Valve makes HL:Ep1 owners buy it again if they want Portal, TF2, and Ep2

[Strazos]

With a phonebill larger than God.

Your God must be small and weak.

[Azazel]

Indeed, but that DID used to be me about a year ago.

One of the reasons that Steam, for me, was a pile of rat shite when it first went in.

Nowadays with a big activation I let it run overnight.  Back in those days I had to let it run a week.  With a phonebill larger than God.

You guys still have timed local calls? I read/heard about that somewhere, but it sort of drifted out of my active knowledge.

[eldaec]

Indeed, but that DID used to be me about a year ago.

One of the reasons that Steam, for me, was a pile of rat shite when it first went in.

Nowadays with a big activation I let it run overnight.  Back in those days I had to let it run a week.  With a phonebill larger than God.

You guys still have timed local calls? I read/heard about that somewhere, but it sort of drifted out of my active knowledge.

Depends your phone company and package.

I still have timed local calls, because it reduces the standing charge and I basically never call to or from a landline, and only maintain it because it's necessary for my DSL.

[Azazel]

Are the Half-Life 2 episodes standalone, or do you need HL2 to play/run them and the shit they come with?

I'm thinking of getting an extra copy of Ep2 on my bare-bones Steam account just for MP TF:S goodness.

[Big Gulp]

You guys still have timed local calls? I read/heard about that somewhere, but it sort of drifted out of my active knowledge.

I remember back in the early/mid 90's when I was stationed in Germany I'd keep an egg timer by my phone and follow it scrupulously.  Didn't matter who I was on the phone with, if the egg timer said it was time to hang up, so long sucka.  Throughout my entire life I'd never even imagined getting charged for local calls.

Deutsch Telecom absolutely sucked back then.  They very well still might.

[eldaec]

Are the Half-Life 2 episodes standalone, or do you need HL2 to play/run them and the shit they come with?

I'm thinking of getting an extra copy of Ep2 on my bare-bones Steam account just for MP TF:S goodness.

Standalone.

Steam used to offer all sorts of different packages featuring different combinations of add ons or mods, it may still do that.

[caladein]

Steam used to offer all sorts of different packages featuring different combinations of add ons or mods, it may still do that.

Yes they still do. Just go to whichever game you're looking at buying (say, Ep1) and it'll list all the myriad of packs it is contained in.

Tip: HL2+Ep1 ($25 US) + Source MP Pack (DoD:S and CS:S, $30) is cheaper then their fancy Premier Pack ($60) if you don't care about the HL: Source stuff. And, if you don't care for DoD:S (shame on you), just go for their Holiday 06 ($50) pack... which is still available for some reason.

[Der Helm]

Deutsch Telecom absolutely sucked back then.  They very well still might.

Yes they do, thats why I picked a local provider.