Steam to being sending 'the game' to hard drives a week before it ships

[notroublehere]

Originally posted by Magicpants
OMG i dunno if i can believe this...

It looks like yet again Valve are suprising us. I don't think anyone saw this one coming, but it's a damn good idea - it eases the bandwidth problem for everyone and in addition to that it will allow Valve to see the load on their servers after the inital rush of people attempt to download HL2, they can then prepare properly for the 'real' rush on the 30th...

Geez what a bombshell!

This is a real suprise....a good one

As I said - I posted a thread speculating this 2 weeks ago so no surprise here....

 

[jabberwock95]

Damn. I figured. Valve didn't say you will be able to download on steam on the 22nd. They just said 'a week before the release'. That could be november for all we know. No 30th confirmation.

Oh Valve! Why must you torment us! ;(

 

[droper]

cz comes out same time as hl2.... oh no what could this mean

CZ is hl2 multiplayer .... yes i would cry.

 

[Gunner]

Originally posted by droper
cz comes out same time as hl2.... oh no what could this mean

CZ is hl2 multiplayer .... yes i would cry.

Nonsense.

 

[DigiQ8]

spitcodfry...you are the best
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

 

[CommieX]

Wow, this is some good news. Letting people download it early sounds like a VERY good idea. This way Steam hopefully won't be clogged to hell. And they have a whole week to get Steam working properly if people are having problems downloading it. I think I'm gonna get HL2 off of Steam now if this is the case.

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by droper
cz comes out same time as hl2.... oh no what could this mean

CZ is hl2 multiplayer .... yes i would cry.

When the employee working in the Steam/Counter-Strike/DOD section told me about the CZ gold date I automatically thought Half-Life 2 might be delayed. Why would Valve have two of their products compete with each other?

EDIT: I then reaffirmed that Gearbox was the one developing it, and he confirmed this. He said that they collaborate a lot during the design process, though.

 

[ag3nt187]

When the employee working in the Steam/Counter-Strike/DOD section told me about the CZ gold date I automatically thought Half-Life 2 might be delayed. Why would Valve have two of their products compete with each other?

Very true, but I think that CZ has been in development for so damned long...they can't wait any longer to release it.


It just happens to be the same time as HL2!

 

[FriScho]

and if they do not send any encrypted exe file, even hacked you would not be able to play, just see the leveldata, textures and soundfiles. The hl2.exe should not be too big at all (1-2 Megs?) and if it's the only file you have to download, it won't be that much of a security risk and not that much of a bandwide problem.

 

[Headwires]

so did u meet thunder weenie and the dod crew? wot about cliff the CS guy? CZ should be converted to source with out a doubt btw it just won't stand up against HL2 imo

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by ag3nt187
Very true, but I think that CZ has been in development for so damned long...they can't wait any longer to release it.


It just happens to be the same time as HL2!

Well now that I think about it, there's probably a hell of a lot more Counter-Strike fans than Half-Life ones, so Valve probably isn't too worried about CZ sales in that regard.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Half-Life fan first and foremost. Heck, I could care less about CZ. I just hope there's a CS2 for Source.

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by Headwires
so did u meet thunder weenie and the dod crew? wot about cliff the CS guy? CZ should be converted to source with out a doubt btw it just won't stand up against HL2 imo

Well I'm sure the two chaps I met were part of that crew, not sure about thunder weenie or cliff, though.

 

[Headwires]

Originally posted by spitcodfry
I just hope there's a CS2 for Source.

i feel the same way. i think CS is brilliant, just some of the ppl that play it try to ruin ur game :/

 

[Joneleth]

Valve would be foolish not to milk Counter-strike for all it's worth. It has been confirmed by Gabe that CS2 has been in development for quite a few years now... I wouldn't be surprised if they released it very soon.

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by Headwires
i feel the same way. i think CS is brilliant, just some of the ppl that play it try to ruin ur game :/

Ah yes, wall hack is quite an enjoyable feature when you're not on the receiving end of the bullet. And by the way, I've never used wall hack before...cheating in MP is just plain idiotic

 

[Headwires]

Originally posted by Joneleth
Valve would be foolish not to milk Counter-strike for all it's worth. It's been confirmed that CS2 has been in development for quite a few years now... I wouldn't be surprised if they released it very soon.

i can only hope

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by Headwires
i can only hope

I would just about die and go to heaven if CS2 was released on top of Half-Life 2's own multiplayer modes.

 

[Alphy]

I'm sure Fairlight, Deviance, or Razor 1911 will have it cracked a day after it's released on Steam.

 

[Joneleth]

I would just about die and go to heaven if CS2 was released on top of Half-Life 2's own multiplayer modes.

Yeah, me too.

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by Alphy
I'm sure Fairlight, Deviance, or Razor 1911 will have it cracked a day after it's released on Steam.

Um...this isn't copying CD files...it would be trying to decrypt heavily guarded ones...you really think Valve wouldn't have implemented a strong enough security feature to prevent this?

I'm not doubting that as soon as Half-Life 2 retail hits the copying presses, then it will get leaked by those groups. But the Steam files? It's possible, but not likely IMO

 

[Gunner]

Originally posted by spitcodfry
I would just about die and go to heaven if CS2 was released on top of Half-Life 2's own multiplayer modes.

Same here, same here... But let's get HL2 first aye? : )

And alphy no one cares about warez.

 

[Alphy]

SecureROM is 256Bit encryption and that's cake for them.

 

[Athlon7]

I actually e-mailed both Gabe and Erik about how they plan on coping with the massive bandwidth strains at the launch of HL2, my suggestion was having certain servers that delivered the game, and certain servers that did the patching and so on, so as not to tax the WHOLE system at once. This makes sense, as the servers should handle the patching easily, as long as the game is already delivered! Note too, that Steam's bandwidth is up to "1450.00Mbps" over 1,000Mbps at the launch of the new version. Combined with the new bandwidth and the pre-delivery, I see this as being very wise!

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by )[eVo]( Para
Same here, same here... But let's get HL2 first aye? : )

Definetely the priority. CS2 can wait in favor of fun with physics.

 

[Nippy_Kangaroo]

gawd, thats gonna be sooo frustrating when you download hl2 from steam a week early and you cant even play it

 

[rob.derosa]

Great news. I think I will be signing up right away

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by Nippy_Kangaroo
gawd, thats gonna be sooo frustrating when you download hl2 from steam a week early and you cant even play it

I can see thousands of hackers banging their heads upon their computer monitors, leaving blood stains smeared across the screens in frustration of not being able to hack the files

 

[Magicpants]

As I said - I posted a thread speculating this 2 weeks ago so no surprise here....

Yes i just posted about your prophetic abilities in the thread u started before.... seemingly at the same time you quoted my comment..... uncanny...

HE'S A WITCH! BURN HIM!

 

[Headwires]

Originally posted by spitcodfry
I can see thousands of hackers banging their heads upon their computer monitors, leaving blood stains smeared across the screens in frustration of not being able to hack the files

shame they probably could hack HL2 not to need steam so single player will work. i don't know anythin about hackin but i wouldn't be suprised

 

[Joneleth]

I'm sure Fairlight, Deviance, or Razor 1911 will have it cracked a day after it's released on Steam.

Well, considering as of right now you'll need Steam to verify your version of HL2 to actually play it at all, I could see this being a problem for hackers. It's quite possible for Valve to easily get around stuff like this.

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by Magicpants
HE'S A WITCH! BURN HIM!

LOL

 

[notroublehere]

ROFL.....

and next weeks lottery numbers will be.....

 

[Magicpants]

If they just encrypt it.... someone WILL crack it no doubt....TBH they'll have to leave out some vital piece of code (the EXE) in order for someone not to get it to run in the week people have it.
I'll be at work of course...but I would be impressed if someone doesn't crack it in some way shape or form. Many will try...

 

[notroublehere]

Originally posted by Headwires
shame they probably could hack HL2 not to need steam so single player will work. i don't know anythin about hackin but i wouldn't be suprised

They may be able to hack the game but they won't be able to get files out of steam (if it has been done right). A nice 10k Private/Public encryption key would take every computer on the planet a fair while to crack.

 

[Magicpants]

...and what also floats on water?

A duck!

Precisely...

 

[ag3nt187]

Well, if they charge 9.95 pre month to play HL2, we as consumers wouldn't get our moneys worth in a year if only one product came out such as the only mentioned title TF2.


I dont think Valve would put out a paying scheme like this unless they really think the customer would benefit from it by saving money.


This makes me think that they have at least 2 different titles coming out within the year.


I'm hoping that it is one of these: TF2 / CS2 / DOD2.


*crosses fingers*

 

[OCybrManO]

I hope Valve used PGP encryption... if so, no one will be getting HL2 early:

"In fact, if you use all the computers in the world to decrypt a simple PGP message they'll need 12 million times the age of the universe to break it. You see this is the BEST. The encryption is so strong no one can break it. The people that programmed it have done their work, now everything depends on you."

So if they can't crack the actual encryption? What can they do?

The only thing that could possibly break open a PGP encrypted file is the right pass phrase... and that's not going to happen either.

A password system with a long password including numbers and words not in the dictionary can possibly take a year just to brute force your way into it.

Now, imagine using a whole sentence including a bunch of words (maybe not real words) of varying length... then, add numbers... then, add punctuation marks and other symbols... finally, combine that with case-sensitivity.

What does that add up to?
"If you set your Public Key at 1024 bits or greater, you can rest assured that all the computers in the world, working in tandem, could not crack your messages before you died of old age"

 

[Headwires]

Originally posted by notroublehere
They may be able to hack the game but they won't be able to get files out of steam (if it has been done right). A nice 10k Private/Public encryption key would take every computer on the planet a fair while to crack.

i mean if they get a leaked copy from packing or wot eva

 

[notroublehere]

Originally posted by Headwires
i mean if they get a leaked copy from packing or wot eva

This could still be Private/Public key encrypted....and may be why Valve are initially insisting on Steam even for single play use - in order to stem the wave of initial warez as the game reaches the furthest areas of the world via conventional means.

 

[dscowboy]

Why is it 'a surprise', or 'difficult to believe' that HL2 will be preloaded? Why WOULDN'T they preload HL2? We already know about Steam's preloading ability from the videos. Why would they have added that feautre if not to reduce their bandwidth needs on the release date of a major product, like HL2?

I'm guessing that when they day comes, you will need to supply a credit card number before preloading will begin, but it won't be charged until the actual release, similar to how preorders work. This would prevent 8,000 12 year olds from eating up 2 GB of Steam bandwidth each when they don't even have a credit card to purchase it on the release date.