Off-line mode does NOT work. If you need an internet connection to go off line, THERE IS NO OPTION FOR OFF-LINE PLAY!!!
Try telling someone who wants to play Half-Life 2, when their connection is down, then there is an option for off-line play. See how far you get.
"I used to think I could educate my non-technically inclined friends and family about this stuff. Guess what? Nobody cares!"
I agree that no one cares. Heck, I've gotten SO flamed merely from pointing out that Steam is no different than Palladium. If you remember, all I said was that in my opinion Steam should have been the number one low of gaming in 2004.
Can you think of a lower point in gaming than the exact year we turned over control of our computers to corporations, merely because we wanted to play a cool game for a few hours?! Microsoft has been trying to implement a similar system for years but has been unable to do so. Valve did it without even trying.
Heck, if Microsoft was smart it'd buy out Valve and make Steam mandatory for all applications and files. It'd be the easiest way to get Palladium in our computers.
I think your problem is in your extreme definition of "expert." No one other than you thinks that an expert has to know everything about a topic. They just have to have studied it for a period of time.
Here's my example. I'm an attorney. I've studied the law. Do I know everything about the law? No. I'm I infallible? No. Do I know more than the average person and are my opinions based on the law? Yes.
Here's a real world example. Occasionally in these forums, and others, I'll notice people making mistakes on the law. I'll quote the exact statute or case law which contradicts them. For that I'm rated as either a flamebait or a troll. For example, it's common knowledge to copyright attorneys that the constitutional purpose of copyright (and IP in general) is for the benefit of society. Someone wrote in these forums that the copyright holders have absolute rights over their works and that any benefit to society is irrelevant. Despite the fact that I quoted the US Constitution to prove my point, he still refused to budge in his utterly uninformed belief. What's to stop the same utterly informed beliefs from mucking up Wikipedia?
It's as though those behind Wikipedia believe there is no real truth. And if that's the case, why even bother to create an encyclopedia based on facts. To create a system of facts that you know are no true, because there is no truth, seems like an exercise in futility.
It also seem ridiculous that people at Wikipedia will assume that someone who plays Halo all day will have equal knowledge about aquatic plant life as someone who has studied it his entire life. If that's the world we're heading for, we are screwed as a society.
But cable companies have protections against that type of erosion. According to the FCC, phone companies are common carriers. That means that phone companies have to accept all calls. It has to accept calls from your modem (in the old days) just like it has to accept calls from your grandma.
Cable companies are NOT common carriers. It is perfectly legal for them to stop content flowing through its pipes. For example, Comcast does not have to carry the Disney Channel. It can choose to carry the Food Network instead.
This freedom to block content pertains to their internet connection too, although you don't hear much about it because the cable companies are smart enough not to initiate it.
But if a website started offering movies to internet users, and if that website started affecting a cable company's bottom line, there is NOTHING under the law stopping it from blocking that website to its users. Nothing at all.
Did you actually read all the frigging steps you have to go through?! Right now I can simply double click on icon and the game starts. Once again, why would ANYONE want to pay the same prices and get less value?!
I have no doubt Half-Life 2 is a great game. But a draconian system is a draconian system, regardsless of how "cool" it's presented.
Strange. If you replaced "Steam" with "Palladium" and "Half Life 2" with "Windows" this guy would be considered a Troll. But defend a draconian system from a company which makes a "cool" game, and it's somehow insightful!
"You can play offline if you save your login info in your pc."
I wanted to verify this. I downloaded and attempted to install the Steam/Half Life 2 demo. It says, and I quote, "your computer will NEED to be connected to the Internet to play any Steam games."
"Ignorant."
You can call me ignorant all you want. But all the information I have I got from the internet. Everything I wrote I read somewhere. There is a difference between being "wrong" and being "ignorant." What would be nice is if Valve told us eactly what Steam would do and what our rights are.
And regarding the cost of Half-Life 2, since there is no longer a distrubtor being paid, a shipper being paid, a packager being paid, the person pressing the CDs being paid, and no retailers being paid, Valve is making a LOT more money per game than it ever did before.
"Do you have a chain around your neck saying that you are owned by them? If they somehow decide that fees should be payed to use Steam for whatever reason, people aren't stupid, they will leave and so would I."
So you don't mind throwing 45 bucks away? Right now I can play my copy of Doom and tons of other games anytime I want. Why are you willing to pay for a game where you even MIGHT have to stop playing?!
"a company that wouldn't want to lose loyal fans would release some kind of patch so we could play even at that worst possible scenario"
Why would a company that's out of business care about loyal users. Loyal users paid for their games but they are still forced to use Steam.
"It could happend. If that happends, then nothing's stopping you from taking action against them."
But the decks are stacked against the user. Valve knows that no one is going to sue over a 45 dollar game. It can shut down accounts right and left and NOTHING will ever get done about it. Why are you supporting such a system?
What about losing your resale right? I guess you don't mind being screwed out of that too?
"I don't understand that logic..."
Let's assume that 10% of all games are pirated. Now that people have to pay to play, Valve makes MORE money. And also, because there are no aftermarket sales, once again, Valve makes MORE money. Valve is making MORE money, we're giving up rights, and are getting screwed in the process.
See what I mean!!! I get labeled flamebait merely for pointing out facts about Steam! If Microsoft had put out Steam, I'd be labeled insightful. Why oh why are people defending the erosion of our rights?!
I was going to respond, but you already said everything I was going to say anyway.
I actually bought Half-Life 2. I didn't install it because of Steam. I ended up selling it to get my money back. There is no way in heck I'm going to pay the same price, give up resale rights, give up the right to play off line for the SAME amount of money.
If Half-Life 2 sold for 10 bucks with all those restricts, I'd consider it. But not for a penny more.
Why is it that everyone complains about DRM, but when Valve released Steam, no one complained? People bitched about Palladium, but when Steam came out, everyone bent over like a lifer in the shower.
Right now Steam exerts as much control over your computer as any Trojan, except we pay for the privilege. Steam tells you want to do, when you can do it, how you can do it, and can pull the plug for ANY reason. Right now Valve has pulled accounts for those who allegedly run warez versions of its game. But what's stopping it from branching out?
What if Valve gets bought out by Sony, for example, and Sony decides to crack down on MP3 and Divx files?
What if Valve decides to charge a monthly access to Steam?
What if Valve goes out of business or its servers get shut down?
And here's the important one: What if Steam makes mistakes and people who validly paid for the game gets screwed out of ALL of their Valve games?! Does Valve really think it has created the first perfect system in all of humanity?! From their press releases it sure sounds that way.
With Steam buyers of Half-Life 2 have given up any resale rights. They have given up any right to play the game off line. And despite the fact that the game is validated every time you play it, you're still stuck using the CD when you play. Oh, and by the way, if you have any other Valve games you lost the same rights on those too because Steam will conveniently convert them to its draconian DRM, free of charge.
And where is the advantage to the user?! If Steam eliminated all piracy of Half-Life 2, why isn't it cheaper?!
The bad news is that because Half-Life 2 is such a success, Steam will be the future of PC gaming. So it's only a matter of time before ALL games are sold this way. But the really bad news is because people are accepting this Palladium-lite in droves, it's only a matter of time before ALL software is sold this way!
... is create a SuprNova styled website filled with completely legal torrents. For example, drivers, game demos and updates, Linux and other open source distributions, public domain stuff, share/freeware, etc. We have to let politicians know that p2p has practical legal uses.
I agree with the other poster, I built a PVR and I hardly watch TV at all nowadays. Here's an example, I used to be a die-hard Simpsons fan. I'd watch it EVERY Sunday whether or not it was a re-run.
After building my PVR I could do other things on Sunday night and I let my PVR record them. Soon those Simpson's episodes were building up because I was no longer watching them. When I *had* to watch them at a specific time, I'd make the time. But once I could watch them whenever, I wouldn't make the time.
After a while I simply deleted the files and I no longer even bother to record it. Now my PVR is mostly used to record kids shows or an occasional show for my wife, which she rarely watches.
The most I use my PVR for is to watch (American) football. I can pause the game and go do stuff, e.g., play with my kids, mow the lawn, etc, come back and start watching again, fast-forwarding through the commercials and BS. It's the only way I'll watch sports nowadays. You don't realize how much wasted time there is in sports until you can fast-forward through the crap.
An utterly stripped version of it probably will, but without
any of the four
pillars remaining, it'd be like a Beatles reunion with members of Abba
taking their place.
I'm just pointing out how utterly stupid it is for Apple to keep its new "firewire product" underwraps when it's actually several years behind the times!
It'd be like GM trying to keep its "spare tire" idea underwraps. What would be the point?!
The T2: Extreme DVD has two discs. One is a normal DVD which would play in any DVD player. However, the second disc is in WMV9 format which cannot be played in any known DVD player.
Eventually someone will release a crack to get around Microsoft's restrictions. But until then the only way to view the content is to install the DRM crap.
Slashdot Mirror
I just thought of a great example. When you're sick do you go to the doctor or do go to your friend across the street who plays Halo all day?
Off-line mode does NOT work. If you need an internet connection to go off line, THERE IS NO OPTION FOR OFF-LINE PLAY!!!
Try telling someone who wants to play Half-Life 2, when their connection is down, then there is an option for off-line play. See how far you get.
"I used to think I could educate my non-technically inclined friends and family about this stuff. Guess what? Nobody cares!"
I agree that no one cares. Heck, I've gotten SO flamed merely from pointing out that Steam is no different than Palladium. If you remember, all I said was that in my opinion Steam should have been the number one low of gaming in 2004.
Can you think of a lower point in gaming than the exact year we turned over control of our computers to corporations, merely because we wanted to play a cool game for a few hours?! Microsoft has been trying to implement a similar system for years but has been unable to do so. Valve did it without even trying.
Heck, if Microsoft was smart it'd buy out Valve and make Steam mandatory for all applications and files. It'd be the easiest way to get Palladium in our computers.
I think your problem is in your extreme definition of "expert." No one other than you thinks that an expert has to know everything about a topic. They just have to have studied it for a period of time.
Here's my example. I'm an attorney. I've studied the law. Do I know everything about the law? No. I'm I infallible? No. Do I know more than the average person and are my opinions based on the law? Yes.
Here's a real world example. Occasionally in these forums, and others, I'll notice people making mistakes on the law. I'll quote the exact statute or case law which contradicts them. For that I'm rated as either a flamebait or a troll. For example, it's common knowledge to copyright attorneys that the constitutional purpose of copyright (and IP in general) is for the benefit of society. Someone wrote in these forums that the copyright holders have absolute rights over their works and that any benefit to society is irrelevant. Despite the fact that I quoted the US Constitution to prove my point, he still refused to budge in his utterly uninformed belief. What's to stop the same utterly informed beliefs from mucking up Wikipedia?
It's as though those behind Wikipedia believe there is no real truth. And if that's the case, why even bother to create an encyclopedia based on facts. To create a system of facts that you know are no true, because there is no truth, seems like an exercise in futility.
It also seem ridiculous that people at Wikipedia will assume that someone who plays Halo all day will have equal knowledge about aquatic plant life as someone who has studied it his entire life. If that's the world we're heading for, we are screwed as a society.
I don't know. If he ever got a decent snap he probably would have been pretty good.
If I remember correctly, his name is Charles Brown, PhD.
But cable companies have protections against that type of erosion. According to the FCC, phone companies are common carriers. That means that phone companies have to accept all calls. It has to accept calls from your modem (in the old days) just like it has to accept calls from your grandma.
Cable companies are NOT common carriers. It is perfectly legal for them to stop content flowing through its pipes. For example, Comcast does not have to carry the Disney Channel. It can choose to carry the Food Network instead.
This freedom to block content pertains to their internet connection too, although you don't hear much about it because the cable companies are smart enough not to initiate it.
But if a website started offering movies to internet users, and if that website started affecting a cable company's bottom line, there is NOTHING under the law stopping it from blocking that website to its users. Nothing at all.
Oh, and if you NEED an internet connection to play off-line, you can't really play off-line when your connection is down can you?!
"Sure you can play off-line any time you want. Simply connect to our servers and we'll give you permission."
Don't you get it. Valve controls your computer, NOT you!
Did you actually read all the frigging steps you have to go through?! Right now I can simply double click on icon and the game starts. Once again, why would ANYONE want to pay the same prices and get less value?!
I have no doubt Half-Life 2 is a great game. But a draconian system is a draconian system, regardsless of how "cool" it's presented.
Strange. If you replaced "Steam" with "Palladium" and "Half Life 2" with "Windows" this guy would be considered a Troll. But defend a draconian system from a company which makes a "cool" game, and it's somehow insightful!
I really worry about our future!
"You can play offline if you save your login info in your pc."
I wanted to verify this. I downloaded and attempted to install the Steam/Half Life 2 demo. It says, and I quote, "your computer will NEED to be connected to the Internet to play any Steam games."
"Ignorant."
You can call me ignorant all you want. But all the information I have I got from the internet. Everything I wrote I read somewhere. There is a difference between being "wrong" and being "ignorant." What would be nice is if Valve told us eactly what Steam would do and what our rights are.
And regarding the cost of Half-Life 2, since there is no longer a distrubtor being paid, a shipper being paid, a packager being paid, the person pressing the CDs being paid, and no retailers being paid, Valve is making a LOT more money per game than it ever did before.
"Do you have a chain around your neck saying that you are owned by them? If they somehow decide that fees should be payed to use Steam for whatever reason, people aren't stupid, they will leave and so would I."
So you don't mind throwing 45 bucks away? Right now I can play my copy of Doom and tons of other games anytime I want. Why are you willing to pay for a game where you even MIGHT have to stop playing?!
"a company that wouldn't want to lose loyal fans would release some kind of patch so we could play even at that worst possible scenario"
Why would a company that's out of business care about loyal users. Loyal users paid for their games but they are still forced to use Steam.
"It could happend. If that happends, then nothing's stopping you from taking action against them."
But the decks are stacked against the user. Valve knows that no one is going to sue over a 45 dollar game. It can shut down accounts right and left and NOTHING will ever get done about it. Why are you supporting such a system?
What about losing your resale right? I guess you don't mind being screwed out of that too?
"I don't understand that logic..."
Let's assume that 10% of all games are pirated. Now that people have to pay to play, Valve makes MORE money. And also, because there are no aftermarket sales, once again, Valve makes MORE money. Valve is making MORE money, we're giving up rights, and are getting screwed in the process.
Once again, why do you support such a system?!
See what I mean!!! I get labeled flamebait merely for pointing out facts about Steam! If Microsoft had put out Steam, I'd be labeled insightful. Why oh why are people defending the erosion of our rights?!
I was going to respond, but you already said everything I was going to say anyway.
I actually bought Half-Life 2. I didn't install it because of Steam. I ended up selling it to get my money back. There is no way in heck I'm going to pay the same price, give up resale rights, give up the right to play off line for the SAME amount of money.
If Half-Life 2 sold for 10 bucks with all those restricts, I'd consider it. But not for a penny more.
Why is it that everyone complains about DRM, but when Valve released Steam, no one complained? People bitched about Palladium, but when Steam came out, everyone bent over like a lifer in the shower.
Right now Steam exerts as much control over your computer as any Trojan, except we pay for the privilege. Steam tells you want to do, when you can do it, how you can do it, and can pull the plug for ANY reason. Right now Valve has pulled accounts for those who allegedly run warez versions of its game. But what's stopping it from branching out?
What if Valve gets bought out by Sony, for example, and Sony decides to crack down on MP3 and Divx files?
What if Valve decides to charge a monthly access to Steam?
What if Valve goes out of business or its servers get shut down?
And here's the important one: What if Steam makes mistakes and people who validly paid for the game gets screwed out of ALL of their Valve games?! Does Valve really think it has created the first perfect system in all of humanity?! From their press releases it sure sounds that way.
With Steam buyers of Half-Life 2 have given up any resale rights. They have given up any right to play the game off line. And despite the fact that the game is validated every time you play it, you're still stuck using the CD when you play. Oh, and by the way, if you have any other Valve games you lost the same rights on those too because Steam will conveniently convert them to its draconian DRM, free of charge.
And where is the advantage to the user?! If Steam eliminated all piracy of Half-Life 2, why isn't it cheaper?!
The bad news is that because Half-Life 2 is such a success, Steam will be the future of PC gaming. So it's only a matter of time before ALL games are sold this way. But the really bad news is because people are accepting this Palladium-lite in droves, it's only a matter of time before ALL software is sold this way!
... is create a SuprNova styled website filled with completely legal torrents. For example, drivers, game demos and updates, Linux and other open source distributions, public domain stuff, share/freeware, etc. We have to let politicians know that p2p has practical legal uses.
www.newegg.com
Yep, for most people TV is a comfortable rut. PVRs let you escape without any withdrawal symptoms.
I agree with the other poster, I built a PVR and I hardly watch TV at all nowadays. Here's an example, I used to be a die-hard Simpsons fan. I'd watch it EVERY Sunday whether or not it was a re-run.
After building my PVR I could do other things on Sunday night and I let my PVR record them. Soon those Simpson's episodes were building up because I was no longer watching them. When I *had* to watch them at a specific time, I'd make the time. But once I could watch them whenever, I wouldn't make the time.
After a while I simply deleted the files and I no longer even bother to record it. Now my PVR is mostly used to record kids shows or an occasional show for my wife, which she rarely watches.
The most I use my PVR for is to watch (American) football. I can pause the game and go do stuff, e.g., play with my kids, mow the lawn, etc, come back and start watching again, fast-forwarding through the commercials and BS. It's the only way I'll watch sports nowadays. You don't realize how much wasted time there is in sports until you can fast-forward through the crap.
If by "rock" I mean paying too much for an outdated system. The G4 was released back in 1999!!! Will Panther even run on such a slow system?!
My belief doesn't make it true, reality does.
The answer is simple. The music industry has the federal government in its back pocket. What the music industry wants, the music industry gets.
When victims of viruses get a lobby as filthy rich and powerful as the RIAA, maybe the FBI will take some action.
An utterly stripped version of it probably will, but without any of the four pillars remaining, it'd be like a Beatles reunion with members of Abba taking their place.
I'm just pointing out how utterly stupid it is for Apple to keep its new "firewire product" underwraps when it's actually several years behind the times!
It'd be like GM trying to keep its "spare tire" idea underwraps. What would be the point?!
A firewire device for musicians. What a great idea. That's Apple for you, always on the forefront of new technology.
The T2: Extreme DVD has two discs. One is a normal DVD which would play in any DVD player. However, the second disc is in WMV9 format which cannot be played in any known DVD player.
Eventually someone will release a crack to get around Microsoft's restrictions. But until then the only way to view the content is to install the DRM crap.