittan cheaper than what I can get it for from walking the 3KM's down the street to the store. That's physical copies, I don't want to get started on
Battle.net asking $80 for a digital copy.
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Having a high dollar is quite bad for a Country. In order for the economy to function normally when dealing with a high dollar you must be able to import things for a much lower price than you would with a low dollar. This is because when exporting products with a high dollar, you have to sell things a lot cheaper internationally than you would with a low dollar.
For example if we ship off some wool to the US for US$50 when our dollar was 0.5 to your 1, we have essentially made $100 AUD. When our dollar is 1-1 or higher we have made only $50. Obviously this is quite bad for businesses that rely on exportation. The upside to this is we can import goods a lot more cheaply. It is a balance that has to be maintained, otherwise it can have a negative effect on the economy. This is why China, the biggest exporter in the world, refuses to list their currency and instead keeps it low because it is much better for internal growth.
Also the people linking the higher minimum wage are clueless. We are much more of a socialist country than the US, our minimum wage is quite high because we look after the bottom class a lot more than you do in the US. The average wage is a lot closer than the minimum wage is (though still higher) to the US. We pay FAR more in taxes, the median price of a house in Sydney is $577000 (this is not the inner city, it also includes our huge urban sprawl which goes out like 50km), the cost of living in Australia is one of the highest places in the world (5th actually, the US isn't even in the top 25). We are not a comfortable nation compared to the US, especially for new home buyers or people who rent.
We don't pay as much in comparison to the US for any other products except software, books and electronics (though they are still higher than what you pay in the US). If we go off of how much we should be paying for games depending on cost of living and average wage, we should be paying around $70-75 for new release games. However even that is stupid, as this will negatively affect the economy, since we will be making less than we would in exports, while paying the same in imports.
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I kinda liked this post on the subject. But even if the games were $70-$75 I'd still order from OzGameShop.