[Turnsky]

Edit: remind me next time to read a thread in full.

[Bri_Dog]

Wow.

When I get a pc that can run HL2 I'm going to hack the ****ing thing purely out of spite.

[kode]

I call bull**** on gabes reply.

oh, and I'm not interested in the game either.

[aldo_14]

Reportedly there's already an HL2.exe available that doesn't require Steam or internet to play.  I'm not sure if it's a cracked release version or from the leaked alpha, though.  Latter seems more likely IMO.

Oh, and they should never have made the physically released version require Steam to install & activate.  The dl-ed one, fair enough.  But this is the main reason I'm still havering on the game, good as it may be.

Well, that and waiting for my last paycheque to clear so I can go to the cashline......

[SadisticSid]

HL2 is a great game but I haven't really been as impressed with it so far as I thought I'd be (just finished the buggy levels). The narrative just isn't there at all... there's no story to speak of; the only reason to advance in the game seems to be to see what cool new enemies and weapons you get later on.

As for Steam, it's the most irritating pile of wank ever. I'm hoping Vivendi wins its lawsuit purely out of spite.

[Fineus]

Play through to the end and you do get some small idea of why you're playing. But it's nothing like what I was hoping for..

[an0n]

I call bull****.

For starters, if it were even remotely true, then Valve employees would have had to put it up for download to begin with. Which means the people were downloading it LEGALLY. Which means Valve cutting off your Steam account is ILLEGAL.

Also, who gives a ****? They can't kill the copy of the game on your HD because that's considered hacking and is highly illegal. So for people like me, who have no Steam account, there's no real down-side that I can see.

[aldo_14]

Um.... they said this copy was available over bittorrent, yeah?  

Don't Valve now employ the creator of bittorrent - and would this offer them an opportunity to somehow 'track' downloading users regardless of the source of pirate code itself?

[an0n]

Not that hard to do anyways.

Get BitTornado and it lets you see the IPs of a ton of people on the same torrent.

[Rictor]

But IPs are meaningless, since

a)the Suprnova servers, and pretty much every other server hosting HL2 torrents in located outside of the United States, in places with more liberal filesharing laws.

b)Simply downloading torrent files is not illegal. And in case of legal action, how long does it take me to simply delete the offending files from my computer and over-write and compromised sectors?

c)The people who are downloading are, by definition, those who will not be using Steam to play. This is actually the main reason that Valve's threats are empty. No one is planning on using Steam, and even if they are there is already a Steam emulator in the works.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Rictor
But IPs are meaningless, since

a)the Suprnova servers, and pretty much every other server hosting HL2 torrents in located outside of the United States, in places with more liberal filesharing laws.

b)Simply downloading torrent files is not illegal. And in case of legal action, how long does it take me to simply delete the offending files from my computer and over-write and compromised sectors?

c)The people who are downloading are, by definition, those who will not be using Steam to play. This is actually the main reason that Valve's threats are empty. No one is planning on using Steam, and even if they are there is already a Steam emulator in the works.

If you can get a users IP, it should be simple to at the very least identify their ISP.  You can then use legal methods to get the ISP to, for example, suspend their account.  Whilst the evidence required to convict in a court of law might be lacking (how admissible would a single electronic log be in a proper court?), they may have enough to convince the ISP to act.

(this is assuming the ISP would keep a record of user-
I guess it all depends on the 'independence' of bitTorrent - i.e. how much information it store, and who can access that, and finally the legalities of said access.

[Flipside]

Well, I know we can be somewhat coddling of Freespace sometimes, but I'm glad we're not that bad. At least we can usually, and somewhat grudgingly admit to some bits of FS2 that may have been done better

[aldo_14]

No! you lie!  NONONONONONONONONONONONO *sticks fingers in ears and chants*

[vyper]

Alrighty lads. I'm coming home from Uni today and say - ****it, I'll buy it today. Seems a good idea. First problem is the guy in the shop demanded I have a broadband connection for it, until his pal stepped in and said - no, just any net connection.

Then I get it home, install all 4GB of this beast, and suddenly instead of launching the game or the activation screen I get: "Steam: Updating Steam Platform".

I'm at 57% now, but if what I'm told about the fact you need decryption files downloaded as well - I'm gonna be here a long time.

Valve: Get to ****. This is how to lose customers. I'm spending 35 quid in Game on it (albeit you only get 7 quid of that), and you're still treating me like some pirate script kiddy.

[Flipside]

Seriously though, it always makes me laugh when communities get like that. I mean, there was a thread on here not that long ago about the Internet's opinion of the FS2 community.

Let's face facts, 99% of the Internet's opinion of the FS2 community is 'The what community?'

But we can laugh at ourselves, usually, which, I guess, is why I hang around here

[an0n]

Y'know, there's going to be a backlash with this.

I predict that not only will HL2 crash and burn in the long-run, but it will also become the most heavily pirated game ever. Not because people are more inclined to acquire it illegally, but because they'll buy it, get pissed off with Steam and then download a cracked copy.

[Flipside]

I wonder where the letter of law stands on this, after all, even if they own the rights, they are still making 'warez' available for free download. Now strictly to the letter of the law, that is illegal unless they are choosing to make HL2 Freeware.

[Styxx]

I ain't buying no game that requires me to send information to anywhere in order to play. It's a shame that there's so many suckers out there who'll buy it just because it's Half Life 2. I'd have loved to see Valve screw itself over because of this crap.

[Flipside]

It's a growing trend in EA Games as well, the Sims 2 won't allow you to access the Exchange site unless you register the game. Fortunately, I bought it, so it wasn't a problem, but it does concern me that we are looking at having to 'activate' everything we install on our computers of late.

Edit : Quite frankly, Valve will be waiting a long long time for me to buy this game. And, of course, they are crippling it for the budget boxes

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Flipside


Seriously though, it always makes me laugh when communities get like that. I mean, there was a thread on here not that long ago about the Internet's opinion of the FS2 community.

Let's face facts, 99% of the Internet's opinion of the FS2 community is 'The what community?'

But we can laugh at ourselves, usually, which, I guess, is why I hang around here

If you wish to see hell, just step into a Halo, GTA or Half Life 2 forum... the more popular the game, the more exponentially idiotic the forumites become.  

Eventually you reach the level of animated gif signatures using captured video and being larger than the post itself - a crime against humanity.