T H E P L A N

[Kazreal]

Ok, I heard somewhere that there is a loophole in the
November 16th version of HL2. If someone, somewhere
could just sell one copy before this date, then valVe could
release the hounds, and let Steam players unlock their copies!

Now, how do we get somone to sell a copy before the 16th?
Any ideas?

 

[Mr Stabby]

it happens alot in the UK, GAME will sometimes sell a game as soon as they get it to pre-orderers

 

[ukfluke]

find a small independant game shop. They usually start selling a couple of days before the official release date. Theres one near me

...but if you have to auth with steam valve could make it so you cant Auth till the 16th

 

[Kazreal]

My Idea

Here is mine.

1) Choose Favorite Political Candidate
2) Tell them everone who can get a copy of HL2
will vote for them in the next election
3) Black Ops

Hey, maybe Gabe will end up President!

 

[Deadline]

I swear, if anyone gets it before me (I got it through Steam) I will go bezerk and start smashing small children with a crowbar.

 

[KurtCobain]

I swear, if anyone gets it before me (I got it through Steam) I will go bezerk and start smashing small children with a crowbar.

Lmao! :O

No 1 will get it b4 16th, Valve wnt b so stupid as to let ppl do this , whether u need to verify it with Steam or not people will start to cop it and all kinds of shyt...Valve would b stupid to let this happen.

 

[ukfluke]

lol deadline , I think youll have to wait on the 16th to auth. There will be 100,000 people logging in and out constantly trying to activate their hl2.

but thats the same for folkes who buy retail they still have to auth via steam. I doubt anyone will be playing a few days before the 16th

 

[redrain85]

I really hope that turns out to be true. Hehe. If a store breaks the street date, Steam users getting to unlock HL2 early would be sweet. :thumbs:

 

[Deadline]

hahaha an EB Games near me sold San Andreas before the street date and they got sued for like 25k bucks.... sucks to be them. Same would happen is someone got caught selling HL2 early I imagine.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

lol deadline , I think youll have to wait on the 16th to auth. There will be 100,000 people logging in and out constantly trying to activate their hl2.

but thats the same for folkes who buy retail they still have to auth via steam. I doubt anyone will be playing a few days before the 16th

Holy shit it's going to be chaos!

100,000 people logging in an out , 50,000 internetless people realising they've just been shafted and 50,000 warez users playing it hasslefree.

That's weird...: :naughty:

 

[UKchaos2]

Valve will only activate it on the first legitimate sale date. Anyone who gets a hold if it earlier will be in the exact same position as steam preloaders.

As for Steam dying on release day, i dont think authorising requires that much bandwidth. Its not like when a large steam update is released and lots of downloading is done at once.

 

[Gatos_7]

If I remember correctly Valve said that the activation of HL2 will start as soon as the first copy is sold, even if that’s before 16nth.

That actually makes sense to me. I mean I think that the deal they have with vivendi is to start activation as soon as stores starts selling the game. And that date is set by vivendi if I’m correct. Vivendi is the one distributing the game after all.

So my guess is that as soon as steam gets an activation request (or something) from a commercial copy steam sold HL2 activation will begin (at least that what I hope)

--Xcuse my english

 

[denlife7]

hahaha an EB Games near me sold San Andreas before the street date and they got sued for like 25k bucks.... sucks to be them. Same would happen is someone got caught selling HL2 early I imagine.

you speak such bullshit...

 

[UKchaos2]

you speak such bullshit...

You mean like your sig?

 

[rammstein]

What about when the person with HL2 retail logs in and needs to get a few mb of patches...

x 100,000

fun

not to mention the people "who wont buy over steam or preload until proof of HL2 being released at retail level"

 

[destrukt]

Lmao! :O

No 1 will get it b4 16th, Valve wnt b so stupid as to let ppl do this , whether u need to verify it with Steam or not people will start to cop it and all kinds of shyt...Valve would b stupid to let this happen.

i'm going to quote you on that :thumbs:

 

[pixartist]

i got it on steam i HAVE to get it first ^^

 

[BloodyMario]

Most likely Valve signed a contractual agreement with Vivendi not to unlock the game until November 16. I highly doubt they will risk another lawsuit just to let some of their customers play HL2 a bit early.

 

[denlife7]

You mean like your sig?

my sig is a joke... how many days has September??

although I should change it now that it is only a couple of weeks away... thanks for the reminder...

nevertheless, that dude was dribbling shit.... :burp:

 

[Gatos_7]

Most likely Valve signed a contractual agreement with Vivendi not to unlock the game until November 16. I highly doubt they will risk another lawsuit just to let some of their customers play HL2 a bit early.

Most likely Valve signed a contractual agreement with Vivendi not to unlock the game until November 16. I highly doubt they will risk another lawsuit just to let some of their customers play HL2 a bit early.

Not to unlock it till November 16 ? Or not to unlock it till the first commercial legal package is sold installed and asks for activation ? that’s the big question here ….

 

[cmulder]

maybe

maybe their system is is watching for the first activation attemt and when the first copy is activated it unlocks for the rest of us. lets hope

 

[Killa_TJH]

my sig is a joke... how many days has September??

although I should change it now that it is only a couple of weeks away... thanks for the reminder...

nevertheless, that dude was dribbling shit.... :burp:

Agreed. EB games would never try to pull shit like that. Please stop making shit up and posting it. Thanks.

 

[Raidea]

I think the UK get the game on the 15th...

Since it's unlocked at 12:01 on the 16th in the USA, and the UK are 8 hours behind don't we get it at 4:01pm on the 15th?

 

[pixartist]

lol, 8 hours BEHIND ...

 

[Raidea]

lol, 8 hours BEHIND ...

Ah sorry, was looking at the Windows clock wrong! Still, we get it in the afternoon, which means I don't have to stay up all night playing it!

 

[nadolph]

I think the UK get the game on the 15th...

Since it's unlocked at 12:01 on the 16th in the USA, and the UK are 8 hours behind don't we get it at 4:01pm on the 15th?

umm 12:01 Pacific Time on the 16th is 8:01 GMT on the 16th.

Only people in the West of Pacific Time will get it on the 15th.

Did VALVe ever confirm that they were releasing it at 12:01 ???

 

[Mountain Man]

Ok, I heard somewhere that there is a loophole in the November 16th version of HL2. If someone, somewhere could just sell one copy before this date, then valVe could release the hounds, and let Steam players unlock their copies!

That's the rumor at any rate. There's hasn't been a hint of official confirmation, however.

 

[BloodyMario]

maybe their system is is watching for the first activation attemt and when the first copy is activated it unlocks for the rest of us. lets hope

I don't think people working for Vivendi are idiots. They understand that Valve could easily acquire an early copy of the game and then install it on one of their systems thus satisfying the contractual clause. Well at least if I worked for Vivendi I wouldn’t agree on anything else than a fixed release date. Majority of the HL2 buyers would only be able to get the game on November 16 and offering it on Steam before that date would be an enormous incentive to go “digital”.

 

[Crash Happy]

Well maybe Viv requested that copies sold early be allowed to activate so that the buyers can get that creamy goodness rather than phoning up customer support and complaining. I don't know and neither Viv nor Valve are going to say, quite right too.

 

[Xrenity]

I hope someone here works in a gameshop and sells himself the very first copy like 3 days before release

 

[cadaveca]

It wouldn't be an issue if Vivendi was getting a cut...you all realize this..right?
If Vivendi were getting a cut of STEAM, why would they care if it was released earlier from STEAM? I understand Valve's motives, i think, but this thought just irks me.

 

[Dirtball]

umm 12:01 Pacific Time on the 16th is 8:01 GMT on the 16th.

Only people in the West of Pacific Time will get it on the 15th.

Did VALVe ever confirm that they were releasing it at 12:01 ???

No it's nnever been confirmed. I personally hope it's true that it will be a 12:00 release. But I doubt it from past releases.

 

[Arrowhead]

dammit, I thought the whole deal with buying off steam is that you wouldn't be left hanging on this shipping garbage.

 

[Crash Happy]

Yeah, but it's early days Arrowhead.

 

[YamatoTwinkie]

Most likely Valve signed a contractual agreement with Vivendi not to unlock the game until November 16. I highly doubt they will risk another lawsuit just to let some of their customers play HL2 a bit early.

Thats just shooting themselves in the foot. Neither Valve nor VU want to punish their paying customers. Neither want to listen to all of the complaints from their retail customers who picked up a copy from Wal-Mart on the 14th, but can't play it on their computer. Nobody gains anything from this tactic. The most VU would do is ensure that retailers get their shipments as close to the 16th as possible, and possibly punish the RETAILERS that break the release date.

 

[Mountain Man]

This is certainly an interesting topic. What will happen if people get a hold of the game early? Will they get a little message informing them that "A locked copy of Half-Life 2 has been installed on your computer. You will be able to play it as soon as the game is officially released" or will Valve go ahead and start authenticating?

 

[Putz]

Originally Posted by BloodyMario
Most likely Valve signed a contractual agreement with Vivendi not to unlock the game until November 16. I highly doubt they will risk another lawsuit just to let some of their customers play HL2 a bit early.

come on, who wants to take one for the team?

 

[Chris D]

A game coming out early... wow.

A Valve game coming out early...

/me dies

 

[hunteraz]

A game coming out early... wow.

A Valve game coming out early...

/me dies

hahaha. yeah.

 

[Alientank]

It has to be allowed to authenticate first, which I'm sure they won't allow until the 16th. I highly doubt Valve will let retail copies be activated before steam ones will be.