ATI explains Half Life 2 confusion

Gorgon

Gorgon

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GRAPHICS CHIP FIRM ATI has now got back to the INQUIRER after we wrote a story earlier this week about whether coupons for the delayed Half Life 2 game were still bundled with its products.
Readers had reported that Gigabyte and PowerColor no longer seemed to offer the coupons - which can be redeemed when the game comes out.

ATI confirmed in a statement: "There has been some confusion surrounding ATI's Half-Life 2 bundle program for its add-in-board partners and we would like to take a moment to clarify.

More on:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13797 ;)
 
I just happened to read a review of a 9600XT on PCStats, and i came across this

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the Asus Radeon A9600XT also comes with a Half Life 2 coupon that will allow you to download the full game via ATi's website when it's released!"

Never heard of that before......
 
Yeah, thats news to me...

Though nothing too strange.
 
/me never new there was confusion!
 
Nope there where no confusion there for a while at least... Thx for bringing confusion to us G0rgon! :)
 
This is why im getting my copy from the stores.
 
Download Vs Driving to store, parking, getting out of car, locking car, walking into store, getting game, paying for game, shoving change into wallet, walking to car, unlocking, driving home.

How exactly is store quickest? Don't you have 54353059270359 MBPS speed? : D
 
Aye, i pre-orderd it over the net, im number 20 at the store i bought it from.
 
Orange said:
Download Vs Driving to store, parking, getting out of car, locking car, walking into store, getting game, paying for game, shoving change into wallet, walking to car, unlocking, driving home.
Click to expand...

you forgot

*Look on steam* "Hl2 released!"
*click on DL button* "page cannot be found"
*back, click on download button* "please enter your credit card details etc."
"your details are incorrect please re enter them"
*re enter details*
"thank you, click to begin download"
*click*
"13kb/s
downloaded 1.5mg of 1600mg, download time left 32 hours"

*32 hours later*

*turn monitor back on*
"sorry you timed out, please click to resume download"
*punches wall, clicks*
"8kb/s
downloaded 45mg of 1600mg, download time left 56 hours"

*56 hours of staring and pissing/shiting while seated at computer later*

"download complete, click to install"
*clicks*
"cannot find Hl2.genome.rar, instilation aborted"
*drop kicks computer, repeats the entire process*

*59 hours later*

"welcome to Hl2, would you like to start a new game or ....."
*1 hour of playing later, checks Hl2.net*

Quote Dougy "yeah it rocks, ive completed the game on all difficulties and MP is the BOMB!!"

*shoots self in head*
 
Clarifies confusion? This doesn't clarify anything, it just tells you to get on someone else's case about it.
 
I will order it over teh net but just to download it to my home with 1.2 gig/day if you catch my drift..
 
Dougy said:
you forgot

*Look on steam* "Hl2 released!"
*click on DL button* "page cannot be found"
*back, click on download button* "please enter your credit card details etc."
"your details are incorrect please re enter them"
*re enter details*
"thank you, click to begin download"
*click*
"13kb/s
downloaded 1.5mg of 1600mg, download time left 32 hours"

*32 hours later*

*turn monitor back on*
"sorry you timed out, please click to resume download"
*punches wall, clicks*
"8kb/s
downloaded 45mg of 1600mg, download time left 56 hours"

*56 hours of staring and pissing/shiting while seated at computer later*

"download complete, click to install"
*clicks*
"cannot find Hl2.genome.rar, instilation aborted"
*drop kicks computer, repeats the entire process*

*59 hours later*

"welcome to Hl2, would you like to start a new game or ....."
*1 hour of playing later, checks Hl2.net*

Quote Dougy "yeah it rocks, ive completed the game on all difficulties and MP is the BOMB!!"

*shoots self in head*
Click to expand...


took the words right out of my mouth.
 
I agree with Dougy for the most part. Downloading the game via steam is going to be SLOW, regardless of the uber connection you have. Imagine if all the resolute HL2 fanboys start downloading the game at aproximately the same time? The amount of bandwidth given to each person is going to be tiny, unless they have Skynet-esque content servers.

I'm gonna deal with driving to town etc, at least I'll have the game and be playing it well before the ppl who choose to DL it (brave though these people will be). UNLESS VALVe give the voucher ppl the option to DL the game a week before the official release, in which case you can expect to see sales of RADEON cards go through the roof.
 
I just really, really dont understand the point of downloading it. It takes me 10mins to drive to the game store, buy the game, and drive home. 10 mins. Or you could go the way of steam and have the game anywhere from 2 hours to 2 months, depending on your connection.
 
plus who's buying a new radeon before hl2 is out? there might be price drops WID plus you might get a bundle with an actual cd in it..
 
BTW just read my previous post and think that it might be misleading: what I meant was ordering it on the net but getting it vial mail..
 
Order it of the net - wait - release day comes - knock at the door - ta very much - Put the game in - JOBS A GOOD UN!

Nice and lazy :D
 
the confusion comes from certain 9600xt and 9800xt manufacturers (like gigabyte) are Pulling the Hl2 coupon (aka you wont get the game with it anymore) from their versions.
 
So here's a question concerning downloading through steam. Once downloaded to your HD, what happens if you have have a major error of sorts and have to do a clean sweep, reload windows yada yada? Would you then be able to reload steam, (reload meaning download again given they would allow you to enter your same user info) and then download HL2 again? I mean, wouldn't you loose the game? There's just something to be said about having a disc in hand, don't you think?

Plus, what about some years down the road after you've beaten the SP many times over, played the multi and mods to death and uninstalled the game, and you get the sudden urge to dig out that old disc and have a go at the single player again, but....aha....you have no disc because you downloaded it ages ago and have since uninstalled to save room. Would you still have the option, given that Steam is still around, to go and download it again?
 
what can I say. dirty money grabbers! I reckon HL2 would of come out in September 2003 if it wasnt for all the Favouring of ATI graphics,, its a nice scheme if you like raking in the cash, but were the ones who are spending it.

PS. I really dont think Nvidia's cards will handle it as badly as they stated. lol we are suckers.. :p I got suckered.. ~slaps ATI and Valve round the head with a Big wet Fish~


just shows money is far more important to these people than the fans, and consumers ;(
 
I think the only way they can avoid a server overload on release day was if they updated Steam to use distributed file sharing to take the strain off their main servers. The theory would be the same as bittorrent, only in this situation, they would have complete control of who gets access to "torrent" for lack of a better word. Continuing in Bittorrent terms, they could login protect the tracker. Of course, I would suggest Steam come with a user adjustable upload bandwidth cap, to prevent upload saturation. Short of building a network of servers as robust as the ones AOL uses for media (i.e. movie trailers, etc.), I don't see Steam being capable of handling the bumrush of HL2 fans.
 
I was wandering the same thing Doc Brass, i'm planing to download wiht my free coupon, but was wandering what i can do to save all the files. I'm thinking after i download hl2 i might just burn my entire steam folder to a dvd, but it's certainly not ideal. I would like to be able to burn a cd image of the game, but thats not gonna happen cos it would mean no cd protection could be used... If it turns out that i can only download at like 12kbs, i'm gonna go out to the store and buy it, and use my coupon to clean my finger nails....
 
pk1209 said:
I was wandering the same thing Doc Brass, i'm planing to download wiht my free coupon, but was wandering what i can do to save all the files. I'm thinking after i download hl2 i might just burn my entire steam folder to a dvd, but it's certainly not ideal. I would like to be able to burn a cd image of the game, but thats not gonna happen cos it would mean no cd protection could be used... If it turns out that i can only download at like 12kbs, i'm gonna go out to the store and buy it, and use my coupon to clean my finger nails....
Click to expand...

Agreed! I doubt you'll be able to burn it, period. I've preordered HL2 through Gamestop, but a few weeks ago I decided to buy a new vid card in the $200 dollar range. I bought an Nvidia FX 5700 ultra because, as someone else said, I'm sure Nvidia cards will be optimized and ready to run HL2 by the time it comes out. It is equal to / outperforms the 9600XT on most games and flat blows it outta the water on opengl games. Plus, who wants a flimsy piece of paper for a downloadable version of HL2 that's not going to be worth the paper it's printed on? Especially now it seems like card makers are backing out of the deal because it's gonna be Sept. 04 before HL2 sees the light of day. I'd rather pay my money and have the game on a disc for the long haul.
 
Dougy said:
you forgot

*Look on steam* "Hl2 released!"
*click on DL button* "page cannot be found"
*back, click on download button* "please enter your credit card details etc."
"your details are incorrect please re enter them"
*re enter details*
"thank you, click to begin download"
*click*
"13kb/s
downloaded 1.5mg of 1600mg, download time left 32 hours"

*32 hours later*

*turn monitor back on*
"sorry you timed out, please click to resume download"
*punches wall, clicks*
"8kb/s
downloaded 45mg of 1600mg, download time left 56 hours"

*56 hours of staring and pissing/shiting while seated at computer later*

"download complete, click to install"
*clicks*
"cannot find Hl2.genome.rar, instilation aborted"
*drop kicks computer, repeats the entire process*

*59 hours later*

"welcome to Hl2, would you like to start a new game or ....."
*1 hour of playing later, checks Hl2.net*

Quote Dougy "yeah it rocks, ive completed the game on all difficulties and MP is the BOMB!!"

*shoots self in head*
Click to expand...

LOL so true man so true!!
 
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