OK, so having finished Halo 2's single-player campaign (roughly 10 hours on medium difficulty), and finding it somewhat anti-climactic in the end, I turned my attention to my favorite game of all time, Half-Life. The sequel, the aptly named "Half-Life 2", is due on store shelves tomorrow (so consider this Half-Life Eve).
So, why bother blogging? Well, it starts getting interesting when you consider Valve Software's delivery methods. To my knowledge, Valve is the first major video game company to sell games themselves online rather than solely rely on boxed copies sold in stores. This could mean that video game companies no longer have to rely on publishers to get their games into the hands of the masses (mind you, we'll see how the Steam system holds up). But where it gets more interesting is that people apparently already have bought boxed copies of Half-Life 2 from retailers and haven't been able to play the game. Why? Well, the whole system of video gamery (Half-Life 2 specifically) relies on an authentication server. So even though some retailers jumped the November 16th gun and sold the game early, until the authentication servers come online, you can't play the game. Makes sense. Now for the kicker. I purchased the game online last night and downloaded it to my hard-drive via Steam, so once the servers go online, I'm good to go. I don't have to run down to EB at midnight and stand in long lines to hand over some money so I can run home and play. No, instead I just log into Steam and play the game, I'm authenticated and off I go.
In fact, Steam has the following news on their site:
Half-Life 2 For Sale?
November 13, 2004, 4:57 pm · valve
If you have purchased a copy of Half-Life 2, we are sorry you are still waiting to play. This is not Valve's choice. Vivendi is insisting that the game has not yet been released, and has threatened that Valve would be in violation of its contract if we activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers at this time.Thanks for your patience and we will update you when we have more news to share.
This leads to some interesting ideas. Since people who chose to download the game via Steam and people who bought the software on CD/DVD are both forced to use the same authentication system and use Steam, they can force software updates on people as well, to enforce that everybody is using the same (latest) version of the game. In fact, Valve lists this as a major feature of the Steam system:
AUTOMATIC UPDATES
Say goodbye to game patches forever--they're a thing of the past. Steam will keep all of its games up-to-date for as long as you want to keep playing them. No more hunting for download sites just to get up and running!
So, how does this relate to anything, and why bother posting it on this [barely] Flash blog? Well, what if Macromedia (or other software companies) adopted the same practices? Macromedia already does (and relatively well) with their Windows Update system. Of course, the biggest failing of Windows Update is that users either don't know it is there, or just don't remember to do it. Windows XP Service Pack 2 fixed a lot of those problems since it tries to force you to stay updated. In a lot of cases Windows Updates will be downloaded and installed automatically for you (which can be good or bad depending on how the patches end up working [or if they break more than they fix]). But imagine if Microsoft set up a system like Steam that allowed you to just download Word or Powerpoint if you need it and have it automatically installed for you. You could (theoretically) just log into your Steam account and have access to all the software you've bought from them and use it at whatever computer you happen to be at. Granted, this idea has been proposed probably a million times before, but hey. Or how about the case of Macromedia. You log into your computer and Steam fires up automatically. Flash would automatically download the latest updaters (ie: 7.2) and away you go. Or you no longer have to worry about if you have the newest version of the Flash Player, it would automatically download and install if any newer versions were found. All authentication/activation could be done on a master server making it more difficult to crack. Or you could have the online authentication as some failsafe. Mind you, nothing is ideal, as theoretically the installation could be hacked to either avoid online authentication or use a fake authentication server which always approves CD-Keys. I think the most obvious flaw in this (and perhaps Half-Life 2) is that you may possibly need an internet connection every time you wanted to play the game since it would need to authenticate itself. Not a problem for me as I have high-speed cable internet, but if you had dial-up and wanted to play a game or use an application the last thing I'd want to have to do is log into my ISP to authenticate. Especially with Flash, if you were in a hotel without internet and wanted to make a simple fix to an existing FLA, you wouldn't want to have to think about using a phone modem or paying extra for a wi-fi connection just to use the software. Maybe this is where both local PC activation and online authentication would have to co-exist. If you don't have an internet connection active, it would only use activation (like Flash 2004 does currently), but if you were online, it would check for newer versions and make sure your copy has a legitimate serial number and is only being used in one location (so no serial sharing). Flash could even check to make sure that you haven't tried hacking the local activation precautions.
Just a thought. It will definitely be interesting to see how Valve's Steam system holds up under load with people playing and downloading a few gigabytes of install files. Hopefully if the system works we'll see more software makers go this route. With my high-speed internet connection I don't really mind downloading a gig or two files and burning them to CD/DVD myself. And if it makes the software a bit cheaper that's even better. Steam even offers a version of Half-Life 2 where they mail you a strategy guide, a hat, some posters. So users could buy any software online and have the software manufacturer (or even Amazon) send you the manuals so you aren't stucking reading downloaded PDFs. Or users could choose to use the F1 key and use the built-in help system and choose to buy a 3rd party book on Flash instead.
Now, getting back to Half-Life 2, Electonics Boutique lists the following features:
Characters - Advanced facial animation system delivers the most sophisticated in-game characters ever seen. With 40 distinct facial "muscles," human characters convey the full array of human emotion, and respond to the player with fluidity and intelligence.Physics - From pebbles to water to 2-ton trucks respond as expected, as they obey the laws of mass, friction, gravity, and buoyancy.
Graphics - Source’s shader-based renderer, like the one used at Pixar to create movies such as Toy Story and Monster's, Inc., creates the most beautiful and realistic environments ever seen in a video game.
AI - Neither friends nor enemies charge blindly into the fray. They can assess threats, navigate tricky terrain, and fashion weapons from whatever is at hand.
Visit the official Half-Life 2 site.
Buy and download the game via Steam.
Buy the game from Electronics Boutique (Regular or Collector's Edition).
It'll be interesting to see how Steam pans out beyond it's current incarnation as a geek fun toy. With it's built in AIM-like presence detection & chat IM, it certainly has the potential to go the right and wrong way. For instance, why not integrate existing presences vs. creating your own.
Secondly, I cannot get Half-Life, nor Opposing Force to work on my 3 year-old computer... DirectX is TOO up to date.
The email from their CEO directly to end users querying them on why they haven't logged into Steam in a long time prompted me to think that they had no long term vision for Steam at all, save a nice platform to keep all of the various Half-Life mods up to date and consolidated without having 50 CD's and serial #'s.
I don't really care about the avoiding publishers (there's more to it than just boxing and distributing a game on a shelf), more so about distribution of independent developers Half-Life 2 mod creations. Much like Central's App Finder, this is a great, free route to advertising assuming the QA process is somewhat existient.
All in all, I could care less if I don't get a box, and consildated patch updating would be great if I can still choose my server to dl from.
We'll see, interesting to watch.
Posted by: JesterXL at November 15, 2004 12:09 PMWhile online distribution sounds cool in theory, Valve's schemes seem a bit more difficult to grasp. I mean, you still have to activate (online) a game you bought on retail. Some people will say this is done to fight piracy, but 1. this doesn't work as hackers will probably be able to release 'cracked' versions of the game easily and 2. are you really supposed to have an internet connection to activate a game you bought for single player only (and download content that is NOT on the cd -- the executable itself and its dlls)? Does the average joe know that? If valve goes bankrupt in a few years (something I doubt), how will I be able to activate my old game?
And considering valve wasn't even able to implement a very simple unique cd key check on cs:s (something games as q3/d3/bf42 had easily), I really doubt the effectiveness of steam on combating cheating and piracy and more importantly, valve's ability to make it work. It doesn't matter how complex you make it: if it's client side, it's breakable, and it's the case with steam key check right now.
We shall wait and see; my copy is still on preorder, I'll activate it without a problem and enjoy as much of it as I can, but right now I think valve is trying to hard and doing too little and it may just annoy the hell out of the users instead of make their life easier by fighting piracy and cheating. It's hl2, it will sell no matter what, but will it be the path to trail on the coming years? Right now, I don't think so.
Posted by: zeh at November 15, 2004 02:19 PMSteam is amazing pure and simple.
Valve have always had their heads screwd on tight, and the guys there know where / how warez kiddies get access to pirated stuff. They are kind of using a Microsoft XP Key concept, where you can't access it unless you are registered and to do that you need a working email address for starters.
Now, while the game can be played without STEAM (single player) as you say, multiplay is still a STEAM requirement (there are mods out there for un-steamed servers but their population will be limited).
Its a very fine balancing act, as STEAM has had its set of issues and problems (from its birth) but.. they seem to have been ontop of it fast.
Other games are starting to adopt this practice, in many ways Blizzard are flirting with the concept, by using Bit Torrent as its delivery mechanism. World Of Warcraft did something radically different, they released the full game in beta to the world to download and test/play. So come retail on the 23rd Nov you effectively already have the game (just need the final retail patch) and can play while the box is being shipped. (Oh should also point out, its probably the first game of this nature that has a full UI API for you to play and customize programmatically speaking?)
Yes this is an Online game and you need access to their servers only, but they took a different approach to other "online games" in that allowing you to Download the entire game (2gigs) or have it shipped. This sort of options these days are much more attractive then waiting or heading down to local store(s) where you pay their markups.
Another game like this is Leased games. while they are typically cheap oldware games, that concept is also pretty cool where you can download and play the game for a trial period and if you like, you buy the full mode (ie a key or patch).
I actually like Valves approach with Steam especially the security workarounds where you have to downloaded data to make sure that you haven't screwd around with the engine in anyway (ie much like Punkbuster but uber). That entrusts that its a fair playing field.
If Macromedia were to endorse a concept like this, it could backfire - simply put: Not everyone uses Macromedia products online. You need to still support those who have connection issues, typically a home is fine but corporate - firewalls / proxies etc can hurt in the end.
They kind of do this now with your License key but even then i've seen problems with that... so its a delicate transition in software imho.
Posted by: Scott Barnes at November 15, 2004 05:04 PMScott, steam didn't stop people from playing pirated copies of cs:s online, on *legit* servers, without even needing a working email... a simple online verification of cdkeys (in the likes of q3, d3, rtcw, bf1942, etc) would do, but steam doesn't do it. And it wasn't on the beta, it's on the final build. That's the real problem right now. They've been developing the system for years and it still can't do something as basic as that.. something that games have been doing for a long time without megaservices like steam... that's what gets me worried. Too much work for too few rewards.
Posted by: zeh at November 15, 2004 05:11 PMExcellent points, and I was confused at the prospect of having to open an internet connection each time you started up Flash, but it appears that Steam works in an "offline mode" where you don't need an internet connection (well, you have to log onto the internet once to authenticate, then just a balancing act of backing up key files).
How To Make Steam Offline Mode Work
Of course, maybe that enables more room for rampant piracy. I really doubt that Valve will ever really discuss piracy issues related to the Steam service (as it is their service and they want people to think it is safe and secure).
After about 30 minutes of gameplay, I have to say that I don't really get what makes Counter Strike so great. I much prefer the ol' DeathMatch Classic of the original Half-Life. I really hope that they eventually remake the deathmatch and put it back into HL2 via Steam. Or if not, I'm sure some 3rd party person will. Then again, supposedly Valve has been working on Team Fortress 2 since before 1998, so who knows what they'll release.
Posted by: peter at November 15, 2004 06:53 PMSo I bought Halflife 2, rush back eager to play..
and because I'm on a proxy server I can't authenticate my game meaning I can't play :(
Great idea to have to authenticate...not :(
Posted by: Twedd at November 17, 2004 07:31 AMI just bought the game too and started to think that having to activate the game on the net even though i bought the game in a store is retarted. And now i cant even play the game because steam doesnt realize i have an open internet connection and say This operation cannot be completed when Steam is in offline mode, every time i try to create a steam account.
Posted by: Ben at November 17, 2004 09:13 AMOnline authentication to play a stand alone game is selfish, narrow minded and in the long run won't stop piracy, you can still get cracked copes...
sigh
Posted by: james at November 17, 2004 09:50 AMthis game suX big time i dont have internet at home so what the hell am i suposed to do if i want to play some half life 2??? i think valve SUX big time i cant even get a refund for the game because i already opend it. i just bought the game for the single player missions. THIS SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: rand at November 17, 2004 02:35 PMYou only need an internet connection once, as soon as you install the game. Once you've installed the game and logged into Steam to authenticate your CD-key, you can switch the game into "offline mode" where you don't need an internet connection. So, as long as you have a friend with internet or get a dialup account for a couple days or something (you may be able to find a place that lets you try a dialup account for 15-30 days free) then you can play.
I guess Valve assumes people without any form of internet are a minority in this day and age (especially with the semi-steep system requirements).
Posted by: peter at November 17, 2004 02:40 PMThis is really really bad. You cant go and sell a game "assuming" people have an internet connection. Its lill stupid things like these from companies full of themselves that make me support piracy.
Now dont get me wrong, it hurts the business, but they're trying to rip us off now. Just like banks, they start off by giving you a free product and then they start charging for it, but once everyone is dependant on it, what can we do. I see this coming from valves steam, just like for most mmorpg. Steam is free now... but soon they're gonna charge money to support their servers and all that B.S.
Now you want a game, you have to pay for the game, pay for the internet connection and pay for the servers. Even companies that seemed to have integrity like Blizzard have turned on us. WoW will cost money monthly. F that. I support Arena Net big times(old battle net creators) Guild Wars will have no monthly fee.
Somehow though i can see Valve heading more towards the paying route. Sura HL2 will blow us away, then comes HL3, this time though, Steam will be charging money for us to have their piece of trash program loaded in our computer full of BS publicity.
If I want a game, I want all the available juice sent towards it, I dont want to have to run some loser app at the same time.
Steam is f.ing gay. Thats final
Posted by: Conspiracy Jeff at November 17, 2004 03:55 PMI live in South Africa and suprisingly enough HL2 was out in stores yesterday. So I rush home, install it and then the gates of hell open. I have an internet connection but what these software companies fail to realise is that internet isn't the same all over the world. Firstly my ISP is ridiculously slow. So it took like 3hrs to do all the account registration, update download blah blah BS. Secondly I have to pay a sh*t load for every second I am connected to the internet. I hope this is not the future of gaming... not while South African ISPs suck so bad. Jeez what a pain. And I still haven't played the game. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGG. Maybe if I had a free, fast, permanant connection it would be tolerable... but frankly I am irritated by valve's lack of consideration for its clients. And balls to steam. I guess it is appropriatly named, representing the steam rising from my disillusioned cranium. I hope when I finally play (if my pc can take it) it will reconsiliate for this balls up
Posted by: Macfly at November 19, 2004 02:51 PMWay to go Valve. STEAM = Pile of steaming **** !!
The game it's self is great, once I went through around 14mb of downloaded data for the authentication, 'unlocking' and and updates. I still have to connect to the internet (another dial-up bloke here) because even in 'offline mode' it still thinks it needs to update, even though I have specifically told it not to.
Dont get me wrong, the game is awesome and well worth the wait, but Valve: I really think you screwed up with Steam.
I waited 5 years for Half Life 2 and almost as long for Steam to mess around!!!
Posted by: Donutty UK at November 19, 2004 03:50 PMHow about this... I just purchased the freaking game today only to find out that someone is already using the CD-Key that came with the game. Valve says that they accidently send out some duplicates, so if I can prove my authenticity they will give me a new CD-Key... but this could take three weeks... What crap!!!
I have never been this upset about a game!!!
Posted by: Reignmaker at November 21, 2004 12:15 AMI had the game reserved, Picked it up a couple days after it came out. Went home to install then found out about the required internet connection. For single player. Thats insane. After dicking around trying to get through the servers I said screw it, took it back and raised heck until my money was returned. This will be the first time I go out of my way to download a (fixed) copy off the net.
Posted by: Glen at November 21, 2004 11:31 PMIf you make adjustments just to play their stupid game all the complaining in the world will accomplish nothing and embolden other companies to do the same thing you must try to return these games spread the word about Sierra's greed just because they can't handle their own security their fans have to pay the price and what a cheap product to begin with paper sleaves in place of jewel cases and no instruction booklet you call that an A list title for $50 they're worse than M$ atleast you can register/activate XP via phone I don't know about any of you but I use my crap PC to access the net for a reason it's filthy my gaming machine will never touch the net and when Sierra decides to no longer support HL2 to make way for HL3 or goes tits up and your o so reliable copy of Windows crashes your machine and there is no way to reactivate your beloved copy of HL2 after reinstallation then what a $50 set of 5 cup coasters I will loose no sleep from not partaking in HL2 with break out companies like Crytec with FarCry and old reliable Epic and the Unreal franchise Sierra can take Half Life 2 crumple it up in their fists and cram it in up to the elbow
Posted by: solidstate808 at November 22, 2004 05:17 PMI bought Half-Life 2 and now it says I've been using a hacked version of the game and my account has been deleted. Wonderful.
If I don't get my account turned back on my only options are to download a warezed version or buy the 50$ game again...
Posted by: tekproxy at November 23, 2004 05:00 PMhalf life 2 is about to be cracked
see you tomorrow
What a crap news site! NO authentication
so the previous post is not true
I will be playing the hack version of the game. I will play it long after valve goes under. And I will never have to activate it!
Posted by: ZOG at November 25, 2004 04:31 AMTo all fellow South Africans.You have to be calm when installing your game.It takes long on a 56K
modem update the files early in the morning.Once updated you can always play in offline mode without any problem.
Yo Kieth, fellow South African..hehe
Dude, 56k suck, people don't even know wat freakin broadband is here, but the strangest thing is, i'm on 56k aswell and had no problem unlocking HL2, it didn't even take that long, yet broadband users complain...hmm, to be honest, steam does blow ass but deep down is a very clever and effective tool.
To be honest, instead of complain, just laugh at the trmendous ammount of stress you guyz put on urselves for complainin, man, all i hear is Steam this and Steam that, dudez, skrew it, its not going anywhere anytime soon.....
Peace
Posted by: Shayne Wirtz at December 2, 2004 01:30 PMValve is simply under a delusion. See its all about some low life executive with no spouse who thinks they are in total control of their life who comes up with this horse sh.t! But the reality is, you can play the game in off line mode. Therefore, at some point the computer has all the required items to run the game. I baught my copy and waited over an hour for it to all come together so I could play. I dont really mind the activation myself, as I did buy a copy.. But I am inclined to believe that it was short sited.. and the lack of a jewl case.. Thats just being cheap. Guess they have to save money to pay for that bandwidth and the servers themselves some how. Valve has now identified themselves as "The man". Well damn the man. I've already got it black listed in my firewall. (See I got the update that hosed the game with this memory error) Im always in off line mode regardless of my internet connections presence. Next step is to find the required registry keys and all other related mess to actualy keep the game and move it to another computer with out needing to reactivate. Once I do that, i'll burn it on a DVD and stick it to the man by giving the shit away because I can. And if I dont, some one else will and probably has. In fact I hope some one is stacking the cds up like used coke cans and giving them away infront of the stores hold a picket sign that says "DAMN THE MAN!"
I hope valve burns. To hell with it, I dont even want to play the damned game any more.
Posted by: The Kurrgan at December 4, 2004 08:51 PMI'm trying to authenticate my steam account for Half-life 2, and i'm getting an error that says...
"You already have active subscriptions to the game(s) associated with this CD-KEY, I've reinstalled and now its giving me trouble. Please help ASAP, I don't buy games that don't work
Hey Michael take the game back and demand your money back. I know these stores have policies not to take computer returns but they will if you raise enough heck about it. Believe me, I have done it. The only way valve or vivendi or whoever will change the way they handle this game is if it loses money.
Posted by: Glen at December 12, 2004 05:09 PMI bought Half Life 2 $50 (ZAR 300) before I knew about the online activation. I took my box to an ISP and spent $6 (ZAR 35) to get it activated (took 45 minutes on a 50KB/s). The overall cost was not too bad, but now i'm wondering what would happen if I upgrade my PC, or need to re-install windows. Does it mean another load of dosh all over again? Why not at least have phone line activation like Windoze XP? I would have spent the money anyway. At least now it's cracked but what a pain in the scrotum.
Posted by: Luke at December 14, 2004 10:41 AMwhat the? someone steal my steam acount i havent half life 2 on oridynal dvd with serial nomber i send ask to return to my mail box the mesage with my steam but i dont take nothing and my last acount now is not exist what i can do
Posted by: kostia at December 15, 2004 04:45 PMI don't know kostia, I suppose if all else fails you could teach English.
Posted by: james at December 16, 2004 06:24 AMBought the game. Realized it had to connect to their web to activate. Halled myt system into work (as I have no other means) tried to activate it. Kept getting an error that "this operation can not be performed in the offline mode" logged into their web (using the same PC) LOOKED FOR ANSWERS .. NO info on the wporthless web. Removed the software. Delete folder. Romoved reg entries. Reload. same exact error.
Gave up and wrote a nasty later to Steam.
Online activation is a mission, but not a complete train-smash. As dial-up user I just want to play HL2 single player missions.
Whenever I wanna re-install my machine, I'm not going to be able to play HL2 until I not only activate the game (no sweat) but until after I download ALL the updates.
How big are the updates gonna be in a years time? 150Mb??? OVER DIAL-UP?????
I understand that playing online you need the latest and greatest version, but for single-player? I at least want the option of not downloading the updates every time. Otherwise, I'll only be able to install my game once.........
Posted by: James at December 27, 2004 12:56 PMI actually don't mind the activation! It is a bit annoying but its worth it at the end to play the best game ever made! All of you guys keep complaining but if you had no problems with it you would be loving steam and all that, you just had a bad run, you'll get over it! I can't believe some of these guys havn't got the internet. Even broadband is as cheap as dial-up (well in australia it is!!) i hope you guys sort out your problems and enjoy the game!!!
Posted by: Tom at December 29, 2004 03:47 AMI see steam as a mixed blessing. I have fast broadband at home, and purchased the game through steam, and had the whole shebang downloaded in a couple of hours. Nice and easy, no cd key business to care about. However when I want to play at work (which is permitted under the licence as long as both arent running at the same time) but I cant connect to steam because of our firewall. I will probably hook up a modem to my PC just to activate the thing, but I'm not really allowed to do this. I think Valve has made a great oversight with the manditory steam business, they forget that not all parts of the world are as hooked up as america and western europe.
Posted by: Tobio at January 4, 2005 10:54 AMI bought Half-life 2 yonks ago and I still can't play it, before I bought the game I had a virus on my computer, and I had to take the internet off the computer while we repaired the computer, even though its now fixed and the virus has been taken off, my parents won't put the Internet back on because they are not quite sure it's completely repaired. I just think that steam are so stupid because they havn't thought about people who just want to install the damn thing and get gaming, I HATE STEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: doowyek at January 7, 2005 01:52 PMWell, according to Steam's latest update, it seems that pressing Cancel when HL is loading brings up the play offline dialog.
Steam, Source Engine, HLDS Update Released January 6, 2005, 5:48 pm Steam, Source Engine, and Half-Life Dedicated Server updates are available and will be applied automatically when Steam is restarted. The changes include:... Update - Fixed command line parameters being ignored when using desktop shortcuts for some games.
- Pressing the cancel button while Steam is loading will bring up the offline dialog
- Fixed 100% CPU use on startup
- Fixed use of quoted parameters in "-applaunch" command lines
I thought Valve did think about this, there is an offline mode for HL (or so i thought).
Posted by: peter at January 7, 2005 02:21 PMI have had nothing but trouble with steam. Have had HL2 since Xmas but still can't play. SAD!
Have tried all technical junk on steampowered.com. Doesn't help. Still on dial up. I think that is the problem.
Anyways, anyone have any ideas?
Thought you might like to know that the phone number for Valve Software is 425-889-9642. They have a general mailbox that already has my message.
Posted by: rcowles1 at January 17, 2005 11:46 AMI bought half life 2 on ebay and it says that theirs a duplicate cd key. This really sucks, so if you buy the game use it then sell it, it's wortgless to the buyer.
Posted by: Steve at January 18, 2005 09:59 PMIt's illegal to sell software second-hand in most countries anyway.
Posted by: Erkle at January 27, 2005 04:46 PM