Standard DVD Edition Confirmed for UK

[Chris D]

GAME Stores Group have today confirmed that the standard UK version of Half-Life 2 has been confirmed as DVD only and will not be released on CD. There is no confirmed news regarding the rest of Europe as yet.[br]
[br]
For those of you that don't yet have a DVD drive on your computers, it is either time to buy one or purchase the game through Steam.[br]
[br]
Similar titles that have followed this same path are Far Cry, which shipped on DVD in Europe, whereas it shipped on both CDs and DVDs for most of the rest of the world.

 

[Sprafa]

I'll still buy it on Steam tho

good news nontheless

 

[Ecthe|ioN]

Good for those buying a boxed copy. I'm supporting Valve 100% so I'm buying through Steam.

 

[irishbloke]

Its about time DVD games shud be the norm now. I mean who wants 6 Cd's to install a game?

 

[StefSOFT]

Exactly, Doom 3 should also be released on dvd. I think cd-romplayer owners are a minority. The majority has dvd-rom

 

[Chromix]

its crap who has the ****ing money

 

[Dux]

Hurrah \o/

Plays Insert Disc 2 to continue.
Plays Insert Disc 3 to continue.
Plays Insert Disc 4 to continue.
Plays Insert Disc 1 to continue.

Urgh.

 

[JuicyLucifer]

is europe the only region going dvd only? why is that?

 

[DEICIDE]

I've made the error to command a CDs version of UT2004 instead of the DVD box ... I can say now than 6 cd for one game it's really too boring. So thanks to Valve, DVD is much better.

 

[Gunner]

Good for those buying a boxed copy. I'm supporting Valve 100% so I'm buying through Steam.

You know if you're a hardcore Valve fan you will buy both the Steam version and the retail box, since they still get money from retail as well

 

[DarkGhost86]

\o/! DVD RULE!

 

[Methias]

I wonder why they're doing this in Europe and not the US? I guess it wouldn't be too hard to believe that Europe is a little ahead, technology wise. People are afraid of change here in the states .

 

[Shurakai]

HORRAY

Now I don't have to buy this extremely crappy CE of HL2

I was so pissed off reading what a stupid CE they put together for HL2. But I was still thinking about buying it for the sake of a DVD...

Now I can avoid that. Sorry but which HL2 fan needs a strat. guide? And which fan who's proudly bought a CE accepts to only get a tester of a strat guide that he doesn't need. And then who needs a damn US XXL Tshirt?

No sorry but reading what the packages contents were really made me sad. It's HL2 for crying out loud. I would have loved to have the CE box but the killer factor for me was having the making of HL2 book in it...

Now I am going for the standard version and buy the book separately.

Shurakai
Very happy with Blizzard CE's so far...
Very sad about HL2 CE

 

[Chris D]

is europe the only region going dvd only? why is that?

UK is the only one confirmed at this time.

 

[FthrJACK]

why is this such big news?

i mean, its hardly the first game ever on DVD, heaps of games are DVD over here. Its just that USA doesent seem to like DVD drives int heir PC's for some very very odd reason.. :rolling:

I could understand this being news if say.. it was the first ever game on DVD or something but...

Its like making some news post saying "Eminems new album is confirmed to be CD release in Europe, where as the USA will be recieving Tape copies of the album as well as CD"

its just.. non news :/

Do you really want to play DJ with 6 CD's anyway? I dont even know anyone with a PC (as their main PC that is) that doesent have a DVD drive. Not having ones like.. not having a CD drive, its unheard of.

 

[Spybreak]

id like to know what do people/companies consider as "europe". Here in Spain my copy of FarCry came in CDs. I really hope HL2 comes in DVD. Im getting the CE anyway.

 

[Shurakai]

Update: Only in the UK Oh no... I won't be in London anymore when the game comes out! I'll be back in Switzerland. But oh well... I'll be in the army anyway... ;(

About Europe beeing a very progressive place conc. new technology

Europe is IMO the most regulated place on this Planet. I can only speak for the German, French and English countries but most of the new technologies (e.g. ROMs, Broadband Internetconnections, HDTV) suffered from very strict regulations. The first world population certainly has as many supporters of new tech. as in europe as it has them in the states. But regulations slow their progress down. Still it is very likely, that there is a slightly higher rate of DVD drives in EU PCs... but I guess you really cannot base that on EU beeing more progressive but perhaps on other economic reasons (more Money spent on PCs / Family or something).

After all the product is a PC Game that asks for highend hardware. And where there is state of the tech. processors and ram, there is in most cases a DVD drive...

I was very happy to find FarCry in stores beeing about 8$ cheaper than all the other new releases. And I think it's the right way to go.

Shurakai
Very happy with Blizzard CE's so far...
Very sad about HL2 CE

 

[Zerimski]

why is this such big news?

i mean, its hardly the first game ever on DVD, heaps of games are DVD over here. Its just that USA doesent seem to like DVD drives int heir PC's for some very very odd reason.. :rolling:

I could understand this being news if say.. it was the first ever game on DVD or something but...

Its like making some news post saying "Eminems new album is confirmed to be CD release in Europe, where as the USA will be recieving Tape copies of the album as well as CD"

its just.. non news :/

Do you really want to play DJ with 6 CD's anyway? I dont even know anyone with a PC (as their main PC that is) that doesent have a DVD drive. Not having ones like.. not having a CD drive, its unheard of.

It's big news because there is a lot of discussion regarding the distribution methods. Many people have said, like you, that they do not want to play DJ when installing the game, and this news means that for UK players at least, they will not have to.

If this is non-news, maybe we shouldn't post when the game goes gold, or when it's actually released because thousands of games have gone gold and been released before?

 

[[Matt]]

why is this such big news?

i mean, its hardly the first game ever on DVD, heaps of games are DVD over here. Its just that USA doesent seem to like DVD drives int heir PC's for some very very odd reason.. :rolling:

You dont seem to understand... this news is that this is DVD ONLY for us UK peeps. Means we wont be able to purchase a CD version. This has only ever happened before with Far Cry!

 

[Element Alpha]

1) I don't see a confirmation about the DVD or CD release about the rest of Europe
2) You don't have to play DJ if you have some type of broadband. Just buy the box and insert your cd-key to unlock your preload

 

[joule]

Sure. It's good news.

But do you think it will end up being like that in the states?

 

[wibblemonster]

well, thats good news, but I'm gonna buy from steam.. just pissed that I won't get the game for so long.. especially after just reading the review in PC Gamer, they say its is unbeliveable!! I'm drooling.. LOL

 

[Doop!]

Don't suppose they went on to say if the DVD would have HL:Source on it, did they?

 

[Ecthe|ioN]

You know if you're a hardcore Valve fan you will buy both the Steam version and the retail box, since they still get money from retail as well

Hey what if I just make 20 new steam accounts and buy HL2 Gold pack on all of them

 

[GWalker]

Soon

I know already, Amazon have changed from CD to DVD media.
It must be getting close, the publishers and retailers are talking... :bounce:
Lets hope. :cheese:

 

[]SK[]

I preordered mine from Game in September last year. It was £25 back then. I wonder if they will charge me £29.99 as it says on the site now or £24.99?

Surly they cant change it without some sort of notice of doing so?

 

[Doop!]

I preordered mine from Game in September last year. It was £25 back then. I wonder if they will charge me £29.99 as it says on the site now or £24.99?

Surly they cant change it without some sort of notice of doing so?

nah you'll get charged the price it was when you placed the order.

 

[Zerimski]

I preordered mine from Game in September last year. It was £25 back then. I wonder if they will charge me £29.99 as it says on the site now or £24.99?

Surly they cant change it without some sort of notice of doing so?

You'll only have to pay the £24.99 it was priced at when you pre-ordered it.

 

[TimG]

i agree. DVD should be the norm..
i mean how much are they now anyway? a tenner or something

 

[lonestar]

It's big news because there is a lot of discussion regarding the distribution methods. Many people have said, like you, that they do not want to play DJ when installing the game, and this news means that for UK players at least, they will not have to.

If this is non-news, maybe we shouldn't post when the game goes gold, or when it's actually released because thousands of games have gone gold and been released before?

well said.

 

[grumpycrab]

Hey what if I just make 20 new steam accounts and buy HL2 Gold pack on all of them

The (Steam) Gold pack is only available to Steam account holders in the US. Sorry.
--
Grumps

 

[Dem0nEgg]

grumpy, when/where/by whom was that confirmed? :/

 

[JimmehH]

The (Steam) Gold pack is only available to Steam account holders in the US. Sorry.
--
Grumps

They've said several times that the Gold offer is available worldwide. I have an email from Doug Lombardi in my inbox that says so, in fact.

Hi,

Yes, the Gold offer is available worldwide.

Thanks for your mail and your interest in our games.

Cheers

Check the Info from Valve thread.

 

[grumpycrab]

grumpy, when/where/by whom was that confirmed? :/

today/here/me...it follows that if the UK does not get the retail CE edition, it won't get the Gold Steam edition. Obvious really. I'll eat my hat (or is that the HL2 hat?) if it does come here...
--
Grumps

 

[Gunner]

The (Steam) Gold pack is only available to Steam account holders in the US. Sorry.
--
Grumps

According to this email, Gold pack will be available worldwide.

 

[mutt]

hi, im not sure if someone posted this, it doesnt really mean much now, but gameplay just sent me this email

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your pre-order with Gameplay for Half Life 2. We have just been informed by the publisher that this item is going to be released on DVD-Rom only. If you do not have a DVD-Rom in your computer the game will not run.

i thought it was goin to be about a comfirmed release date

 

[LAYP]

It's odd though, my edition of Far Cry was not not DVD, I live in holland and the game was distributed by ubisoft.

 

[[RDH]MastahFrag]

aaight. hearing this news is good, very good. however, since i live in the netherlands, im unsure if they will have it here too... but the odds are with me.

bought my new pc couple of months ago, and it only got a dvd-rom and a dvd-rw. w00t. why bother having a cd-rom, when a dvd-rom can do cd's AND DVD's both?

no more installing 6 cds! great!

 

[Bluestrike]

Europe/belgium, and could nowhere find a dvd version of Farcry

 

[OnePunchMickey]

its crap who has the ****ing money

I bought a DVD +r/-r writer for EUR 99 a couple of weeks ago. Not exactly big money.