Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Triple Ace on December 23, 2004, 05:32:55 pm

Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 23, 2004, 05:32:55 pm
THOSE RAT BASTARDS DISABLED MY STEAM ACCOUNT! THEY ARE GIVING ME SOME BULLSH*T SAYING I'M TRYING TO PLAY A PIRATED COPY OF HALF LIFE 2. THEY ARE SAYING I HAVE A PIRATED COPY AND I AM USING A FALSE CD KEY. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO PISSED IN MY LIFE! NOW I CAN'T EVER PLAY HALF LIFE 2 AGAIN! I HOPE THEY ROT IN HELL!
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Knight Templar on December 23, 2004, 05:34:30 pm
Well... are you?
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: MicroPsycho on December 23, 2004, 05:35:47 pm
This is why I'm not sure if I want HL2. I have never had a valve product and I don't think I want to deal with steam
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 23, 2004, 05:36:51 pm
I am not using a pirated copy. I bought it at WAL-MART. It is legit.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Knight Templar on December 23, 2004, 05:37:29 pm
Then why don't you inform them of that?
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 23, 2004, 05:38:59 pm
I would but I can't find a email adress.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Nico on December 23, 2004, 05:40:25 pm
yeah, you must have a product number or something,no?
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Knight Templar on December 23, 2004, 05:42:31 pm
It's not like they told you to **** off after you made a logical and calm case about it. Try them before you flip out.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 23, 2004, 06:00:13 pm
Just checked. Valve will not re enable disabled accounts and making new accounts will not work. This means I pissed away $50 on a game I can't play EVER!
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: pyro-manic on December 23, 2004, 06:03:10 pm
Contact them in writing and lay out your case. If they don't fix it for you then sue the ****ers. You're in the right. They have to sort it out for you.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: karajorma on December 23, 2004, 06:03:28 pm
No you haven't. Take it back to the store and get your money back. IF they won't take it back it's time to get trading standards (or whatever you call them over there) involved.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: redmenace on December 23, 2004, 06:43:55 pm
Better Business Bureau

Also it is a violation of contract law, possibly.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Shrike on December 23, 2004, 06:50:33 pm
Proof that Steam is a bunch of ****, I'd say.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 23, 2004, 07:21:08 pm
Well I just tried to email valve and I also used their crappy support system at steampowered.com but I doubt I will hear back. Looks like I won't be playing hl2 or cs anymore. Also, if you have a disabled account it is impossible to create a new account.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Unknown Target on December 23, 2004, 07:23:29 pm
****...and I'm gonna probably get HL2 for xmas :(

Well, stick it back to them. Valve did the dumbest **** ever by doing this.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Rictor on December 23, 2004, 07:38:11 pm
pfft, just skip the trouble and get a pirated copy. If they want to treat you like a thief, you might as well act like one.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: .::Tin Can::. on December 23, 2004, 07:39:45 pm
Sounds like a pile of bull**** if you ask me. Valve needs to get rid of this dumbass verification system that is plauging the legit people.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Martinus on December 23, 2004, 08:10:36 pm
[color=66ff00]HL2 was an uninspired continuation with no real plot.

Coupled with the hassle of Steam you get a lot of pain and little fun.

If I'd known I'd never have bought it.
[/color]
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 23, 2004, 08:15:21 pm
The thing is they don't care about the people getting screwed.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Turnsky on December 23, 2004, 08:41:04 pm
Reciept + game box.. photocopy/scan the reciept and send it to them as proof of purchase.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Martinus on December 23, 2004, 08:51:46 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Turnsky
Reciept + game box.. photocopy/scan the reciept and send it to them as proof of purchase.

[color=66ff00]When CS 1.6 came along with steam and you had to register your keys with Valve I installed it and entered all my details only to find out that someone had pinched my key.

Emailed Valve telling them that I had proof of purchase and could submit scans for them. Email got through ok but was never replied to.
I considered not buying HL2 due to this but I have to admit that when others said it was a great game I got washed up in the hype and bought it.
[/color]
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 23, 2004, 08:58:17 pm
How long ago did you email them?
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Cabbie on December 23, 2004, 10:15:46 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Turnsky
Reciept + game box.. photocopy/scan the reciept and send it to them as proof of purchase.


Yup that should clear things up most of the time. It sucks though when we legit buyers get screwed because of these silly copy protection crap.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Grimloq on December 23, 2004, 10:42:35 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Triple Ace
I bought it at WAL-MART. It is legit.


*snarl* thats a contradiction in terms...

anyway, sry to hear that man... ive gotten lots of crap about taht sort of thing from gamespy, but mostly it was because of weird CD keys. fortunately, gamespy has some sort of verification system i think... meh, whatever...

from what ive heard, MP on steam is screwey and in general sucks- its too careful. then again. ive never played HL or HL2 or CS.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Thorn on December 23, 2004, 10:56:09 pm
MP is in no way screwy. CS:S is so much better than 1.6. All they need is to have the level of support that 1.6 has and it will be perfect, because then they can bring back server-side mods like AMX. My only gripe with Steam is that its slow as hell. It takes a good two minutes to fully launch.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 23, 2004, 11:06:49 pm
It seems I have two choices. I can wait and see if I get a reply from Valve (those rotten bastards). I can also try to make a new account and trade the copy I have to get a new copy of HL2. Unless things clear up Valve is being added to my hit, uh I mean my sh*t list. And if I do go with option 2 they might send the police after me. The email I got did say something about law enfocement.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: pyro-manic on December 23, 2004, 11:23:07 pm
Write to them on paper. Ring 'em up. Repeatedly. Hassle the **** out of them until they do what they're supposed to do. You have rights as a consumer - make them fulfil their obligations to you as a customer.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Turnsky on December 23, 2004, 11:23:56 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Triple Ace
It seems I have two choices. I can wait and see if I get a reply from Valve (those rotten bastards). I can also try to make a new account and trade the copy I have to get a new copy of HL2. Unless things clear up Valve is being added to my hit, uh I mean my sh*t list. And if I do go with option 2 they might send the police after me. The email I got did say something about law enfocement.


it's also quite possible that somebody /with/ a pirated copy has the same key as you... it seems that Steam is far from infallable, it is infact, the most flawed piece of crap there is.

what you do is, take a close-up photo of the box, the contents OF that box, and the reciept, make sure that the CD key is shown, as well

EDIT: Oh, and make sure it's at full res digital camera sized.. just to make your point :p
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 23, 2004, 11:47:24 pm
A bunch of people tried that and it did no good. And there is no phone support for steam and the games.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Sandwich on December 24, 2004, 12:05:12 am
I must say that HL2 is the first PC game I've bought in years. So far, so good. :nervous:
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Taristin on December 24, 2004, 12:10:39 am
Bah. Valve will never get my money. I refuse to buy a game from a company who is actively hostile towards it's customers...
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Ulala on December 24, 2004, 12:10:43 am
You're in America, right? Legal action, you'll even make a few bucks on the side for emotional damages.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Grug on December 24, 2004, 12:20:14 am
lol Ulala.

Everyone I know that has HL2, agree that the game engine is good, the story ****.
I reckon just the ending of HL2 defeats the entire purpose of playing it.

So stupid.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Liberator on December 24, 2004, 12:42:22 am
From everything I've read, HL2 is Full-Scale Proof of Technology demo, and nothing else.  Steam apparently makes Windows 9x/2000/XP look like the most effiecient, streamlined piece of software ever written.  And the apparent level of support provided is akin to what you'd get from the drug dealer in the alley.

I wouldn't install HL2(and all the crap that goes with it) if you paid me to.

Don't misunderstand, I did like the first one.  It was a little overhard for a pickup gamer like me, but on the whole it was okay.  The story just never really grabbed me like the Homeworld series, Command & Conquer, or Diablo.  

Hype is fetid mouthwash from the advertising department that is designed to make you salivate when you see an ad for the game.  It is, most of the time anyway, overblown propaganda.  Remember Freelancer?  It was billed as the greatest space trading sim ever.  What we got was a good third-person, space-combat game.  Hype is worth less than the energy required to come up with it.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: WMCoolmon on December 24, 2004, 12:59:11 am
Quote
Originally posted by Triple Ace
A bunch of people tried that and it did no good. And there is no phone support for steam and the games.


Do it anyway, do everything reasonably possible. And if that doesn't work, get together with those other folks in the same situation and start telling news sites. :)

Edit: I actually really enjoyed HL2. I've already replayed most of the chapters twice.

And damn, just try playing Ravenholm on a dark night, all alone.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: aldo_14 on December 24, 2004, 02:43:56 am
HL2 = good game (not brilliant, about 85% I'd say)

Steam = welll.....(http://www.aldo14.f2s.com/steaming.jpg)
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: WMCoolmon on December 24, 2004, 02:51:35 am
:lol:

It's the season to gamble on getting gamers to buy big apparently.

Valve gambled that people would buy Steam because of Half-Life 2.
Microsoft gambled that people would buy an X-box because of Halo 2.

Microsoft seems to be winning. I still think it would've been better for Valve to not spend resources/time on Stem's ultra-"secure" product authentication and just put a $5 bill or a decent manual in the HL2 box. What do you get with HL2 ultra-super-duper edition? A T-shirt. Ooh, now you can go around making a public statement that you're a computer geek. :rolleyes:

As opposed to a manual, which you could read before going to bed. :D
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: aldo_14 on December 24, 2004, 03:32:10 am
Note that Valve are requiring installation of *hack spit* Steam* to even play the Half Life 2 demo?  

Of course, at least these people get a chance to avoid the game by learning how pish Steam is nice & early, but still...........

*officially referred to as *hack spit* Steam from now on
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: WMCoolmon on December 24, 2004, 03:40:25 am
:wtf:

Yes, because those damn hackers are going to steal the demo...from the free download sites...
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Kosh on December 24, 2004, 03:51:22 am
Sooner or later somebody will be able to crack the anti-piracy system. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: WMCoolmon on December 24, 2004, 03:58:57 am
I hear there's already Valve emulators.

And I was talking to a guy the other day who said he had a cracked version of HL2. He had to manually turn on the AI every stage, but other than that, it sounded like he was able to play the single-player campaign fine.

And recently Valve disabled cd-checking for Steam source games. [pun]Seems like someone opened the Steam exhaust Valve.[/pun]
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: karajorma on December 24, 2004, 03:59:25 am
It's been pretty much cracked since the week it came out. As long as you only want to play single player you don't have to pay for HL2.

Don't know if LAN works though.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Kosh on December 24, 2004, 04:13:08 am
Single player is good enough for me. Sweet. Now if only I could get a computer it could run decently on.......
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: WMCoolmon on December 24, 2004, 04:19:07 am
HL2, from what I understand, will run on virtually any computer - the engine is scalable down to DX 7.0.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Kosh on December 24, 2004, 04:32:21 am
I'll have to DL the demo when I get back to my university to test your theory (as I have dial-up here). I'll let you know if it is true.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Turnsky on December 24, 2004, 04:36:47 am
Quote
Originally posted by WMCoolmon
HL2, from what I understand, will run on virtually any computer - the engine is scalable down to DX 7.0.


it ran okay-ish on my old setup of a 1.8ghz athlon, 256mb ddr, and radeon 9000..

it runs downright flawless on my new setup, even though i /still/ have the radeon 9000
(2.2ghz barton, 1gig of ram.)
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: SadisticSid on December 24, 2004, 04:37:13 am
*hopes that HL2 becomes the most pirated game ever*

*even hopes that eeevil Vivendi wins damages off Valve in the forthcoming lawsuit*
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Turnsky on December 24, 2004, 04:39:01 am
Quote
Originally posted by SadisticSid
*hopes that HL2 becomes the most pirated game ever*

*even hopes that eeevil Vivendi wins damages off Valve in the forthcoming lawsuit*


Vivendi Universal isn't quite so bad, but Valve shoulda kept the tried and tested methods of copy-protection, and restricted steam to authenticate keys for online gaming. :nod:

or at least given people a little bit of choice!
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: aldo_14 on December 24, 2004, 06:46:44 am
Quote
Originally posted by WMCoolmon
HL2, from what I understand, will run on virtually any computer - the engine is scalable down to DX 7.0.


It ran very well and looking very nice on my machine; far better than Halo or Far Cry, for example.  Only thing was a stupid sound bug that caused the game to stutter at certain points........that and the long load times
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: TrashMan on December 24, 2004, 07:12:14 am
Quote
Originally posted by Triple Ace
Just checked. Valve will not re enable disabled accounts and making new accounts will not work. This means I pissed away $50 on a game I can't play EVER!


there are cracks out there that disable that stupid Valve thingy....

Try gamecopyworld.com
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: deep_eyes on December 24, 2004, 09:03:40 am
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=213982

Trying to find you some support dude.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: deep_eyes on December 24, 2004, 09:09:02 am
Retail support pages: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=182355
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: kasperl on December 24, 2004, 09:47:33 am
Sue em.

Seriously, sue em. File a class action or something if possible. There are more people with this problem, and effectivly they're stealing 50 bucks off of you.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 24, 2004, 11:02:19 am
This is pissing me off. I have hl1, opossing force, tfc, cs, and hl2 and I can't play any of them! I used the support and they won't respond.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 24, 2004, 11:11:30 am
Quote
Originally posted by TrashMan


there are cracks out there that disable that stupid Valve thingy....

Try gamecopyworld.com


They shut down the game fixes.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: pyro-manic on December 24, 2004, 11:51:06 am
Like I said - hassle the bastards until they do what's needed to fix it. Then take them to court and nail them to the wall if they don't.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 24, 2004, 05:10:57 pm
Its decided, I sent in proof that its legal and if they want to get the law involved, they can bring it on.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: übermetroid on December 25, 2004, 05:12:29 am
good luck!  And I really mean that.  I hope you screw them over really good.  :D
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Grug on December 25, 2004, 06:05:05 am
yeah.
Make a petition or something, bet you'd get a few signitures... :)

Should attach an emotional story too. How your christmas was ruined, your grandad died because you were so upset etc etc.

Valve truely are screwing their income, does'nt make sense...
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Jetmech Jr. on December 25, 2004, 06:32:55 am
Keep us informed. Just be careful if you go for legal action against them.

I hope you nail their ****ing nuts to the wall.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Blitzerland on December 25, 2004, 08:34:01 am
*Kicks Thread*

How's it going, ace? Any luck?
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 25, 2004, 09:18:58 am
I'm gonna give them a few days to reply before I take it to the next step. Iv'e also got family and friends backing me up.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: kasperl on December 25, 2004, 01:11:15 pm
Good luck, seriously. If you can get a precedent set, you'll be saving a lot of people worldwide.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Slasher on December 28, 2004, 01:16:54 pm
If I'd known what a big hassle Sweam would be I never would have bought HL2.  HL2 was good but when partnered with Sweam it can't possibly justify the price.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Unknown Target on December 28, 2004, 01:53:27 pm
Tell us if you're going to press charges, I hope you throw their asses into the fire for all the **** they're causing with Steam.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Liberator on December 28, 2004, 01:58:17 pm
Here's a dumbass question.

Why in hell do I need a Steam account to download and install the ****ing FREE demo?  Why do they care if someone h4x0rs the demo?
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: aldo_14 on December 28, 2004, 04:42:49 pm
Because they are evil.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Liberator on December 28, 2004, 04:49:49 pm
They being Gabe and the folk at Valve who though Steam was a good idea.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: aldo_14 on December 28, 2004, 05:24:14 pm
Yes.  they should be purged.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Dunbar on December 28, 2004, 08:36:14 pm
Here's my theory about the demo and steam.  For better or for worse, Hl2 is built around steam, it probably is integrated deeply into the code for the game.  To release a demo, valve had three options: 1) recode the game to not use steam at all, which might take a lot of work.  2) release a demo that, like hl2 full, needs steam to run.  3) not release a demo.  Now from purely a business standpoint, it might not be good business to put a ton of work into a free demo.  So they released a demo integrated into steam.  I don't see anything particularly evil about that, at least not any more evil than anything any other company does.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Liberator on December 28, 2004, 10:11:14 pm
Yes, but I have to install the Monstosity to play the demo.  It's like giving us a juicy, perfectly grilled cheeseburger and the requiring us to scarf a half-pound of calamari to get the cheeseburger.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: WMCoolmon on December 28, 2004, 11:12:24 pm
Steam shouldn't BE that deeply integrated into the code, it's just a multiplayer client.

Isn't it?
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Liberator on December 28, 2004, 11:59:35 pm
No, the Abomination is an "integrated anti-piracy and content delivery solution" that Valve are trying to prove works perfectly.  One trick, it does not effectively stop piracy nor is it a solution.  From everything I've read, the only thing it seems to have done is piss off about 50% of Valve's customer base by invalidating all their CD keys so that none of their valve games, legit or not, will function.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: aldo_14 on December 29, 2004, 02:56:18 am
Quote
Originally posted by WMCoolmon
Steam shouldn't BE that deeply integrated into the code, it's just a multiplayer client.

Isn't it?


BE being the operative word.  I think Valve have really tightly integrated steam into it simply so they can get more people to use it.  They say 'content delivery system' now, but in a few years (or months) time it'll probably also be a targeted advertising service.

I will say that Steam is a nice idea.  But that's about it; an idea.

EDIT; Steam is basically, as far as I can tell, a little bit of network middleware for the game, with some additional functions to download patches, etc, automatically.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Ulala on December 29, 2004, 03:23:06 am
It's almost like Communism... in a perfect world, Steam would work. Quick, someone make the world perfect before Valve gets their butts sued off.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: ZylonBane on December 29, 2004, 09:45:03 am
Quote
Originally posted by aldo_14
EDIT; Steam is basically, as far as I can tell, a little bit of network middleware for the game, with some additional functions to download patches, etc, automatically.
It's far more than that. It's an entire little parasitical mini operating system, complete with its own internal file system (the infamous Steam cache). And if you have any pre-Steam Valve games installed, Steam will automatically annex them into its little empire.

I don't think it's any secret that Steam would have utterly killed any game of lesser stature than Half-Life. But now that it has its foot in the door, it'll be the knuckle-dragging online fragging addicts who give it a firm beachead in the PC gaming market. And then we're doomed. Valve and their partners will have their umbilical wrapped firmly around our neck.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: WMCoolmon on December 29, 2004, 01:53:12 pm
If other companies want to have their own copies of steam to establish a firm beachhead, that's fine. :) That's more of my money I won't be wasting on their games.

'Sides, there's plenty of somewhat-old and good games I can find to play instead, if they want to try and clog up my computer with unneccessary crap.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on December 30, 2004, 11:28:23 am
Still waitin for them to contact me. I sent in scans of my box, cdkey and receipt.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Slasher on December 31, 2004, 10:59:19 am
Quote
Originally posted by ZylonBane
And if you have any pre-Steam Valve games installed, Steam will automatically annex them into its little empire.

 


I decided to try that out and load my old copy of Half-Life (bought in 1998) and Steam popped up asking me to upgrade this or that.  Funny, I can't remember Steam asking me if it could oh so graciously annex any games installed on my computer.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Unknown Target on December 31, 2004, 11:11:27 am
Triple Ace, if they don't respond in the next week or so, send another letter saying that you're threatening legal action. If they don't respond to that in a few weeks, sue the bastards.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: ZylonBane on January 01, 2005, 06:10:12 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Slasher
I decided to try that out and load my old copy of Half-Life (bought in 1998) and Steam popped up asking me to upgrade this or that.  Funny, I can't remember Steam asking me if it could oh so graciously annex any games installed on my computer.
Yup, that would be the "automatic" part.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Shrike on January 01, 2005, 07:02:56 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Liberator
Yes, but I have to install the Monstosity to play the demo.  It's like giving us a juicy, perfectly grilled cheeseburger and the requiring us to scarf a half-pound of calamari to get the cheeseburger.
What's wrong with calamari?  I like calamari!
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Liberator on January 02, 2005, 01:23:17 am
When you're in the mood(can taste it) for a cheeseburger?

'course I've never had any calimari m'self, sushi either.  But then I won't eat anything unless it's been cooked.

My point was they're pulling a bait & switch.  Once you install it, it will never likely be really gone.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Shrike on January 02, 2005, 01:47:16 am
Quote
Originally posted by Liberator
'course I've never had any calimari m'self, sushi either.  But then I won't eat anything unless it's been cooked.
I practically live off Sushi. :p
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Thorn on January 02, 2005, 01:59:41 am
Quote
Originally posted by Shrike
I practically live off Sushi. :p

True story.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Liberator on January 02, 2005, 02:48:13 am
Quote
Originally posted by Shrike
I practically live off Sushi. :p


But it's not cooked...you could get food poisoning or something.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Shrike on January 02, 2005, 03:10:53 am
Quote
Originally posted by Liberator
But it's not cooked...you could get food poisoning or something.
No, but it is frozen first.  I suppose in theory I could get food poisoning, but you could get that from other stuff too.  More importantly, I like it. :p
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: NGTM-1R on January 02, 2005, 05:06:24 am
Quote
Originally posted by Triple Ace
Still waitin for them to contact me. I sent in scans of my box, cdkey and receipt.


If you use snail mail, they are legally required to get back to you within a certain period of time, I think a week, but it could be a bit more. Fun fact, huh? Federal law here in the US for any company you wish to contact regarding a defective product.

Take 'em to court now.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Roanoke on January 02, 2005, 05:45:52 am
Quote
Originally posted by Shrike
I practically live off Sushi. :p


Meh, I hate sushi. Have to drown it in soy sauce to get rid 0f the taste
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: vyper on January 02, 2005, 06:53:40 am
Calamari isn't something I relish - it's too... well, squiddy :lol:
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Martinus on January 02, 2005, 10:10:42 am
Quote
Originally posted by Shrike
What's wrong with calamari?  I like calamari!

[color=66ff00]You killed Admiral Ackbar you monster!
[/color]
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Nico on January 02, 2005, 10:13:42 am
Quote
Originally posted by Liberator


But it's not cooked...you could get food poisoning or something.


Last ( and only ) time I got food poisoning, it was from lasagna. Was cooked obviously. What a ridiculous argument, cooked food doesn't not prevent anything :p
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Jetmech Jr. on January 02, 2005, 11:46:56 am
Sushi is all that is good. I laugh at people who've never tried it because "it's not cooked." If you can't stomach a little fish, you should never be introduced to some of the other forms of Asian cuisine.

Anyway, back on topic, go for it, Triple Ace.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Corhellion on January 02, 2005, 02:09:52 pm
I don't know why people hate Steam...it's alright...it's better than gamespy was...and loads faster...haven't had any problems with it...yet...and the problems I did have were just me being a bit...stupid...

*swishes around front part of brain in a jar*

Hello little man...how are you today...

*drools slightly*

It's ok...they just go up your noes...and take out that part of your brain that hates Steam...afterwards...Steams...bliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssss...

*passes out*

but on a completely related note...SUE 'EM! SUE 'EM GOOD!

Why can't you play the original HL? It doesn't need Steam to run...just install it to a different directory instead of the Steam folder.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Unknown Target on January 02, 2005, 04:10:53 pm
You know what's sad? All the magazines and news people are slobbering over Steam, saying it's a monumental leap forward. It's like they're obvlivious to all that's going on.

Even Maximum PC, a magazine which I trust dearly and has a very good reputation, still says Steam "stops piracy and is a monumental leap forward, its problems being related to it being such a new technology" (those aren't the exact words, but the general gist).
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: aldo_14 on January 02, 2005, 04:24:59 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Shrike
What's wrong with calamari?  I like calamari!


Calamari kicks arse.

 Unless you get it at a certain overpriced resteraunt in Barcelona, which gives you sod-all for far too much, and doesn't even heat it properly.........:mad:
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Kazan on January 02, 2005, 05:00:32 pm
kick their ass - submit this to slashdot!

seriously slashdot HATES steam - and slashdot has influence
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: WMCoolmon on January 02, 2005, 05:17:25 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Unknown Target
You know what's sad? All the magazines and news people are slobbering over Steam, saying it's a monumental leap forward. It's like they're obvlivious to all that's going on.

Even Maximum PC, a magazine which I trust dearly and has a very good reputation, still says Steam "stops piracy and is a monumental leap forward, its problems being related to it being such a new technology" (those aren't the exact words, but the general gist).


I didn't not pirate Half-Life 2 because of Steam. I bought it because I wanted the game, no hassle, no fuss.

Thanks to Steam, hassle, fuss, and general annoyance were exactly what I got. Eventually, HL2 spontaneously started working - but only after my second time 'round installing and decrypting HL2 (And I had to watch it install because Valve decided 5 CDs were better than 1 DVD.) I also installed drivers (Which I doubt did anything), and it took me a while to figure out how to get to the 'play games' screen of steam instead of the 'buy the ones you already have' screen.

Edit: clarification
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: aldo_14 on January 02, 2005, 05:42:32 pm
To be honest, I had been led to believe you could buy HL2 retail, install steam, verify the games' cd key, then uninstall Steam and keep playing.

I am muchly pissed off to find I cannot.......
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Fineus on January 02, 2005, 07:23:19 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Unknown Target
You know what's sad? All the magazines and news people are slobbering over Steam, saying it's a monumental leap forward. It's like they're obvlivious to all that's going on.

I know what you mean, as has been pointed out - if any game but Half Life 2 had tried to do this, it would've been laughed at and the game would have died a fiery death for putting a consumer through such a process.

Unfortunately it's the same kind of thing that you can observe in the music industry magasines such as NME and Kerrang. If the bands are popular at the time then the magasines will wax lyrical about them - they can do no wrong. No matter what stupid things they do - it'll be for a good reason and anyone who says otherwise doesn't appreciate the situation properly.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Unknown Target on January 02, 2005, 07:35:07 pm
If someone would bring a class-action lawsuit against Valve for this, everything would stop dead in its tracks, and Valve would be dead in the water.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Fineus on January 02, 2005, 08:22:24 pm
So what's stopping someone? We live in a society where lawsuits are socially acceptable - even common place.

Sure, Valve are great games developers - but they're not untouchable for it.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Liberator on January 02, 2005, 09:43:23 pm
I did a quick search on google, Kal, and I got more advertising links to buy HL2 than I did articles that mention HL2 and class action lawsuit in the same article.

There is a lot of bad blood associated with Steam and the insane, megalomaniacal actions Valve has taken recently.  The problem, I think, is that no one in the damaged party(the gamers who bought HL2 and/or have been defrauded by Valve through their use of Steam in one way or another) who has stood up to organize them for a lawsuit.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Unknown Target on January 03, 2005, 08:00:17 am
I actually would, but I have no grounds, as my Steam acount and Half Life 2 worked fine.

Seriously,w ho wants to start a campaign to get everyone together and sue vlve for all of this?
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: aldo_14 on January 03, 2005, 08:21:45 am
Don't Vivendi have some form of anti-Steam lawsuit going anyways?
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Fineus on January 03, 2005, 08:35:44 am
Considering they're the signed publisher - and by definition Steam goes over any publishers heads and directly streams content to the user from the developer - they certainly should do.

What good is having a publisher who pays to publish your game, when you go around them and deliver/promote your software via another medium so that they don't see a dollar of the money made?

I used to think that doing away with publishers was a good thing - it allowed developers the last say in what they do - cutting out the middle man and allowing lower prices. However - if the end result is actually making it harder for law abiding consumers to enjoy the product they paid money for - at the same price or higher than they would do in a store via a publisher
- then Valve can go to hell. The theory is right - but the execution and end result has been horribly bastardised.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Ghostavo on January 03, 2005, 08:49:58 am
*predicts Interplay's fate for Valve in few years time*
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Liberator on January 03, 2005, 08:54:21 am
Did some more digging:

Valve sued VU for behaving like a publisher and sticking their products(valve's games) in their cyber-cafes.

Quote
Valve had complained that Vivendi - then known as Sierra On-Line - had breached its contract by placing copies of its games in cyber cafes. The US Federal District Court in Seattle agreed, with damages yet to be decided.

'We're happy the court has affirmed the meaning of our publishing contract,' Gabe Newell beamed. 'This is good news for Valve and its cyber café partners around the world.'

That isn't the end of the ruck though, there are still court appearances for the two concerning alleged unpaid royalties and the delay of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and allegations that Valve misled the publisher regarding the development of the Steam online distribution system.


They won.

Valve has got a serious case of megalomania concerning their IP, some of it is warranted sure, but they've seriously drunk the whole pitcher of Kool-Aid.  

How moddable is HL2 outside of the tools Valve provided(and thus Steam)?
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: MicroPsycho on January 03, 2005, 08:37:49 pm
I almost want a legit copy of HL2 and have it not work just so I can sue Valve.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on January 05, 2005, 01:49:06 am
I just stirred up the hornets nest at the steam forums. The posts I did are the ones that are adressing Taylor Sherman due to he is the Valve guy that is always at the boards. My user name there is shilob. That name is a mix of my first and last name.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Liberator on January 05, 2005, 01:28:47 am
TA, that does not look like a particularly nice forum unless you brown-nose Valve at every opportunity(HL2 pwnz0rs and whatnot).  

If I could I would send you some money and help you look for lawyer to file a Class-Action against Valve for defrauding their users.  Their methods of protecting their IP have ruined their standing in a lot of peoples eyes and it's not just that people are having problems with HL2, if Steam burps it kills all the games registered to it, as if somehow because it thinks you h4x0r3d HL2 that the other games are h4x0r3d too.  I'd take your copy back to Wal-Mart and get exchange it for something else.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: JR2000Z on January 05, 2005, 01:56:03 am
I fail to see why this is Valve's fault. If it is the hackers that stole your account then it's the hacker's fault. And Valve is *actually* giving you support so I see no reason to complain.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: aldo_14 on January 05, 2005, 03:12:14 am
Quote
Originally posted by Liberator
Did some more digging:

Valve sued VU for behaving like a publisher and sticking their products(valve's games) in their cyber-cafes.



They won.

Valve has got a serious case of megalomania concerning their IP, some of it is warranted sure, but they've seriously drunk the whole pitcher of Kool-Aid.  

How moddable is HL2 outside of the tools Valve provided(and thus Steam)?


Look at the (quoted in your post) counter-suit by Vivendi, though; questions the whole legality of the Steam system to sell producst through, IIRC.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Triple Ace on January 11, 2005, 08:42:56 pm
After a while of complaining I got my account back. This thread can be officially closed.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Jetmech Jr. on January 11, 2005, 09:51:44 pm
Good to hear. Saw that STEAM forum discussion you started. Jesus Christ, bl4h, Better off Dead, and MadManGamer really need to chill. What assholes. Any idea how your CD key was used?
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Flipside on January 11, 2005, 10:35:00 pm
Well, you have paid cash for a game that their own poor Admin meant you could not play, personally, I think you are entitled to compensation for the time you had your 'money' sitting around doing nothing at their behest ;)
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Thorn on January 11, 2005, 10:41:35 pm
And maybe a bit more from the treatment you got from their wonderful "customer service" representatives.
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: pyro-manic on January 12, 2005, 10:48:18 am
Good news. :yes: But I'm never paying for anything involving Steam or the like again. It's too much hassle... :blah:
Title: Eveyone At Valve Must Die!
Post by: Thorn on January 12, 2005, 04:27:58 pm
It actually was no hassle at all for me when I did it. Put in credit card info and an hour and 5 gigs later it was done. Simple as that.