I'm staggered....

[iamaelephant]

I can't believe Valve's audacity. The game is out on shelves, people are paying damn good money for it, yet they aren't allowed to play it. I don't know what to say - I honestly can't believe Valve is letting this happen. This is not a "bitch at Valve" thread, because I know it's not Valve's fault that retailers have let the game out early, but I honestly can't believe they would do this to their fans (the people who put all that food on Gabe's table).

I'm not talking about the sort of fans that spend alot of time on this forum. I'm talking about the average gamer, the guy who buys maybe the occassional gaming magazine, but has no interest in closely following the development of a game. This is the guy who makes up the vast majority of game sales. He has no idea what the "real" release date is, doesn't have a clue about this whole fiasco. He rocks up to a local department store and sees Half Life 2 on the shelves, decides to pick it up and have a go. Do you remember last time you bought a game, installed it, and got told "Coming soon... you can play this game in a few days".

Personally I'm disgusted with the whole situation. I'm not in this for my own selfish wants - I would be happy if Valve unlocked retail copies now and Steam bought copies on the 16th - but I don't think this is any way to treat your customers.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Don't look at VALVe, look at VUG for not allowing them to activate it.

 

[jondy]

I've never thought about it from the average consumers PoV - you have a fair point.

 

[aeroripper]

i agree... but blame the store that wasn't supposed to sell it early

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

I can't believe Valve's audacity. The game is out on shelves, people are paying damn good money for it, yet they aren't allowed to play it. I don't know what to say - I honestly can't believe Valve is letting this happen. This is not a "bitch at Valve" thread, because I know it's not Valve's fault that retailers have let the game out early, but I honestly can't believe they would do this to their fans (the people who put all that food on Gabe's table).

I'm not talking about the sort of fans that spend alot of time on this forum. I'm talking about the average gamer, the guy who buys maybe the occassional gaming magazine, but has no interest in closely following the development of a game. This is the guy who makes up the vast majority of game sales. He has no idea what the "real" release date is, doesn't have a clue about this whole fiasco. He rocks up to a local department store and sees Half Life 2 on the shelves, decides to pick it up and have a go. Do you remember last time you bought a game, installed it, and got told "Coming soon... you can play this game in a few days".

Personally I'm disgusted with the whole situation. I'm not in this for my own selfish wants - I would be happy if Valve unlocked retail copies now and Steam bought copies on the 16th - but I don't think this is any way to treat your customers.

My god.

Every step of the way to completion of this game you have slated valve at every single chance you get.



Its not valves fualt this time. VUG have the decision of when to click the activation button. Not valve.


So please stop trying to make Valve look bad (Or you'reself good i assume..) by spreading such utter horsecrap.


OK?

 

[f0rked]

But that would just piss steam users off, and also allow the whole internet to be flooded with idiots posting spoilers, in text and screenshot form. The way they're doing it now looks like a good plan. So what if the average gamer got the game a day or so early, and had to wait? It's not as if every average gamer would be rushing to the stores to pick up their copy asap. If anything, they should be pissed at the retail store, instead of Valve.

 

[iamaelephant]

i agree... but blame the store that wasn't supposed to sell it early

I'm not pointing blame at anyone - this is really no one's fault, but Valve should have realised that an early release was going to happen no matter what. Big games release early, that's just the way it is. It's not like I'm happy about this situation or anything, and I think it's a shitty spot to put Valve (and VUG) into, but I don't think they should be punishing the fans.

 

[KagePrototype]

It's a bit of a slap in the face, I agree. But then again, they shouldn't even be selling it early in the first place. Plus, I'm sure Valve would make it available ASAP if they could, it's just their agreement with Vivendi is preventing them from doing that. Oh well, only a few days left, I'm sure it won't effect that many people...

 

[iamaelephant]

My god.

Every step of the way to completion of this game you have slated valve at every single chance you get.



Its not valves fualt this time. VUG have the decision of when to click the activation button. Not valve.


So please stop trying to make Valve look bad (Or you'reself good i assume..) by spreading such utter horsecrap.


OK?

I'm not "slating" Valve you moron. I understand the situation that Valve and VUG are in, but as I said, why should they punish the customer because of it?

And would people stop making personal attacks against me and actually respond to my posts from now on? It's getting old....

 

[Kouch]

if the customer has a problem they should take it up with the stupid store that sold them the game early. Ask for a refund or store credit. don't blame valve. That is like blaming the government when some bar serves alcohol to someone under 21.

 

[Narcolepsy]

You have a very good point, and frankly, I'm not really sure what to do about it. On the one hand, Valve and VUG shouldn't have to cave in to their worldwide release just because a few rebel stores decided to screw it up for everyone. On the other hand, you're right that Joe Consumer would be bewildered, and he did pay hard-earned money for it.

Whether they choose to unlock it or keep it locked, each choice will have substantial negative effects. Therefore, they just decide to go with their original plan of unlocking it on the 16th, and take the lesser of two evils.

 

[Solver]

While I agree that it would be better for everyone, fans and Valve included, if they activated the game yesterday... I blame VUG. I generally hate publishers. I know too many games that could have been great but were not because of publishers. Publishers are usually greedy people feasting on the hard work of developers.

So while I'm saddened that HL2 hasn't been unlocked yet, I do not blame Valve at all.

 

[cenmocay]

I'm not "slating" Valve you moron. I understand the situation that Valve and VUG are in, but as I said, why should they punish the customer because of it?

And would people stop making personal attacks against me and actually respond to my posts from now on? It's getting old....

admins its time for elephants second ban :hmph:

 

[Alau]

Retailers were givien specific orders to NOT resell before the 16th. I don't know what else Valve can do once the game is passed on to retailers. Unless they make up their own secret Valve police force in full combine uniform that go around to every store beating employees that sell the game early. MAN that would be cool...

 

[Zeus]

I'm not "slating" Valve you moron......

Wow I can see why you were banned before. BTW he didn't make personal attacks toward you, don't know why you took it as a personal insult (like when you called him a moron for no reason)

 

[icarus7495]

but I don't think they should be punishing the fans.

sorry but how are Valve punishing fans, if anyone is punishing its the stores, and even then they wernt supposed to sell it early were they.

 

[polypod]

Retailers were givien specific orders to NOT resell before the 16th. I don't know what else Valve can do once the game is passed on to retailers. Unless they make up their own secret Valve police force in full combine uniform that go around to every store beating employees that sell the game early. MAN that would be cool...

This sums up my view completely.
Why waste your time blaming people? It's almost out for goodness sake!
:sniper:

 

[DrunkPanda]

what i don't understand is why a valve rep doesn't just say the "game will not be released early" if they aren't planning on following through on their promise? how hard would that be?

 

[jaguar_987]

This is exactly what i've been saying for the past couple of weeks. Bingo it happened. I would be extremely pissed off if I walked into the store and picked up a copy of the game, got home and couldnt play it. Not everyone sits on halflife2.net reading about release and activation dates.

The store shouldnt have released it early but what can you do? It happens, Valve and VUG should have known this.

This internet activaton thing is bollocks, causes more hassle than good.

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

I'm not "slating" Valve you moron. I understand the situation that Valve and VUG are in, but as I said, why should they punish the customer because of it?

And would people stop making personal attacks against me and actually respond to my posts from now on? It's getting old....

I have never made a personal attack against you before in my life as far as I remember. And that wasnt really meant as an attack either.


Its just me fed up of people endlessly blameing the developer because of decisions made by the publisher. It happens time and again and its getting old....


Oh and I am not a moron. :thumbs:

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

This internet activaton thing is bollocks, causes more hassle than good.

Not at all, I don't want some retard spoiling the game for me, because he got his copy early.

 

[iamaelephant]

This is from the Steam forums - I have no idea if it's true or not, but if it is, it's rather significant;

All best buys (all 650 stores) with copies of Half Life 2 were ordered at 8:00am this morning to stock store shelves with Half Life. Being a loyal HL2 fan boy and part time worker at Best Buy I was most happy to hear this, except when I got home and went to activate my steam copy to find out you can't unlock it yet. Expect this forum to be loaded with this type of complain by evening as disgruntled customers flame Best Buy and Valve.

http://www.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=174183

 

[Ownzed]

Not at all, I don't want some retard spoiling the game for me, because he got his copy early.

Yeah, no crap.

 

[moppe]

I can't believe Valve's audacity. The game is out on shelves, people are paying damn good money for it, yet they aren't allowed to play it. I don't know what to say - I honestly can't believe Valve is letting this happen. This is not a "bitch at Valve" thread, because I know it's not Valve's fault that retailers have let the game out early, but I honestly can't believe they would do this to their fans (the people who put all that food on Gabe's table).

I'm not talking about the sort of fans that spend alot of time on this forum. I'm talking about the average gamer, the guy who buys maybe the occassional gaming magazine, but has no interest in closely following the development of a game. This is the guy who makes up the vast majority of game sales. He has no idea what the "real" release date is, doesn't have a clue about this whole fiasco. He rocks up to a local department store and sees Half Life 2 on the shelves, decides to pick it up and have a go. Do you remember last time you bought a game, installed it, and got told "Coming soon... you can play this game in a few days".

Personally I'm disgusted with the whole situation. I'm not in this for my own selfish wants - I would be happy if Valve unlocked retail copies now and Steam bought copies on the 16th - but I don't think this is any way to treat your customers.

Well, what is your view of the avarage gamer?
Unless you can actully provide me with some facts that prove the exact opposite, I'll say that the kind of gamer that buy the most games is people who know when the game is relased, read sites as Gamespot and maybe follows a big site that is specific for their game?

I have no idea why you care so much about this game, it's a game but you're one of the biggest HL2 followers around here, I don't know if that is in a positive or negative way.

Please, provide me with some info, any kind, that shows that your view of the typical gamer is the correct one.

 

[polypod]

Anyone who doesn't investigate what they're buying, is setting themselves up for failure.. If Best Buy doesn't pay attention to dates, and doesn't inform customers as to the restrictions of the game(ie you need to have access to internet to activate it and it doesn't activate 'til the 16th), then they will suffer when their customer's complain. It's still not Valve's fault, as they've made it quite clear.

 

[Gray Fox]

Look at it this way, because the avrage gamor is such a dumbass companies like EA are big, so screw them, I wish they would be ****ed much more, you know its us who most of the times get screwed over by publishers and devs just to please the avrage gamer, I am LOL about this.

 

[iamaelephant]

Oh my f*cking God, some asshole at the Steam forums just used passed off my thread as his own words. Check it out;
http://www.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=174186

About a third of the way down the page, a guy named Arrowhead. Edit your post asshat, those are my words.

 

[josho]

ohh gnos! the poor people will have to wait 2 days! DEAR LORD! THE HUMANITY!! WHAT PUNISHMENT!

 

[polypod]

the comment Valve made relating to releasing early, was if a playable version of the game became available early, which meant they could lose lots of money if people could get the warez version. In fact, they were smart to keep it unactivated, or else a warez version would have been created by now, because the stores almost always leak games early..
smart move Valve!

 

[DrunkPanda]

shut up josh. the people don't even know how long they will have to wait to paly the game, all they know is that it's "coming soon" which could be weeks.

 

[EVIL]

16 november is the date, I am glad because it keeps spoilers away for the other people. it ruined doom3 for me when they pre sold it a week before the releasedate, not like there was mutch to ruin in doom3's case, but i would hate to see it happen with hl2, go activation system go!

 

[polypod]

shut up josh. the people don't even know how long they will have to wait to paly the game, all they know is that it's "coming soon" which could be weeks.

are you kidding or very misinformed? we all know the day it's coming

 

[Lobster]

Usually games get cracked prior to the release date by one store in the US releasing it, thus countries around the world (who have to wait a whole week in most cases) take the crack option to get the game early, and thus they dont see the point in buying the game (it happens)

If valve unlock for the sake of one outlet, the same things happens, even though its only a few days difference, by keeping the lock on and releasing simeltaniously in every retail store, and online, every gamer is given the equal oppotunity to buy the game legaly, and anyone who downloads after that is just your average cheap skate!

Its annoying being an honest customer watching warez kiddies play the game for a week prior to release.

 

[polypod]

Usually games get cracked prior to the release date by one store in the US releasing it, thus countries around the world (who have to wait a whole week in most cases) take the crack option to get the game early, and thus they dont see the point in buying the game (it happens)

If valve unlock for the sake of one outlet, the same things happens, even though its only a few days difference, by keeping the lock on and releasing simeltaniously in every retail store, and online, every gamer is given the equal oppotunity to buy the game legaly, and anyone who downloads after that is just your average cheap skate!

Its annoying being an honest customer watching warez kiddies play the game for a week prior to release.

You put it better then me.. thanks

 

[DrunkPanda]

are you kidding or very misinformed? we all know the day it's coming

i'm talking about the customers that don't hang out at the forums. they have a general idea of when the game is gonna be released but when they see the game on store shelves they assume that was supposed to be the release date. and then they get confused as to why the game says "coming soon"

 

[Zeus]

They see coming soon, so anyone who bought this that doesnt follow the game that has at least half a brain would search for it to find out the release date.

 

[FoB_Ed]

i'm talking about the customers that don't hang out at the forums. they have a general idea of when the game is gonna be released but when they see the game on store shelves they assume that was supposed to be the release date. and then they get confused as to why the game says "coming soon"

Well when they go to ask valve why they can't play the game they'll find out they have to wait until the 16th, won't they

 

[kaf11]

none of what youre talking about is valves fault. they want the game released as soon as possible, and that is the 16th. the scheduled date. stores broke the date, and valve cannot break contract with VUG simply because a couple of retailers released early. VUG will not allow them to unlock HL2 because there are many retailers that either dont have the game yet or dont have enough copies to meet demand. therefore many more people would buy through steam if their store didnt have a copy and VUG would loose money.

 

[polypod]

i'm talking about the customers that don't hang out at the forums. they have a general idea of when the game is gonna be released but when they see the game on store shelves they assume that was supposed to be the release date. and then they get confused as to why the game says "coming soon"

ok.. well my feeling is that the store has been informed of the release date so it would be pretty uncool for them to put the game out on shelves without any information about release..
i imagine the box says some stuff too, like that you have to have an internet connection just to activate it..

 

[azz0r]

4 friggen days, stop being a whiney btch.