Valve Releases Updated Alien Swarm For Free With Code Base

baronvoncarson tips news that today Valve released an updated version of Alien Swarm, a popular Unreal Tournament 2004 total conversion mod. The creators of the mod were hired by Valve, and they've helped turn it into a stand-alone game running on the Source engine. Valve is also releasing the code base for Alien Swarm and an SDK. The game is available for free on Steam.

Comments

Great - spread the word

[Chelmet]

So that those who are already downloading 2Gb at 30kb/s get it even later.

Nah I'm just trolling, there must be a lot of interest as nobody's getting a decent speed - well, a few have it completed, but its just a case of changing your settings and finding a location that's not suspended.

Anyway, good job Valve on a free open source game that might actually be half decent :O)

Re:Great - spread the word

[Peach Rings]

The Ukraine and Siberia usually work well for me.

That is, if I can even start the download.. as with most new releases and all TF2 updates, the content servers are overwhelmed.

Re:Great - spread the word

[iRommel]

10 kb/s here, "yey". Kudos to Valve though, I thought this project was completely dead.

Re:Great - spread the word

[Briareos]

Well, it just took me a whopping 8 minutes at 3.5MB/sec max to download those 2GB here in Austria - sure, it's 2 in the morning, but then again installing a bunch of games (15-20GB) some weeks ago during the day was chugging along at 2-3MB/sec also...

Re:Free

[Anonymous Coward]

If only the summary mentioned how they ported it to the source engine...

Re:Free

[Emetophobe]

Valve hired the team that made the original UT2004 mod. Source.

Alien Swarm is a game and Source SDK release from a group of talented designers at Valve who were hired from the Mod community.

Re:Free

[kcbnac]

From the summary: "The creators of the mod were hired by Valve, and they've helped turn it into a stand-alone game running on the Source engine."

They hired the team that made it for the Unreal engine, and had them re-create it with the Source (Half-Life 2 etc) engine.

Nightblade

[MrEricSir]

Does this mean Nightblade is officially canceled?

Re:Nightblade

[j.a.mcguire]

Yes Nightblade has been cancelled.

Re:Nightblade

[MrEricSir]

I should have guessed, it's been years and I haven't heard much.

(BTW, who the hell modded my post offtopic!?)

Re:Nightblade

[keatonguy]

Someone who's capable of discerning the topic at hand.

Re:Nightblade

[MrEricSir]

Topic is about folks at Black Cat Games getting hired by Valve, so is my post.

So that isn't it. Any other ideas?

Re:Nightblade

[nacturation]

Someone who's capable of discerning the topic at hand.

You must be a thrilling conversationalist.

"How are you doing?"
"Fine."
"Hey, have you seen that new movie?"
"Sorry, this isn't about movies. The topic at hand is about how I'm doing."

Re:Nightblade

[MrEricSir]

So we're not allowed to ask questions that relate to the topic? See, if that were the case, then there were a LOT of off topic posts about Java when Oracle bought Sun. Yet they were NOT modded that way.

I'm just not following your logic here.

Re:Nightblade

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone who's capable of discerning the topic at hand.

You must be a thrilling conversationalist.

"How are you doing?"
"Fine."
"Hey, have you seen that new movie?"
"Sorry, this isn't about movies. The topic at hand is about how I'm doing."

You're having a bad day. Thanks for asking.

Re:Nightblade

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey! No going off topic please. We're talking about you, not about me!

Re:Nightblade

[Anonymous Coward]

On behalf of all the other lazy people, what is Nightblade and how is it related to Alien Swarm?

Re:Free

[Anonymous Coward]

They don't have to pay a UT licensing fee because iIt's a Source Engine version that's being released.

Igore parent

[Anonymous Coward]

They can't. They didn't. RTFsummary. They turned it into "a stand-alone game running on the Source engine."

Re:Free

[zonker]

The game was ported to Valve's own Source engine. No UT code involved.

Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Anonymous Coward]

No matter how good the games are, it'll never make up for how insidious STEAM is. No sale.

Further, just like all DRM, STEAM continues to fail at its stated purpose (see epcgaming.com as just one example).

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[el_tedward]

I like it. I have a fairly good connection, so I don't mind the downloads, which I much prefer to managing a bunch of game disks. They also have some very good sales every so often, even with the more popular titles.

You can install games on up to 5 computers, and from what I've heard, you can have that reset if you're the type of person who reinstalls their OS every so often.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Peach Rings]

If by crapware you mean the most excellent social gaming platform in existence?

The stated purpose of steam is to distribute game content; it's a digital distribution network. If you have a game in your library, it will serve you the entire download at high speed any number of times you please, to any computer in the world that you please, at any time. No, it won't serve you the content if you don't have it on your account. Call that DRM if you want.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[slimjim8094]

Actually it will, but it won't let you use it. You can actually install any game you want, it'll just say "pre-load complete" so if you do buy it, you're all set.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[pelrun]

Strictly speaking it is DRM, but it's in a form that isn't about punishing the end user to make some high-rent manager with delusions of IP feel better.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[cbhacking]

Which is, of course, DRM. It's a pretty benign form of DRM - my only serious objection is the inability to re-sell games - but it most certainly is DRM. If Steam were really just distributing games, and nothing more, I could copy the distributed bits to another computer and run them from there, without Steam even being installed. Steam is very good at what it does, but do *NOT* make the mistake of assuming just because it's better than the majority of DRM schemes that it isn't a DRM scheme itself.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Monkeedude1212]

It also won't serve you content if you don't have internet access - something a CD would - but thats all apples and oranges anyways. It's still DRM, just some people like different kinds of DRM.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[keatonguy]

Absolutely. I understand why certain people rag on Steam, it is DRM in the most literal sense. But it's DRM done right. It isn't engineered to be as obtrusive as possible. It does exactly what it's built to and compensates for it's shortcomings by providing a lot of free services as an incentive to use it. Couple that with it's excellent prices, and I don't see any reason to complain.

Furthermore, if there's any company that's going to make damn sure to unlock it's games if it goes under, it's Valve.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[rainmouse]

- my only serious objection is the inability to re-sell games -

Then create a new steam account for each game you buy then sell the steam account containing a game. Alternatively you could try making your own games and selling those instead.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[cbhacking]

Technically possible, but a pain in several ways, from keeping track of all those accounts (and needing to sign in and out a lot) to the fact that your achievements will be only on one game at a time. Besides, as you point out, it *is* possible... so why doesn't Steam let you do this? They don't even have to facilitate the process of making a sale; just let me transfer a game from my account to somebody else's (that person would need to use Steam to play it, so copyrights are preserved). Obviously it would be nice if they would also take care of the money end of things (so long as I could also send games for free) but that's not critical.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Anonymous Coward]

My web browser can already provide any service that Steam does, thanks. I don't see the point in installing a specialised piece of software that is only used to push and sell products made by or approved of by a single game company. I also don't see the point in requiring Steam to run in the background while I play games nor the point in requiring an internet connection to play single player games.

Yeah sorry, I'm going to have to agree with the original AC on this one.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[KillShill]

That's like saying "Genocide done right".

All DRM is evil, period.

In fact, STEAM is one of the worst forms of DRM that exists... it uses the "boil the frog" technique to lull the public into a false sense of security. But at the end of the day you still have to get permission each time you want to play (no, offline mode doesn't count because 1. it expires after a while and 2. you still have to get STEAM's permission to enter into it in the first place). And the cherry on the top of it all : it eliminates the first sale doctrine. I did hear about how STEAM(Valve) will kindly take your 10 dollars in order to "transfer" a game to someone else...

STEAM is the single most onerous form of DRM out today. The only thing which could top it is Trusted Computing (though that's coming too, but in piecemeal , so as not to disturb the frog).

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[cbhacking]

I'm not actually sure I'd call Steam's prices "excellent" aside from their frequent sales. Sales are nice, of course, but overall I've found Steam to typically be a little bit above what I can find from online retailers, and occasionally above what I can find on a physical shelf. I very rarely buy Steam games at more than half their list price; it's just not worth it. They also charge just as much for new titles as anywhere else, which is to say they charge a hell of a lot for new releases (over $60 for a single game with under 50 hours of unique playthrough seems really, really lame to me).

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Anonymous Coward]

Furthermore, if there's any company that's going to make damn sure to unlock it's games if it goes under, it's Valve.

And you know this how? If you really think that Valve is somehow any less corrupt or less money driven than any other corporation, then I have a bridge to sell you.

If/When Valve goes under, they'll have no incentive to unlock anything. If/When they sell out, the company that buys them gains the control to do whatever they want, even if that means killing off all authentication servers and telling you that you're SOL or remaking those games so they can sell them to you again with a new coat of paint while simultaneously pulling the plug on the old versions.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[pelrun]

Sorry, but "All DRM is evil, period" is just plain wrong, and speaks to your prejudices more than anything else. Of course, it's perfectly understandable why you have those prejudices in the first place, considering how abusively the technology has been used by the entertainment industry, but still.

The issues with the first sale doctrine are valid - but honestly, the real reason people want to sell these items second-hand is to recover some of the punishing prices that the games are being sold for new. Valve goes some way to address this with the deep discounts they offer on a lot of their products. I don't buy a game unless a) I want it badly enough to justify swallowing the initial high price, or b) it gets discounted to where it's undeniably good value. Considering the ridiculously low prices Valve sells games for on a regular basis, I think this is perfectly acceptable.

The games that charge an obscene amount for little other reason than they can (*cough*MW2*cough*) don't find their way onto my account.

And "Steam is the most onerous DRM out there today" - hyperbole much? Not to mention it's just outright wrong. *cough*Ubisoft*cough*

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[gencha]

Even though I agree with you on the most parts, I think it's worth noting that it is extremely difficult to return items on Steam (if at all possible). Also, keep in mind the price differences Valve places upon customers. A game can cost $35 in the US and costs 35EUR in the EU. I have also personally purchased a game online which required activation on Steam. When trying that, Steam told me I was not allowed to own/use that game where I live and that I should return it. Steam in general refuses to sell me any games that aren't watered down to the lowest "violence" levels. Even though I can buy the original versions right at the store.

Also, "high speed" is kind of a debatable term in this context. I guess 2MB/s is a high speed (I hardly ever get beyond that). But downloading a game from my library still takes longer than installing it from a disc. And the connection issues are even worse for the dedicated servers I run. Installing/updating server installations have always suffered from low speeds for me. This can be very frustrating at times.

I still agree that Steam is most likely the best platform of it's kind around and I appreciate a lot of the benefits compared to retail games. Yet the above mentioned experiences leave at least a bitter aftertaste.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[pelrun]

If you deliberately exclude the discounts when evaluating Steam's prices, then you're missing the point. Unless someone is holding a gun to your head and making you buy every game at full price, there's nothing stopping you from stuffing your account full of AAA games at prices you just don't find anywhere else.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Anonymous Coward]

Bet you have an iPhone.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[ensignyu]

The other problem is that like with all DRM systems, you're in trouble if Valve becomes insolvent or decides to turn evil and shut downs their servers. For now though things seems OK considering:

• Valve makes a lot of money. They're not likely to go under anytime soon.
• Valve has made at least some vague promises to unlock the DRM (maybe only on their games, but better than nothing) if they're unable to continue running Steam.
• As a privately owned company, they're somewhat less likely to try to screw over their customers for short-term gain. They also seem a lot less corporate than most major game publishers.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[lgw]

While it's true that Valve could turn evil or go under, it's also true that my car might need a new transmission. The latter is more likely and more expensive (and I have a lot of steam games), but I don't lose any sleep over the possibility - why should I particularly worry that Steam might go bad?

Some slashdotteres seemd obsssed over the fact that this "evil DRM" might make them lose all their games some day. Sure. So what? On the scale of life's routine disasters, that's about a "3".

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Anonymous Coward]

Couple that with it's excellent prices

I seriously hope you are kidding me. The prices are outrageous if they're not currently doing a sale. Compare Steam prices to Amazon and you'll often see a price difference of 10€ or more, especially on new games.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[guruweaver]

While you are correct in that you cannot install games without teh intert00bs, you can certainly play them without connectivity. Steam's offline mode is quite good. It also keeps the games patched, which is nice. Valve still has some work to do in smoothing out their "cloud[1]" feature, used to sync your saved games between computers, but it's a step in the right direction. Particularly for someone like me who travels a lot for work. Play at home on desktop -> saves go into "cloud" -> continue where I left off on laptop. Mike [1] Hate that word, cloud. "New media" marketing BS for "It's on servers outside of your premises." Bah.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Anonymous Coward]

That might be fine if you only travel domestically.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[hedwards]

Um, with normal DRM if something happens you're out 1 game typically at most. With Steam if something goes wrong you can very easily find yourself out the entire account worth of games. Or at a somewhat less bad scenario, without the ability to play any of those games on a sanctioned server.

The thing is that it's unobtrusive until it becomes obtrusive. For free games and as a way of getting game files for use with 3rd party game engines it's great, I just don't personally trust it beyond that.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[hedwards]

But DRM is evil period. With the possible exception of free games, there's never a legitimate reason to do it. Pirate versions are frequently available before the legitimate ones are. Which tends to make it so that the only people actually dealing with DRM are the paying customers.

I'm not sure how exactly that isn't evil. Perhaps you've got a good reason as to why people who pay ought to have to put up with it when pirates don't.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[hedwards]

That's why I keep a back up of files that I download. It's nice in case the server goes down or Ubisoft decides to no longer offer downloads, but you can burn those to discs and have a back up and a copy at hand for quick install. It might be because I don't drive, but it's a lot more convenient than going to the mall and a lot quicker than ordering online.

That being said, I personally prefer physical discs in most cases, places like GoG and free Steam games being the exceptions.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Anonymous Coward]

excellent prices

Unless your buying a game published by 2kgames, EA or Activision while outside the US.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[T Murphy]

I've only had a good experience with Valve/Steam, but I have to agree with the parent. Most DRM hurts most customers a little. Steam's DRM hurts very few customers a lot. I agree it's still better than most of the stuff out there, but the ability to take away or cripple hundreds or thousands of dollars of games keeps me wary of Valve no matter how hard it is to complain about them elsewhere.

Of course, I've never heard a first-hand account of Valve disabling/crippling someone's account, so I have no idea how much Valve can be blamed, or how often it happens.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Anonymous Coward]

I refuse to use Steam for one reason. You MUST have a functioning internet connection. If you can't connect after a period of time (30 days?) your games stop working. Now this may not be an issue for some people, but I live in an area that has horrid internet access. So I only purchase games that don't require internet access to install or play.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Anonymous Coward]

Bet you have no clue.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

From what I can tell from your statements, you hate DRM, and you have this theory that all DRM is evil. Now, a fairly unobtrusive DRM has come along that actually balances the needs of the consumers and the needs of the producers, one that people are aware of its shortcomings but still flock to it in numbers. So what do you do? Does it prove your theory wrong? No. Do you admit that it's the lesser of several evils? Hell no! You call it the most evil, because it actually appears not to be evil! Truly, cognitive dissonance at it's finest.

I mean, let's just examine your claims as to why it's evil. How is it "boiling the frog"? Can you point to any changes in the Steam DRM? Any at all? I mean, maybe I'm being thoroughly boiled, but for the 2-3 years I've been using steam, I haven't logged any changes, certainly none that seem to affect me, even in small ways. Perhaps this "boiling the frog" is more like "putting the frog in a comfortably warm bath, and not adjusting the temperature".

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[mjwx]

Absolutely. I understand why certain people rag on Steam, it is DRM in the most literal sense

/waits for steam to start up.

Whilst DRM is a big issue with me.

/still waiting for steam to start up.

Steams DRM is relatively benign compared to that of Securom and co.

/Steam's finally started up. Oh crap now it's checking for updates.

Steam does deliver a great deal of extra value.

/No updates found, gah now it's verifying my game.

Which is why we put up with the DRM.

/still verifying the game I want to play.

There are a lot of idiosyncrasies and annoyances with the platform.

/finally finished verification, nothing is wrong. Why did steam have to verify the install.

That make me check to see if there the same game is available from Impulse or as a boxed copy even if it's A$10 more expensive, it's worth the hassle. Steam isn't even that much cheaper then buying online for Australians. ARMA II: Operation Arrowhead costs A$39.95 on Steam whilst JB HiFi sold it for A$43.95. Often it's cheaper as I can order from Play-Asia and pay Hong Kong prices where as Steam enforces (is forced to enforce, I insist on being fair) regional pricing, so if a Steam copy is A$80, from Play-Asia.com the boxed copy is A$50-60 depending on the exch rate (About US$45 for most releases). If I buy two, shipping drops to about A$7 per game.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Anonymous Coward]

Furthermore, if there's any company that's going to make damn sure to unlock it's games if it goes under, it's Valve.

Before that happens they and all their locked games will get bought out by a larger company that you can't say that about.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[imakemusic]

so why doesn't Steam let you do this?

Because they would probably lose a chunk of their profits.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[imakemusic]

With the possible exception of free games, there's never a legitimate reason to do it.

Huh? Only free games should have DRM? How does that make sense?

Perhaps you've got a good reason as to why people who pay ought to have to put up with it when pirates don't.

So that they can verify that I have actually paid for it so that they can provide me with a good service that they don't provide to pirates and would be unable, financially, to provide if everyone was using their service without paying.

Why is that evil?

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[vegiVamp]

While I'm as happy with Steam as you seem to be, I wouldn't be so sure that they'll be unlocking their games should they go under. The typical scenario involves finding someone who's willing to buy your business, and you're gonna get a much better price if your games are still included and under control. Release your games and you might not even *find* a buyer.

They provide good games, and they provide good service, but in the end, they're still a business.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck the "needs" of producers, they don't matter. Only the consumer does.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

Riiiiiiight. So I guess the only reason we pay for... well... anything is abject greed on behalf of the producers?

Yeah, you just go ahead and let me know when you've discovered a away to meet the consumers needs without staying in business.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[hedwards]

Actually reading posts before you reply is generally a plus. Pirate copies will always have the DRM stripped or in some other fashion disabled, meaning that you're not actually doing anything other than pissing off the customer base, seeing as pirates won't ever actually see the DRM when they're installing it.

Free games, as in commercial games released for download for a certain period of time free are a great reason to use DRM. You aren't stuck making it free permanently or selling it at all points so if you want to do an anniversary give away you can do so somewhat legitimately. But since DRM doesn't work, it's kind of limited in its effect.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Rockoon]

Whenever I hear the "they might take the servers down" argument I think "How many people fire up that original copy of Wolfenstein 3D today, and then play it for more than a couple minutes before being revolted by the keyboard interface?"

Games fall into 3 catagories as far as I am concerned:

Games that are never a good value (because you dont even like it the first time.)
Games that are of minor value (because you got most of the value from the first playthrough... you may or may not play it through again)
Games that are an outstanding value (because you can and do play it for endless hours for years)

In most cases you get most of the value there is to be had in the first few months of ownership, and in a small minority of the cases they are easily great values because you play the thing often for years.

These people worried that they wont be able to play it 10 years from now (because of DRM) are really only worried about those outstanding value games, right? Games they already got great value out of, right? Arent they bitching about infinitesimal margins at that point?

For me, I just dont like DRM that will be intrusive before getting me to the outstanding value stage. DRM that prevents me from running virtual drives is absolutely out of the question. DRM that will end my game if I lose my net connection for even a few minutes is absolutely out of the question. But steam? are you kidding me. Steam has actually helped me get to the outstanding value stage (lost/broken DVD's anyone?)

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[tibman]

When it comes to non-valve games, i think you can consider them just a distributor. You CAN copy the game from one computer to the next and it will run perfectly fine. There isn't an authentication mechanism other than what the 3rd party game company uses. Usually in the form of a CD-key.

Valve games are different and require authentication to launch.

I think re-selling games is mostly a console thing, not pc. I have expected cd-keys with my games for a long long time and any previously used copy with suspect. The first time you go to play online and you get a message saying "your cd-key is in use, try again later", you will understand what i'm trying to say.

I would like to have a "loan game" option though. But it would probably only work with valve games. I could lend the game to a friend for 2-3 hours, get them hooked, make them buy their own copy... then we can pub smash online together.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[drc003]

You either:

1. Seriously exaggerated the Steam start up process

or

2. Have a ridiculously slow internet connection.

I have 15-20 games in my library and rarely notice any delay in logging in and starting a game.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[BobMcD]

That's like saying "Genocide done right".

All DRM is evil, period.

I'd just like to point out that you're exactly right - in everything but the assumption that you are going to spark some form of outrage.

Look at what the expansionists in the United States did to the natives that were living there. 'Genocide done right' isn't too horrible of a way to phrase it. There was an enemy culture there, and now they're either all dead or assimilated.

It happens, and isn't always a 'bad thing' so long as you're on the winning side. Or, if you disagree, I assume you could always deed your land back into the hands of one of the native tribes that used to inhabit it.

Back on point, though, Steam really is the best kind of DRM to have, and so long as you're on the right side of it, it really does benefit you as an individual.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[imakemusic]

Actually reading posts before you reply is generally a plus.

I did, Mr Snarkypants. Which bit do you think I missed?

Pirate copies will always have the DRM stripped or in some other fashion disabled, meaning that you're not actually doing anything other than pissing off the customer base, seeing as pirates won't ever actually see the DRM when they're installing it.

So why would a free game be any different? Either you can protect your game with it - whether people are paying for them or not - or it doesn't work in which case you shouldn't use it.

Free games, as in commercial games released for download for a certain period of time free are a great reason to use DRM. You aren't stuck making it free permanently or selling it at all points so if you want to do an anniversary give away you can do so somewhat legitimately.

But you said DRM didn't work and is evil! Now you're saying there's a "great reason" to use it!

But since DRM doesn't work, it's kind of limited in its effect.

Hmmm.

For the record I'm not a fan of DRM generally but I do like steam. I was sceptical when it first came out but I like it. One thing that is worth noting is the fact that on Steam I still have all the Half-Life games. I had copies of these on CD from when it first came out but have since lost them/had them scratched beyond use/lent them out and not had them returned (in fact I accidentally inherited two more copies of HL1 but have lost those too). I bought them on Steam in (I think) 2002 and still have access to them. Rather than the company going down and taking my access to the games with it Steam has actually extended my access to the games beyond what I, with my destructive tendencies, would otherwise have. Which is obviously evil of them. How dare they!

But my main point was that without DRM Steam just wouldn't work, or at least it's unlikely they could provide the quality of service that they do now.

Yes, it's not ideal. No DRM at all would be ideal but that is idealistic and unrealistic. Valve know this. Their customers know this. I know this. Yet still I and millions of others continue to use Steam because it provides us what we want.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[kalirion]

You can install games on up to 5 computers, and from what I've heard, you can have that reset if you're the type of person who reinstalls their OS every so often.

Wait what now? Steam has installation limits? Never heard of that until now...

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[mrchaotica]

Sorry, but "All DRM is evil, period" is just plain wrong, and speaks to your prejudices more than anything else....

The issues with the first sale doctrine are valid...

All DRM is evil, period, because DRM inherently violates the doctrine of first sale. QED.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[mrchaotica]

My account was disabled by Valve once (or it got hacked and had the password changed... either way, I couldn't access it). I had to take photos of my physical discs and CD-keys (the only thing on the account at the time was Half-Life Platinum Collection) and email them to Valve in order to prove that I owned the games so that they would reinstate it.

If I'd actually bought the games on Steam, rather than as physical boxed copies, I doubt I would have gotten them back.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[marcosdumay]

All DRM need to take control of your computer to (kind of) work. So, all DRM is evil. Ok, that may be a bit exagetared, any DRM that (kind of) works is evil, nonworking DRM may not be.

I don't know it Valve (kind of) works, tough. I've never cared to read about it or to test. And I'm pretty dam sure it won't run on Linux, so I'm not even thinking about giving it a try.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Anonymous Coward]

I like how people have no problem spending 15 bucks for a 95 minute movie with bad CG and worse acting, then turn around and demand demand 40+ hours of 'unique game play' for $45. Give me a well polished game with great production quality and 20 hours of solid game play and I'll be happy to shell out 50 (or even better, 20, when I get it from a steam weekend deal).

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[Anonymous Coward]

How is this flamebait in any way, shape or form?

I feel it's my duty to repost the entirety of the post because a Valve shill with moderator points modded it down PURELY because it expressed an opinion that wasn't favourable to Valve or Steam.

My web browser can already provide any service that Steam does, thanks. I don't see the point in installing a specialised piece of software that is only used to push and sell products made by or approved of by a single game company. I also don't see the point in requiring Steam to run in the background while I play games nor the point in requiring an internet connection to play single player games.

Yeah sorry, I'm going to have to agree with the original AC on this one.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[j0nb0y]

Furthermore, if there's any company that's going to make damn sure to unlock it's games if it goes under, it's Valve.

I love Steam, but this argument has always been bunk. If Valve goes under, Valve will be in bankruptcy. It won't be up to Valve. Valve's debtors will be in charge, represented by the bankruptcy trustee. There's no way that a bankruptcy trustee will *ever* authorize deploying the Steam kill switch, and that's assuming that there is a Steam kill switch that could be easily deployed when necessary.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[PylonHead]

Steam doesn't. Some games (Bioshock) had install limits, but I believe that was completely separate from Steam.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[el_tedward]

guess I could be wrong.. that was just my understanding.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[mjwx]

2. Have a ridiculously slow internet connection.

Live in Australia,

Steam servers are in America.

Steam never logs in on the first go, Impulse also takes forever (same story as above, authentication is done on a server in the US) but it at least logs in on the first try. My internet connection is actually quite good I can get 1 GB off local servers in less then 45 minutes.

I have the same problem in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and the Philippines. For the most part I just put Steam into offline mode but it still wants to connect every few weeks.

Re:Free as in beer; comes with required crapware

[cbhacking]

Aside from needing to wait until the game I want to play is actually available at that price, you mean. A store that sells everything for 5%-10% more than I can find it elsewhere, except for a few items a week (which are only occasionally things I want) is still an expensive store, though it's one worth checking out now and then to see what their sales are. Basically, Steam is a good choice for impulse buys, but it's not usually a good choice for "I want to play game X, let's see what it costs."

Mind you, this is not inherently a bad way to run a business. Woot.com seems to do just fine dropping items (few of which are even remotely interesting to me) low enough in price that the ones I actually want become impulse buys. Just don't confuse "we always have a sale on something or other" with "our store has really good prices."

Re:Free

[Qzukk]

For this game, it's not a UT engine game anymore, it was ported to Source.

Aside from that, the Unreal Engines have a free development kit that's free for free games. It doesn't have everything their commerical game engine license gets (no engine source code and nobody's going to answer you if you call them at 3 in the morning the day before release).

See http://www.udk.com/

Re:Free

[weirdcrashingnoises]

um not only did u not read the article, you didn't even read summary, but for a FP not surprising. They wrote THIS version of the game to run on the source engine. ;)

but just as a note: when you license a game engine it's not required that you must charge money for the products you create with said engine. obviously it would be sorta stupid because you do have to pay for the license, but you know, maybe recoup those fees by asking for donations? just sayin'

A solution begging to be put to use ...

[Lead Butthead]

So that those who are already downloading 2Gb at 30kb/s get it even later.

This is one game that is just begging to be a torrent...

Re:A solution begging to be put to use ...

[Luckyo]

Indeed. I wonder if it's actually illegal to get this game off piratebay, it being freeware and all?

Re:A solution begging to be put to use ...

[keatonguy]

Couldn't comment on legality, but I know Valve well enough to know that they won't care one bit. They'd probably be grateful for the free hosting! =)

Re:A solution begging to be put to use ...

[hedwards]

Just because it's free doesn't mean that it's OK to torrent it. Which is a wee bit silly, but I think the main reason for that is that there's no way that Valve can know whether or not the torrents have been tampered with.

Re:A solution begging to be put to use ...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

If only someone would invent some sort of "secure hash algorithm"...

Re:A solution begging to be put to use ...

[nospam007]

"...there's no way that Valve can know whether or not the torrents have been tampered with."

It's not Valve's job to worry about _my_ risks.

Re:A solution begging to be put to use ...

[mwvdlee]

Freeware != public domain.

It's still copyrighted and as such the copyright owner is the only one with the right to distribute copies.

Re:A solution begging to be put to use ...

[Hadlock]

Actually, the .torrent popped up on a couple of private forums. Not a haxxored cracked copy, but the basic game file, simply because the Steam servers couldn't keep up. I know a couple of people ended up sharing it via sneakernet on 4GB flash drives, too :) Once the download starts, you can close steam, copy the full game into the specific folder, restart steam, and resume the download, and the game will install normally on your steam account, assuming your account is authorized to play that game. Works great. We did something similar last year at Quakecon (2000+ person lan party) when Valve released a major TF2 update the afternoon the event started. Had to update about 100 people via sneakernet, and then tether them to an iphone to get steam to verify the data and go into offline mode. What a farking PITA, but it worked!

Re:A solution begging to be put to use ...

[drinkypoo]

We did something similar last year at Quakecon (2000+ person lan party) when Valve released a major TF2 update the afternoon the event started. Had to update about 100 people via sneakernet, and then tether them to an iphone to get steam to verify the data and go into offline mode. What a farking PITA, but it worked!

And this is why I gave up on Steam, and why everyone else should, too. I'd want back the time I spent making a workaround to play a game I couldn't play because of some bullshit DRM. And in fact I do want the time back I've spent making Steam work properly on Wine back before it was a shoo-in (had only DRM problems) but I can't have that either. Why pay to be abused?

Re:A solution begging to be put to use ...

[bat21]

Use steam to verify the files once you drop them in the steamapps folder. There. Done.

Black Cat Games is irrelevant

[Anonymous Coward]

Resistance is hopeless. You will be Valvesimmilated.

(Poor indie guys can't make a buck.)

Re:Black Cat Games is irrelevant

[keatonguy]

Yeah, poor Black Cat. They got offered and accepted a hiring from one of the most successful development houses in the world and then got paid to finish their free volunteer project and release it for free anyway. Life's a bitch.

Mac version?

[thetagger]

Hmmm, am I the only one who is disappointed that there is no Mac version?

Re:Mac version?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes.

Re:Mac version?

[Anonymous Coward]

No. Especially now that Source is cross-platform. I use my mac as my main gaming computer.

Re:Mac version?

[RandomAdam]

I could care less about the mac version....but if there was a Linux version that would be awesome

Re:Mac version?

[Anonymous Coward]

Me too

Re:Mac version?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm surprised and shocked at the lack of a Mac version for the same reason.

Re:Mac version?

[VGPowerlord]

I don't have a Mac so I can't be disappointed.

However, I'm also not surprised.

Valve made a big deal about how Portal 2 was going to be their first simultaneous Windows/Mac release. Since Portal 2 hasn't come out yet, they clearly didn't plan a simultaneous release.

Add to that that the two most recent Source games before this (L4D & L4D2) still haven't been ported to the Mac...

Re:Mac version?

[cbhacking]

So you care, at least a little bit, about whether or not there's a Mac version?

Seriously, people, think about what you're writing. That severely overused phrase just does *NOT* mean what you seem to think it does. It's not like you need a PhD in English to figure out the difference between
"I could care less"
and
"I couldn't care less."
So, which one did you mean to use?

On-topic, it does seem strange that they wouldn't have ported it to OS X. In theory, a cross-platform game engine should make the port very easy...

Re:Mac version?

[keatonguy]

It's probably a marketing push on their part. That stinks, it means the Mac gamers will be waiting around, but I very strongly doubt they'll leave any of their games Windows only for very long. Mac ports are a rarity, and since the platform and engine have already been successfully ported, releasing their library on a new platform is just money in the bank. Give it time.

Re:Mac version?

[RandomAdam]

Yes I care a little bit, the fact that the mac version has to use non-microsoft technology means that it is closer to a linux version.

Re:Mac version?

[Behrooz]

I could care less about grammar nazis... but it'd be difficult. ;-)

Re:Mac version?

[Ogre332]

Yes.

Re:Mac version?

[zennyboy]

This was not so much about grammar, more about "complete sentence means the opposite to what they meant" Nazi

Re:Mac version?

[Snaller]

That's nothing compared to how disappointed you'd be if you actually got to play it.

Re:Mac version?

[Anonymous Coward]

It runs under wine perfectly.

Here tested under arch, wine 1.2

Re:Mac version?

[theurge14]

Kinda sad that the game the mod came from (UT2K4) had a Mac version.

I'm hoping Valve has it in the works.

Re:Mac version?

[imakemusic]

You are a buffoon. A complete idiot.

I mean that as a compliment. Don't go all "grammar nazi" on me and tell me I'm insulting you - I know what I mean even if I didn't actually say what I mean.

Re:Mac version?

[VGPowerlord]

Well, the "two previous games" comment is actually the most important bit, even if it is at the end. This game uses a modified version of the Left 4 Dead 2 engine, with some updates to it.

The problem is that the engine it's based on hasn't yet been ported to the Mac.

This makes me wonder if this isn't part of the reason for Portal 2's delay... the Mac version (and also the PS3 version) wouldn't be ready by the end of this year.

Heck, Valve doesn't even have a working Linux dedicated server for the game right now, and every multi-player Source game released (even the non-Valve ones iirc) except Alien Swarm has one.

Re:Mac version?

[Anonymous Coward]

No. You're one of three.

Re:Free

[Sir_Lewk]

Tremulous uses 2k4 code too, and doesn't require UT2004, and it's free.

No. Tremulous uses the Quake 3 engine from iD, which is now open source.

Re:Free

[Peach Rings]

Oh I'm sorry, I meant Nexuiz!

Nexuiz says it's a Quake 1 engine modification, but those menu widgets and fonts look awfully familiar.

Re:Free

[daemonc]

I just realized there is no way to moderate you as "-1 wrong", so I'll comment.

In addition to be wrong about Alien Swarm (if you can't RTFA, at least read the summary), you're wrong about Tremulous too. It's based the GPL Quake 3 source code.

Great Job Valve

[glittermage]

Hire from community and give a game away for free. Thanks Valve! Can't understand why it's taken so long for someone to release a solid alien co-op blast fest. I suspect the next version will not be free but that's okay with me. Thanks again!

Re:Great Job Valve

[Monkeedude1212]

Well L4D was a co-op blast fest. Except in that game it was zombies and not aliens.

Re:Great Job Valve

[glittermage]

Yes, I own L4D and L4D2. My friends and I pretty much get any decent rated co-op game. Now back to Borderlands....

Re:Great Job Valve

[cbhacking]

You do also have to pay for that one... but then again, that really is to be expected.

Re:Great Job Valve

[Daravon]

Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter also offers co-op and is mostly a run and gun game. It's a minimum of story, and a lot of blowing shit up. Not sure if the first encounter has co-op as well, I only have the second because it was on sale after a free weekend.

Re:Free

[Sir_Lewk]

Nexiuz uses the Darkspaces engine, which has Quake 1 roots. Unless you actually have evidence that they are actually using Unreal code you shouldn't accuse them of doing so. Copying look/feel is one thing, but accusing them of having proprietary code is a very serious allegation.

Does anyone research anymore?

[Anonymous Coward]

Steam is available for Mac.

Three Cheers for Valve

[TheRedDuke]

They get a lot of crap for the 'evil' DRM that is Steam, but seriously: they're giving away free stuff here. Incidentally, they gave Portal away for a time when they launched Steam for Mac. Their mod tools are free as well. AND they didn't require anyone to re-buy Valve apps for Mac when they ported them if you already bought 'em for Windows. I don't know of any of the other major software publishing houses that would do that. I'll be giving this mod a try as soon as I get home tonight.

Re:Three Cheers for Valve

[Shados]

Valve is a pretty cool company. The DRM they implemented is really a compromise, and aside for the offline restrictions, its pretty much the best middleground you can have today for a game digital delivery platform (compromise as in publishers agree to it and players can still have fun). And while not open source across the board, they ARE very open as far as game industry goes.

If there's only one thing that you could blame on them, is allowing publishers to use custom DRM on top of the Steam DRM. It should have been a rule that only Steam default DRM is allowed... and if the suits disagree, at least have an icon or something next to games to show which DRM it uses. I hate having to look at the forums to tell if a game will hose my computer or not.

Re:Three Cheers for Valve

[thetagger]

Steam is the only form of DRM that I don't mind, because it never got in my way. I have every game I own installed on every computer I have, I can play them whenever I want, I am happy.

Re:Three Cheers for Valve

[hedwards]

To be honest, I pretty much have nothing to do with them, except when they're giving away free stuff. I don't personally mind DRM when the content is free, provided I'm able to use it. If they want to give it away with strings attached, that's fine by me.

Re:Three Cheers for Valve

[T Murphy]

No matter how much you complain about EA, they're going to suck and you better like it. Valve listens to the community pretty well, so not only does that motivate people to speak up more, but it makes it more frustrating when they still don't listen, as you actually expected results for once.

Overall, I think you are creating a false dichotomy by saying Valve is good for some things, therefore people shouldn't complain about other stuff (it's what you're implying, not sure if you mean that). If you want a company to change, being a good customer gives your criticism a lot more weight than someone saying the DRM made them pirate the game and they'll never buy it anyways. I think it's a good thing people complain about Valve- not only do I want to be aware of issues that may sour my appreciation for Valve (rather than be blindsided by them), but if Valve responds, it would only make things better for me.

Re:Free

[SCPRedMage]

...

You're kidding me, right? Surely your reading comprehension can't be THAT horrible.

The creators of the mod were hired by Valve, and they've helped turn it into a stand-alone game running on the Source engine.

First bolded text shows, that YES, they were paid, second bolded shows that it's running on Source, NOT the Unreal engine.

Good job guys!

[compro01]

We're /.ing steam!

"The Steam servers are currently to busy to handle your request. Please try again in a few minutes"

Re:Good job guys!

[keatonguy]

That's not just us. The same thing happens whenever Valve released a new game or patch. ;) Try opening up the options window and switching your download region to somewhere a little less populated. East European servers are usually responsive during a patch rush.

Re:Good job guys!

[spire3661]

MoH beta is going on right now too for Steam BFBC2 owners. Speaking of which, my download just finished!

Re:Free

[Sir_Lewk]

The creators of the mod were hired by Valve

had them re-create it with the Source (Half-Life 2 etc) engine.

Are we having reading comprehension problems today? Valve hired them, of course they are getting paid. And they re-made it for the Source engine. While the UT2k4 version no doubt still exists this is not it.

Not reading TFA is one thing, not reading the fucking summary is another, but not reading the posts you are responding too is just too far.

There's nothing wrong with steam.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a good thing that when a game gets updated, steam will automatically download it for you.

Re:Free

[Monkeedude1212]

not reading the posts you are responding too is just too far.

Psh, I don't even read the posts I quote. Were you talking about puppies or something up there?

Re:Free

[Anonymous Coward]

Whoosh

Code base

[Anonymous Coward]

They're not releasing the "code base". They're releasing an SDK containing the game logic. The engine (you know, the juicy bits) is still closed-source.

Re:Code base

[Anonymous Coward]

Semantics. Don't post stupid shit.

Re:Code base

[jgtg32a]

So it's like the Starcraft/Warcraft map editor?

Re:Free

[CapOblivious2010]

Bah, I don't even read the posts I write!

...ooh look... something shiny...

Re:Free

[Anonymous Coward]

Hat's off to you sir, that was truly epic.

Re:Free

[Anonymous Coward]

frist psot and you're redundant. WTFG.

Need moar bittorrent

[eddy]

I gave up after getting sub 10KB/s. As has been mentioned, Steam needs to get on the bittorrent-train. A bittorrent layer would smooth this out for everyone, instead of giving the people fortunate enough to hit an underutilized server a good experience while the rest can even get the content at all ("Servers too busy"). Steam obviously is not intelligent enough to properly distribute the load.

Honestly, it's as baffling as it's retarded.

Re:Need moar bittorrent

[tibman]

I would go for a "Download a copy, seed 1 copy" thing. As long as i could throttle it, that wouldn't be bad at all. My house already does this, one person downloads the game and the rest copy it from his steamapps folder. I don't need any more apps competing for bandwidth though.

Re:Free

[Cylix]

Pfft, I don't even read.

Re:Free

[Sir_Lewk]

Show me the source, or STFU.

Of course, you probably don't even know what that means.

Re:Free

[Anonymous Coward]

No you're also wrong. Tremulous was based (and still is based) on Quake3 mod SDK code years before the GPL source came out, they just retroactively pasted the GPL headers afterward. Oddly, that still does not make it okay.

Weird how freetards still let that illegatry pass by because it's in their benefit. World of Padman also does this.

Re:Free

[Alsee]

daemonc (145175)
I just realized there is no way to moderate you as "-1 wrong"

Greetings! Welcome to Slashdot!

A bit of belated advice, if you're going to buy a user ID on eBay you really shouldn't waste your money on anything with more than 4 digits.

-

Valve/Steam ripoff

[Anonymous Coward]

In order to control spam every company gets a unique email address.
(eg steam100@mysite.com)

When I created a valve account and paid for a game, It never ran.

I tried to contact support, they won't email me.
I tried everything I can think of, even trying a yahoo address for
support, and steam just ignores me.

The set it up so you can't contact them unless they email you first.

Re:Valve/Steam ripoff

[tibman]

Maybe we can help you, what game is it? What are you computer specs? What about the game doesn't run? Some things aren't obvious, like the game needs SSE2 and your proc only has SSE.

You could try getting onto the steam support forums and asking your question there. I have never tried to contact valve, so i cannot help you there. You could try visiting the game creators site and looking for contact info. For example.. if you bought Spore, that is an EA game and you could visit ea.com.

Re:Free

[Dremth]

I was about to tell him to RTFA when I realized that it was actually in the summary. What is the world coming to when slashdotters don't even read the summary, much less RTFA?

Re:Free

[Dr Herbert West]

SQUIRREL!

Great.

[Anonymous Coward]

Steam. A platform I despise for my lack of bandwidth.

Re:Free

[Anonymous Coward]

Ha
I don't even finish

Re:Free

[Faw]

I searched on ebay and saw no Slashdot IDs for sale. How am i supposed to calculate market value???

Re:Free

[Anonymous Coward]

Psh, I don't even read the posts I quote. Were you talking about puppies or something up there?

pffft, I don't even read the posts I quote.

Re:Free

[Abstrackt]

Bah, I don't even read the posts I write!

I don't read the posts you write either.

Incredible

[illumin8]

Wow, 149 comments and not a single one modded up about actual gameplay?

I'll go first - it's a pretty fun game. It's a squad based top-down shooter based on the Source engine. Multiplayer using either shared or dedicated servers. You choose one of 4 roles - Commander, Special Weapons, Tech, or Medic. There can be more than one Medic for example, but most missions require at least one Tech to hack open doors.

You choose your weapon load-outs and characters/roles and enter the mission. You can carry two main weapons and one off-hand weapon. Some of the main weapons are unique to the character type - for example only Special Weapons can carry an auto-gun, and only a Medic can carry a medic gun, and some are available to all players. As you complete missions you gain XP and levels, which unlocks additional weapons. The levels are account specific, not character specific - for example I can get to level 9 playing as Special Weapons, which unlocks the Medic gun, and then I can switch to Medic so I can actually use it.

The controls are fairly simple - W,A,S,D for up/down/left/right, and the mouse controls aim/firing, but since it's top-down you do have to aim in 3d space - you can aim close or far away. Friendly fire does happen with all but a couple weapons so you need to be careful not to hurt your teammates.

Aliens swarm from almost everywhere - I guess that's how it got the name. They do come from creative places - climbing up from hatches in the floor, jumping down from the ceiling up above, climbing walls and tunnels. You can never be sure where they will come from. The missions seem to be mostly linear objectives, like gain access to this area, go here, destroy the alien biomass, escape, etc. and are filled with choreographed sequences of alien battles to keep you on your toes. If you stay too long in one area you will start to get random alien attacks as well, so it's not 100% choreographed/scripted.

There are only about 7 or 8 missions in the game, and a group of friends and I were able to complete all of them on Normal mode in a few hours last night. We got to level 10 or so and unlocked a lot of weapons in doing so. I guess now the only thing to do is play it on Hard modes or wait until they release more maps/content.

Some standouts: Your off-hand weapons are very unique and can be used for tactical advantage. For example, you can get combat flares that increase auto-aim effectiveness when dropped, hornet swarm missiles that are heat seeking, even adrenaline that makes the game go into slow motion - which has to be the coolest effect. In slow motion everything goes into The Matrix-like mode where you have tons of time to aim and line up your shots. The game also does it at certain times on it's own just for dramatic effect.

Conclusion: A fun but short game - it will be interesting to see what type of content the mod-community creates for it. The squad-based tactics can be surprisingly deep if you have a good group of players on voice communication. Definitely worth a download for at least an afternoon or evening of fun with 3 friends.

Windows only

[oldmac31310]

Why am I not surprised that this is a windows only port?

Re:Free

[daemonc]

I didn't play it back when it was a mod, so I may be wrong... but I would assume they were distributing just the mod, and you had to get the Quake 3 binaries on your own. When the source was freed, they were then able to distribute the binaries as well.

I don't see how any of this would be illegal (illegatry?), or even a copyright violation, but even so, it was never based on Unreal.

Freetards indeed...

Elf needs food badly!

[PylonHead]

So.. it's basically gauntlet?

Re:Elf needs food badly!

[illumin8]

Well, kind of - I love Gauntlet. It's really a lot different because the aliens can come from any direction also above or below you, so they quite often have the element of surprise. There also aren't really monster generators, except there are some biomass you have to burn with a flamethrower or a mining laser.

But yeah, it's kinda like Gauntlet in space...