Who are Valve Nordic and what do they have to do with the development and publishing of Half-Life 2? The game is getting its Worldwide Release tonight at Midnight PST. Thats 8am GMT and 9am CET Tuesday Morning (like munsterbuster said). Read some Press Releases before making up some random bull****. Good luck to anyone who will be authenticating their release tonight/tomorrow. I can imagine the Steam Servers will be severly overloaded. :p

On another note, looks like the UK does get this game tomorrow (at retail). Its being advertised on UK television for the 16th. I'm amazed to see this game even get advertised on TV. Only EA Games seem to advertise PC Games on TV over here, and even then its only two titles. The Sims and Medal of Hono(u)r. I dont remember seeing a TV Advert for the other big PC Game of the year, DOOM 3.

Anyways, moving on. Does anyone know if Valve intend to release a demo of the game? I have held off placing an order, for fear of the game not even running on my hunk of junk of a PC. I'm also of the mindset that no game needs me wasting £300+ just so it will run on this piece of crap. Tools of the trade if you do that ;)

The right company was "Vivendi Universal Games Nordic" its the nordic publisher! ;)

rofl yeah, valve nordic? AHAHAHAHAHAH rofl, aniways, Batty i mean JOYBOY ;) also nfsu2 has been advertised on tv in the uk.

Germany had an Doom 3 commercial running.

Battyboy? Jesus, havent heard that word since the very early 90's. Used to love saying that when I was younger :D

The thing with NFSU2 is that its a multiformat title, so EA was bound to get behind it. I was just trying to point out that its very rare for a PC Exclusive title to get its own commerical on UK TV. Just been reading on the gamesradar forum that Tescos had it on sale today for £32.99. Looks like PC Games are starting to match the price of points of console games.

Oh yeah, one more thing. As the games coming out in the next few hours, Please dont start posting spoilers. :(

@ Joyboy (Really hope your not gonna stick with this nickname!)
Yes please dont spoil something we have waited so long for.
And PC games in OZ have always been $10-$20 cheaper than the console games.
And I like the way your wrote 'Hono(u)r'. In OZ I was always taught the English (UK) spelling at school, now my kids are at school they can spell words like Honour (Honor), Colour (Color) however they like! The schools here take into account alot of the kids learn how to spell from the Internet. ;)
P.S: Still waiting to hear from the first person who actually activates HL2, that way I can pressure my shop to hand it over b4 tommorrow (Wednesday) morning! If others have it activated the shop wont have an argument on why they shouldnt hand it over. :D

Btw, the DVD-Version has Safedisc 3.2

Interesting, I didnt think Valve would go ahead and protect the retail as well. You can freely download Half-Life 2 off Steam, the catch being you have to pay in order to play. Then again, Valve have no say in the actual retail distribution of the game.

As Half-Life 3 was kind of announced at the same time as Half-Life 2, lets hope we get none of the crap that HALO 2 players went through at the end of that particular game (and no I wont spoil this for anyone who doesnt know)

Game is sitting pretty in all EB stores as I type this..ready an able to please first thing tomorrow morn (later today actually).

What flavours? Well, there are 2: 5CDs for the normal version (game plus CS: Source... which I think you have to download off of Steam), and 1DVD in the collectors box.. and guys.. the collectors box SUCKS ASS! T-Shirt, tiny manual, and 1DVD with HL2, HL: Source, and CS: Source (this DVD being the jewel of the box). All in an oversized paper box. I am severely disappointed in the collectors box. Especially since it costs $99.99 Canadian before tax!

I'm still gonna buy the boxed set though as it's the only version of the game on DVD, and I refuse to sit through the installation of 5CDs (which is not too bad compared to Everquest 2's 9CD/2DVD install).

...and also three different commercials for NFS Hot Pursuit 2.

(I have nothing to say about HL2!)

Come on guys, enough chit chat. What protectionn do the disks use?

any of you ran into the activation while installing/playing the game? how does it work?

everyone was waiting for this game to hit the shelves...but with that activation thing....i'm really into not buying the game because of that. same like with starforc3....dtm race driver 3 was the first and last game i bought with that copy protection.

Munsterbuster says Safedisc 3.2.

I'm tempted to buy this in the next few hours. The various reviews that have sprung up overnight are very postive. One interesting thing to remember is that the reviewers were invited by Valve to their HQ in order to review the game. I wonder if the fact that they got a paid for trip (I imagine) had any bearing on the scores that have been dished out. Incidently, dont read the Homelanfed review, it has a minor spoiler concerning the end. :(

The ****ing hell. The activation did take 20 Minutes with 3000 DSL. What happens to people with normal DSL or 56k? :D

Please borrow your time machine to me !!!

sorry...my bad. ;) its "race driver 2" of course....

my retail got a file called 'content.securom' on dvd wich will be extracted into your Temp dir during installation, so now u know the protection ;)

Well then is your pid faulty. :D

HalLife 2 Steam Question
 

Is there any opportunity to disable the steam activation? I dont have internet and only noticed when i installed the game that i need an internet connection to activate and play the game. very consumer unfriendly this valve people.

As I believe the key allows to to decrypt the entire game code. A fix for this will not be available on this site because it's Serial based, and thus breaks the rules. You'll have to look elsewhere for an activation fix (Indeed if one EVER becomes available). To me activation is a lot worse than Starforce. At least with Starforce you can install and play straight away. With this method you just feel you're leasing the game, which considering it can cost up to £40 is a bit of a cheek I reckon, and treats all legitimate buyers as thieves.

It clearly states on the box that an Internet Connection is Required. If there are anymore posts about disabling the steam activation, its gonna be an instant ban from now on. If you dont like that Valve have implemented such a feature (and believe me, lots more games will follow suit now), then dont buy the game or wait a year or 2 and I'm sure valve will release some kind of patch.

So, did the Authentication process go well for everyone? I would have assumed that the Steam servers would have crashed under such a load. :p

My copy won't authenticate, and I have tried several times now. I can't even take it back to the shop for a refund, because of the serial key unlocking system. This is beyond a joke, and I will be writing to the developers and telling them what I think of their protection system. These guys must be stupid! They must surely have realised the amount of traffic they would receive on the 16th, and if they couldn't cope then they shouldn't have used this system. I don't think this method will catch on, as Valve have their own Servers to cope with demand (No use to me of course). If they think I'm titting about for hours trying to get a game I paid full price for too run, they've got another thing coming. This will be on E-Bay for £10 buy it now in an hour, or the bin, I'm not fussed. I just wish I had a machine gun and the protection developers stood in front of it!

Authenticated fine for me,retail version,though unlocking files took about 15 mins even on a 1mb connection.
Slight hiccup when I tried to enable offline mode,but after a bit of fiddling all OK now. :)
Outstanding game.Worth the fuss of online authentication.

Excellent news, noob. I'm sure the games a killer :cool:

Speaking of Authentication Problems, THIS might explain why foster (and others) have experienced problems activating the game.

how to enable offline mode?

log on in steam and click on remember password.

everyone bought half life 2 and tries to unlock it at the same time now , cant seem to login with my steam account >_< servers seem overloaded . anyway , i never played HL1 one so i wanna play HL source first , for the stories sake , anyone tried it ?

HL² retail version use SecuROM 5.03.06.0002

Game Title: Half-Life 2
Game Version: 1.0
Developer: VALVE
Publisher: Vivendi
Region of Origin: Fr (DVD Retail)
Protection: SecuROM 5.03.06.0002
Notes: scanned after activation

This is the Activation message i got!

"Your subscription to Half-Life 2 Retail Standard has not
been completed, because Steam is currently too busy to
process the transaction.
However, you can play Half-Life 2 Retail Standard in the
meantime, and we will get back to you with the results of
your transaction as soon as we are able to process it."

:rolleyes:
P.S: Forgot to mention it took nearly and hour to get to that message!

several people asked about the protection version.
 

Scanning -> C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\(REMOVED-FROM-POST)\half-life 2\hl2.exe
File Type : Exe, Size : 2002944 (01E9000h) Bytes
-> Suspicious MZ Header..
[!] SecuRom Detected - Version 5.03.06
- Scan Took : 0.796 Seconds

Um.. sorry Grumpy.. but don't you mean this message?
http://www.theinquirer.net/images/articles/hl2error.jpg

They did fix the problem (sort of), and authentication is working again.

No I meant the message i posted!! I copied it straight from my subscription page!! Damn I should have copied the message!! maybe its still in my history files! If so I will post it for you. ;)
Does anyone know how I can get my old activation message page back up so I can copy and paste the actual pic of what it says? If its appeared shouldnt it have a reference to it on my system? I thought it would be in the history but its not!! I dont want to actually try and re-activate it incase it does work and i loose the opportunity of saving the actual pic of what it says! Like 'Tipstaffs' link pic. My game still plays OK! :D

can i make a backup from my steam files i have made it but it is only 2,8gb or so

Hello Folks.

I wanted to buy HL2 but now i read in the forum, that i need an internet connection to install or activate the game. Is that true? Because at home i do not have any internet connection. I just want to play the single player mode. No ****ing CS or something. Is this possible without internet connection??

Bummer I just started the game again to see if i could get the old activation message back but this is what I got instead! View it here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...HL2SubSucc.jpg

@Tipstaff Take a close look. And I do hope you see the funny side! :eek: :p :D ;)

Nice Grumpy. :p

Does this mean if I log into my account I'll see 2 instances of owning HL2? :D

Errr just incase others think i registered with your name (tipstaff), the pic was edited with paint shop! So no you wont get two! Just thought I would play funny buggers :p
Spewin it did actually activate tho! Wanted a pic to show you I could play without the activation, not that it lasted to long! :D

I've heard that HL2 dont have a multiplayer part. A normally human like i would think that of course no internet connection is required. I'm thinking valve is losing a lot of money with this activation stuff. why do all developers think people would buy their products when they are not able to crack or copy it? this software pirates would just try another game instead of walking in a store and buy it. so copyprotection justs cost money and the people are allowed to finance that.

Hl2
 

Just wanna say : I love u all!!!!

Valve is tryin somthin new. But one day after release u list the file Steam activation Offline. GREAT. give the industrie what it diserves!!!
I bought me the game because i got it for only 35.- Euros.Thats a good price for a game puplished like that.But the activation wasn´t that funny. 2 Hours d/l time and no flat=2 euros costs.
But money aint the problemo-time!!!is the p.
I can´t wait 2 more hours after u let me wait over one year after first release date.sorry.

So i thought : i am the stupid- i buy the game and cant play it imidiatly afterr install???
The other one just d/l the game -install-play !!!!
So i am the idiot- i pay and get less.
Next time someone tries somethin like that-- without me-- i will never pay for things i get less.

And the game isn´t that phenomenon. Itz linear like a 2d game.
and that after 10 years 3D.???

GOD exists- and all u liars and robbers get there Judgment Day. And there will be teeth clapin and tears... :eek:
sorry for english.