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Half-Life 2 Retail to Require Steam Activation

Posted by Zonk on from the open-the-gasket-to-let-out-the-good-stuff dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In a recent Gamespy interview with Doug Lambardi it was revealed that the retail version of Half-Life 2 will require product activation. This isn't just restricted to multiplayer, you will have to create a Steam account and activate your retail purchase before you can even run single-player. "

13 of 265 comments (clear)

  1. Team Fortress 2? by avalys · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Q. What's the latest status on Team Fortress 2?

    Doug Lombardi: After we announced TF2 on the HL1 tech, we made the decision to move it to the Source engine. It is still in development and we will be announcing more on that title soon."

    Don't bother, no one cares any more. You blew it.

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    1. Re:Team Fortress 2? by supabeast! · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Agreed. I might have cared about TF2 before the online gaming world had moved to CS, but at this point it would just be another weird mod that pisses me off...

  2. Glad to see... by Godeke · · Score: 5, Insightful

    that they have given me an excuse to not purchase the game. I use my machine for programming, with a bit of light gaming on the side. I'm not interested in Steam (I get my rear end handed to me in multiplay) and if I have to sell my machine's soul to their marketing drones, well they can take their delayed, litigated and now "strings attached" game and shove it.

    Sad really, reviews are high and I loved the first one. I guess I will be more productive next month than I expected.

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    Sig under construction since 1998.
    1. Re:Glad to see... by cjpez · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I dunno, I don't think it's that minor. They've done a couple of things here which violate a couple of things I feel are integral to a single-player game. First off, a single player game just shouldn't have to talk to the internet. Suppose I didn't have a connection where I was. Suppose I just moved and my connection's not installed yet. Suppose I have restrictive firewall settings on that I don't want to have to bypass just to play a game against the computer. It's just unacceptable.

      The second, and to me more annoying thnig, is that they've just made it impossible to install and play the game once they go belly-up. As soon as Steam stops becoming available, nobody can play the game on a new installation without hacking it. That's just ridiculous. I still pull out old DOS games from when I was a dorkling in junior high, and I expect them to just install and WORK (well, provided the DOS emulators are up to snuff, anyway). Would they do so if they had to dial up and talk to some server from the 80s that doesn't exist anymore? No, they wouldn't.

      All in all, a horrible decision. I was so excited about this game, too.

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      Al Qaeda has ninjas!
    2. Re:Glad to see... by cjpez · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Right, obviously if you either go to the trouble of hacking it yourself, or just wait a few hours for the inevitable Clever Hacker to do it for you, then you're good to go. The thing is that I shouldn't have to resort to methods which can probably be construed as illegal by our lovely judicial system just to play a game I purchased against my own computer.

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      Al Qaeda has ninjas!
    3. Re:Glad to see... by igrp · · Score: 3, Insightful
      It's minor. A very minor thing and yet people act like Valve is asking for the their first born child!

      It very well may be minor but it's still an annoyance. I can understand their desire to protect their IP, especially after their ridiculous security policies have resulted in several breaches.

      But this will simply not prevent determined people from pirating or leaking the game. It will, however, inconvenience those people who buy a legitimate copy of the game.

      I guess the old "some people don't have Internet/broadband/whatever access" argument doesn't hold a lot of water anymore, especially with regard to the intended HL2 audience. But the fact remains that some people simply don't want to forced to active their software because they're opposed to the idea of having to give out private information in general, or just don't want to be bothered or simply find the whole concept of treating a paying customer like a criminal unless he or she proves otherwise iniquitous.

      Yes, I suppose you could give Valve fake information. But I why am I supposed to give them any personal information in the first place? Compare it to Windows XP. Microsoft's product activation scheme hasn't prevented one determined individual from pirating their software. Sure, it has raised the bar so-to-speak for some "casual, wannabe software pirates" (which was probably what they were trying to do). They also managed to piss off millions of legitimate users in the process.

      I sure hope they put a big fat red warning sticker on the boxes. Hardcore gamers will still want to play HL2, even if they have to give their firstborn to Valve (and that probably goes for a lot of not-so-hardcore gamers, too). But that way, people at least have a choice and don't have to find out the hard way (ie. after installing the game) that they can't play the game they just purchased without Valve's blessing.

    4. Re:Glad to see... by thrash242 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't condone downloading illegal copies of games, but I do agree that anything more than inserting the CD(s) and entering a CD code is too invasive. Particularly for singleplayer.

      Most games I have played aren't bad. At the worst, for some games you have to set up an account, but most games just require a CD code and you're ready to play.

      Singleplayer, however, should not require internet access at all. This is ridiculous, and I may just not get HL2 because of it.

      However, that means I will do without it rather than downloading it. Unlike many people, I learned that you either pay for something or do without. Getting games is not a right.

  3. Well, another game I won't be buying. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If I'm going to be treated like a copyright infringer, I'll just wait for the crack.

  4. I have cancalled my Amazon order... by thesp · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...I urge others to do the same. If we, the consumers, keep on permitting u-turns by companies, and cheerfully accepting them, it will only encourage this culture of mendacity that is more prevalent each day in this world.

    1. Re:I have cancalled my Amazon order... by sgant · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I have a 12 year old and I can tell you, he isn't interested in HL2 at all. He's like...what's that?

      But anyway, I love how people all of a sudden turn on a company and to the old "sold out" routine that is as old as the hills. Of course they care about cash, but from everything I've seen, they care about the quality of their game. I've heard great things about this game, but bottom line, if it isn't good, it isn't good and they will NOT rake in the cash.

      Word get's out now. Not everyone is lumped into the "dipshit" masses any longer. There is too much competition out there to just release a crappy game and hope people will buy it just because of the name. Look at Doom3, it was an "ok" game, but it's certainly not breaking sales records across the world.

      Having everyone install Steam does give them some control...control that you can buy directly from them and also update the games as a patch comes out. I see as being helpfull and easy.

      But hey, they don't have control over my computer. No one does. If in the future they want to get into a pay-per-use model, I'll leave. It's no big deal. It's not like it's spy-ware that you can't get off your computer.

      I don't see it as a big deal, but I guess others do. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months.

      --

      "Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
  5. Re:OK, so... by dougmc · · Score: 5, Insightful
    What is an acceptable way for companies to deal with piracy then?
    You need a list? Ok then ...

    Acceptable forms of copy protection :

    Ignore it. That's certainly acceptable, and works well for many game developers and publishers.

    Add extras in the box that add value. Cloth maps, figurines, trading cards, etc.

    Make a complex game that requires lots of documentation, and include it in a printed book.

    Make an awesome multi-user component that requires logging into a server with a unique CD key to play online. It must be something that needs to use the Internet already, however (like a multi-user component would.)

    Include the phrase: Please don't copy this game illegally.

    Barely acceptable methods include :

    Require use of that CD key to download patches and updates.

    Having a unique CD key for each copy of the game.

    Include copy protection methods that make it hard to copy, or make copies not work -- Safedisk, bad sectors, etc. These aren't very effective, but as long as they don't cause problems for legitimate users, they're acceptible -- barely.

    Require that the CD be in the drive while playing the game. We don't like this, but we generally tolerate it if there's no other problems.

    Hidden registry keys to keep track of previous installations and such.

    Utterly unaccecptable forms of copy protection for a game :

    Contacting the Internet (or requiring that you call up a phone number to get a code) for a single player game

    Dongles (and other hardware keys.)

    `Please enter the third word of page 25 now.' (or other sorts of code wheels, books, etc.)

    Writing to the boot sector or other `off limits' part of the disk. (Turbo Tax did this recently.)

    Installing Spyware that reports back to the publisher.

    Programs that look for `cheating' or `cracking' programs on your disk and either refuse to run the game if found, or (worse) remove/break the offending programs. (EQ has done this, as and several programs refuse to work if programs like Daemon Tools or even Nero are even installed.)

    Protections that damage the system if they feel they're being messed with (recent example: program that deleted your home directory if it detected a `pirated' CD key.)

    Special device drivers that must be installed just to run the game -- like a special CD rom driver.

    Unmovable files (if you put a file down, we should be able to defrag it!)

    I'm sure I've missed a few in each category, but this should get you started. Game developers, you listening?

  6. Re:OK, so... by fwitness · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Umm, no. Product activation is something that has been tried a bunch of times, to no avail. While piracy is a problem, it doesn't mean it's an insurmountable one. For one thing, people *lose* money through piracy, and that sucks. That doesn't mean they make *no money* or even a drastically reduced amount. I think we all know the windows piracy problem helped establish it's market dominance.

    Also on the "no longer being considered worth pandering to" note, I don't think I've ever seen any demographic ever cease to be marketed to due to piracy. Cable TV, lot's of pirates, still makes money. Dish TV, same. Windows, same. Any popular pc Game, same.

    People keep thinking of piracy as something that can be eliminated, like polio. It's not some disease that threatens humanity. It's an aspect of human nature that has been around for quite some time (like, uh, pirates? You know, the swashbuckling kind?). There is a reason banks and large commercial retailers have insurance. Nobody has ever said "lets start a campain to stop bank robbery!" People are going to still rob banks, despite having 50 cameras and untold security. Some will succeed. If your business model relies on not having anyone *ever* steal from you, I suspect you have bigger problems. Does anyone have theft insurance? Why is that? Theft has been around a long time, why haven't we started 'The War On Theft'?

    Now, making me give you my personal info to buy your product, that's fine, but don't expect me to do so. There are plenty of other games out there. Keep in mind this is the *single* player version that also requires activation. Would you buy console games this way? Oh yeah, that next Zelda is so cool, I'll just tell the Nintendo people my personal details, because I *know* they won't share them with anyone.

    Please.

    If you feel it's fine, you go right ahead, but in my mind at least, this is not a bright idea.

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    -- I have fans? Wow.
  7. Thanx valve by ramunas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    so how am I supposed to play it when it's imposiible for me to use STEAM?!?! I must use a proxy server to connect to the internet, which is also used by many other people, so port-forwarding is not an option. Therefore no steam for my PC. And thus I can't even play the legitimate version of it, oh well I guess I'm just going to need to find a cracked, boot-legged version of it anyway :(

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    ./R My blog