• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Half Life 2 Retail :(

J

jakershaker

Member
Soooo I was pretty excited when we got our shipment of Half Life 2 today...the release here in Sweden is the 16th Nov so I thought I could finish the game this weekend but noooooooooo...Valve decides to let everything go through ******* steam and the Dvd is just the pre cached steam hl2 files...this sucks bigtime...

No manual in the box too...just a dvd and a keycode...
 
element

element

Member
jakershaker said:
Soooo I was pretty excited when we got our shipment of Half Life 2 today...the release here in Sweden is the 16th Nov so I thought I could finish the game this weekend but noooooooooo...Valve decides to let everything go through ******* steam and the Dvd is just the pre cached steam hl2 files...this sucks bigtime...

No manual in the box too...just a dvd and a keycode...
Click to expand...
what did you expect? they already said that people are getting copies, but unable to play it since the game has to call home.
 
K

Kiriku

SWEDISH PERFECTION
jakershaker said:
Soooo I was pretty excited when we got our shipment of Half Life 2 today...the release here in Sweden is the 16th Nov so I thought I could finish the game this weekend but noooooooooo...Valve decides to let everything go through ******* steam and the Dvd is just the pre cached steam hl2 files...this sucks bigtime...

No manual in the box too...just a dvd and a keycode...
Click to expand...

No manual? That's kinda sucky.
 
F

firex

Member
valve is so pushing steam with this game, and I would be cynical and say it's an annoying way to foist their content delivery system on us, but quite frankly now that they've ironed out the problems from steam's launch, I couldn't be happier.

I think the manual they're going to include with the game is going to be some kind of expansive .pdf or .html thing also gotten from steam, but it's not like I'm a valve insider to know for sure. just call it a hunch.
 
J

jakershaker

Member
Customers Screwed
Vivendi Screwed
Valve Happy(gets to promote their own online service and practically says that they're not going to release any more 'retail games' just disc with precached files for those too lazy to dl)

*edit*
uh and a pdf file is not a manual, i'm not going to read it on my screen i want to have it on my desk when i play the game...
 
J

jakershaker

Member
Ferrio said:
I don't see how the customers are screwed. I think Steam rocks.
Click to expand...

How about everyone who just want to buy a game in the store and go home and play it? Steam is an extra step that wouldn't be neccessary if Valve didn't want to make extra money from it. So every customer that wants to buy real 'retail games' are pretty much screwed.
 
F

Ferrio

Banned
jakershaker said:
How about everyone who just want to buy a game in the store and go home and play it? Steam is an extra step that wouldn't be neccessary if Valve didn't want to make extra money from it. So every customer that wants to buy real 'retail games' are pretty much screwed.
Click to expand...


So you're screwed cause your retailer broke the retail date and you got it early and should be allowed to play it before everyonce else?
 
M

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
So is it even possible to play the game if you're not online? Believe it or not, there will be people out there with a computer powerful enough to play HL2 who aren't online (for whatever reason).
 
F

Ferrio

Banned
Mama Smurf said:
So is it even possible to play the game if you're not online? Believe it or not, there will be people out there with a computer powerful enough to play HL2 who aren't online (for whatever reason).
Click to expand...


You know there's also people out there with shitty computers and great connections that really want to play HL2. VALVE WHY MUST YOU FUCK OVER YOUR CUSTOMERS.
 
N

neptunes

Member
It's means of preventing piracy, just like many other obtrusive applications that ship with other pc games. (ToCA 2 comes to mind)

Just wait 4 days dammit!
 
G

GrandPipe

Member
jakershaker said:
Customers Screwed
Vivendi Screwed
Valve Happy(gets to promote their own online service and practically says that they're not going to release any more 'retail games' just disc with precached files for those too lazy to dl)

*edit*
uh and a pdf file is not a manual, i'm not going to read it on my screen i want to have it on my desk when i play the game...
Click to expand...
How old are you? 12 years old? Crying of this magnitude only comes from those dealing with puberty.
 
J

jakershaker

Member
Ferrio said:
So you're screwed cause your retailer broke the retail date and you got it early and should be allowed to play it before everyonce else?
Click to expand...

Yeah that too. :lol

Whats the point working in a gamestore if you can't play the games a little bit early.
Still the first point is valid, no manual and so on = a lot of complaints...
 
J

jakershaker

Member
GrandPipe said:
How old are you? 12 years old? Crying of this magnitude only comes from those dealing with puberty.
Click to expand...

Maybe if you learned how to read first? Start with the post at the top of the page I promise you have a clue that I'm not 12 :lol
 
M

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
I see what you're saying, but it's still a pretty shitty thing for Valve to do to those people. It's a standard, long established thing for people to have to update their computers if they want to play the latest games. It's accepted. Not so for having to be online to play an offline game.

Anyway, it hopefully won't be a problem and some time in the not too distant future a version will be released which doesn't require an internet connection.
 
J

jakershaker

Member
element said:
probably has a similar setup to Windows XP Activation, at least one would think
Click to expand...

Yeah but it seems like the game downloaded some files too so maybe the publisher in each country can send out discs with the missing files?
 
G

GSG Flash

Nobody ruins my family vacation but me...and maybe the boy!
GrandPipe said:
How old are you? 12 years old? Crying of this magnitude only comes from those dealing with puberty.
Click to expand...

What's so bad about reading a game's manual while playing the game, I would find it more convenient than to alt-tab every single time I want to know what key to press or something.

Oh and *cough*juniormember*cough*
 
M

Mr_Furious

Member
MOTHERFUCKER!!?!??#!?$?$!?$?!?!$?!$?!$

I'm not online at home and haven't been for a while so no sale for me!

JEEZUSFUCKINKRIST, VALVE AND THEIR FUCKING BULLSHIT! FUCK THEM AND THEIR FUCKING HALF-LIFE2 AND THEIR FUCKING STEAM!!#$!##!!!#!$!$!$!!#!#

Yes, I'm just a little pissed I won't be able to play HL2 now, incase you didn't notice!
 
B

Bristow

Banned
I'm not buying it because of Steam. While I have an internet connection, I find it stupid that people who actually paid for the game are incapable of playing due to Valve not activating it. They even made a comment saying how they would put it up early if stores broke the street date. Just another lie I guess.

I'll pick it up later down the road when Steam is dead or they've released a patch allowing you to play without connecting to that pos.
 
G

GSG Flash

Nobody ruins my family vacation but me...and maybe the boy!
Wait, I won't have to download anything off steam when I get the game, will I? I hate steam, it's a memory hogger on my pc.
 
M

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, Valve's handling of Half-Life 2 is complete and total bullshit. Anybody who says otherwise is just an apologist.


But that won't stop me from playing it (though it probably won't be till Christmas).
 
V

Vandiger

Member
I think its more like when activating winXP where you have to connect to the internet once and then "activate" the software to play off-line and such :p although You have to also create a Steam account as well which kinda sucks. No printed manual for retail version is fucking miserly.
 
Z

Zilch

Banned
MetatronM said:
Yeah, Valve's handling of Half-Life 2 is complete and total bullshit. Anybody who says otherwise is just an apologist.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what people have a problem with. The one-time internet connection to register the game with Steam? The lack of a manual? The fact that you can't pirate it?
 
M

Mr_Furious

Member
neptunes said:
PUT UP OR SHUT UP



plus, I'm sure there will be other means of playing the single player mode offline. ;)
Click to expand...
FUCK NO!

So I'll have to resort to piracy to play HL2 "offline"? I thought that's what Steam is supposed to prevent ;)
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
No, you do not need to be online to play single player, only to download, update, or authenticate a copy.
 
M

Mr_Furious

Member
Hitokage said:
No, you do not need to be online to play single player, only to download, update, or authenticate a copy.
Click to expand...
No one said you had to be online to play, just to authenticate it, which is the problem in my case because I have no internet access AT ALL at home where I would be playing.
 
S

snapty00

Banned
If they are really so intent on cutting down on piracy, then they need to move from the PC to just about nearly any other platform. Sure, other platforms have piracy, but at least the utilities for copying data aren't built right into the system.
 
E

epmode

Member
Coop said:
IIRC the first couple weeks you will need internet access to play it, but after that you wont.
Click to expand...
i read the same thing, but how on earth could that be possible? all off-the-shelf copies are programmed to look to valve for authentication before they are unlocked.. if valve somehow disables this requirement, how will your computer know without internet access?
 
dream

dream

Member
I think you have to authenticate on the machine you'll be playing on, so I don't think authenticating at work would help.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but the new Steam update provides an option for backing up downloaded files. I can't imagine they'd be dumb enough to tie those files to your machine rather than your Steam account.
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
dream said:
Yeah, but the new Steam update provides an option for backing up downloaded files. I can't imagine they'd be dumb enough to tie those files to your machine rather than your Steam account.
Click to expand...
They aren't.
 
O

Oni Jazar

Member
Damn there's a lot of crybabies. Buy a modem you bastards. God forbid a company should try and circumvent the middleman (publishers).
 
P

puck1337

Member
I mean, it might be nice to have a manual, but would you use it? Isn't that what most games have training levels for?
 
M

Mr_Furious

Member
Oni Jazar said:
Damn there's a lot of crybabies. Buy a modem you bastards. God forbid a company should try and circumvent the middleman (publishers).
Click to expand...
You buy me a fucking modem. Valve was quite successful using the "middleman" in the past so why try to fuck them here. It is possible for companies to have a good relationship with their publishers. Valve is saying 'fuck you' to me for not registering through Steam, an online service, to play an offline game.

puck1337 said:
I mean, it might be nice to have a manual, but would you use it? Isn't that what most games have training levels for?
Click to expand...
Well Valve sure isn't passing on that 'savings' to the consumers now are they.

Valve's being greedy and that's all there is to it and for that I'm not buying their game. I may be the only one but I don't care. Eventually HL2 may see the light of day on a console so I'll just be a patient gamer and wait till then. It's not like there isn't other games to play.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Half-Life 2: PHP - The Forgotten Half-Life Game! Full Walkthrough
Retro Trailer
6
2K
Kupfer replied
Half Life 25th Anniversary Update: Game gets new mini-campaign, 100% off until November 20, Now Steam Deck Verified (Documentary Released)
News Platform 2
58
5K
Thick Thighs Save Lives replied
Half-Life 2: VR Mod - Episode One — Announcement Trailer
Trailer VR
35
3K
CGNoire replied
Half-Life 2 Mod Turns It Into a Resident Evil-Style Horror Game
Trailer Indie
1
1K
k_trout replied
Valve approves Half Life 2 VR mod - launches 2022 on Steam
2
75
8K
ResilientBanana replied
Top Bottom