f13.net

In response to Vivendi's attempts to wrangle more retail sales and fewer Steam purchases for Half-Life 2, Valve has announced the Steam purchasing options, and a few very attractive incentives to buy over Steam instead of buying Vivendi's boxes, including getting to play CS:Source right away.

http://www.hlfallout.net/viewnews.php/7470/

From this point on, every day that Vivendi delays HL2 in an attempt to get a better deal is another batch of customers that slip through their fingers because they'd rather get CS:Source right now than wait for them to get their act together.

Owned.

Very crafty move on Valve's part. Nicely puts Vivendi in a hard spot as well as using some of their fears against them.

As mentioned elsewhere, though, I'd rather just wait a while and get the fucking DVD. I'm not a fan of DLing my software.  Plus I haven't ever had the problem of 'losing' my CDs that others seem to have had.  I imagine the less tradition-bound folks will eat it up.

For HL2, it's only a $5 difference between the Steam version and the box version, but I'm betting that difference will increase over time.

I suspect that given all the overhead of packaging and distribution, Vivendi's cut is more than $5 per box, which means Valve isn't passing all their savings on to the customer.  More power to them, but once other companies catch on and start doing the same thing, and more and more customers get broadband, competitive pricing will force that gap to widen.

Personally, I can't wait.  Vivendi today, the RIAA tomorrow.

Just start pre-loading HL2 now, saves the headache of getting it over steam that day. :)

I was a bit pissed over the collectors edition when it was announced, seemed like a waste of fucking money since nothing was really collectiable. This gold package though... AWESOME x 10.

According to Halflife2.net (http://www.halflife2.net) the ATI voucher will be good for the Bronze Steam package and you will be able to upgrade to Silver or Gold for more moolah.

Damn, dems some hard choices.

On one hand, the Gold Steam package looks really, really sweet.  I mean, you cant go wrong with every fucking game valve currently makes, plus a butload of goodies. It is likely to cost me an arm and a leg in Canadian dollars though (fucking ATi, no HL2 voucher with my AIW-Radeon 9800 pro, I got Morrowwind instead)

On the other hand, the Collectors edition (while still costing me an arm and a leg) gives me a DVD (yay for easy installation on my friends PC if i want to play there).  Also, being an owner of the HL1-Game-of-the-year edition, I already have access to their entire back library on steam (with the exception of origional CS, which I dont play anyhow and becomes redundant with CS:Source)

I fucking hate having to make decisions like that.

I'm thinking it will have to be the collectors edition for me, digital distribution is all fine an dandy but I want something I can hold in my hands. Looks like the only thing I will be missing out on is DoD but I've only played it once and never looked back anyway.

Well, aside from Single-player HL2, DoD:Source is my true primary interest in a Half-Life 2 purchase, and until it's available for download I think I can manage without.

Our good friends over at Penny Arcade have also commented on it (http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2004-09-29):

A nice analogy. The company responsible for selling the buckets you carry well water in would definitely object to tap water in homes.

(Notice my 1337 linking skills above, where I link to the persistent archive article instead of the fickle front page people post to when they are not thinking properly. Watch and learn, young padawan.)

No cheap DVD version? WTF.

Fuck Vivendi and fuck retail. The Silver package looks like it has all I need, should I actually believe my computer will play HL2. I liked PA's take on it... progress is indeed a bitch, especially when you do everything you can to hold up that progress for the sake of short term profits.

Although a nice idea I wasn't planning on buying over stream, that was before the asstardery from VUG.   Now I have the preload done and am eyeing the silver package at least.

Agreed.  I don't want all the frills, I'm not in to multi player shooters.  I want the single player game on one fucking disk, and thats it.  Is that too much to ask?

I can download 5 gigs in 1/2 a day on a good connection, and dvd-r's cost under a buck a piece.

I know which version I'd buy.

I do find it interesting that the DVD is only in the collector's edition.  Maybe they figure that only their high-end customers have DVD drives?  Or maybe they're just being asstards.

Do we get to download it directly or do we have to Torrent it?
1.3 Gigs on BitTorrent the other day took over 10 hours, on a file that had ~1000 seeds.

You download via Steam, which is Valve's own content distribution system.  I'm not sure if it has some sort of Torrent-like underpinnings, or if Valve just has absolutely sick bandwidth, but downloads are FAST.  If you tried Steam in its beta infancy and disagree, try it now.

The actual download speed doesn't even matter that much, though, because you can "pre-load" the content before you actually pay for it.  Everyone with a Steam account right now (which is free; all you pay for is the games) can choose to start pre-loading HL2.  It gets trickled in gradually and then sits, encrypted, on your hard drive.  Once the game is actually released and you pay for it, it's "unlocked" and you can start playing.  If there are changes to the game between your preload and release, your preload gets patched as needed.

Basically, it works exactly as it ought to work.  The instant the game is released, you can play it.  No waiting for shipping, no waiting for Best Buy to finally get it in stock (I had to go to FOUR FUCKING STORES TWICE EACH to buy Evil Genius because they were all too slow to get it in stock on release day), no looking for patches, even, because they've been loading on demand without you having to do anything.  Just fun.

Excuse me for my Valve fanboyishness, but I really do think they got this one right.  ;)

Seems like they'll be using steam, which I'm guessing is just a ftp front-end.

As far as bittorrent... while I sometimes get shitty speeds from very active torrents, I more often than not get great speeds.

You should make sure your bittorrent client is setup right, though.  Check that you have the bittorrent ports opened on any firewall you use.  Second, you should see if your bittorrent client lets you modify how many connections you can have.  For instance, I use BitComet which defaults to 40, but you can set it much higher.

Third, if you're using SP2 with winXP, you're being limited to a max of 10 TCP connections.  You can download a fix here: http://www.lvllord.de/

I'm one of those people who isn't happy unless they have a hardcopy.

Copying the steam cache files is sort of a halfassed way to have a "hardcopy" of a game bought on steam, and doesn't satisfy me.

Yet, the steam packages are so obviously a better value in terms of what you get. None of the retail packages offer you access to DOD:Source when it's released, so well, I'm sold already (nevermind I get the nagging feeling the mod community will release something way better than DOD eventually, thus making my purchase of DOD moot. Hell, with CoD:United Offensive, it already is).

Valve hired the guy who wrote Bittorrent.

I prefer a physical copy with a nice box, so its retail for me.  I simply don't trust Steam, ya know?

I know it's an instinctive thing rather than a rational thing, but I still can't resist asking - what is it that you don't trust about it?

We fear chains?

Which actually brings up an interesting question:

Are you going to have to download steam and register your game with it to play it online anyhow?

Im still not sure exactly how that particluar bit works.

The fact that it'll dump software on your machine behind your back? Or that you're agreeing to give it free reign in scanning your system for whatever it wants? Or that you won't be able to play single player HL2 without having your Internet connection turned on once you connect through Steam the first time? Basically it's a fricking piece of obnoxious spyware/DRM software in my book.

You haven't played CS 1.6 have you. They did so many good things with that version (besides the shield, but that's hardly used anymore anyway), the thing they did wrong was steam. Great concept, horrible execution. The launch of 1.6 was shit, and not surprising. If Valve didn't manage to prepare for the launch of a version of a 4 year old game, a version many people had already sworn they would not download and thus had fewer people than otherwise downloading it; how can people trust them to handle the release of the most anticipated game of all time (IMO)? That and the fact that steam has screwed me more times than I care to count makes sure that I will not be getting HL2 through steam.

I really don't understand valve. If it had been my company and I had been planning to use valve as a delivery system for purcases, I'd make damn sure NOTHING would go wrong. Oh well, missed opportunities seem to be par for the course in this industry.

A DVD will be in my game library next year. I don't put any faith into the life expectancy of any game developer, even good ones (Looking Glass, f'rinstance). This is a company that's released one total conversion to date and milked it since.

Perfect, exactly what Ive been looking for.  Ive got all my ports set, but I didn't know there was a workaround on the SP2 issue.

Thanks.

Q: (For Ive not followed HL2 in much depth) Are the mods for HL now going to cost? IE Once I buy HL2 Im going to have to pay for DoD and CS??

1) Steam has replaced WON, so if Valve dies and Steam goes down, you aren't going to be able to play online even if you do have a DVD.  Offline play works just fine, so your single player games will keep working if Steam (or your connection) goes away.

2) Any time you run an executable, it has free reign with your system.  Whether it comes on a DVD or it's downloaded makes no nevermind.  If you don't trust the publisher, don't run the program.

3) Like I said, if you tried Steam in its beta infancy and reject it based on that horrific experience, try it again.  CS 1.6 was the beta of Steam.  The beta is now over, and the bugs have been fixed, as software development should be.  Just ask all the people playing CS:Source right now via Steam.

4) It's no more DRM-heavy than that key on your shiny DVD jewel case.

Any others?


As for mods, the same rules apply.  CS and DoD are no longer free because Valve gave the developers lots of money for the rights.  Other mod developers can continue releasing their mods for free, and you can continue playing them for free.

Since getting Condition Zero with my x800 I've been playing a bit of CS:Source. Steam seems stable enough, hasn't crashed on my or given me any problems at all.

Preloaded HL2 earlier today for shits and giggles, took about one and a half hour.

Bitterness.

Sums up why I'm not about to change my purchase habits to help Valve, despite steam being rather reliable now-days (I still play CS). I am currently in the position where I would rather hand my money to the PUBLISHER. I figure I'll ride that feeling while it lasts, I don't count on it happening again. All I really want is CS: Source, the rest of it is not worth adding justification to the steam initiative.

Being bitter because a free beta had bugs is slightly irrational, but we're all entitled to a bit of irrational bitterness now and then.  I'm avoiding WoW for fairly irrational reasons, myself.

Next dumb question, will the retail version of HL2 cost more than the steam version + dod + cs? To be perfectly honest Im not paying extra to just play some CS and DoD.....lets hope some new fun mods come out.

Prices will be announced next week.  The rumor I heard is that the Steam version of HL/CS will cost $5 less than the retail version of the same thing.

$5 is not enough to not have media for the game. However, I want a DVD version that does not cost arm+leg.

Sorry, but that is not true.  Steam will not work without a connection to the internet.  You can not play a single player, or even a lan game with steam if there is no steam network, or if you have no internet connection.

That is my reason for not buying HL2, no offline support.

Actually I checked that after Samwise said that. Valve did add "offline" support (http://www.steampowered.com/index.php?area=faq&id=1064877693,65854000,1068249319,45974700&return=cybercafe) to Steam this year (around March I believe). However you need to be careful not to "logoff" Steam before disconnecting your Internet connection or else it won't work in offline mode for some inexplicible reason (contrary to what the FAQ says). And if you make the mistake of logging off and Steam crashes to next time you want to play you won't be able to play anything unless you knew to make a backup of your clientregistry.blob file while in offline mode (http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=213&p_created=1094245645&p_sid=qFz-1Vmh&p_lva&p_li=).

Got this (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=18834) off of the Inquirer.


Tom's Sellout Guide is reporting this (http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20041001_122659.html).

I didn't play the beta, I only played when 1.6 went official (mostly because I was warring alot then and it was no point polluting my skills with 1.6 when it wasn't out).

But yeah, fully half the reason I don't want to download it is because I don't feel the method has proved itself to me. Another part is that I don't feel I'll be getting a full game downloaded. What I'll get is a number of files that go into steam and I'll have to dick around to get them onto a DVD. I just don't feel confident in that system at all, I don't want my purchase to hinge on me either dicking around, or hoping they keep a record of my purchase nicely so I can redownload if needed.

I've had to install CS 1.6 at least 4 times. If I can't DL a .exe that I can D-Click to re-install (and burn on a DVD) then I'm not sure I want it from online.

Bitterness was the first thought though, and I think it would still be enough for me to forego the online version in and of itself. Losing games I won't play, spending a few extra dollars, and waiting a little longer is worth soothing the slightly irrational bitterness I have over 1.6 release.

But yeah... if they said "here, download this file and burn it on a DVD, we'll keep a record of you in the DB, but keep the file just incase" then I probably would have gone for it sans bitterness... but a bunch of files installed into steam cache through a steam-run download? No thank you.

Oddly enough, Steam (at least for me) seems to harken back to the old pure DOS days of fucking easy game moving.

My experience being that I recently got my new computer, and was basicly sitting on a completely new install of windows.  Wondering what would be the easiest way to get my Steam content from my old machine to my new machine, I simply did the following: Grab the entire Steam directory, copy it to my Games drive, and then run the Steam Executable.

That was it.  It contacted its servers, did a little update (I hadnt run Steam for a while), prompted me for my login info, and was off and running. Seems that everything you need to operate it is contained within that one directory and attendant subdirs.

Just copy the whole whack of shit to DVD, and copy it to target drive to "install".  Couldnt be much easier in my opinion.

As someone looking to move into the backwoods, where I'll be lucky to get a phone line, let alone broadband, Steam sounds more like Steaming Pile.

Steam, bittorrent, buying music downloads...all works great for the haves, kinda shitty for the have nots imo.

How long before an MMOG developer partners with Valve to deliver an MMOG over Steam? Paying Valve a cut would be a lot cheaper than sharing with a publisher.

Already done. Pirates of the Burning Sea (http://www.piratesoftheburningsea.com/).

Yarrrrrr, been followin' that game for near 2 years. Tis vaporware I see, no matter where delivery shall be.

Here's the Steam pricing. (http://pc.ign.com/articles/554/554651p1.html)

60 bucks for the version I want and I don't even get a fucking cd?  That sucks ass.

If it makes you feel better, you can buy the cheapest retail CD version, register it via Steam (heck, you won't even need to install from the six CDs, all you'll need is the key from the case), and then buy the rest over Steam.  That way you get all the software you want, and a nice CD to hang on your wall.

Half Life 2 ranks up there with Halo 2 on my 'everyone else gave a shit but I just can't' game-o-meter. You are all spooging yourself for this crap and I'm like 'whu whu whu whuuuuuuuut?'

I want to see 2 things: Deus Ex 1: Source and I'd like it if Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne shipped on time. Other than that - just more games on the shelves I may or may not play.

A Deus Ex remake on source would kick all kinds of ass

I'd like a Deus Ex remake too. Some people probably planned it too, but whether it'll see the light or not is a different thing. And oh, can I order the HL2 hat via Steam after registering the DVD version?

I'd be happy with just a Deus Ex redone so it actually works on one of my current computers. Short of that just hand me Counter-Strike done pretty. On a DVD. You can throw in HL2 if you feel like it.

Ditto and whatnot.

I put HL2 and UT2k-whatevernewversion on the same scale. I'll get them if I have the money, as they both do what they do better than anyone else. HL2 will be a worthy purchase just for the mods.

$70 for the Silver version without a CD is a bit... steep.

Im starting to agree too. Thinking that I may go trade in all the games I'm holding for HL2 for RTW instead.

And 60 bucks for HL2 DoD and CS? BITE ME.

BUT DOOM 3 KICKED TOTAL ASS BEST GAME EVER

Good for them! Distributors are teh evil! ;)  

This *should* mean that more money goes to where they belong, the developers. I'm not even a big fps fan but I had to buy the gold package just to support online distribution :)

Another beef I have with distributors, mostly regarding online games, is that they often force you to play where they want you to.

Take World of Warcraft for example. The distributor deal blizzard has made forces Euro players to play on Euro servers, Americans on US servers and so on. Some may like this but I prefer to meet&play with people from all over the world wherever I choose to do so.

Granted, Blizzard has said they will allow players to move between regional servers eventually, but I will believe that when I see it...

I hate Steam with passion and how Valve uses community’s good will to make money. I used to be avid CS/DoD player before they forced everyone to use Steam if they wanted to continue playing. I personally don't like how close Steam is to actually paying monthly subscription fees for software. Still I’m very tempted to play CS:S - I hope they will have a box for it so I can get around Steam.

Steam is more like giving you long straw so you can suck water directly out of the well from your house. Buckets are still more convenient and technology is still not there. When I can download and burn software and then use it offline and on any machine I want to then it will be progress, for now it is only up to proof of concept stage. Problem is that not where Valve wants to take Steam – their goal is to get MS’s crack pipe dream of distributed software and stable subscription fees going.

One concern I have with Steam, is that Valve might use the power of Half-Life 2 to force Steam on everyone, retail or Steam purchasers alike.  If I buy a retail box that contains HL2 and CS:S, and they later add HL2 multiplayer, will I have to buy the multiplayer addon?  Will it have to be delivered through Steam, even if I bought HL2 CD through retail?  Am I forced to buy HL1:S through Steam, or do I have to go buy another retail box?  I want the ability to choose Steam, because I see it as a better way to get the products i want.  I do not want to be forced.

All of that being said, I would love Steam to open the door for a catalog of older games to become available, at budget prices.  I am not happy that alot PC games have a window of a year or so(or less), before going out of print.  Not to mention, many leave the shelves for good, before hitting a reduced price-point.

Steam has replaced WON, so no matter what, if you play HL2 or CS:S online, you'll be using Steam.  IT BURNS!

sinij, can you explain exactly how Steam exploits goodwill to steal money from consumers?  I remember something about "STEAM WAS MADE BY HITLER AND VALVE IS RUN BY ROBOTS" on the Natural Selection forum back when Steam came out, but never paid it much mind.  I for one welcome our new robot overlords.

They took existing product (HL1+mods) that most people purchased at some point and forced its users to beta-test new and buggy product  (Steam) that had nothing to do with original product. That and they used community to host clear majority of the initial Steam’s downloads. That and they still actively go after alternative HL1+mods matchmaking services so people have no ready alternatives to using Steam.

I have not played any form of Half-Life/CS online for years(and when I did, I was using WON), so forgive this question:  As big as Gamespy is in the FPS/matchmaking arena, is there no Half-Life 1 support in Gamespy?

I'd rather play over steam than gamespy arcade.

How did they force the users to beta-test the new product?  Did they send threatening letters to server operators telling them they had to switch over to Steam?

Did they charge money for any of this?  I sure didn't have to pay any money to register my old games over Steam.  In fact, during the beta, you didn't even have to have a pre-existing copy of Half-Life, so anyone could play for free.

If I recall right, the community volunteered to host downloads to make things easier - Valve didn't hold them at gunpoint.  Should they have refused and insisted that all downloads trickle through FilePlanet?  Did Valve charge the community members money for the privilege of hosting downloads?  Still not seeing the evil money-making scheme here.

As for matchmaking services... how exactly does Valve suck money from their customers by switching their matchmaking service from WON.net to Steam?  As previously mentioned, I sure didn't have to pay any money to move Half-Life over to Steam.

I ask again: where does the "using goodwill to make money" come in?  For any of these atrocities you list (oh no, they upgraded their multiplayer support and let us beta test it for free!)  to qualify as Valve making money, MONEY HAS TO CHANGE HANDS.  You get that, right?

They turned off Won.  It was either Steam, or enjoy single player....

If I recall correctly, they didn't turn off WON until after Steam had passed all its tests, gotten out of beta, and was in all ways a suitable replacement for WON.

And they still at no time made anyone pay for anything extra to keep playing their purchased games.  Correct?  So I'm still not seeing the whole evil moneygrubbing angle.  All I'm seeing is free upgrades and support more than five years after the product's initial release.

Edit: GOLD.

November 16th. About fucking time.

Deus Ex (not the awful sequel) is one of my favourite games and had resurrected my faith in the gaming industry (only to be pommeled relentlessly with the crap that's being excreted now).

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines looks as close to a Deus Ex (1) remake for the SOURCE engine.  I'm not really into Vampires and chicks with over-priced "goth-gear" but the gameplay I've seen looks to be very similar to Warren's magnum opus.  That's going to be interesting to see when it's shipped.

Doom 3 went gold and was released a few months back.

Why the fuck do I have to remind people of this. IT'S THE SLEEPER SHOOTERS THAT SHOCK AND AWE, THE SLEEPER SHOOTERS!

The only thing that makes me happy about this is that Vampire: Bloodlines can finally be shipped. Wooha!

STALKER (www.stalker-game.com) might be the next sleeper shooter.  Semi-RPGish/Morrowind-ish in a modern FPS world.  Based loosely on The 1979 Russian movie by the same name, it will almost certainly have a sci-fi/fantasy twist.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R is a sleeper now? It's being pimped quite vivedly over here. I was a bit upset when they cut co-op out of it though.

Still waiting on Call of Cthulhu (http://www.callofcthulhu.com/).

Stalker is actually based on the movie? Hmmm...I'll believe that when I see it. They may SAY THAT but there's just no way.

True, STALKER has been pimped alot, over time.  But I don't think alot of people have caught on to the potential unique gameplay it might end up having.  Strangely enough, at one point, the devs did not even seem to have a firm grasp on how to get the gameplay to work.

And it is supposedly based loosely(keyword: loosely) on the movie.  I think that this aspect is fairly guarded, due to wanting to keep the game's story fresh.  I hope that means that the game possibly plays a bit different each time it is played through completely.  They have also gone to great lengths to recreate some of the looks that the film had.  Hopefully I am not reading to much into things said in the past.

I don't dare get my hopes up.  It could be really awesome, or it could crash and burn spectacularly.

I keep myself in a "This game will suck more than Enter the Matrix"-mode in order to keep my hopes from being crushed. I could way too easily fall into fanboihood over anything Cthulhu-related.

Ok, so I'm a sucker for having the original box, documentation and all the other goodies that come from a retail product - I collect them.  But here I am faced with the Collector's edition that comes on a DVD, unfortunately, I don't have a DVD-ROM drive.  So if I want to get a boxed copy not only do I have to spend $80 on the game itself, but I've got to buy a DVD drive.  Fortunately, those can be had for around $25-35 dollars now.

So do I feed my desire for boxed originals or go with the Steam version?  What are you all planning on doing?

Edit:

Soukyan brings up a good point that Vampire: Bloodlines can now be shipped - that was something that I hadn't thought of, so this news is twice as good.  Is Vampires: Bloodlines even finished?  I haven't been keeping up on its development.

I'm buying the box when it hits store shelves. I may preorder to get the silver version. The only way I'll get the $90 one is if the hat is really really fucking cool.

I actually wouldn't even get the game if I could find my original Half Life 1 key. Found the cd, just need to find the manual.

Meh, I'd like to play through HL1 with the source engine though. I really hated the original engine. It ruined all the great multiplayer mods that came out for it for me.

...

Vampire: Bloodlines comes out the same day as Halo 2. Now that's a pain in the ass. I was looking forward to playing Halo 2 MP with the guys at the office and now that I know Bloodlines is coming out, I'm unhappy....to say the least.

New Vampire: Bloodlines trailer available (http://files4.worthplaying.com/vampirethemasquerade/vampblood_tr1019.zip). I'm looking more forward to this game every day.