Alyeska wrote:That is still absurd. People can and do have computers they never connect to the internet or can't connect to the internet. Valve HAS to provide a way for those people to play the bloody game.
'This is absurd. People can and do have computers without graphic accelerators. Id HAS to provide a way for those people to play Quake II.'
They did. Quake II could be played quite easily without 3D acceleration, no modification necessary.
Quake III was the first game in the series to require a 3D card, and that was because the game did some things that would be impossible without one. A version of Quake III that could run entirely off of software rendering would not be the same game as the version of Quake III that was released.
There's nothing in Half-Life 2's single-player campaign's gameplay that would require an internet connection to function. Valve could easily have made a game that looks, sounds and plays exactly the same as Half Life 2 that would run on a computer without internet access. They chose not to, thereby screwing over their legitimate users in an effort to thwart the eeeevil pirates, which is why I'm not going to touch HL2, even though I loved the original. This kind of bullshit from software companies has to stop.
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Alyeska wrote:Its not the same fucking thing and you know it.
It is the exact same logic. The only difference is motivation: Steam is required to prevent them from losing revenue, as opposed to graphics acceleration needed to provide top-notch graphics.
They can bloody well design the game to run on non internet computers and still attempt to secure it. They HAVE alienated fans over this.
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Drooling Iguana wrote:There's nothing in Half-Life 2's single-player campaign's gameplay that would require an internet connection to function.
...and it doesn't. It requires an internet connection to unlock the software after installation. It does not require an internet connection to play.
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Alyeska wrote:They can bloody well design the game to run on non internet computers and still attempt to secure it. They HAVE alienated fans over this.
Once again, it comes down to numbers. Moreover, the alienated fans aren't exactly going to email Gabe Newell about it. If Valve is making money hand over fist with this model (and making more from thwarting pirates than they lose from people without net connections), why shouldn't they, as a company, do it? It cost them millions of dollars to make Half-Life 2, should they not do whatever they can in their power to ensure that they are compensated for their work?
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The same argument can be used in favor of the copy protection methods on music CDs that supposedly make then impossible to play on PCs.
I believe what Valve has done might actualy be illegal because people should be able to reasonably play the game they have bought. Requiring an internet connection for a singleplayer game doesn't qualify as reasonable.
"If the facts are on your side, pound on the facts. If the law is on your side, pound on the law. If neither is on your side, pound on the table."
"The captain claimed our people violated a 4,000 year old treaty forbidding us to develop hyperspace technology. Extermination of our planet was the consequence. The subject did not survive interrogation."
Alyeska wrote:The same argument can be used in favor of the copy protection methods on music CDs that supposedly make then impossible to play on PCs.
I believe what Valve has done might actualy be illegal because people should be able to reasonably play the game they have bought. Requiring an internet connection for a singleplayer game doesn't qualify as reasonable.
I know of no law that could be bent into that charge. Certainly not anything involving false advertising or intelligent expectations, given that it says on the box it needs the 'net.
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Alyeska wrote:The same argument can be used in favor of the copy protection methods on music CDs that supposedly make then impossible to play on PCs.
True, but once you have verified with Valve via Steam that you do, in fact, own the game and are a legitimate purchaser, Steam does not limit how many times you can make hard backups of the data (at least if you got it online, I don't know so much about the retail version, but hey). You can make as many backups or installs as you want for your own personal use, but you can't distribute them to your friends. It would seem to me that is a fine and logical compromise. The only downside is that you can't loan your friend your copy, but he could always come over and check it out if he felt so inclined.
I believe what Valve has done might actualy be illegal because people should be able to reasonably play the game they have bought. Requiring an internet connection for a singleplayer game doesn't qualify as reasonable.
I sincerely doubt it is illegal. It is questionable that Valve did not specify on the boxes that an internet connection was required for activation, but they covered their asses with the minimum requirement of an internet connection. Anyone who attempts any sort of legal action will be shown that minimum requirement and then shown the door.
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"Every time you talk about Teal'c, I keep imagining Thor's ass. Thank you very much for that, you fucking fucker." -Marcao SG-14: Because in some cases, "Recon" means "Blow up a fucking planet or die trying." SilCore Wiki! Come take a look!
I've seen this issue with Harpoon 3, which requires you to dial in to AGSI
to unlock the game and allow you to play it. However, nothing's encrypted,
or that; and it doesn't require massive bloatware such as STEAM to
be installed on your computer.
And I tolerate it because AGSI is pretty much one guy, Jesse Spears.
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MKSheppard wrote:
Even if I buy HL2, the only way I'm installing it on my computar is as
a cracked pirated version with Steam de-balled.
Might be awhile the files themselves are encpyted not just waiting for an ID tag to be assigned so you can play meaning that potentinal pirates have to crack the encryption not just the keys, but because of that any pirates who do break it thanks to the new provisions in the Patriot act mean its a crime along the lines and punishments of Grand Theft(But for every copy you let someone download its a seperate change meaning that someone could rack up few thousands years or more in jail(25 max per sentance)
I give it 3 months tops before the Pirated version hits the stores in Russia.
Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin
Apparently its already out in Thailand. Cut that to 1 month tops.
Not that I'm advocating the purchase of illegal games, of course.
Really, people, is it so hard to read the box of the item you're buying?
"Goddamn this America Online! It requires I have an Internet connection! This deserves a FUCK YOU!"
Well, I, for one, having satisfied the not-terribly-difficult-to-satisfy requirements, am enjoying the game quite nicely. Amazing how that can happen, how I can enjoy the game despite the incessant fascism that's keeping me from sitting on the bus in the same school as the white kids.
Hotfoot wrote:Once again, it comes down to numbers. Moreover, the alienated fans aren't exactly going to email Gabe Newell about it. If Valve is making money hand over fist with this model (and making more from thwarting pirates than they lose from people without net connections), why shouldn't they, as a company, do it? It cost them millions of dollars to make Half-Life 2, should they not do whatever they can in their power to ensure that they are compensated for their work?
IIRC, the studio and publisher will usually make a combined $20-22 per game. Studios like Valve will usually receive about $7 from that, the rest goes to the middleman.
With Steam, they estimate they can make $30 per game. From a fiscal sense, it makes no sense not to do something like this, especially when the majority of consumers will accept something like this.
You need to log on at least once, but apart from that your good to go. So your only screwedif you don't know anyone or anywhere at all to get online.
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Alyeska wrote:Valve HAS to provide a way for those people to play the bloody game.
No they don't, Half-Life 2 isn't a right. They make it very clear that you need to connect to the internet. If you can't, then its made clear on the box. If you just don't want to, then you don't have to buy the game.
I remember a friend making the same argument when Shadows of the Empire came out for PC with "3D Accelerator required" on the box. [whine]"they have to let the people who don't have the latest hardware play it"[/whine]
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
Slartibartfast wrote:It's going to be a riot a few years from now when Valve closes down, and nobody will ever be able to install their purchased copies of Half Life 2
I assume if that is ever the case an official patch will be released.
