Half-Life 2 Already Being Illegally Sold in Russia

freidog writes "A short blurb on GamesRadar reports Half-Life 2 is for sale, sort of. It seems the 'leaked' Half-Life 2 source has found itself nicely updated and packaged for sale, in Russia. Some work has certainly gone into this production, as 'Hackers have apparently even gone to the length of translating text in the fully playable code into Russian.' However, one would imagine the game's content would be pretty sparse, and stability and polish lacking on such an early build." Another reader points to a page with more information on the bootleg discs, although only the disc art and packaging is mentioned as being translated.

Not News

[Goldberg's Pants]

A compiled version of the source was on the net about a week after it was downloaded. Where the textures are from I don't know, but the only thing that surprises me is it took so LONG for someone to start selling it.

CS 1.6 LAN client?

[complete loony]

I've also seen a CS1.6 client that doesn't require a steam connection to connect to a LAN server that may have been built from the HL2 source code (or information therein).
Here's [kainskforever.com] the link I have, again it's russian.
Disclaimer; I haven't tried it or downloaded it or anything or even checked if the file is still there.

For the uninformed MMaestro

[danila]

Nobody is passing the game for the final version. Most of the salesmen would tell you outright that this is a demo/alpha/beta/not a final product, and even those who would not tell you (because they assume you already know that) would answer the direct question. And, BTW, most would also be happy to exchange the disks for anything else for a small 1$/CD fee (applies to almost all disks).

Re:Capitalism! Viva!

[danila]

First of all, my comment about BestBuy was purely mathematical. To the best of my knowledge, the probability of a random piece of software sold in BestBuy containing spyware, malware or viruses is approximately the same as the probability of a random pirated CD sold in Moscow to contain the same, give or take a few percentage points.

Second, most companies explicitly disclaim all liability and while this might not help them in case of malware, it surely protects them in case of spyware and viruses. Even dialers appear to be legal.

Third, CC numbers theft is illegal and prosecuted everywhere, including Russia. If you were a pirate company selling CDs with malware, you would very soon be paid a visit from the R-department, since it's extremely easy to track a CD. Of course, individual people might attempt to disguise malware as warez, but that can no more turn pirates into criminals, than a burglar masquarading as a plumber can make all plumbers criminals.

Turning back to the real pirates (not criminals disguising as pirates), there is another reason why they don't do basty stuff. They have a business and they have a reputation. If they print a CD with malware, distributors won't trust them next time. So they will wreck their successful and profitable business for no apparent reason. Microsoft is known to regularly break the law, but that doesn't mean they are completely reckless - they won't murder Linus Torvalds, for instance, even though they are criminals. People usualy break one law - they one they are best at breaking. :) Even drug dealers would not usually murder people left and right.

Re:It's a real social commentary

[danila]

See my answer to GeckoX [slashdot.org] regarding inequality in present Russia. It is absolutely obvious that the situation in USSR was much much better than what we have today. I am very well informed about perks that the nomenclatura received, but you must realise that almost everyone had the perks, although less impressive. Everyone, from the last janitor to the Secretary General had access to beach homes (or resorts and sanatoriums), the difference was only in quantity and quality, but noone could own these beach homes. The elite had limos, but I could drive in almost the same car (same brand, twice as cheap, probably, not as well maintained) when I was coming home from the weekend with grandparents. And everyone could become a member of the elite. Witness our Russian Presidents - Yeltsin and Putin, both of them made their way from the very bottom all by themselves (I don't like them, but it's not like they came from a rich clan such as Kennedys, Clintons or Bushes).

Our capitalism sucks not because of communism. Actually the decades of communism are what still keeps our economy alive for the 12th year already without any significant capital expenditures on infrastructure. The depreciation of bridges, railroads, power plants, heating systems, manufacturing equipment and everything else can be as high as 50-80%. The only reason we still have power, gas, hot water, etc. is that the USSR built all that.

And finally, if you would read my original post, you would notice how I use the word "socialism". I am very well aware of the difference. And I am looking forward to a real communist society somewhere around 2015-2020 (thanks to robotics, nanotech, AI, etc.). Europe is already on its way, now the US and Asia need to catch up and then hopefully they will help the Russia, remembering that it was our country that tried to build it first. :)

Just a question here.

[AzraelKans]

How does Valve explain that code from "doom3", ,"doom nukem forever","halo2" and even "counterstrike zero" (which is also produced by sierra) which are games with similar (or even bigger) hype, are known for having a very large fan base including modding and hacker communities (specially on counterstrike) and are made by american based companies using similar protection techniques. Have never suffered *"leaks" or "security attacks" like the ones they described when their code was "stolen" from them?

*As far as we know the only one who suffered a leak was doom3, which "leaked" an e3 demo (not a bit of source code).

The security Sierra provided for CS:Zero was tighter than for their flagship most expensive and expected product?

How come the hackers found a way into a security system, yet they decided to only stole a fraction of the code in it, and didnt attacked any other product using the same security system in the same company? or similar systems in other companies?

How they did that? they called the secretary and asked for the password? a dizzy employee released his password (or code) in a forum? how could they have installed so called "password loggers" only in the valve office and leaved all other sierra projects (and other valuable information) intact And most importantly, if they are so good at it how come they didnt tried to steal other gaming projects? not even in the same company?