[Blitzerland]

*Kicks Thread*

How's it going, ace? Any luck?

[Triple Ace]

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.

[kasperl]

Good luck, seriously. If you can get a precedent set, you'll be saving a lot of people worldwide.

[Slasher]

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.

[Unknown Target]

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.

[Liberator]

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?

[aldo_14]

Because they are evil.

[Liberator]

They being Gabe and the folk at Valve who though Steam was a good idea.

[aldo_14]

Yes.  they should be purged.

[Dunbar]

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.

[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.

[WMCoolmon]

Steam shouldn't BE that deeply integrated into the code, it's just a multiplayer client.

Isn't it?

[Liberator]

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.

[aldo_14]

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.

[Ulala]

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.

[ZylonBane]

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.

[WMCoolmon]

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.

[Triple Ace]

Still waitin for them to contact me. I sent in scans of my box, cdkey and receipt.

[Slasher]

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.

[Unknown Target]

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.