Valve Talks Half-Life 2 Episodes 2 And 3

With the fall release of Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal growing ever closer (check out the new trailer), Valve is finally beginning to release some information about what actually happens in Episode 2 and some information about Episode 3's progress. From the Episode 2 preview: "Looking down the mountainside reveals a scene that immediately demonstrates one of the key elements of Episode Two: expansiveness. Far off in the distance is the semi-destroyed Combine headquarters, with mighty plumes of smoke rising into the sky amidst a shattered cityscape. Arcing up towards the sky from the imposing edifice is brilliant white stream of energy, meeting the cloud layer in a turbulent maelstrom--a 'portal storm,' Alyx notes."

Comments

Come on...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hurry up and release it already...

hopefully..

[Archon-X]

..EP2 will be much better than EP1.

The coolest thing about HalfLife and HalfLife2 was the freedom that you were given. You'd get dumped in a complex or a lab, and you had to work out what to do, and where to go.

For me, at least, HL2:EP1 - there were no alternatives. The maps had a very 'closed' feel to them, there was only one way to go, only one way to do things - it felt very, very static.

Anyone else?

Re:hopefully..

[Anonymous Coward]

That was my biggest complaint with HL2 in general. It felt all too much like I was on a rollercoaster just there to enjoy the ride.

Re:hopefully..

[seaturnip]

Did you play the same HL and HL2 I did? These games were always completely closed and linear. The linear cinematic experience is what those games were all about. This is hardly new to HL2:EP1.

Actually, this is one reason I'm anticipating Portal more than HL2:Ep2. The lab-rat setting of Portal makes closedness and linearity perfectly natural and unnoticeable.

Re:hopefully..

[LiquidCoooled]

Half Life 2: Episode one Milk it while its hot

From the Valve Stats page, Ep1 took on average five and a half hours to complete.
I remember playing original HL for ages, HL2 even took a while - but Ep1 was a complete waste.

Ep2 promises longer sessions.

Re:hopefully..

[Ariastis]

From TFA & Inside Valve video (on youtube), most of Episode 2 will happend outdoor, or in
expansive complexes. Focus has been shifted on non-linear gameplay & unrestrictive
environments (Outdoor forests, plains, rivers, etc)

And finally, the fucking flashligh wont stop you from running. Gaaaaahhhhh

Re:hopefully..

[enjerth]

Indeed. Episode 1 was more like a maze than a free-range game. But I only played it for about 2 hours.

I really only bought it for HL2 deathmatch.

But I'm excited about Episode 2, only because I heard that it will feature a stand-alone game called Portal.

Re:hopefully..

[Bob-taro]

The coolest thing about HalfLife and HalfLife2 was the freedom that you were given.

I have not played EP1 (I will as soon as I can afford to replace my broken gaming computer!), but I would say HL2 gave you an amazing illusion of freedom, while still being a pretty linear story. Even within a level, there was pretty much one way of going through the level, and they did a very good job of steering you that way, while leaving you thinking you could have gone anywhere. I admit I haven't played a lot of different games (I've played the heck out of the ones I have, but I don't have very many), so maybe in HL1 and 2 you had a lot of freedom compared to other FPS games, but I think it's more about how well they designed it to feel open-ended. Maybe EP1 just didn't pull this off as well. I mean, even in HL2, was I the only one who wandered around the basement of the citadel for a looong time before realizing I was actually supposed to get caught in that cable-car trap thingy?

Re:hopefully..

[Fallingcow]

I thought that HL2 didn't do as good a job with the whole freedom thing as HL1 did.

Then again, the bar for what constitutes "freedom" in an FPS has been raised significantly since HL1 came out. Deus Ex, Far Cry, and a dozen other games with similar levels of freedom are responsible for that.

HL2 just felt like a run-of-the-mill shooter to me, as far as play style and freedom of play were concerned. Its big triumph, IMO, was the atmosphere, which was excellent. The coast levels, in particular, impressed the hell out of me, and Ravenholm was great, of course. Good atmosphere that really transmits emotional information to the player is one thing that the HL2-contemporary Doom 3 was sorely lacking... well, that and decent, tight level design. Oh, and the whole scariness thing that everyone assumed it would have, and which it seemed to try to have, but which just wasn't there. And fun, it was missing that too. But I digress.

HL2's ability to make me feel is the sole reason that I'd call it a great game. The Thief series are the only other games I've played that have been on par with it, in that respect. Morrowind, maybe, but that's sort of out of its genre, and may not be a fair comparison. System Shock 2, to some extent, but for obvious reasons it has much less range than HL2 does.

Re:hopefully..

[Tarlus]

But I'm excited about Episode 2, only because I heard that it will feature a stand-alone game called Portal. Be sure to get the Blackbox release and not just the standalone version of Episode 2, if you want to get Portal.

Re:hopefully..

[jonesy16]

I think you make a good point. The reason that HL1 and HL2 took so long and felt so open ended was because it was up to you to figure out where to go, even if that meant stumbling around the same room for a half hour to find out you were supposed to jump out of some window on the third floor. Episode 1 went much quicker cause you had a companion with you who helped to keep you on the right track. I agree that the game was over too soon, but I appreciated avoiding the embarrasment and boredom of wandering around the map tirelessly looking for the exit point to go to the next stage. Episode 2 might end up being the exact opposite where you could get lost for hours and maybe Episode 3 will find the balance. Either way, I do appreciate the attention to detail that episodic gaming allows them to achieve and I appreciate not having to wait 6 years between releases.

Re:hopefully..

[Anonymous Coward]

I had a slightly different experience - In half life 2, all the things I wanted to do, I could do - I was guided well enough that what I wanted to do was what the main storyline had in mind. I know it was linear - but it didn't seem like that at all. All the other exits from a room might be blocked off, but not the one I tried going through first!

Re:hopefully..

[seaturnip]

The main reason HL2 felt more constrictive is because the settings (city, landscape) are naturally open. In HL1 it was natural that many paths would be blocked since the Black Mesa complex was collapsing around you.

Re:hopefully..

[sbryant]

HL2's ability to make me feel is the sole reason that I'd call it a great game. The Thief series are the only other games I've played that have been on par with it, in that respect.

HL2 was certainly very immersive; I really enjoyed the game, but I don't think anything beats the intense atmosphere of the Shalebridge Cradle. It still scares me now! I think Deadly Shadows (Thief 3) was quite underrated.

-- Steve

Re:hopefully..

[randyest]

Was that a joke?

An add-on package for those who already have previous releases of Half-Life 2 in their collection, this special edition comes with Half-Life 2: Episode Two, as well as the stunningly complex puzzle game Portal and the online phenomenon Team Fortress 2.

This game was cancelled by Valve in May 2007.

Why would I get this "cancelled" version (assuming I could) when it sounds just like the actual version (which includes all three games, and which I've already pre-ordered?)

Copy protection?

[Dster76]

I recently bought the holiday edition of Half-Life 2, which included the game and episode one

I was so disgusted by the copy protection techniques (e.g., you must connect to our server before you can play, the software will attempt to connect to our server every subsequent time, you can never resell or return the software once you discover this) that I never played it.

Did enough people accept all this that it didn't matter for their sales? Does this mean Episode 2 will have all of the above copy protection techniques? Obviously I won't drop any more money on such software.

Re:Copy protection?

[j.sanchez1]

I was so disgusted by the copy protection techniques (e.g., you must connect to our server before you can play, the software will attempt to connect to our server every subsequent time, you can never resell or return the software once you discover this) that I never played it.

Not sure what you are talking about. My internet service was knocked out for about 10 hours due to a car accident a few months ago. I played HL2 offline during that time. When I started up the game, it didn't detect an open connection, so it switched to offline mode.

Re:Copy protection?

[rsmoody]

I remember being really pissed about this "feature" at first. Up until I realized that all I needed to reinstall the game, was a username and password and the Steam client. It would download everything for every game I had on my account. This included the Half Life 1 series which only required that I enter my valid serial number one time. Now, as far as copy protection goes, I would much rather have something check the internet once in a while than have me pull out the CD/DVD every time I want to play. Give it a try, you may find that you don't mind it as much as you would think. I have never noticed the Steam client doing anything out of the ordinary. Also, you can still play the game without it connecting, just either firewall Steam, or disconnect just before running Steam. It will try to connect, then go to offline mode and will not, that I know of, try to connect again later. I like this copy protection WAY better than the other forms and never thought that I would. I would think that you could sell it, but the next owner would need to have the username and password to your Steam account and all your games are lumped together, it's all or nothing. So, that would be a negative to you I would think. One more positive is that it will check for updates and get them for you, that's nice to me. My .2

Re:Copy protection?

[Dster76]

If you read my post, you would have seen that I never asserted that you needed a connection for playing after the first time.

Re:Copy protection?

[Ford Prefect]

Did enough people accept all this that it didn't matter for their sales? Does this mean Episode 2 will have all of the above copy protection techniques? Obviously I won't drop any more money on such software.

You mean you actually spent money on buying a boxed copy of a computer game? Come on, it's 2007 - digital distribution has been around for years!

Boxed versions of Valve games now (for the PC, anyway) just contain compressed, encrypted data files to save you a big download. Once installed, they're the same as versions of the games purchased online - they need to be decrypted and authenticated once, and after that you can run Steam in its offline mode if you're that paranoid. The only reason I can think of buying stuff offline now is when market forces conspire to put the boxed version on super-special offer. I believe the boxed Episode One was available very cheaply in the USA - but was astoundingly expensive in the UK, so we got a much better deal buying online over here.

But then, you're just the usual troll whingeing about Steam whenever Valve is mentioned. Carry on!

Re:Copy protection?

[PatrickThomson]

You're playing a closed source game. Any paranoia about steam spying on you is completely irrelevant in the face of the fact that halflife 2 could still do it anyway even if it was a conventional disk-in-drive protected game!

Re:Copy protection?

[JimboFBX]

its called steam. Its a system of copy protection that not only is a convenience and not a problem, but it helps stop hackers too on online multiplayer games by blocking them from all games on their account if they cheat. And "subsequent" does indeed mean that yes, you ARE asserting that you needed a connection every time. Honestly I think your just a big liar though; nobody buys something and complains about connecting to the internet as some issue and thus wastes their money. Nobody is that much of a wheeny.

Re:Copy protection?

[amigabill]

I guess I'm not idealistic enough to avoid enjoying something fun just ebcause I don't like their protection mechanism.

I was able to play HL2 on my laptop once without logging in, that's been a couple years ago. I was out of town and didn't have a net connection but was bored and had the game installed. A few months later, and I probably had something update in the meantime, I was no longer able to play the same game on the same laptop without a net connection, so I was unhappy. But when I'm at home and have my net connection, I've never had a problem, it works fine, and I enjoy the game.

Re:Copy protection?

[j.sanchez1]

I was so disgusted by the copy protection techniques (e.g., you must connect to our server before you can play, the software will attempt to connect to our server every subsequent time, you can never resell or return the software once you discover this) that I never played it.

How is this any different or worse than having to have a CD/DVD in the drive to play the game? I think Steam is one of the best things that has come around as far as gaming goes. Not having to buy/keep discs, just log on to Steam and buy/install/reinstall games as you choose. But, admittedly, I am not hung up on bypassing/breaking copy-protection of games.

Re:Copy protection?

[HTH NE1]

You mean you actually spent money on buying a boxed copy of a computer game? My boxed copy came with a T-shirt.

Re:Copy protection?

[suv4x4]

e.g., you must connect to our server before you can play, the software will attempt to connect to our server every subsequent time

Well, stop selecting the multiplayer mode then already!

- Valve Support

PS: I kid, I kid..

Re:Copy protection?

[Cowclops]

It sickens me to see all the people complaining about steam. "OMG GEORGE ORWELL 1984 BLAH BLAH BLAH THEY IS GONNA SPY ON ME."

How about people actually TRY it and see that it works excellently. Now instead of a game being tied to the physical media or being tied to a single computer, the game is tied to YOU (your account). You can go to a friends house with the cache on a DVD or just spend the time downloading it and bam now you can play it there too. The only catch is that if you want to play it offline, you have to save your username and password on that computer, thus making sure people don't just install it on like 20 different computers and select "play offline."

Nothing like going to work and playing TFC on my lunch break with about a 20 minute download beforehand.

Tying the media to you instead of to a disc that can break means you can play the game on any system anywhere as long as its not playing on more than one system at once. I'd say thats a win-win situation for us and valve.

I tolerated ignorant complaints about steam before they rolled it out, but now there is really no excuse to complain about a system that works quite well.

And I'm sure if valve ever went out of business and you wanted to play their games, they'd probably just release one last patch to steam that eliminates the internet check. Not that valve is gonna be disappearing any time soon.

Re:Copy protection?

[Anonymous Coward]

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Valve or halflife related post detected!
Posting response #22185 - Anecdotal story of dissatisfaction with steam + copy protection diatribe(+5 Insightful expected)
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Re:Copy protection?

[morari]

I had played Half-Life 2 at a friend's house on his Steam account because I didn't even have broadband at the time and thus could not have paid for a played the game had I wanted. Of course, I didn't really want to, what with all of it's Orwellian copy protection. I wanted to try the game though, as it was nothing but hyped at the time. To be honest, I felt it was rather boring overall. It definitely lacked the sense of wonder that the first one did. Maybe the almost complete lack of alien enemies (or variety to the enemies and environments in general) caused this. I thought Portals looked a lot more interesting than any kind of episodic content (which is a rip-off, by the way). Prey was interesting enough ;)

Re:Copy protection?

[Penguin's Advocate]

Steam is pretty awesome, it allows you to buy games without going to the store, download them, play them, and get updates easily. You don't need to go digging for discs for a game you haven't played in a while, in fact, you never need to dig for discs since you don't need to have any. I hope more and more games are released on steam. If that was the only way to get games I'd be cool with it. Also, what's your problem with copy protection? You have no reason to copy a game you bought on steam since you can always re-download it. As far as reselling or returning the software, you license software, you don't buy it. You don't own the game, you own the right to play it. You can't return opened software anywhere that I know of, and you certainly can't "return" downloaded software. You could sell your steam account to someone I guess.

Re:Copy protection?

[Bob-taro]

I only had one really annoying experience with steam (I may be in for another one when I replace my computer and try to reinstall things!). I have a little home theater setup and I wanted to try the "Ravenholm" level in a dark room with a big screen. I only had a little free time to move the computer and get everything set up (the wife and kids were out and I didn't want to traumatize them with big screen surround sound zombies screaming and burning and getting blown up and decapitated), only to realize that I couldn't play without connecting to steam. Well, I didn't have an internet hookup in the theater area, so after fruitlessly trying to get around it (There just had to be a way to play offline, right!), I gave up. Now apparently, I could have set it up to play offline while I was online (yeah, that makes sense), and then gone offline and played. Anyway, my opinion is if they lose the requirement to connect each time you play, source would be great. I don't even care if it tries to connect every time, as long as it still lets me play if it fails to connect. I don't get to plan all my network outages!

Re:Copy protection?

[jonesy16]

There are some other advantages to the Steam platform that helps Valve out if you can get over the paranoia of them "spying" on you. One example I can think of was that, through Steam, Valve was looking at the load times for HL2 on different users computers and noted that the time was highly affected by the fragmentation of the game files. As a result, they now defragment the game files in the background without the user noticing or having to run Disk Defragmenter on their own. They also use the system to identify parts of maps where players get stuck for long periods of time to help them in designing levels. All of these sorts of things are "good" for the consumer.

I also agree with another child post that the ability to enter your game key once and never have to touch the CD's/DVD's again is a major plus. Now each time I switch computers or upgrade, I just log on to steam and it downloads and installs all of my games overnight.

Re:Copy protection?

[JagRoth]

Yep, the Steam copy protection sucks. Of course, there are ways around that... One reason for finding such ways around it could be if you had it on a laptop that you didn't connect to the internet. I connected to the internet with my laptop to install and play the first time. After that, it would go into off-line mode when playing the game if I wasn't on the net. But you could only play so many times in off-line mode before it told you it had to connect to the internet. Obviously they want to make sure you didn't install a copy of someone else's game and just play it on yours from then on, or something like that. Kind of a pain for those of us with mobile PC's.

I guess as long as you are always on the internet, don't mind big brother keeping track of what you are doing all the time, the Steam Servers don't go down (like they did a lot when HL2 first came out), you don't intend to ever play the game in the future when the Steam servers might be gone, and your internet never goes down when you want to play, then you shouldn't have anything to complain about!

Hmmmm....

Re:Copy protection?

[Walter Carver]

Just get a pirated version. It's a higher quality product.

Re:Copy protection?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're not alone, I never bought any HL2 games simply because of steam. I'm a big HL1 fan, too, I was playing Counter-Strike (a pre-steam version) just last night.

I've never even pirated the game (hacked, no-steam versions are around) because it pissed me off so much: I want to deny them my fandom too.

Re:Copy protection?

[Ford Prefect]

My boxed copy came with a T-shirt.

My unboxed copy came with two T-shirts, a book and a trip to Seattle. ;-)

Sadly, the T-shirts turned out to be a bit too big for me. :-(

Re:Copy protection?

[josteos]

You should let it go. Give in the Video Game Overlords -- your life will be happier and safer if you just let Steam manage things for you!

I didn't think Steam was a good idea, and my stomach churned when I realized I would have to use Steam to play HL2.

Yeah, well, I got over it. I love Steam. I want to marry Steam. I want to have Steams red-headed, frecklefaced, low-attention-span, high-activity children!

The benefits: no CD-based copy-protection. No scratched CDs that will no longer play. Faster & automatic updates.

The negatives: once my ISP went down, and Steam didn't want to enter offline mode. I was not happy. But it turned out to be a user error. Steam should make it easier & more obvious to enter offline mode.

Re:Copy protection?

[Fweeky]

"How about people actually TRY it and see that it works excellently"

I've bought plenty via Steam, but this is going a bit far; it works (mostly), but it's not exactly the most well written of applications. It takes ages to start up (~10s) and authenticate (another ~5-15s), it eats massive quantities of CPU for no apparant reason, bits of it break and remain broken for extended periods of time (all my third party Source mods just say "Sorry, this game is unavailable" unless I launch them from desktop shortcuts now), there's no opportunity to accept/reject patches or roll back when things go wrong...

Stardock Central is rather more friendly; it actually looks and feels like a real application, starts in a second or so, asks me nicely before installing patches (while giving me useful changelogs for them and letting me install betas without fiddling with obscure command line arguments and restarting), lets me roll back to previous versions, uses about 1/3rd the memory or less, doesn't occasionally dead/livelock, and doesn't leave daemons running as SYSTEM all the time even when you close it.

Re:Copy protection?

[bigstrat2003]

If you've ever broken a game disc, you either have kids, a pet that doesn't know to keep its nose out of that stuff, or you're horribly careless. If it's the first or second, that sucks. If it's the third, I have no sympathy. Personally, I prefer having the game tied to a disc... I've used Steam, it works ok, but it's definitely more hassle than straight-up physical media.

Re:Copy protection?

[Anonymous Coward]

Regardless of the intentions or outcomes, spying on someone without their knowledge or permission is still spying, and questionably moral.

Re:Copy protection?

[Cowclops]

Since, on my system, it doesn't do what you say it does on your system... my guess is that theres something wrong with your hardware or something. Steam doesn't ever unexpectedly use large amounts of CPU on this.

Re:Copy protection?

[Anonymous Coward]

Amen, friend. Stardock Central is a good example of how an online distribution centre SHOULD work. Steam is a just an abomination that I won't touch with a ten foot pole after finding out how it works (and more importantly, doesn't work).

Valve gets far more credit than they deserve. Half-Life 1 was amazing, I'll give them that. Then counter-strike came out and my god, did they milk that one. The price of HL shot from $5 up to $40 so they could squeeze people for all they could. Years and years went by and Valve did nothing but live off the profits of the community designed CS and Day of Defeat mods. Finally they release Half-Life 2 which was well programmed, looked good, ran well, but wasn't very interesting as game. Yet people drooled all over it, smiling as they got fucked on release day because their store-purchased copy couldn't get to the Steam servers to obtain the decryption keys.

Next, the ever-innovative Valve re-released the exact same mods, but on the new Source engine. Guess what the price was? You got it, back to $40 again. For the same old shit you've been playing for a decade now.

Re:Copy protection?

[WilliamSChips]

(I may be in for another one when I replace my computer and try to reinstall things!)

Probably not, as long as your computer meets the specs for your games. When I installed Steam on my sister's computer(and let her use my account) it worked even though I still played on my own computer. The only problems we had involved the fact that my sister's computer was below minimum requirements for HL2.

Re:Copy protection?

[WilliamSChips]

Guess what? All the spying people claim Steam causes--it could be done just as easily with just a HL2 executable if Valve wanted to do it. But since they let you play without the CD the entire Slashdot community is up in arms. I'll admit Steam is slightly buggy but I prefer it to having to have the CD in the computer whenever you play.

Re:Copy protection?

[antdude]

I was worried about this issue with Ep. 1. From the newsgroups, I was told to install Episode 1 into another folder with a NEW username/account that I don't care for. I did that. I finished the game, uninstalled it, and sold the addon to someone else with its account datas. :)

Re:Copy protection?

[jonesy16]

Well I'm not at a computer with Steam installed on it, but I'm pretty damn sure their license agreement spells out what they can and cannot monitor using Steam. Your lack of "knowledge" comes from blindly clicking buttons labeled "OK" or "NEXT".

Re:Copy protection?

[shish]

Now, as far as copy protection goes, I would much rather have something check the internet once in a while than have me pull out the CD/DVD every time I want to play

Personally, I'd like a choice of either. Though if I had to have one or the other, I'd go with pulling out the DVD -- that still works when I'm on a firewalled network (ie, at universities, where I am now).

Having just spent $40 on half life 2 myself, and finding myself unable to play it, I can guarantee that I'm not paying for any more of valve's products until they make steam optional :P

Re:Copy protection?

[fragmer]

It's copy protection, alright, but it's one of the least intrusive and user-friendly ones I've seen. You can play your games in offline mode, download and play them on any number of other computers with your login name, pre-load new games, create mods that can use your games' engines and assets (if you're into that). I see Steam as more of a convenience then a restraint. Steam is good for game developers too because it has near-zero distribution costs and is very effective at preventing piracy and cheating.

Re:Copy protection?

[Junior J. Junior III]

Yeah, but what happens when Valve decide to drop Steam services, or go out of business? I can still install HL1 on a computer today and play it. I don't think I've played the original H-L since I upgraded to Windows 2000, so possibly I might have to keep a Win98 box around or something, at some point in order to do that, but at least I don't have to build a replicated Steam service (which I know of no legal way how to do) on my home LAN in order to be able to play H-L2 indefinitely.

If Valve wants to ever drop the Steam service, they're going to need to provide some sort of unlock to the community of users so that they can keep playing long after they turn out the lights for the last time at Valve HQ. If they do this, then my opinion of them is considerably changed.

Re:Copy protection?

[heinousjay]

Good luck with that. Considering the numbers they've been pulling with Steam in place, I don't think it'll go away any time soon.

Re:Copy protection?

[Das Modell]

The only reason I can think of buying stuff offline now is when market forces conspire to put the boxed version on super-special offer.

Not all of us have credit cards. Besides, I like owning the boxes.

Re:Copy protection?

[Das Modell]

I have the exact same problems, though I think the CPU usage bug may have been fixed (Steam could take 99% of the CPU when it was updating, for no apparent reason). When you start a game such as CS:S, Steam's problems become even more evident. There's just no end to the bugs, and some of them will probably never be fixed.

Re:Copy protection?

[rsmoody]

That's a valid concern, however, you can still run Steam without internet access, it just runs in an offline mode. They don't FORCE you to connect to play the games. Also, since the HL1 stuff was pre steam, if you bought it back then, you can still install from CD. So, I think you are still OK if Valve shuts down, just run in Offline mode.

Re:Copy protection?

[mgiuca]

I think there are positives and negatives with Steam, as far as convenience and user rights are concerned.

Obviously, for convenience, yes it is -- very convenient!

My greatest concern though is that Valve can revoke your account at any time, which means they effectively destroy the products you purchased from them. They bind copy protection with in-game cheating. (I know if you get banned for cheating, it only prevents you from playing online - but the principle still stands).

I think measures should be taken against online cheaters, but physically disabling the software they purchased is extreme. It's equating a gameplay loss with a monetary loss. The point is, Valve should not have the rights to revoke the software you purchased, and having a service such as Steam (ie. a SERVICE required to use a PRODUCT) gives them that explicit right.

Re:Copy protection?

[irc.goatse.cx troll]

I have the opposite experience. I thought steam was a great idea, and it was. Even wasn't that bad implemented back in the day (1.6 beta). It's just as it went along it seemed to get worse and worse. Slower, clunkier. Friends network down for about a year. etc.

I still like steam more than most people, but it really was done poorly. Compare your framerate in 1.6with 1.5 and notice how even with identical graphics somehow 1.6 is amazingly slower, mostly due to the way the new ingame gui is done.

Not needing your cds is awesome though, as is being able to use a friends steam account to try stuff out. And getting patches as they come out, aside from the fact that valve rarely patches anything useful, or updates any of their content (how many years of 1.6 w/o a new map thrown in?). On top of that, Steam is capable of something Valve doesn't even attempt to put to good use: Streamed gameplay.

Basically in a single player game, imagine you first download all of the core files -- The code, the interface, everything possibly needed to launch the game initially. Now you start downloading the first 3 levels, every model used in them, every sound related, anything that could come up.

Now you start playing. While playing, the rest of the game downloads as you need it.

This would let you play a game a lot faster on a fresh install, and is something steam was supposed to allow. It looks like its even still in there (precache.lst), but I dont think anything uses it right now.

Re:Copy protection?

[randyest]

Meh, whatever floats your boat, but to me both of those points are pretty sad. Do you play in the boxes? Make a fort when you have enough?

Re:Copy protection?

[randyest]

Slower, clunkier.

At what? Listing games and selecting one to play? Make a desktop shortcut and don't load Steam at all. Is this a joke? Are you using Steam to type up reports or calculate spreadsheets or something?

Friends network down for about a year. etc.

The "Friends" network thing appeared on the menu before it was finished. It wasn't "down" as much as it was "not yet up." So? It doesn't impact your ability to play a game. It's a bonus feature they added later. This seems like a nitpick at an irrelevant issue.

Compare your framerate in 1.6with 1.5 and notice how even with identical graphics somehow 1.6 is amazingly slower, mostly due to the way the new ingame gui is done

Are you talking about counterstrike (the versions seem to indicate that, since steam is not 1.5/1.6). You do realize that Steam is not equal to Counterstrike, right? And that you can download and install any version of cs you like (and play alone, if you opt for 1.5). How is this in any way a comment about Steam?

On top of that, Steam is capable of something Valve doesn't even attempt to put to good use: Streamed gameplay. Basically in a single player game, imagine you first download all of the core files -- The code, the interface, everything possibly needed to launch the game initially. Now you start downloading the first 3 levels, every model used in them, every sound related, anything that could come up. Now you start playing. While playing, the rest of the game downloads as you need it.

Brilliant. How silly of them not to do this so you can then complain that your gaming experience is "slower, clunkier" and suffers from a "framerate [that is] slower" because of the background downloading and waiting for resources the game needs that aren't available yet. Steam really should do this to give you something else stupid to complain about. I'll ask them to get right on it.

This would let you play a game a lot faster on a fresh install, and is something steam was supposed to allow.

You might start playing a bit faster, but your gameplay would be slower, of course. Steam does support streaming but few games do it because (1) it doesn't take that long to download a full game if you have a decent netpipe and (2) those who don't have a decent netpipe will also probably have a relatively weak system that will suffer and stutter while trying to download and play simultaneously. It'll get more commonly used in the future, but who cares? With most games you can pre-order and pre-download before the release, and then start playing instantly when the game is "officially released" and they unencrypt the files in a few seconds.

Re:Copy protection?

[Das Modell]

What do you mean both points? If I don't have a credit card, I cannot buy from a place that requires a credit card. I'm sorry if reality is pretty sad to you, but that's how things are.

Do you play in the boxes? Make a fort when you have enough?

They sit on my shelf, the same way DVD movies and music CDs do. If you think you think there's something abnormal or strange about owning boxes for games, movies and CDs, you are seriously mistaken. I wonder if you ever leave your house.

Re:Copy protection?

[randyest]

By "both points" I mean: (1) it's sad that you can't get a credit card since it's a trivial thing to do unless you're a complete deadbeat who has repeatedly shown his inability to keep a promise and (2) it's sad that you spend your time playing with the boxes for video games, movies, and CDs. Those of us who do leave our homes occasionally consider that odd and more than a little pathetic. I mean this in the nicest possible way: maybe you should consider leaving your mother's basement and getting a job so you can pay your debts, get a credit card, and join the rest of the world. It's really not as scary as it seems, and it can be fun! The boxes will be there for you to play with when you get home. If mommy lets you, that is.

Re:Copy protection?

[Das Modell]

(1) it's sad that you can't get a credit card since it's a trivial thing to do unless you're a complete deadbeat who has repeatedly shown his inability to keep a promise

I don't live in the US.

(2) it's sad that you spend your time playing with the boxes for video games, movies, and CDs.

Please point out where I have, at any point, said or implied that I "play" with the boxes.

I mean this in the nicest possible way: maybe you should consider leaving your mother's basement

How, exactly, is an apartment in the second story of a building a basement, and how can it be owned by my mother when I'm I'm renting it from people who are not my mother?

and getting a job so you can pay your debts, get a credit card

How would you know whether or not I have a job, and whether or not I have debt? Did I at any point talk about my job or how much debt I have or don't have?

and join the rest of the world.

That's pretty funny coming from someone who thinks a second story apartment is a basement. If you spent more time in the real world you might learn what a basement actually is. You might also learn that people who own retail copies of video games don't play with the boxes.

Allocation of Resources

[chipotlehero]

Why do they even have people working on Episode 3 when Episode 2 has been pushed back nearly a year already? I think Valve needs to set its priorities and finish one thing before starting another. (Or at least give us a TF2 standalone if thats done!)

Re:Allocation of Resources

[Turn-X Alphonse]

Different skill sets for different things. I suspect episode 2s models and most of the maps are done. Only minor tweaks left, which don' t require 24/7 mappers, so they move onto episode 3 while the rest finish off episode 2. Simple logic tells you this.

Re:Allocation of Resources

[amigabill]

Why do they even have people working on Episode 3 when Episode 2 has been pushed back nearly a year already?

Perhaps they have some people whos contribution to Ep2 is already complete, and they can begin their equivalent contribution to Ep3. Maybe there's nothing left for these particular people with their particular skill set to work on in Ep2, and Valve doesn't want them sitting around twiddling their thumbs and toes until everyone else finishes their bits of Ep2.

Re:Allocation of Resources

[DGMavn]

"Hey. This project is behind. Let's put more bodies in it!"

-Fatal last words from Duke Nukem Forever

Re:Allocation of Resources

[LiquidAvatar]

Why do they even have people working on Episode 3 when Episode 2 has been pushed back nearly a year already? I think Valve needs to set its priorities and finish one thing before starting another. (Or at least give us a TF2 standalone if thats done!)

It's also a question of what *kind* of resources are being used on each project. I'd imagine that the art assets for ep2 were done comparatively quickly (especially since they already have the large pool from HL2/ep1), whereas the level design/play testing are taking longer. If your artists are done with the current project, why wouldn't you move them on to the next one? They aren't going to be able to level design effectively (at least, for the most part), and they wouldn't even be great play-testers (well, from financial perspectives, if not ability).

Re:Allocation of Resources

[Anonymous Coward]

Software doesn't work like that. You can't just assign twice as many people and expect it to be done in half the time. That they are only just now starting is not such a great sign. (I didn't read anything.)

It is called Steam..

[Anonymous Coward]

And it is their retarted content management system. Yes it is stupid you need to connect to 'steam' before you play a game you bought. I know of at least 10 people who have not purchased the software just fot this reason.(along with the rampant cheating in their multiplayer games, you'd think 'connecting to a server' would root out all the cheating. sad shit..)

Re:It is called Steam..

[WilliamSChips]

Personally I prefer Steam to having to have the disk in your drive to play the game although if I were Valve I would give you a choice. The iTunes DRM for music annoys me because it makes it harder to play it on Linux but Steam doesn't annoy me nearly as much because I can't play HL2 on Linux even if there was no copy protection.

Re:It is called Steam..

[revengebomber]

I respect your opinion; however, I find it quite more offensive to be required to pop in a CD, when the game's already on my hard drive.

maybe something interesting in ep2?

[Anonymous Coward]

EP1 was totally dull. think about all the different 'things' you got to do or see in HL2. controlling antlions. big magnet thingy, driving hoverboats and dune buggies, not stepping on the sand, the bridge (gave me the willies as a fraid of height person i can tell you, great sound design), messing about with the security bot things

compare with ep 1. boring running around with gravity gun. even more boring 'ooh look the lights are off and your torch lasts for 10 seconds' shite. (yeah i spent a shitload on a nice screen and gfx card, i LOVE only using 10% of it) then a vast expanse of nothingness where the bird has infinite health and infinite ammo, then the stupid bit at the end where they realise its only lasted 2 hours and needs to pad it out a bit.

the infinite health/ammo thing is pretty bad, but then the other NPCs are as dumb as anything, she wouldnt last 2 seconds. the only reason shes there is shes kinda cute and that appeals to the nerds playing games.

oh and as for non-linear play, nothing has beaten deus ex yet.

re: Copy Protection... pointed out yet?

[sr. taquito]

I didn't notice any other comments like this, but I apologize if somebody already made this point. If you run Windows XP or Vista, you are exposing yourself to worse copy protection techniques. Periodically checking up on you without your knowledge or consent. Worse still, in Vista, your OS can be deactivated if MS decides you are no longer a valid license. How do they decide this? Nobody knows. I think you are fighting a battle that has already been lost. Online authentication/activation is here to stay and a one time online activation is really not intrusive. My company does it for their product and I am thankful they do. If everyone stole our product, I wouldn't have a job.

Can't I just buy Portal?

[mbourgon]

Okay - I used to play FPSs. Still do, occasionally. But honestly, Portal looks like a hell of a lot of fun. Team Fortress looks fine, but not my thing. Same with HL Ep2. Will I be able to _just_ buy Portal? Several of my friends are the same way - that looks different or cool, but is it worth the $40 that the "Black Box" is going to cost? And if we can't buy it separately, why not?

Re:Can't I just buy Portal?

[Anonymous Coward]

Chances are you'll be able to, but only on steam. Not the retail box.

Re:Can't I just buy Portal?

[revengebomber]

You will be able to buy it separately via Steam. Granted, it'll be overpriced, but if you really want the pack-in game without the main attraction, that's your loss.

Re:Can't I just buy Portal?

[mbourgon]

Cool. Thanks. And to the other poster - that IS the main attraction for me.

remember your grade 1 math?

[Anonymous Coward]

wouldn't that be "my 0.02"???