Yes, there is a backup option. You select what you want to backup then it asks you what media you are going to put it on. It then creates files of appropriate size.
The cd you buy from the store is basically a backup of the steam cache files without a hl2 executable to run the game.
Uhhh...after activation you WILL be able to play HL2 without an internet connection. As far as 10 years from now, how do you know the planet will enen be around in 10 years. You may not even be able to use a PC in 10 years. Who gives a shit about 10 years from now and playing a game.
"Want to give your old half-life version to a friend or your little brother? No can do, only option is give your account and password to them (at which point, you might not be able to play your new game at the same time, if they're on the same account)"
The only thing binding your account is login and password. So giving that to them IS transfering the account. Oh wait, you want to play on the same account at the same time with multiple people, aka, steal a 2nd copy? Well of course you can't do that. Just like everything else, except this system enforces it.
A lot of people getting all upset over nothing is what this is.
Yeah because murder is just like cracking a game you legally bought but can't play yet. You probably think that people that apply no cd patches to games they bought should be tossed in jail along with all the other murderers also.
Some folks still don't get it which is just fine, they'll just continue making up the same responses when topics like this come up.
"Thats just what I want, a system that centralizes all the mods so I have to go through Valve to get my gameplay fix, and that won't even let me play singleplayer without a friggin internet connection. I will NOT be purchasing HL2 SOLELY because of the fact that they require product activation for singleplayer."
Its a ONE time activation. Just like XP which you are probably using right now. Or are you refusing to buy that also. You can't complain about internet access because you have just posted here, so you have to have access somehow. So it just boils down to you being a cheapass and not wanting to actually PAY for something. Everyone complaining about activation are probably the same people that had no intention of buying it in the first place and will just download it anyways.
From what I understand the main reason is that it gives all stores a fair chance to sell it on the same day. The big stores get way more copies than the small stores and usually send their own trucks to pick up the copies for bigger games. If the big stores started selling it as soon as they got it it would hurt the smaller stores.
I have a squeezebox (slimp3.com) for streaming mp3's from my linux box to my receiver downstairs. Now what I want to add is another box just like it that will do video. It must be open source, support all the codecs, run under linux and allow me to dump the contents of a dvd to a hard drive and stream it across to the box to play on the tv. I want to be able to dump all my dvd's to a massive set of hard drives and have it all accessible at the touch of a button. This kind of thing just doesn't exist yet. I don't want to put a full blown PC downstairs next to my tv to do this either.
XWing was original, but Tie Fighter was the absolute best. Then Knights of the Old Republic was really good too. Other than those they all suck.
I think they should stop making SW games for a few years. Work on making something truely great and let the fans take a break from crappy titles for awhile.
Re:Is it really that popular?
on
Halo 2 Released
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· Score: 1
"Gotta wonder if the pre-orders that MS has been touting is just the orders that got shipped out to all the stores or if it's actual numbers of consumer purchased units."
Preorder numbers that get put out into the press are just that. Numbers of copies shipped out to stores. Its not necessarily the number of copies that have been bought as preorders. Every game maker does the same thing right before or on release date. They spit out the number of copies sent to stores but call it the preorder number.
I'm curious as to what race you played? In the stress test I played as a dwarf and had a blast. Yes you can solo about 2-3 levels higher than you but you do take a beating in doing so and can die doing it if you aren't paying attention (especially the higher 10+ level monsters). I never got lost running around and if I remember correctly you can pull up a larger map and still run around, the towns are marked on the map as well as other geographic features.
I'm thinking something was wrong with your setup or a bug or something. The art is very good and the animation and models are good as well. Most of the early missions require some basic combat as well as being delivery boy. But later missions link together and build on each other getting harder and harder.
Not a flame, but maybe the reason you thought it was boring was because you really didn't want to play it in the first place but did so just so you could say it was boring and actually say so after playing it. Thats based on you saying that you were reading news in another window while playing.
Its not for everyone but I think its the best of these games so far.
"-Voicemail has NEVER worked correctly - I had to eventually have voicemail turned off because messages could not be retrieved, ever."
Had the same problem with my phone initially. It was a configuration problem that a at&t wireless tech solved. It took a full day to find it but they eventually did.
"-The service itself is spotty and horrible - if you like noise and dropouts and an inability to even get a dialtone more than 4 out of 5 attempts then please use ATT."
Last time I checked you don't get dial tones with cell phones. You dial the number and press send. No such thing as a dial tone so I'm placing bets that you are now trolling but just in case you aren't...Where are you located? If at&t isn't the primary provider in your area then yeah, you will have problems. In my area almost everyone has sprint, but I'm the only one that can get reception in my office building, and I have at&t. I have great reception in my area.
"-There is no phone number to call for help first - your only 'option' is email and then a phone number to call. Once you do call, expect to spend at least 2 hours on the phone."
As someone else said, the 800 number is on the bill and online. Not their fault you can't read.
"-They NEVER NEVER honor insurance on a lost/damaged phone - never. It's straight up theft for them to charge for insurance because there are zero instances where they honor it."
I never get phone insurance, but I bet there is fine print just like every carrier.
Q: Why do I need to get a new wireless phone when I want to get Cingular's current rate plans or services?
A: Cingular's rate plans and services require unique software in your wireless phone to function properly. Unfortunately, AT&T Wireless phones are not equipped to support many of the benefits of Cingular's voice and data services. Therefore, to take advantage of the latest services Cingular offers, a new handset is required.
Making the transition to a Cingular phone is easy. Plus, we offer a wide selection of innovative wireless phones. From basic voice and text messaging capable wireless phones to state-of-the art models with integrated cameras, multimedia messaging and wireless Internet features, we're confident we have a Cingular phone to meet your needs.
Which is BS if you already have a GSM phone. The cingular networks and at&t networks are basically the same as far as network types. I have a motorola v600 phone and cingular sells the v400 which is basically the same just not as many features as my v600. Why should I be forced to step down in phone types in order to get rollover minutes added on to my phone when the only thing that needs to be changed would be the sim card.
There's gonna be a lot of pissed off at&t wireless folks if they make people buy new phones just so the phone says cingular instea of at&t at boot up.
Yeah, I wondered that too, especially for the rollover minutes. I already have an at&t nationwide plan that includes everything the cingular plan does. Why would one need a new Cingular GSM phone to take advantage of rollover minutes. In theory they should just issue new sim cards.
"It's nothing but a couple sports games, a couple platformers, two racers and a bunch of gimicky nonsense."
Look at the sony line up, some "X"-treme sports games, Japanese-like RPG games (blue hair, bad english dubs, wahoo), on the edge racing games, golf game, and some platformers.
Not much different is it. Ahhh fanboyism at its finest.
"Like I said in another post, is it okay if I kick someone in the nuts as long as I tell them something physical might happen?"
Of course its ok, if the other side agrees that something physical might happen to them. In the game the users AGREED that something offensive might happen when they signed up for the game.
It all boils down to: The majority of the population in this world are idiots. Its as simple as that.
"The whole, this simulates the real world non-sense is just that...nonsense. How is that fun?"
I never said it was fun. It doesn't sound very fun to me either, but then again I'm not playing the game. Obviously it sounds fun to someone though.
Except your talking about something that is real world, tangible. The topic at hand is about something that can't touch you unless you let it. But all the users were notified ahead of time that something offensive might happen at some point.
The developer was trying to make the world like real life egypt during the time period, but the people in the game that complained only wanted that to happen when it suited them. This is where the problem is. The players are idiots and want it only when THEY say its ok.
It doesn't exist anymore. Closed awhile ago. It was extremely over priced too. Always crowded but you would pay an arm and a leg for stuff that you could get cheaper elsewhere.
Suprnova doesn't distribute the game. It distributes a file containing bits, that is all. Those bits in the file aren't even the game. You might as well have them go after google as well as all the other search engines too. One only needs to type in san andreas torrent to search to find all the locations that have it. Once its out there, its there. Nothing anyone can do about it.
Of the 3 torrents of it out there (that I can see) there are about 12k downloaders currently downloading it, with about 260 people seeding full versions. The archive is 2.6GB. I seriously doubt that many people have mod'd PS2's to play this. I bet most people are d/l for the sake of d/l to say: "Yeah, i got it" and thats about it.
"Personally, I am terribly annoyed by TVs in restaurants and airports: they grab my attention over and over, no matter how hard I try to ignore them, and they distract me from the conversations that I should be having with my human companions."
How is that the televisions fault that you don't have enough self control to ignore the tv and concentrate on those around you?
A device like this cannot be legal and has to be pretty close to being called vandelism.
" Starting with: Internet Explorer on XP SP1/SP2, which suffers a new system compromise (of course) vulnerability. "
It would be nice if when a story is posted that the obvious bias is removed from the posting and just the facts remain. Posting such clear bias against a certain product or company makes slashdot and its readers look like freaking idiots.
USA Today is a pretty crappy paper though. It caters to the lowest common denominator, aka, those people that don't even know what a web browser is. Not exactly your target audience.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm a paying customer and I unlocked it around 8:45 this morning. It took about 15 minutes but it did work just fine.
Maybe you shouldn't have waited to buy it via steam until the day it was released because everyone else would be trying to unlock on the same day.
Yes, there is a backup option. You select what you want to backup then it asks you what media you are going to put it on. It then creates files of appropriate size.
The cd you buy from the store is basically a backup of the steam cache files without a hl2 executable to run the game.
Uhhh...after activation you WILL be able to play HL2 without an internet connection. As far as 10 years from now, how do you know the planet will enen be around in 10 years. You may not even be able to use a PC in 10 years. Who gives a shit about 10 years from now and playing a game.
"Want to give your old half-life version to a friend or your little brother? No can do, only option is give your account and password to them (at which point, you might not be able to play your new game at the same time, if they're on the same account)"
The only thing binding your account is login and password. So giving that to them IS transfering the account. Oh wait, you want to play on the same account at the same time with multiple people, aka, steal a 2nd copy? Well of course you can't do that. Just like everything else, except this system enforces it.
A lot of people getting all upset over nothing is what this is.
Yeah because murder is just like cracking a game you legally bought but can't play yet. You probably think that people that apply no cd patches to games they bought should be tossed in jail along with all the other murderers also.
Some folks still don't get it which is just fine, they'll just continue making up the same responses when topics like this come up.
"Thats just what I want, a system that centralizes all the mods so I have to go through Valve to get my gameplay fix, and that won't even let me play singleplayer without a friggin internet connection. I will NOT be purchasing HL2 SOLELY because of the fact that they require product activation for singleplayer."
Its a ONE time activation. Just like XP which you are probably using right now. Or are you refusing to buy that also. You can't complain about internet access because you have just posted here, so you have to have access somehow. So it just boils down to you being a cheapass and not wanting to actually PAY for something. Everyone complaining about activation are probably the same people that had no intention of buying it in the first place and will just download it anyways.
If it were so black and white then there wouldn't be debates and questions over whether it was right or wrong.
Now climb down off your high horse and go get some fresh air.
From what I understand the main reason is that it gives all stores a fair chance to sell it on the same day. The big stores get way more copies than the small stores and usually send their own trucks to pick up the copies for bigger games. If the big stores started selling it as soon as they got it it would hurt the smaller stores.
I have a squeezebox (slimp3.com) for streaming mp3's from my linux box to my receiver downstairs. Now what I want to add is another box just like it that will do video. It must be open source, support all the codecs, run under linux and allow me to dump the contents of a dvd to a hard drive and stream it across to the box to play on the tv. I want to be able to dump all my dvd's to a massive set of hard drives and have it all accessible at the touch of a button. This kind of thing just doesn't exist yet. I don't want to put a full blown PC downstairs next to my tv to do this either.
XWing was original, but Tie Fighter was the absolute best. Then Knights of the Old Republic was really good too. Other than those they all suck.
I think they should stop making SW games for a few years. Work on making something truely great and let the fans take a break from crappy titles for awhile.
"Gotta wonder if the pre-orders that MS has been touting is just the orders that got shipped out to all the stores or if it's actual numbers of consumer purchased units."
Preorder numbers that get put out into the press are just that. Numbers of copies shipped out to stores. Its not necessarily the number of copies that have been bought as preorders. Every game maker does the same thing right before or on release date. They spit out the number of copies sent to stores but call it the preorder number.
I'm curious as to what race you played? In the stress test I played as a dwarf and had a blast. Yes you can solo about 2-3 levels higher than you but you do take a beating in doing so and can die doing it if you aren't paying attention (especially the higher 10+ level monsters). I never got lost running around and if I remember correctly you can pull up a larger map and still run around, the towns are marked on the map as well as other geographic features.
I'm thinking something was wrong with your setup or a bug or something. The art is very good and the animation and models are good as well. Most of the early missions require some basic combat as well as being delivery boy. But later missions link together and build on each other getting harder and harder.
Not a flame, but maybe the reason you thought it was boring was because you really didn't want to play it in the first place but did so just so you could say it was boring and actually say so after playing it. Thats based on you saying that you were reading news in another window while playing.
Its not for everyone but I think its the best of these games so far.
"-Voicemail has NEVER worked correctly - I had to eventually have voicemail turned off because messages could not be retrieved, ever."
Had the same problem with my phone initially. It was a configuration problem that a at&t wireless tech solved. It took a full day to find it but they eventually did.
"-The service itself is spotty and horrible - if you like noise and dropouts and an inability to even get a dialtone more than 4 out of 5 attempts then please use ATT."
Last time I checked you don't get dial tones with cell phones. You dial the number and press send. No such thing as a dial tone so I'm placing bets that you are now trolling but just in case you aren't...Where are you located? If at&t isn't the primary provider in your area then yeah, you will have problems. In my area almost everyone has sprint, but I'm the only one that can get reception in my office building, and I have at&t. I have great reception in my area.
"-There is no phone number to call for help first - your only 'option' is email and then a phone number to call. Once you do call, expect to spend at least 2 hours on the phone."
As someone else said, the 800 number is on the bill and online. Not their fault you can't read.
"-They NEVER NEVER honor insurance on a lost/damaged phone - never. It's straight up theft for them to charge for insurance because there are zero instances where they honor it."
I never get phone insurance, but I bet there is fine print just like every carrier.
Hate replying to myself.
I looked further on the web site:
Q: Why do I need to get a new wireless phone when I want to get Cingular's current rate plans or services?
A: Cingular's rate plans and services require unique software in your wireless phone to function properly. Unfortunately, AT&T Wireless phones are not equipped to support many of the benefits of Cingular's voice and data services. Therefore, to take advantage of the latest services Cingular offers, a new handset is required.
Making the transition to a Cingular phone is easy. Plus, we offer a wide selection of innovative wireless phones. From basic voice and text messaging capable wireless phones to state-of-the art models with integrated cameras, multimedia messaging and wireless Internet features, we're confident we have a Cingular phone to meet your needs.
Which is BS if you already have a GSM phone. The cingular networks and at&t networks are basically the same as far as network types. I have a motorola v600 phone and cingular sells the v400 which is basically the same just not as many features as my v600. Why should I be forced to step down in phone types in order to get rollover minutes added on to my phone when the only thing that needs to be changed would be the sim card.
There's gonna be a lot of pissed off at&t wireless folks if they make people buy new phones just so the phone says cingular instea of at&t at boot up.
Yeah, I wondered that too, especially for the rollover minutes. I already have an at&t nationwide plan that includes everything the cingular plan does. Why would one need a new Cingular GSM phone to take advantage of rollover minutes. In theory they should just issue new sim cards.
"It's nothing but a couple sports games, a couple platformers, two racers and a bunch of gimicky nonsense."
Look at the sony line up, some "X"-treme sports games, Japanese-like RPG games (blue hair, bad english dubs, wahoo), on the edge racing games, golf game, and some platformers.
Not much different is it. Ahhh fanboyism at its finest.
"Like I said in another post, is it okay if I kick someone in the nuts as long as I tell them something physical might happen?"
Of course its ok, if the other side agrees that something physical might happen to them. In the game the users AGREED that something offensive might happen when they signed up for the game.
It all boils down to: The majority of the population in this world are idiots. Its as simple as that.
"The whole, this simulates the real world non-sense is just that...nonsense. How is that fun?"
I never said it was fun. It doesn't sound very fun to me either, but then again I'm not playing the game. Obviously it sounds fun to someone though.
Except your talking about something that is real world, tangible. The topic at hand is about something that can't touch you unless you let it. But all the users were notified ahead of time that something offensive might happen at some point.
The developer was trying to make the world like real life egypt during the time period, but the people in the game that complained only wanted that to happen when it suited them. This is where the problem is. The players are idiots and want it only when THEY say its ok.
How exactly do you riot in a multiplayer online game? I mean run around yelling? Can they destory buildings and burn fields? Storm the castle?
What?
But physically they are extremely flat and thin. They aren't flat panels anymore than a DLP is a flat panel, but the physical description is correct.
It doesn't exist anymore. Closed awhile ago. It was extremely over priced too. Always crowded but you would pay an arm and a leg for stuff that you could get cheaper elsewhere.
Suprnova doesn't distribute the game. It distributes a file containing bits, that is all. Those bits in the file aren't even the game. You might as well have them go after google as well as all the other search engines too. One only needs to type in san andreas torrent to search to find all the locations that have it. Once its out there, its there. Nothing anyone can do about it.
Of the 3 torrents of it out there (that I can see) there are about 12k downloaders currently downloading it, with about 260 people seeding full versions. The archive is 2.6GB. I seriously doubt that many people have mod'd PS2's to play this. I bet most people are d/l for the sake of d/l to say: "Yeah, i got it" and thats about it.
"Personally, I am terribly annoyed by TVs in restaurants and airports: they grab my attention over and over, no matter how hard I try to ignore them, and they distract me from the conversations that I should be having with my human companions."
How is that the televisions fault that you don't have enough self control to ignore the tv and concentrate on those around you?
A device like this cannot be legal and has to be pretty close to being called vandelism.
" Starting with: Internet Explorer on XP SP1/SP2, which suffers a new system compromise (of course) vulnerability. "
It would be nice if when a story is posted that the obvious bias is removed from the posting and just the facts remain. Posting such clear bias against a certain product or company makes slashdot and its readers look like freaking idiots.
USA Today is a pretty crappy paper though. It caters to the lowest common denominator, aka, those people that don't even know what a web browser is. Not exactly your target audience.
Sign up via steam and you can get it the day it hits the store.