I'm staggered....

[Acert93]

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.

::Sigh::

Disgusted?

Sorry, try again. Valve has done nothing wrong--especially to their fans--in regards to this issue. VUG set a firm release date over a month ago that most casual fans know (game mags and game sites had it plastered all over). Retailers KNOW the release date (it shows up in their stupid computers!). If you MUST be disgusted, then be upset with the retailers who are breaking the law. THEY are the ones selling a product their clients cannot use--not Valve. Valve told the retailers it WONT WORK until the 16th--so who is screwing over who? This is in no way Valve's fault--and is a another prime reason why Steam like delivery systems are so much better than cheating retailers and publishers. To construe this as, "Bad Valve" is lame at best. What have they done? The finished one of the highest rated games of all times, after spending 5+ years and 40+ million dollars on it, and set a firm WORLD WIDE release date so everyone can get it at once. This is good for gamers, the gaming industry, and for Valve.

And for some snotty retailers to relesae it early is repulsive. It is all about $$$. If Best Buy and others can get people in first, not only do they buy the game, but also promotions, like, errr $400 videocards maybe?

The Steam Activiation is one of the BEST moves I have seen in anti-piracy--I am 100% behind it. You know how much money good developers like Valve LOSE due to theifs stealing their product?

If that means a few people who buy the game BEFORE the official release date because retailers broke the law, then fine. The game has a release date, and Valve has every right to maintain their anti-piracy methods in check because we ALL know the second HL2 is activated the hackers will be hacking at it and releasing version on the internet. Before Doom3 was even out there were 50,000 pirated version out there (= $2,750,000.00 of potentially lost sales. That is unacceptable.

Disgusted? Be disgusted with the retailers who are KNOWINGLY selling a product that does not work until the 16th.

To even construe this as Valve screwing over their casual fan is unfathomable. I cannot believe you would say Valve is screwing their fans for retailers breaking the law... Yeah, lets blame the victim for the criminals activities...

Oh well, this thread cements my opinion of all your other threads and comments. I look forward to all your, "HL2 sucks" threads when you play the game. Shall be entertaining!

 

[Acert93]

I know it's a bad situation, but really, all you can do is blame Valve. If it wan not for thier original lawsuit, we wouldn't have the current court order preventing release before the date set by vivendi.

Huh? Blame Valve? I want a link where it states the lawsuit is the driving factor that dictates Valve cannot release HL2 before the street date?

From what I have read, and common sense, the contract between Valve and VUG states that Valve cannot release the game before it is RELEASED. The contract, not the lawsuit--big difference.

Common sense. The publisher (=VUG), NOT the developer (=Valve), sets the release date. e.g. VUG could have CONTRACTUALLY held onto the game for 6 months. That is part of the contract. Valve agreed to this contract way back when.

It has nothing to do with the law suit. The publisher, whose job is to mass produce, ship, and market the product, to find a good release date for the product.

So, where in here are we supposed to blame Valve? Oh yeah... because the publisher set a date they are contractually abligated to even though retailers are breaking the law and selling a product that wont work until the 16th?

Gotcha--bad Valve!

 

[InvaderScooge]

Acert93 sums it up nicely. It is not Valves fault that you guys get your hopes up for an early launch everytime a new picture of the game on store shelves shows up. Relax and chant "the 16th" over and over again until you start to believe that that is the actual date the game is going to be released.