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Half-Life 2 Deathmatch Confirmed
Satertek writes "Following up a previous post, a teaser was posted on the Steam website with the image HL2DM.jpg entitled 'Soon', confirming rumors of a Half-Life 2 Multiplayer Deathmatch game. It was also brought up on the forums by Valve. It will be released alongside the SDK sometime this week." Update: 12/01 13:49 GMT by T : Since this was written, "this week" has turned into "now"; the update was released last night.
Doesn't seem to make much sense that a multiplayer deathmatch is not included, especially in a game like HL2.....
They did include some completely revamped thing called 'Counter-Strike: Source', however. Apparently the original is fairly popular...
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
I would see this as more of a way to get your name out there and as a resume-builder than an opportunity for cash.
Map-making can be a great way to show off your design skills if you want to break into the gaming industry.
Yes, it's just deathmatch
But some people LIKE death match. And it's a solid foundation for modders.
Yes, it's not as refined as UT2K4 or whatever
Do any of these other games have a GRAVITY GUN? No? Well let's continue then.
Yes, it's pretty laggy
Play with less people or on a really good server. I played one where the lag was good enough to be able to toss grenades back, and that was pretty awesome.
Yes, there are two maps out there
They're leaving it to the community here. I'm planning on making a map myself in a little while, actually.
remember, HL2 only came out two weeks ago, and we didn't even know that HL2DM existed for certain until last night.
ADVENTURERS! - ANTIHERO FOR HIRE - CARDMASTER CONFLICT
That's bull. There are tons of people switched over to CS:Source. Just check the server list. It certainly isn't Half Life 2: Multiplayer, I'll agree with that, but that doesn't mean that CS:Source sucks. They made some graphical improvements, yes, but they also made some gameplay improvements as well, i.e. smoke grenades are actually really useful now, flashbangs are far superior to their counterparts in 1.6, you don't get damaged through walls and such by nades, etc. Now, the only complaint I have is that the headshots seem to be rampant in Source, but whether that's just crap or a valid observation, I have no proof for. Still, overall it's a great improvement over CS 1.6, and once the map support is there, and now that the SDK is out, it will definitely take over 1.6.
How long before Valve start charging a subscription to play Half-Life 2 online through Steam and then disable users accounts of those who refuse to fork over the cash, hand over fist?
Valve and their ridiculous Steam system can take their business elsewhere. My brother bought half-life 2 and had to wait six hours over a 50k to even play the damn game. Now he can't have a no CD crack, can't resell the game, and (so he tells me) can't get unofficial mods for the game without being booted). He bought an over the shelf game, no EULA at all( That legal joke in the manual does not count. "By opening the box containing this agreement you agree to all these terms etc...." WTF! Not to mention he was too young to be party to any such agreement). Valve seem to want it both ways. They want the ease of an over the counter product, and yet still wish to licence this product once the sale is made. They are two completely different things. I can understand the need for security against warez, but you can't just apply an essentially illegal practice either(i.e. get kids to sign EULAs, after they buy the product). It's just dishonest.
Not to mention that the EULA is ridiclously open ended anyway. Valve can disable unofficial modders accounts, disable people they don't like(i.e. people who complain), disable people who exploit bugs etc... . And how easy will it charge a subscription fee for online play and then disable users to play on "unofficial"(free) servers where Valve isn't getting a slice.
Will Valve do all this? Maybe.
Will companies who follow Valves' example do this?
I can feel the fans flames beginning to rise. Just because Half-Life 2 is good doesn't excuse this. Remember, this is why so many moved to FOSS. EULAs and their ilk. As a long time game player, I'm personally deeply offended by this kind of anti-player, anti-consumer behaviour creeping into the industry. I guess in some ways, I still want the games I purchased over the counter to actually belong to me, and not just own a (possibly temporary) licence.
May the Maths Be with you!
It's basically the same thing that motivates ill will towards redhat. Well, besides the fact that it sucks. They provided us this single platform that came in different flavors and let us all beta test it for them, then they decided to make the enterprise level version a separate product and support the desktop version of redhat (now called fedora, of course) very poorly, making no effort whatsoever to make it stable.
Quite similarly, Valve made a sequel to one of the best-loved first person shooters of all time, and it has ended up loaded with so-called copy protection that will turn out to be ineffectual in the long run (maybe not that long) and that has made it impossible for many of the people who are keeping them in business to actually play the game. Treating every customer like a potential criminal is a good way to chase people off towards someone who doesn't do so.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
They can max out on copy-protection I don't care. I just hated the inconvenience.
The few days where I had the HL2 box sit 2-feet next to me, and I couldn't install it cause Steam doesn't let me. That was awefully unnecessary.
Flip side of this: Half-life 2 is the only game I have that lets me play without digging out a cd and patches itself while I'm at work.
jello.
aka aron.
"I guess that after the way Valve has treated its customers..."
Have you used steam? I have had no problems with it whatsoever. The main complaints seem to be:
1) I can't pirate the game as easily
2) I couldn't play the game for a day because the Steam servers were overloaded on the first day.
So at worst you had to "purchase" the game (oooh the horror!) and could not play on the first day. Wow, you've been terribly mistreated...... If you're pirating the damn game they have every right to ban you. Online activation is also very easy and the game says on the box that it requires you to be online.
Honestly, the only people that I've seen that are mad about this are people that were trying to pirate the game. No matter what you seem to think, it's clear that recent online activation makes it much harder for normal users to pirate games. I see no problem in them wanting to stop piracy especially when it really barely affects you. Online activation, if you haven't noticed, has been a lot more difficult to crack in recent games.