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A post referencing an email reply from Gabe Newell on Halflife2.net is stating that for the single player and LAN party parts of HL2, Steam will not be required except for during the first two weeks or so.

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The two weeks could probably where Steam verifies your copy of HL2 is a legal one, then lets you off the hook.


That's not perfect, but Valve seems to be on the right track.

First two weeks of your owning the game, or first two weeks after the game is released?

phongn wrote:A post referencing an email reply from Gabe Newell on Halflife2.net is stating that for the single player and LAN party parts of HL2, Steam will not be required except for during the first two weeks or so.

Fastest back track...EVAR!

Screw 'em, they're not clear enough - fuck em

That's still fucking stupid, because many people won't even have an internet connection. Even people who play in LAN parties. (and you know, there's this thing called local phone call rates, but I guess in the mighty US nobody's heard of them)

If I had to assume that they had a fucking brain, then I'd assume that they mean the first two weeks or so until the patch is out. That's not that stupid, since you can have draconian anti-piracy methods during the first couple of weeks so you increase the sales for that time, after that point you just stop caring about piracy.

In most - though not all - of the United States, local calls are toll free on most plans.

In the first two weeks, apparently Steam will not be required either if you don't grab a patch off of Steam and only play SP. If you go online, it'll be required (replacing WON) as it also can authenticate you and determine if your copy is not only legitimate, but non-hacked.