F*CK You Valve I Cant Play Half Life 2 Becasue Of Your Goddam Piracy Bullshit!!!!

[b0ned0me]

Another mysterious 1st time poster, supporting an idiot complaint... :dozey:

Gasp! Someone looking at a BBS for the first time who feels like making a comment and didn't know the procedure was to ask permission from the resident anal retentives before venturing their first edit. Do you get ownership rights for having been on this forum since it was set up or something? Pillock.

Fortunately, I didn't have any problems whatsover apart from a bit of motion sickness from the aircar, the occasional choppy sound and having to reactivate my long-dormant steam account. Seems a damn fine game so far, and another quality job by Valve. Yay! :thumbs:
Be nice if they would sort the sound out though.....

 

[codeninja]

Clear enough? With online activation developers are now in a position to strip the consumer of their entire product with no compensation whatsoever, they can change the terms of the licence for any reason they like and should I disagree, Valve will charge me to be able to resell my own game!

Erm - well I don't know if you have been paying attention, but online activation has nothing to do with this particular part of your ramble..how many times have you seen
"system requirements, content and or features of this product may change without notice" ?

This has been around for a while...not since online activation began.

Also you say Valve can strip the consumer of their entire product - I doubt that. Maybe they could stop you from playing CS online or something - especially if you have been found to
disrupt the enjoyment of others via cheating etc.

Unless you have a) been offensive to someone on the official forum, or broken the rules stated there
or
b) Been found to be using a cracked copy of some valve software

I don't really see why Valve would WANT to ban you - you are a customer ffs.

If you have triggered a) or b) then in my opinion why should you be allowed to go online and use the services there inappropriately or for free.

Seriously I don't get the gist of your post at all. Before I had a decent graphics card or more than 256M of memory I would STUDIOUSLY check the system requirements to make sure that my PC could play the game. Not only that, I would be pretty hesitant buying something unless my PC was near the recommended spec or I had played a demo previously.

Now..yes I do have a net connection, and my PC is nice and fast now, but I STILL read the system requirements. Why? because Games evolve quickly - practically everything on a PC with regards to performance is PUSHED by the games industry. Its what we want!
For that reason I KNOW that I am going to pick up a game one day that my machine just can't cope with. Doom3 suffers quite a bit, and I was very hesitant about HL2. In the end, I decided that I would buy HL2, see how it played, and if it was too slow, I would wait until I had a better PC to play it or take it back.

As it turned out - it WAS pretty slow in places, but then I changed tri-linear filtering to bi-linear and now its silky smooth.
Yeah the loading times are quite slow - but they are better than Doom3 and I know I dont have a lot of memory for games these days (768mb).

Just near me they are building a new road junction - theres like 50 workmen there going at it solid for nearly 7 months now - it'll be done in January they reckon but we all know "it will be done when its done"
It costs us the taxpayer about 12 million GBP to build this junction - and right now it takes me 1 hr to travel 20 miles because of what they are doing.
I don't complain - I saw in the paper what they were planning - I knew it was coming. I know its gonna be ok in the end.
And you know what ? if it isnt any better? I'll just move house.

I'm not bothered by any of that - so the fact that you are complaining about how Valve has started some kind of "anti-consumer rights" movement is so strange. They havn't - it's been this way for years. Online activation has squat to do with any change in policy or law - its just a different way of aquiring your product.

If you walk in to a store - they can refuse to serve you for whatever grounds they wish and if they think u r causing trouble, they can throw u out too.

 

[SunHawk]

If you walk in to a store - they can refuse to serve you for whatever grounds they wish and if they think u r causing trouble, they can throw u out too

If you purchase goods from that store that are not usable or are not of proper quality for whatever reason, the customer can then return to that store and the staff had better be prepared to listen.

Consumers have rights.

Thats the law.

Online activation has squat to do with any change in policy or law - its just a different way of aquiring your product.

Wrong.

If the activation procedure is faulty, non functioning or flawed, if it prevents the proper, functioning use of purchased goods, then it is very much a legal matter.

 

[AlmostThere]

This is not about game content or system requirements, it is about the licence and the ability to enforce it and the consequences of such enforcement that online activation permits.

Sorry to "ramble" but let me just run through some of the sections from the HL2 and steam service agreements:

HL2 licence:

In addition, the Program has a multi-player capability that allows users to utilize portions of the Program over the Internet. Use of the Program over the Internet may be subject to your acceptance of Valve’s, or other licensed game hosts’, separate terms of use agreement.

(my empahsis) may, not will. In fact the answer is will because you have to activate online through steam. The HL2 licence, I agreed to on installing the game does not physically allow me to play it offline despite the wording of the licence.
Onto the steam subsription agreement:

12. AMENDMENTS TO THIS AGREEMENT
Valve may amend this Agreement at any time in its sole discretion. ... If you don't agree to the amendments, or to any of the terms in this Agreement, your only remedy is to cancel your Account or a particular Subscription.

i.e. Valve can change the licence at any time and if you do not agree to their changes you lose your steam subscription. How was it that I activated HL2 again?

13. TERM AND TERMINATION
Either you or Valve has the right to terminate or cancel your Account or a particular Subscription at any time ...
2. In the case of a one-time purchase of a product license (e.g., purchase of a single game) from Valve, Valve may choose to terminate or cancel your Subscription in its entirety or may terminate or cancel only a portion of the Subscription (e.g., access to the software via Steam) and Valve may, but is not obligated to, provide access (for a limited period of time) to the download of a stand-alone version of the software and content associated with such one-time purchase.

(my emphasis, again)
Valve have no obligation to provide you with an offline copy of HL2 if you or they terminate your steam subscription.

Basically, you are SOL.

Valve can now act as judge, jury and executioner of such a licence - without any mediators - leaves me confused how this can be seen in any other way than a consumer issue in ensuring fair terms and conditions.

your view - Valve have the right to use online activation to enforce adherence to their licence terms and prevent piracy. People know it is there, it is stated quite clearly and have no excuse to whine.

my view - Valve have actually implemented a system that permits them to trivially disable someone's software with no compensation, even if they have not broken the terms of the licence. This is grossly unfair and they have every right to complain.

As far as I can tell I am supposed to assume that nothing will happen, based on trust.

Erm - well I don't know if you have been paying attention, but online activation has nothing to do with this particular part of your ramble..how many times have you seen
"system requirements, content and or features of this product may change without notice" ?

Plenty of times, but to be honest it really never occured to me and I'll bet thousand of other game players, that when they said "content might change without notice", they were actually meant changing from a 4.5Gb of modern FPS game to absolutely nothing at all!

 

[AlmostThere]

online activation has nothing to do with this particular part of your ramble

By what other means do they enforce this potentially rather profitable arrangement?

The licence gives an opportunity, online activation gives the means.
At $50 a pop, I suggest motive is pretty clear too.

You may trust Valve, but if people do not complain every developer will take it up and there are without doubt developers who will take advantage of this.

 

[SunHawk]

You'll have to excuse codeninja, he's obviously never worked or had any real training in consumer issues.

Anyone who is this ignorant of the law regarding consumers rights has no business commenting on what a license does or does not do.

 

[codeninja]

I am well aware of consumer rights and have actually recieved proper training in IT, copyright and contract law. The point I am trying to make, quite simply, is that Valve have not produced a faulty activation scheme - it does what it says on the box, if you will. Your consumer rights in this instance are not affected at all because the product is not faulty. (If you can argue that not having an internet connection is Valves fault then I may be wrong).

Don't make excuses for other people - it really is rude. If anything excuse yourself for your lack of knowledge in the area. You state that I am ignorant on this issue but I am not at all, Valves licence has not violated any laws whatsoever. Nor is it wildy different to anyone else offering online content, or online activation of their products.

Basically, this licence agreement was provided to you during the purchase process. If you chose not to read the end user licence agreement, terms of usage or the system specifications and you are still complaining that Valve didnt inform you about the activation process, what good would it have done them if they did? If they provided you with a 10 page document describing the activation process, its requirements and restrictions BEFORE you purchased the game - you STILL would not have read it by the sounds of things.

Valve have legally fulfilled all the requirements they need to in terms of the service they provide.

 

[SunHawk]

If they provided you with a 10 page document describing the activation process, its requirements and restrictions BEFORE you purchased the game - you STILL would not have read it by the sounds of things.

I did read it

Valve have legally fulfilled all the requirements they need to in terms of the service they provide.

Not if the glowingly described process you mention doesnt work.

 

[codeninja]

they have.

 

[AlmostThere]

What Valve have already done is use their online activation scheme to enforce a $10 tax on the resale of the game. The legality of this is unclear (after speaking with a lawyer friend).

What is to say they will not use it to foister a charge on the use of steam, rights to sell and distribute my email address or install spyware on my computer? Any of which, if I fail to find acceptable, may well cause me the loss of my $50 copy of HL2.

I understand the need for Valve to protect their copyright - I have enjoyed many of their games and I hope they continue to produce more in the future.

But, as a consumer, in return for accepting these measures, all I ask is that I will receive some assurances that the software and activation processes will work as advertised and that the system will not be abused to the detriment of the paying customers. Where these standards are not met, the software producers need to be held liable.

I don't think that that is unreasonable.

At the end of the day, Valve have taken from me the ultimate responsibility to get a functional product and put it in their own hands.
This is a significant change that is enabled by online activation.

Codeninja - you said you work hard and so do many other programmers. You said that you are proud of your work and like any self-respecting manufacturer you should be. Frankly, I would expect you to welcome such assurances as it helps to keep shoddy and inadequate software off the market and allows the public to have confidence in the developer's work, especially given your view that these methods are only going to become more common. Thank-you for sharing your views all the same - right now I am going take a big bite of shit sandwich so I can enjoy HL2 (hopefully I can complete it before Gabe Newell busts through my door and prises the disk from my cold dead hand).

 

[john121]

( quoting AlmostThere) "Lastly, from those who support online activation, I would really like to know where the boundaries lie for reasonable protection against piracy. Why not mandate online access the whole time ... hey it helps valve? Why not scan the PC and deactivate if any hardware has changed suggesting a copy is on another machine? We already have programs that will not run if various CD buring software is installed - is it acceptable for HL2 not to run if Doom3 is installed? Different purpose? Just because Alcohol is installed does not make someone guilty of software piracy so the issue is no longer about punishing those guilty, merely those likely to be guilty. What about Kazaa or BitTorrent? Guilty too by association. Want to draw a line there, too?
Hell, 51% of convincted pirates are [Conservatives] so why not ban those users too."

I support online activation, and i also see your point. Personally, the whole thing behind Farcry not installing if you have CD copying software on your PC was going too far. I don't think Valve is going too far as to asking you to sign on to the net. Look at record companies, I don't see any new albums being put on tape or record anymore. What if I wanted to play a new album on my old record player? I'd have to record it myself, same with the tape. Yet we accept this as normal because it doesn't bother us. I'm sure you, as with everyone else whom the online activation process didn't bother, wouldn't be on here complaining about it. Let's face it, the internet is here, and it's being used worldwide by alot of people. TIMES HAVE CHANGED FROM 1970! How many people use AIM? what, 10 million? 30 million? Get with the times.

 

[EBSCatastrophe]

Transport your pc? I personally thought that "activating" HL2 required nothing more than doing something as simple as putting in your HL2 CD or summet through steam.

nope you have to have an active internet connection in order to register your steam account only then can you play hl2 online or offline in solo mode

 

[EBSCatastrophe]

( quoting AlmostThere) "Lastly, from those who support online activation, I would really like to know where the boundaries lie for reasonable protection against piracy. Why not mandate online access the whole time ... hey it helps valve? Why not scan the PC and deactivate if any hardware has changed suggesting a copy is on another machine? We already have programs that will not run if various CD buring software is installed - is it acceptable for HL2 not to run if Doom3 is installed? Different purpose? Just because Alcohol is installed does not make someone guilty of software piracy so the issue is no longer about punishing those guilty, merely those likely to be guilty. What about Kazaa or BitTorrent? Guilty too by association. Want to draw a line there, too?
Hell, 51% of convincted pirates are [Conservatives] so why not ban those users too."

I support online activation, and i also see your point. Personally, the whole thing behind Farcry not installing if you have CD copying software on your PC was going too far. I don't think Valve is going too far as to asking you to sign on to the net. Look at record companies, I don't see any new albums being put on tape or record anymore. What if I wanted to play a new album on my old record player? I'd have to record it myself, same with the tape. Yet we accept this as normal because it doesn't bother us. I'm sure you, as with everyone else whom the online activation process didn't bother, wouldn't be on here complaining about it. Let's face it, the internet is here, and it's being used worldwide by alot of people. TIMES HAVE CHANGED FROM 1970! How many people use AIM? what, 10 million? 30 million? Get with the times.

i agree they are being very leaniant compared to what they could be doing, plus i would never buy a game that would not let me install it if i had burning software on it. valve is just trying to protect itself and i completely understand this esp. when this is the biggest pc game ever to come out.

 

[b0ned0me]

Wohooo, wot a lengthy thread...

So in summary:
1. Valve (along with all other developers) want to get rid of the cost of physical distribution of games and instead sell you their game themselves and get full retail ($30-$40) as revenue rather than $5-10 per game. Which is fair enough.
2. Most game buyers arent ready YET for online-only purchases so most copies of HL2 will be on physical media
3. Valve don't want to get pirated so needed some pretty strong authentication of online or offline sales
4. The internet still isn't particularly capable or robust YET
5. Valve have developed a nifty piece of software called Steam that can take care of 1 & 3 reasonably OK, but isn't that robust YET.

The main issues customers seem to have experienced:
Having to double-activate physical copies - because Steam wasn't really designed for this. This will fix itself once everyone buys on-line, so I guess we had better get used to it.
No off-line activation - a lot of strongly protected software is cracked using a keygen to spoof a telephone registration. It's a huge security exposure, so Valve have left it out. Ouch. Time to get a cheap, reliable ISP and add that to the cost of our gaming addictions.
Infrastructure issues - not having internet or it/steam being broken. As above, but even more so for Valve.

So we have been lucky enough to partake in not only a great game, but the first implementation of the new world of games publishing. Half-Life 3 will most likely be Steam-Only and require a connection AT ALL TIMES. It's also unlikely to have three companies names attached to it, because Valve will no longer need that much help to get it published. And that is fine, because by then everything should be ready for showtime, and people will know what to expect.

A lot of people have experienced problems, as you'd expect with any first implementation, and given that the shrinkwrapped and on-line models aren't really that compatible. And they are very pissed off, as they are entitled to be because they paid the same money as everyone else and got less. Valve/Sierra/VU could have foreseen and prevented a lot of these problems, but chose not to for whatever reason, presumably that it would have been too expensive or risky, or would have underminded Steam's suitability for 1). Which happens is unfortunate but that's life. The first people subjected to anything often get a rougher ride than they should.

A lot of dweebs seem to be pissed off with people getting pissed off, for some reason. I haven't seen anyone from Valve saying "read the f****ing box n00b" or similar - presumably because they understand that an unhappy customer is never a good thing, no matter whose fault it is. If you have no issues with your game, fine - go play it and shut up. If you are very very unhappy, then you are entitled to be and I wish you luck getting your game fixed and/or money back.

Regarding the whole licence thing - an industry wide problem that will no doubt get fixed eventually. This whole thing of "you've paid your money for something that may or may not work. By the time you've read this it's too late to get your money back, and whatever happens from here on in is nothing to do with us because we only created it. Unless there's some more money to be made somewhere, in which case it's still our property, not yours" is frankly ridiculous. But you can blame that on lawyers/governments/lazy customers/MIBs/MILFS/whoever, not Valve. I sincerely doubt that they deliberately engineered all this confusion because I doubt licences and people re-selling activated copies has been top of their minds for the last couple of years.

And now I'm going to take my own advice and shut up and play my game.

 

[Noia]

Stating the obvious

This is yet another one of those controversial decisions, made by Vivendi. What people should realize about the developers and their publisher/producers, are that many decisions regarding Licensing are -not- left up to the developers. Basically, there are no developers in the world, who wouldn't rather make the perfect game, which everybody would love, with no pirate protection, and distributing it for free, living off donations. Of course that is an Utopia, which is why developers have financial and sales departments - but Publishers/Producers have final say about the distribution conditions. Vivendi are in a lot of hot water lately, for "ruining" several good games, with, pardon me, absolutely insane decisions with licensing.

HL2 was delayed for quite a while, due to licensing issues - Vivendi wanted to make sure there would be no piracy, which Steam eventually became the answer to. Result is that people are FORCED to get an internet line, if they don't have one. Regardless of whether you find it to be a small amount of people, worldwide, I would still direct you to the fact that according to statistics, less than 20% of the people in the world with computers, presently are connected to the Internet. At the same time, the gaming industry makes more money than the music and movie industry combined. Most people that play games, or rather, most people that play games -and post on online forums- for some obscure reason have an internet connection. Surprise surprise.

But some don't. And being forced to get a secondary product, as a prerequisite to get another, is by any means known to me, definitely illegal in my country, and most other European countries I know of. I would get rather pissed, if I'd be prohibited from going to the movies, until I got a driver's license. I don't have one, and don't intend to get one, as public transportation is just perfect where I live - so somebody telling me that I need a driver's license for something completely unrelated would definitely not make me happy. And yes, they are unrelated in the case of HL2 as well, as the offline single player game should -never- have any reason to connect to the internet, unless you want to get updates, which should be available from magazine CDs and such as well.

Vivendi pulled a similar stunt with the soon released (23rd of November) World of WarCraft from Blizzard, making sure that there would only be regional servers, effectively prohibiting US, EU, AU, and Asian people from playing with each other. Blizzard is working on a way to get around that, with some technical manipulation, but Vivendi's licensing issues have made sure that only regional licenses will be applied - and also that the EU version of the game won't come out until February - and therefore... well, the effects are obvious. Hundreds of entire guilds have decided not to play WoW due to this, because they can't play with their friends.

These licensing ideas are -not- the way ahead - neither are CD protection, which just makes it harder for us to make legal backups, and does absolutely nothing to the hardcore pirate distributors. If you really want pirated goods, you can get them easily, no matter whether you use CD protection - and another game, apart from HL, attempted an online registration of the client whenever it was connected to the internet, though only directed for the multiplayer market - the week after, the pirate community had made a rerouting service, making the client believe it authorized itself already. - I have no doubt that the same will happen with HL2 - one way or another, there's always a way to circumvent security, and the so-called security does NOTHING against piracy; what it does, is obstruct gameplay and functionality for those of us that pay through our noses for our games.

- I pay for my games out of morale, because I want to support those that produce something good. I don't support those that produce crap. And I'm seriously thinking about banning Vivendi products from my buy lists, since their business methods are amongst the worst, only surpassed maybe by Sony. A shame that a good company like Valve (and Blizzard for that matter) would fall into the hands of Vivendi's money machine.

~Noia

 

[Vertz]

I support valve with the use of steam. I personaly brought my copy on-line and downloaded it..I got it activated on release day in 5 min and was playing in no time.

I have had a few problems with the game, stuttering was a problem, however I don't complain because at the end of the day its something to do with my pc (Soundcard I think)..I don't come on here saying "Omfg valve are the suxx0rz" because pc's vary in so many different ways its IMPOSSIBLE to valve to get everyone working"

Anyway Back on topic.

Sunhawk, you may be 40+ (Which may explain your old style of thinking) you may have 'years' of experiance in retail (woo-hoo for you, really) But you are the most ignorent, closed minded and arrogent person I have seen in a while. You only see your side of the argument...you have a lack of will (or intelligence) to see another persons argument for what it is and try and sugar coat your argument with babble about rights of the consumer. What about Valves rights to protect themselves from pirates? Do you complain at HMV when it takes a few extra seconds to remove the security tag from your CD? which is there to prevent as much theft as possible? I highly doubt it.
I may only be 19, but I seem to know more about listening to others than you ever will (and don't give me that crap about managers listening to thier customers ), You may be older but clearly not wiser.

Anyway I had to get that off my chest!! I say good job valve and I hope to see more improvements to the steam system and I will continue to support it (as I have always done) for years to come. Don't let these old hat thinkers divert you from your quest to push technology to the next level.

And Codeninja I agree with you on almost all points. :thumbs:

 

[Kommie]

user posted image

 

[Kommie]

see attachment

 

[SnakeChomp]

Offline play

(Note: I have no idea what my post count is, but if its 1, please continue reading this post, as it is enlightening even if I seem like an uber noob with 1 post.)

I'm sorry, I just have to reply to this massive thread which complains about something that is entirely false. You're problem is that you must be online in order to play single player half life 2. I am here to tell you that this is completely wrong.

Want to play half life 2 while you are offline? Its completely possible after you have activated your copy of half life 2 with steam. Once you have done this, login to steam and make sure that the "Remember password" checkbox is checked. After having done this, go to the games browser, right click on half life 2, and select properties. A window will come up, and in the middle of this window the words "Offline Mode: Ready" will appear.

Now, unplug your computer from the internet, and close steam. Open steam again. Steam will try to update itself, this will time out. Steam will then try to login to your account. This will also time out. You will be presented with a dialog box that basically says it cannot connect to the steam servers. There will be a button that says "Stay in offline mode." Click this button, and steam will login to your account again, although this time it will work, because it is in offline mode. Now, play half life 2.

There you have it. Offline single player half life 2. Now you may play half life 2 in 20 years if steam doesn't exist.

I cannot tell you exactly where it was stated that offline mode exists, but I explicitly remember seeing it somewhere. Aparently it is not obvious as most of this thread is complaining about the fact that there isn't an offline only mode.

 

[SnakeChomp]

The edit timer for my above post has expired, but if I could edit it, I would change it to the following message.

(I guess I am an ubernoob with 1 post after all )

I thought about my post a little bit after making it and realize that it was not entirely relevant to the topic of this discussion, and as such I have decided to remove my previous message.

What I would like to say though is that I support the theory that SunHawk is simply an old timer who is resistant to change. Your beloved industry is changing, and if you don't like it, well thats too bad for you.

I didn't like the online activation component of windows xp. I still don't like it. It gets in the way if I have to format for whatever reason, or install new hardware, and then call microsoft to convince them that I'm not a pirate. Does it prevent piracy? No, not really. Is it supposed to? Yep. Were there reasons for implementing it? Of course.

Look at china. How much of what is sold there (software wise) is legal? About 1% of it? (I got that number from the president of microsoft canada when he spoke a week or so ago at acadia university where I attend college.) How many people are in china? A hell of a lot. If you can stop piracy with an online activation system, you will regain alot of income from china. Sure, its an inconvenience for some, but that fact matters little when you consider that money is the bottom line.

Sure, online activation is anoying, but so are taxes. I'm not trying to say that online activation for hl2 is perfect, or that taxes are perfect, but online activation is the method which is being used. The fact that is doesn't work for everyone is unfortunate, but chosing not to play a game simply because it is attempting to innovate its industry is foolish. "This is so different that I'm not even going to try it." Too bad for you.

 

[oogly]

even a lot of people get problems if they paly offline. or was it really offline in the first place? offline that HL2 says connection to steam servers lost. oh well..

 

[mezzer]

I am not sure I am happy with this. I have no intention of installing STEAM at any time, as I have no wish to play online, ever.

Installing any other game needs a cd key, fine..but to install STEAM and then go through the rigmarole of registering it via another application I have been given no choice about just so I can play it OFFLINE seems a little silly to me.

If I go and buy it from a shop (and for those who have doubts, my games budget last year was more than $500,...not all at once mint you ....not including game trades, second hand purchases etc) why can't I just register it the same way as others...why do I HAVE to register the game ONLINE so I can play the game I ALREADY legally bought?

I am not playing online, let me repeat.I will be holding a receipt in my hand..I see no reason to then go through more time and effort to be PERMITTED to play a game I bought. What if STEAM is down? Or it screws up and won't let the game be verified?

Before anyone gives me a smart comment, you're talking to a 40+ year old gamer and I am no one's fool...so I am expecting a civil response.

Bear in mind there is no other game I have purchased in the last three years that says if I dont go online and get it verified I can't play it.

I am given a CHOICE whether or not I wish to register it...it is not MANDATORY.

I am the consumer.I make the choices. If I have a game in one hand and a receipt in another I see no reason to be told "prove to us you bought it or you cant play it".

You've made a wonderful philosphical point, but your still missing THE point.

These types of money marketing techniques will be used for other products in the industry for future years to come, it's a new method. You're just griping about a natural evolution in methods on how to make more money, and your the consumer. Don't buy it.

 

[Kingreaper]

Clear enough? With online activation developers are now in a position to strip the consumer of their entire product with no compensation whatsoever, they can change the terms of the licence for any reason they like and should I disagree, Valve will charge me to be able to resell my own game!

You do know there are laws in most western countries governing that sort of thing

IIRC any internet support offered for a game must continue being supported for a certain amount of time (I think it's six months) after the game stops being sold

If they stopped the steam support but kept selling it, I'm pretty sure you could sue them

 

[Striker]

why the hell is this posted in rumors and speculation section?????

 

[spencerjrus]

god damit!!!!! i cant play hl2 now.




http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/5724.cfm
http://spong.com/detail/news.asp?mo...blem+-+Half-Life+2+requires+online+activation

and serach "Half Life 2" on google news

Hello, I like to complain on THE INTERNET about how I have to use THE INTERNET to connect to a game ONE TIME to authorize it. Shut up, Valve doesnt care about poor people who cant afford internet access, you are a non factor and they don't care about your business, just go kill yourself.

 

[DevgruSeal]

Hello, I like to complain on THE INTERNET about how I have to use THE INTERNET to connect to a game ONE TIME to authorize it. Shut up, Valve doesnt care about poor people who cant afford internet access, you are a non factor and they don't care about your business, just go kill yourself.

What I dont get is if people can afford a 5,000$ gaming PC, why can't they afford a simple 9.95 for one month? Hell, even pick up a FREE aol CD at ingles...

 

[Slip778]

Why should you need internet to play hl2..if the person has no internet connection, how is it possible they ripped off hl2 from warez?

 

[Kingreaper]

Why should you need internet to play hl2..if the person has no internet connection, how is it possible they ripped off hl2 from warez?

You've never seen someone selling copies of a game?

If you didn't have ot validate it people could have the internet, DL it, and play it, the fact they have the internet wouldn't mean they couldn't play without validating if there was no vaslidating

 

[The Dark Elf]

Meh It's not so bad. Steam eventually forced me to buy a router which I shoulda got ages ago anyway. Ended up getting it for £30 cheaper cause the checkout girl wasn't paying attention haha.

I haven't had any crap hitting the firewall since I got it now, don't have to move cables about, steam updates when it wants, its great

 

[Kyorisu]

The way I figure it as like so. Half-Life is an excellent game, and an excellent online experience. Anyone can tell you how good the mp is. So go get yourself a modem and quit complaining.

Don't complain at me with "I don't want the internet" becuase thats total BS the internet rules.

Hl2 Rig - $1000 AUD (I built a whole machine that runs hl2 on medium with 40fps+)
Modem - $10 Second hand modem $5
Trial internet - Free

Whats the big deal? seriously. Is it that hard to get an internet connection? The whole idea of complaining becuase you didn't know about needing one is BS

1. It's on the box
2. Practicly every store I know tells it's customers about needing a net connection.
3. The internet rules.