What if a warez group get their hands in HL2?

[hasan]

in all honesty, I'm not planning on resisting the temptation to dl hl2 if crackers release it considerably sooner than VUG.
I still plan on buying it when it comes out ..

If VUG delays the game, and especially if hackes release it alot sooner then VUG, I think valve should just release it on steam even if that's breaking the contract, who cares? let VUG enjoy having thier hostage, valve deserves the money. Whatever lega loss is gonna be a lot less than the money they loss from hackers.

or anyway .. if I was valve I would just release it on steam to get back at VUG.

 

[Homer]

I think warez is a passing problem in the history of games, once microsoft decides to stop it they will be able to in a few short years.

 

[[Dragoon]]

1. If HL2 were pirated, it wouldn't have any major effect on sales.
2. If Vivindi decides to sit on HL2 for 6 months, I say we grab our torches and pitchforks and have us a lynch mob! Tickets to France are your problem.

 

[[[LuCkY]]]

You're mad if you think hl2 won't be leaked if Vivendi push back the game six months. How many times we've seen how hundreds of games get leaked just a day after gone gold? If I recall correctly CZ also was leaked months before Vivendi released it...

It won't go gold until Vivendi allows it you know....so if they delay the gold until 6 months from now, it still won't be leaked.

 

[f|uke]

please dont flame for the fact that I buy pirted games,I am someone whit few money and I buy pirated games cuz I cant buy originals

Selling pirated software is a much larger offence then downloading it. ..buying it, on the otherhand,. well thats not so bad if its your only choice. Considering where you live, all this is understandable. Not all economys can support $50 games. Still I wonder how you have a computer that can play HL2 and not afford the game. If you can afford to buy one game, this should be it.

I think warez is a passing problem in the history of games, once microsoft decides to stop it they will be able to in a few short years.

Oh man.
Microsoft can't even keep hackers out of the xbox, which is propietary hardware. What makes you think they'll be able to keep people out of PCs, with its custom hardware? Since the first days of the computer, history has taught us time and time again, software cannot be locked down.

Its not a passing problem. Its a permant issue. And a ever present temptation. But piracy really isn't all bad. Whats important is that we support the developers whos products we enjoy to the best of our ability.

 

[Maxi]

To answer the question in the topic:

Umm... they'll warez it?

 

[<RJMC>]

Selling pirated software is a much larger offence then downloading it. ..buying it, on the otherhand,. well thats not so bad if its your only choice. Considering where you live, all this is understandable. Not all economys can support $50 games. Still I wonder how you have a computer that can play HL2 and not afford the game. If you can afford to buy one game, this should be it.

I am poor but no soo much

anyway I will wait for the xbox version

 

[hasan]

dude, don't worry nobody can flame you, because %98 of these people downlaod pirated games and software.
Actually, I'd say anyone you meet on the net, irc, cs, forums .. etc there is a %90 posibility that he downloads warez. Just nobody talks about it because mods don't allow it, they do that because running the biggest hl2 site is a no joke.

 

[Homer]

Selling pirated software is a much larger offence then downloading it. ..buying it, on the otherhand,. well thats not so bad if its your only choice. Considering where you live, all this is understandable. Not all economys can support $50 games. Still I wonder how you have a computer that can play HL2 and not afford the game. If you can afford to buy one game, this should be it.


Oh man.
Microsoft can't even keep hackers out of the xbox, which is propietary hardware. What makes you think they'll be able to keep people out of PCs, with its custom hardware? Since the first days of the computer, history has taught us time and time again, software cannot be locked down.

Its not a passing problem. Its a permant issue. And a ever present temptation. But piracy really isn't all bad. Whats important is that we support the developers whos products we enjoy to the best of our ability.

A closed system would stop piracy. microsoft is a very big company, different people make the OS than make the xbox, and the gains of having a OS that has to be updated every 3 years outweigh having a secure console. and do actually think they care if a few vergins put linxs on the xbox?

 

[Homer]

And here is a point people never seem to get: If you cant afford something, YOU CANT HAVE IT. stealing weakens the system and makes things worse for everyone in the end.

I cant afford a new truck, so I dont have one. thats how money works.

 

[Cybernoid]

When it's finally released 6 months later it's old news! Everyone's played it thoroughly, why buy it? It's an old game by then.

Hmm, strange: I thought Half-Life was still being sold and played well after six months. I guess I was mistaken.

 

[f|uke]

A closed system would stop piracy. microsoft is a very big company, different people make the OS than make the xbox, and the gains of having a OS that has to be updated every 3 years outweigh having a secure console. and do actually think they care if a few vergins put linxs on the xbox?

If Microsoft somehow magically made Longhorn and software for that os unpiratable, then they would find a lot less people using Longhorn.

Heres something you might want to note,. at one point, updating XP online from a pirated copy would not work past Service Pack 1. However, there were no similar issues with Service Pack 2. It seems to me that that MS accepts piracy as part of the industry and realizes that its better to keep pirated copies up to date to stop viruses/worms. MS's hands off aproach to piracy is also clear in the Xbox community as there has been absolutly no litigation on MS's behalf.

Are there advantages for MS? Sure. A userbase. With Xboxes, well they can certanly claim to have sold a lot more thanks to Xbox hacking. With OSs, the more people using XP, the more vital software will be written for XP, and therefore, the better odds someone is going to buy XP as opposed to, say, going Mac.

Besides. No solution works at all without hardware. Software can be easily fooled, but hardware doesn't lie (unless its been modified). Microsoft does not control the hardware market. They verify drivers, sure. But getting everybody to agree to have antipiracy hardware on thier motherboards/cpus is not going to happen. The consumers dont like it, so the hardware manufacturers dont like it. Thats how the industry works. Hardware manufacturers actually enable piracy because piracy supports their industry. DVD burners, media, hard drives, and even general pc components all get purchased for piracy related activities.

 

[John Romero]

If Microsoft somehow magically made Longhorn and software for that os unpiratable (they cant), then they would find a lot less people using Longhorn.

Heres something you might want to note,. at one point, updating XP online from a pirated copy would not work past Service Pack 1. However, there was no issues with Service Pack 2. It seems to me that that MS accepts piracy as part of the industry and realizes that its better to keep pirated copies up to date to stop viruses/worms. MS's hands off aproach to piracy is also clear in the Xbox community as there has been absolutly no litigation on MS's behalf.

Are there advantages for MS? Sure. A userbase. With Xboxes, well they can certanly claim to have sold a lot more thanks to Xbox hacking. With OSs, the more people using XP, the more vital software will be written for XP, and therefore, the better odds someone is going to buy XP as opposed to, say, going Mac.

Besides. No solution works at all without hardware. Software can be easily fooled, but hardware is trickier. Microsoft does not control the hardware market. They verify drivers, sure. But getting everybody agree to have antipiracy hardware on thier motherboards/cpus is not going to happen. The consumers dont like it, so the hardware manufacturers dont like it. Thats how the industry works. Hardware manufacturers actually enable piracy because piracy supports their industry. DVD burners, media, hard drives, and even general pc components all get purchased for piracy related activities.

XP2 doesnt update for people using the few pirated xp corporate keys microsoft knows about.

Microsoft cant sue anyone for hacking the xbox. as soon as they pay for it they can do whatever the **** they want with it as long as it doesnt infringe on microsofts copyrights.




I suppose the sole reason Vcr's were made was so people could pirate movies? and the sole reason hard drives and floppy discs were made was so people could pirate software? what about tivo? so people can pirate tv shows? lol.


oh noes im about to get a tape and pirate some songs from the radio.

 

[bxstreetlife]

We should consider valve's work, i will not get it in a rush somewhere on the net even if i don't care about the lawsuit between them, all we want now is to play the game 'cause we've waiting too much now , if they deley the game once more , i guess i'll get from steam otherwise ...p2p powaaaa

 

[f|uke]

XP2 doesnt update for people using the few pirated xp corporate keys microsoft knows about.

Then they must not be doing their job, if they're not adding keys posted in NFOs of group releases.

Microsoft cant sue anyone for hacking the xbox. as soon as they pay for it they can do whatever the **** they want with it as long as it doesnt infringe on microsofts copyrights.

Microsoft can certainly try. It is theoretically illegal to use the 'hacked' Microsoft bios that enables homebrew software and piracy. That bios is Microsoft property, and they do have grounds to litigate.

If you look at the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, they definitly have a case.

The question is,. why haven't they?

I suppose the sole reason Vcr's were made was so people could pirate movies? and the sole reason hard drives and floppy discs were made was so people could pirate software?

No, but piracy has helped these industrys, and these industrys are acutely aware of it. Go look that word up. Acutely.

oh noes im about to get a tape and pirate some songs from the radio.

who cares? whatever man.

 

[DigiQ8]

if the full version got leaked on the net
i will get it...but that dont mean i will not buy the game when its release.

 

[|Jz|]

Settle down guys, it's not delayed yet.

 

[fantasiser]

I reckon ppl should stop b!tching about pirating
Homer you sed if you cant afford it, you cant have it - i say to those ppl warez away - noone is losing a cent, if i had no intention of buying BF1942 and i dled it, EA isnt losing money, COS I WOULDNT HAVE GIVEN IT TO THEM ANYWAY
those that say your jeorpradising HL3 buy dling HL2 i say this - from this forum i realise that ppl like you already ensure HL3, what i do wont make a difference
there are 2 warezing groups
.DL then buy - no detriment to industry at all since they still get a sale
.DL dont buy - no detriment on account of these ppl WOULDNT HAVE GIVEN YOU MONEY ANYWAY, the only reason they PLAY is because its free

dont get me wrong, im gonna buy HL2 sure thing, i want the mulitplay goodness i know and love, but if i knew where to get a warez for the single player b4 its out i wouldnt think twice about getting it

 

[Dead-Inside]

If HL2 is out with help from hackers etc, I´d download and play it..
Im so f*cking disappointed in this process..
Vivendi are stupid for violating rules in the first place and this might take 6 more months.. It´s not worth waiting..

I think Vivendi should go sodomize with retractable batons..

/D

Actually I think I'd do the same. I'd still buy the game once it's out however, VALVe still deserves the money, and I want my MP!

I reckon ppl should stop b!tching about pirating
Homer you sed if you cant afford it, you cant have it - i say to those ppl warez away - noone is losing a cent, if i had no intention of buying BF1942 and i dled it, EA isnt losing money, COS I WOULDNT HAVE GIVEN IT TO THEM ANYWAY
those that say your jeorpradising HL3 buy dling HL2 i say this - from this forum i realise that ppl like you already ensure HL3, what i do wont make a difference
there are 2 warezing groups
.DL then buy - no detriment to industry at all since they still get a sale
.DL dont buy - no detriment on account of these ppl WOULDNT HAVE GIVEN YOU MONEY ANYWAY, the only reason they PLAY is because its free

dont get me wrong, im gonna buy HL2 sure thing, i want the mulitplay goodness i know and love, but if i knew where to get a warez for the single player b4 its out i wouldnt think twice about getting it

While you might be correct, speaking for 30% of the warez community, the other WOULD have bought the game if they couldn't have gotten their hands on the game by downloading it. That's utterly bullshit.

 

[azz0r]

Vivendi could set up a hacker up to distribute it, then sit on the gold copy for 6 months.

Plausible deniability "WE WERE HACKED!!"

Vivendi could then destroy Valve's chance of making money by sitting on the gold copy for another 6 months whilst many people keen for HL2 download it off the net.

When it's finally released 6 months later it's old news! Everyone's played it thoroughly, why buy it? It's an old game by then.

That would be an interesting chain of events!! That is also the absolute worst case scenario!

I think its funny how everyone think Vivendi doesnt need the money too.

 

[|Jz|]

Plus it's not fair and moraly asolutely wrong to _steal_ (yes it's stealing, you have NO right to play that game if you didn't buy it) the game of the developers who worked hard for it for years. Seems like people don't give a damn cent about that nowadays though.

 

[Yombi]

Plus it's not fair and moraly asolutely wrong to _steal_ (yes it's stealing, you have NO right to play that game if you didn't buy it) the game of the developers who worked hard for it for years. Seems like people don't give a damn cent about that nowadays though.

*agress with the headcrab*

warez does loose out on profit....because then people start selling illegally copied cd's, which they're making a profit from. And even if they wern't selling them they are still loosing out! If everyone done this crap, we wouldnt have games......

 

[fantasiser]

do you guys really think that its only 30% or warez goons that wouldnt have bought the game anyway??
well for those ppl who dont buy because they can download that IS bad, and that IS detrimental for the people making the games

and PS im referring to free download hack groups ONLY (like razor1911 and the sort)
ppl who get remanufacture and sell for a profit are definately in the wrong and should definately be persecuted - People who get the games off them are BUYING therefore they were potential BUYERS, and the pirates are stealing profit off of the company

 

[Nostradamus]

HL2 Cant be played online without buying it... period

 

[razorblade kiss]

Half-Life 2 is pretty much done since it is in Vivendi hands. Warez groups are probably hunting the game done as we speak, and if they are planning to release the game in 6 months what will happen if some hackers get hold if it?

Valve lose all their money and sales?

My question would be. If Valve Officially told us with Vivendi, that the game would be delayed for 6 months, and there was a warez out. WOuld you download it. I'm not gonna lie, I say I would be highly tempted.

 

[Jackathan]

pirates dont like video games, they like parrots

 

[gnuX]

I have pre-ordered the game. I have paid for it. If Vivendi are going to be assholes and sitt on the game for six months, screw them. I'll pirate it the first chance I get.

 

[Ownzed]

HL2 Cant be played online without buying it... period

Exactly. How do I know...experiences from pirating other games...

 

[poseyjmac]

yes it can. its called a 'private server patch'. most games that come out have one.

 

[ScRaTcH-A-HoLiC]

HL2 Cant be played online without buying it... period

There will never be a game that cant be cracked..

 

[Shuzer]

There will never be a game that cant be cracked..

Never say never!

 

[zencat]

HL2 Cant be played online without buying it... period

not true. there are cracked servers for almost every recent multiplayer game including doom 3 and far cry. theres no reason to doubt that people will figure out how to play hl2 on cracked servers. if this vu vs valve debacle goes on long enough and the rc1 is leaked, like CZ was, people will be playing online in no time. however, servers are usually limited and theres always the risk of being caught.

i have a voucher, but if i didnt i would buy the game anyway just to have a MP cd key. im not saying i wouldnt play hl2 SP if it came out early, but i think most people will buy it because cracked servers are a pain in the ass, especially for a game where mods plays a large role.

 

[ThomasToad]

If the game was available for download and I knew Vivendi was holding it for 6 months I would most certainly download it, with every intention in the world to buy it on release. What's stopping all of you, because it's illegal? What's the problem if you're going to buy it anyway, it doesn't hurt anyone. Stop kidding yourselves.

 

[Scrouge]

Well if they sit on the game for 6 months I don't think I can resist the downloading it even if Im going to buy it. And I've done so before with Doom 3 because it was released so much later in Europe and I couldn't wait, but I bought it, and I don't like pirating games I feel so damn cheap, but I always buy my games, beacuse if you can't afford em don't play.

 

[X2Cube]

...then they'd be breaking the law and I hope they get caught

some pirates hijack trucks you know

 

[Ghost Freeman]

Avast ye! Prepare to be boarded!

 

[Bob Bean]

ok after all this stuff I want to say something true
I buy pirated games
please dont flame me,here in m country the videogames are all pirated and well I buy it
I hav buy and played thousands of games in PC and consoles all pirated
but I trully prefer to buy a original game cuz you feel fine geting it
but here a original game cost a lot so is better option buy a pirated version that is really cheap
but I love videogames and infact I feel bad for not be able to buy a original copy
but I think the piracy is not so strong enough to take down the companyes cuz are many game companies and are many games plane to be released in the future and the companies get millions

...

please dont flame for the fact that I buy pirted games,I am someone whit few money and I buy pirated games cuz I cant buy originals

please dont flame me

Read only if you are considerng flaming him:

I traveled to South America many times, and I lived there for half a year. When I was there in June, the tarriffs on most imports were up to 10% ( in addition to sales tax which was usually included in the price depending on the product).

So it's an extra US$5 (assuming it's not the bare bones, nor the CE version) and some change. Not too bad, right?

However, the wage differences between the first and third world nations are vast (I know... DUH!?). I didn't realize how vast until my uncle in S.A. told me how much he makes a month. He is the head of the Ministry of Transportation. He lives in a bigger place than I do, and fully supports his family. They are considered to be upper middle-class.

At the same time I worked part-time (M-F 35hrs/week) at a child care, where all I did was play video games and handball and I made nearly TWICE as much as does.

My point is that it's ludicrous to spend the same amount of money on a game as one would for a mortgage payment. Even though I strongly encourage people to purchase original copies of games, I can't blame you for buying pirated versions.

 

[Zento]

some pirates hijack trucks you know

So that's why they are called pirates :O

 

[john121]

why doesn't Valve just release it on STEAM? it's their game, and their program to release any game they want on it...

 

[cadaveca]

why doesn't Valve just release it on STEAM? it's their game, and their program to release any game they want on it...

contracts says they cannot until retail release...to breach that contract would almost certainly spell doom for valve