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Half Life 2 To Be DVD Only In UK

Posted by Zonk on from the upgrade-to-access-headcrabs-plz dept.

Thanks to Halflife2.net, who today recieved word from game retailers that, at least in the UK, Half Life 2 will only be available via DVD. This is evidently becoming common for US games in Europe, as FarCry was not released on CD in Europe either.

7 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. Load time? by justkarl · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Does anybody know if it takes longer for a DVD drive to find the data on a disc? Would this make for a long load time, I wonder?

    1. Re:Load time? by Ayaress · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't know about Halflife 2 yet, but a lot of games I have install the bulk of the data to the hard drive, and only leave things like movies and background music on the CD. They requie the CD in the drive more as copy protection than data. If that's the case with Halflife 2, it probably won't seriously effect things for better or worse.

  2. It's about time. by badfrog · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's taken way too long for this to happen, and there should be so many more games with at least the choice of DVD-ROM format.
    A DVD-ROM drive is only $30 or less, someone with the hardware to play a modern game has no excuse to not have the drive.

  3. Re:Kind of annoying, but... by SnAzBaZ · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Anyone with the modern hardware required to run games like HL2/Farcry is almost certainly going to have at least a DVDROM drive, the cost of which is nothing compared to the rest of the system. (£10-£15?).

  4. I wish they would do the same in The States by GR1NCH · · Score: 2, Insightful

    At the least they should make games more readily available on DVD in the states. The only game that I've even seen DVD copies of in the store was the Myst sequal Uru. Most people have DVD's on their computers now, and hardly any new games fit on one CD. Why the wait? Does it cost too much more to put them on DVD instead of CD? Or is it just that putting the game out in both formats is expensive?

  5. Re:Kind of annoying, but... by Rico_Suave · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You have lame friends :) I'm not directing this at you, but a lot of people seem to have an unfounded dislike of DVD-ROM drives. They'll complain and moan about having to buy a $20 DVD-ROM drive (there are five for under $20 on pricegrabber right now), yet won't bat an eye at buying a $300 video card every year. Even DVD *burners* are dirt cheap now - if you've shelled out the cash for a system capable of playing Half Life 2 or Doom 3, there's no reason not to have a DVD drive as well.

  6. Re:Come down in price? by bigman2003 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Are you a compulsive spender, or are you a compulsive drinker?

    --
    No reason to lie.