Half-Life 2 Preloading from Steam 534
Nos. writes "For those of us using Valve Software's Steam platform, we can now begin 'preloading' Half-Life 2. The article explains that this will download an encrypted version of the game that you can unlock when you purchase it. They only say that purchase options will be available soon."
Don't bother trying (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Steam.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Steam.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Steam.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Torrent... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Thats fine.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Hrmmn (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Waitaminute (Score:3, Informative)
A lot of you don't understand how Steam works (Score:2, Informative)
Box version, however, will have a CD key, but the first time it is used, it is attached to your Steam account, and nobody can use it with any other account.
Re:Just wait (Score:5, Informative)
I call shenanigans. DisC [debugmode.com] was specifically written for taking apart Turbo C dos executables. If you were genuinely following a trace like this, you would have almost certainly just intercepted the outgoing call to "_vis.dll" and loaded the truth value inline - not like you wouldn't have had enough room to work in.
Re:Just wait (Score:5, Informative)
-AC
Re:Hrmmn (Score:5, Informative)
Of course, not every game can be sold via steam like scenarios. The FPS market comes with a lot of assumptions about the demographic. Dominately technical, online (broadband)and expensive computers. Take out any of those and steam just doesn't make sense. If Valve wants to branch out to a broader demographic by making games in the vein of Popcap, you really need something tied much closer to the browser than a standalone app just for shopping. Or if they want to sell something like Deer Hunter to people that don't live on the internet or read PC Gamer magazines, then a nice orange box at walmart is still your best bet.
Re:Pre-Releasing DnD Games (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Pre-Releasing DnD Games (Score:4, Informative)
The tool also allows you to export a couple sample clothings items. Naturally, you then grab the textures and can customize your own clothing and such, as well as skin tones and other various things. Now that the game releases on the 17th, there'll probably be a ton of features on the fan sites, and everyone's excited about how customizable their Sims are.
Heck, I am just a casual player who was intrigued by the new AI, and *I* even have the Sim that will be "me" prepared.
Re:steam = SUCKS (Score:1, Informative)
Personally, I don't see all the problems people have with Steam. Oh no, I never have to manually download patches, because the system downloads them automatically for me! Oh no, they put in a rather nice user interface rather than the less than spectacular one that shipped with the game. Heaven forbid, there's a tiny little icon in my system tray!
Also, if you haven't noticed, when Steam fails to connect to the internet, it gives you the option of using "Start in offline mode", which allows you to play single player games, as well as lan games, without being connected to the internet.
Admittedly, I don't have much experience with doing this. At the lan parties I go to, we tend not to play games that are 6 years old. So it's entirely possible there are some quirks involved in playing lan games while not connected to the internet. So, if playing steam based games on a lan not connected to the internet is such a problem, vote with your cash and buy one of the many games that have been released in the 6 years since Counter-Strike came out.
Re:eh, this could be bad for Valve (Score:5, Informative)
Re:This is a case where it can work (Score:5, Informative)
And, of course, HL2 will be released in less than a year.
So, supposing they are using a reasonable encryption scheme, and why not, AES is freely available, no one can possibly crack it before it's released.
encrypting a new copy for each player unfeasible (Score:2, Informative)
more likely (for this type of scheme, not saying they did this), everything is encrypted with the same key, then that key is encrypted differently for each download
Re:Boo friggin yah! (Score:4, Informative)
Jason
ProfQuotes [profquotes.com]
I actually like Steam. (Score:5, Informative)
Steam comes along and with my CS reg key, I at last get the full version of Half-Life LEGALLY, and quick and easy access to other popular mods, and a server Favorites list (don't remember if original CS allowed this. I used to write down the IP of a good server to play there) so I can find good games faster, and keep it updated VERY easily. I've installed older CS numerous times and version compatibility was a constant headache, even WITH the seemingly appropriate patches. With Steam, all that business is managed automatically. It's heaven. As for buggy or memory intensive, I encountered one bug so far (input lag playing havoc with my keyboard) and that lasted only a few days. And I don't know how little RAM you have, but steam barely scratches my 512mb, which I presume is common for todays FPS player.
As long as you didn't pirate the game(s), Steam is wonderful, IMHO
Re:Valve makes _good_ decisions (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Thats fine.... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:I actually like Steam. (Score:3, Informative)
The beauty is that Steam recognizes what parts of the game data will be needed first, so you don't even need to download tens or hundreds of megs before you can play the game. It's truly amazing.
I'd love to see other companies do the same sort of thing. I don't need cardboard boxes or even discs in the world of Big Pipes.
Re:Full price? (Score:3, Informative)