ATI Appease Gamers Over Half-Life 2 Bundle

Thanks to Ferrago for their story pointing out that ATI are giving a 'Valve Premier Pack' to all those buying Half Life-2 bundled Radeon graphics cards, since the included voucher for Half-Life 2 in selected ATI bundles may be awaiting collection for some time. According to the article: "In activating their product key via the [Steam] content delivery system (but only before Half-Life 2 is made available) players will then receive the following titles which comprise the pack: Half-Life, Counter Strike, Team Fortress Classic, Deathmatch Classic, Half-Life: Opposing Force and Ricochet", and more information is available on the ATI site.

Comments

So...

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this a real copy of the games, or a Steam-powered rental?

Re:So...

[Anonymous Coward]

you see? YOU SEE?
the deal is tOOO COMPLICATED for gamerz.

Re:So...

[PainKilleR-CE]

It doesn't state whether it's a 'rental' or you will still be able to play the game after HL2 is released. However, it seems that it's the full game, though it will be the Steam version rather than the standard retail version.

Ugh

[moonbender]

Great. So you'll get Half-Life 1 as a free bundle. A game everyone who is even remotely interested in FPS has already played to death. That certainly includes everyone who is willing to pay the premium price for a newly introduced graphics card. And what's more, the games' engine is by now so outdated, you might as well use Minesweeper to test your new graphics card's abilities.

Re:Ugh

[rylin]

Of course, some people have gotten HL to run on the hl2 engine afaik. I'm sure it wasn't too hard, so Valve might do something like it as well, and possibly touch up the textures a wee bit..

Re:Ugh

[captainktainer]

Ehh, not *quite* everyone. I'm an active Halo player, have played a lot of Quake and Quake 2, Ghost Recon, and Medal of Honor. Haven't played Half-Life... come to think of it, from what I've seen of Counter-Strike and Half-Life, I'm not interested in playing it.

I will agree that the deal kinda sucks, though.

Re:Ugh

[Babbster]

Would you rather they give you something newer, like maybe Postal 2? Because that's about the kind of game you could expect to get free with a video card that's already going to give you Half-Life 2. Not to mention the fact that there aren't that many games that are going to test a new graphics card's capabilities until Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 come out.

ATI and Valve are trying to make the best out of a bad situation. The gaming community would piss and moan for months, maybe years, if Half-Life 2 went gold in a beta form, so the delay has to happen. I think the fact that they're giving away ANYTHING extra to compensate for the HL2 wait is a good deal and shouldn't be the subject of any negativity. Anyone who would buy one of the new ATI XT cards is almost guaranteed to be a customer for Half-Life 2 (assuming they would buy instead of steal), so despite the wait the bundle was already a fantastic deal and now has a little extra bonus.

Re: not likely

[Anonymous Coward]

That's a grossly optimistic point of view. Why would they bother?

that is stupid.

[fireduck]

all of that is available now to steam users, which is anyone who owns HL. (and seeing as how one could probably find a copy of HL in the $20 or less range, I fail to see how spending $400 on a video card makes this a good deal...)

granted, ATI is kinda stuck, but they made the deal, soo...

Re:that is stupid.

[anon*127.0.0.1]

I don't think it's all that stupid. ATI/Valve are just tossing more free stuff at the people who bought a new ATI card. Granted, most of them probably already have HL, but it's not like they're paying more for this bundle. It's just a way to keep the customers from complaining quite so much.

Here's my question. I bought my Radeon 9700 at Quakecon 2002, and it was supposed to come with a copy of Doom 3 when that game gets released. So, where's my free copies of Doom and Doom 2? Huh?

Re:that is stupid.

[realdpk]

$200 video card (9600XT). You get a $50 game free, plus a pack of cheap games to tide you over until that $50 game is ready.

That's a damn good deal. Plus you get a great value card.

Re:that is stupid.

[aldoman]

So damn true.

ATi really know what gamers want. The card is excellent, they have some of the best support ever (did you know every faulty 9600+ ATI card is checked completly when you RMA it?), ATI knows where it's at.

On the other hand, you have nVidia with the stupid FX5950. 2-5% performance increase, 20% price increase. Can you say brain dead?

Re:that is stupid.

[Anonymous Coward]

(did you know every faulty 9600+ ATI card is checked completly when you RMA it?)

I'd have been happier if they checked them completely before "selling" them. Stupid ati junk, back to the store... AGAIN.

one (almost) good thing about the bundle...

[baneblackblade]

well, I don't think anyone will have any trouble activating it before HL2 comes out. I mean, its not like we're actually going to see the completed game until 2005.

Get Half-Life 1 while waiting for Half-Life 2?

[MMaestro]

Lemme get this straight:

1. Make uber video card
2. Bundle with Half-Life 2 'coupon' to get Half-Life 1 fans
3. Give free copy of Half-Life 1 to the same fans who already have Half-Life 1, until Half-Life 2 comes out.
4. ?
5. Profit!

Huh? Why complain about getting free stuff?

[sbszine]

I can't believe people are complaining about this. ATI sold gamers a card plus an HL2 voucher. Through no fault of ATI's, HL2 got delayed. If anyone can be blamed for the delay, it's the criminals who cracked Valve's network and the rocket scientists in their IT dept who thought that Outlook was a secure mail client.

I would imagine, at this point, that ATI has no legal obligation to give gamers anything more: the video card works, and the voucher can still be redeemed when HL2 comes out. The bunch of old games for free is a nice gesture from ATI... so why the complaints?

Know what?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm with you 99%.

Ummm... So What?

[illumina us]

is it just me, or is anyone who is actually going to buy a new Radeon already owns all of those titles and probably would have bought half-life 2 (not to mention already has a build) anyway. Now the HL2 bundle is nice, but what's the point of bundling the other HL games? Most everyone already owns them!