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Half-Life 2 - Aftermath
Eurogamer.com has word that the expected expansion pack for Half-Life 2 is already in the works. Reporting on information gleaned from PC Gamer UK, the site has learned that the expansion will be entitled 'Aftermath' and is currently slated for a summer release. Aftermath will deal with the fallout from the events at the close of the PC title as the residents of City 17 make for the hills in an attempt to get to safety. Alyx Vance, heroine and robot wrangler, will play a larger role in the expansion, but the article doesn't give specific details on what exactly her relationship to you as the player will be. From the article: "The reason we're able to do this, and why it's so exciting is because of Steam. If we were doing this without Steam we'd have to put it in a box, we'd have to start figuring out shelf space over a year beforehand. You'd see it six years from now..."
I hereby revoke your privilege to use the term mothership. And thanks for posting near identical replies, it really hammers the point home for those of us who missed it the first three times.
Why can't people face up to the fact that they hate Steam because it makes software piracy much harder?
Steam wasn't implemented to make patches easier, reduce the cost of distribution or whatever. Steam was created because at one point in the illustrious career of HL, there were more illegal copies of HL running than actual purchased copies.
Valve doesn't care if you aren't going to buy HL2 because of Steam. They don't care because you probably didn't buy HL either and you aren't an actual consumer.
BTW, the reason you can play HL2 without a CD now is because they patched it. There was a legal battle between Vivendi and Valve about distribution rights and authentication with Steam. Boxed copies purchased in a store required the CD to play as well as Steam authentication. Copies bought directly from Valve through Steam only required Steam authentication. When all the fighting was settled between Vivendi and Valve, they released a patch removing the CD authentication.
I hereby revoke your privilege to use the term mothership.