That Half Life 2 Download Offer Bites My Ass-Crank!!!

[Billy S]

Half Life 2 "download" via Valve stream. Have you guys read about or
signed up for this?

From the description at:
http://www.ati.com/gitg/promotions/hl2offer/steam.html
it sounds like you sign up, but never actually get an independent
functioning copy of the game. You just get a Valve "Steam"
subscription that requires you to connect up and download bits and
pieces of the game EVERY time you play, streaming via internet from
Valve's site. And, from what I've read on the newsgroups, there's no
backing up to a CD.

Jesus, I'm on broadband, but that doesn't mean I want to log-in to
Valve's system and "stream" download a bunch of crap every time I feel
like fraggin. That's gotta be a VERY slow game start-up...

And I certainly don't like the idea of Big Brother errr Valve watching
over my gameplay and portioning out bytes and pieces of "MY" game as
they see fit. Who's Godawful idea was Valve Steam?

I'm hoping that I've got the details all-mixed up, that a game company
would never attempt something so assinine, and that ATI would never go
along with it if they did... If I'm confused on this 1, someone please
'splain Valve Steam to me.

 

[Strontium]

Solution: don't play online games.

-
Billy S stood up at show-n-tell, in
(e-mail address removed), and said:

 

[Venadium]

I believe you're misunderstanding the way Steam works. You do not need to
stream the game you want to play each time you go to play it, you stream the
installation files from Steam once, install the game as if from a CD, then
play it whenever you want, without having to swap CDs. At least, this is the
way I understand it works. I tried it once for Half-Life/DoD, but couldn't
get it to work....

 

[Billy S]

Solution: don't play online games.

Solution:
1)Play games that don't make such Draconian limitations

2)Leave Valve Steam for sheep like Strontium

 

[Billy S]

I dunno. From what I've read, it sounds as though you ALWAYS have to
connect to Steam to play the game; no connection, no play.

Is it really "your" game if you have to okay it with Valve every time
you play it...? Also from what I've read, there's no way to make a
back-up of the game.

 

[Strontium]

3) *PLOP*

-
Billy S stood up at show-n-tell, in
(e-mail address removed), and said:

Solution:
1)Play games that don't make such Draconian limitations

2)Leave Valve Steam for sheep like Strontium

--

 

[Billy S]

4) And a *PLONK* right back at you. No more of your useless flippant
comments...

 

[Billy S]

BTW: Don' t you just love lameasses who have to tell you when they
killfile you LOL.

DEAR LORD NOOOOOOOOO! HOW will I go ON if you don't read my messages!
WHOA IS ME... WHOA IS ME...

 

[Brad]

I dunno. From what I've read, it sounds as though you ALWAYS have to
connect to Steam to play the game; no connection, no play.

Is it really "your" game if you have to okay it with Valve every time
you play it...? Also from what I've read, there's no way to make a
back-up of the game.

Then this might be a new, trial method of preventing piracy.
So far, the technical theory sounds fine, but the public won't as likely
give in

 

[Billy S]

Then this might be a new, trial method of preventing piracy.
So far, the technical theory sounds fine, but the public won't as likely
give in

I agree. I have NO problem with software manufacturers protecting
their product, but what's wrong with a master "CD key server" like ID
has been using? That works great, and does not compromise the
customers privacy or subject them to "company permission" or downloads
when they just want to play a single player game.

But, actually I think Valve's plan is to squeeze a few more dollars
out of their customers. From the looks of Valve's Steam site,
they're planning on offering their games as a subscription service at
some point in the future. Look at this page:
http://www.steampowered.com/index.php?area=support
and notice under the heading: Subscription Agreement, Billing, and
Online Conduct
"The billing policies for Steam can be found here [coming soon]."

So, at some point, they will be making Steam a pay service, probably
monthly subscriptions.

I REALLY hope the Valve billing model doesn't catch on

 

[Brad]

It's a way to get the last word in

 

[@ndrew]

Then this might be a new, trial method of preventing piracy.
So far, the technical theory sounds fine, but the public won't as likely
give in

I am a little unclear what you guys are smoking .. the game Everquest has a
method by which you connect to a server and download patches before playing
the game .. this has been in existance for almost 4 years ,,, I am sure that
there are other games, such as DAOC, that operate the same way .. what is
the big deal?
regards
@ndrew

 

[Billy S]

I am a little unclear what you guys are smoking .. the game Everquest has a
method by which you connect to a server and download patches before playing
the game .. this has been in existance for almost 4 years ,,, I am sure that
there are other games, such as DAOC, that operate the same way .. what is
the big deal?

welllll.... do you want to have to sign-up and pay a monthly
subscription fee to play online like the Everquest folks do? IMHO, it
looks like THAT'S truly what Valve is moving toward with "Steam". Just
check that link I posted to Valve's site, it says "The billing
policies for Steam can be found here [coming soon]."

If we(the gamers) go along with Valve on this, then ALL of the game
companies will employ this kind of program. Imagine it: your monthly
Doom 3 bill, your monthly Half Life 2 bill, your monthly UT bill,
etc... Gaming is gonna get veeeeeery expensive...

 

[@ndrew]

I am a little unclear what you guys are smoking .. the game Everquest has a
method by which you connect to a server and download patches before playing
the game .. this has been in existance for almost 4 years ,,, I am sure that
there are other games, such as DAOC, that operate the same way .. what is
the big deal?

welllll.... do you want to have to sign-up and pay a monthly
subscription fee to play online like the Everquest folks do? IMHO, it
looks like THAT'S truly what Valve is moving toward with "Steam". Just
check that link I posted to Valve's site, it says "The billing
policies for Steam can be found here [coming soon]."

If we(the gamers) go along with Valve on this, then ALL of the game
companies will employ this kind of program. Imagine it: your monthly
Doom 3 bill, your monthly Half Life 2 bill, your monthly UT bill,
etc... Gaming is gonna get veeeeeery expensive...

Yes ... unfortunately the way of the future ... get used to it or don't
play games .. interestingly I am locked into Everquest now and would not
play any other game because of my monthly outlay ... good thing I enjoy it.
regards
@ndrew

 

[Darthy]

Then this might be a new, trial method of preventing piracy.
So far, the technical theory sounds fine, but the public won't as likely
give in

I'm not impressed with it... but from my understanding, you ARE
supposed to DL the HL2 game TO YOUR COMPUTER... it says FREE COPY...
not free Steamed version.

 

[John]

I think it's Valve's way to suck as much money from you as they can. I read
that they are going to initally charge people who want to run a server. But
it's not hard to see them charging players down the track.

It's just greed. It's what happens when companies get too big. (eg.
Microsoft).

I hope Valve sink and go broke.

 

[Strontium]

And, also a nice way to let the offending jack-off know that their stupid
replies will not be seen, unless replied to.

-
Brad stood up at show-n-tell, in jCRDb.728579$6C4.702837@pd7tw1no, and said:

 

[Billy S]

LOL Like someone would GIVE a damn if a moron like Strontium doesn't
read their posts...

And he just can't stay out of my thread where he knows he'll read
replies to my posts...

 

[Billy S]

Yeah, it's kind of like a five year old on a playground who calls
another kid a name and then sticks his fingers in his ears and goes
"LA!LA!LA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

 

[Billy S]

I'm not impressed with it... but from my understanding, you ARE
supposed to DL the HL2 game TO YOUR COMPUTER... it says FREE COPY...
not free Steamed version.

Yeah, I've read a little more about it and I think you're right. You
do actually download it to your hard drive. HOWEVER, you can't
actually PLAY your downloaded copy unless you connect to Valve's Steam
site

Not only that, but it appears that even if you buy a retail CD copy of
HL2, once you play online THAT COPY TOO becomes "Steam enabled" and
can no longer be played without connecting to Valve's site Look at
this page:
http://www.steampowered.com/index.p...5505,27362300,1050915714,91503900&support=yes

It says "Note: some Steam-enabled single-player games (such as
Half-Life 2) purchased at a retail store will allow offline play until
the user decides to play online or enable other Steam functionality.
From that point on, an Internet connection will be required."

The real question is WHY is Valve trying to lock everyone into
connecting to their site and ONLY using their server browser. If you
look at the Steam site, they seem to be planning on charging a
subscription fee for online play at some point.