'Official' Half-Life 2 Thread. Do Not Create New Threads (NO SPOILERS)

[TRICHOMEZ]

Originally Posted by dalver

Move my post if you need to. I just hope someone notices this...

Apart from the game itself I notice that nobody picks up the issue of the internet activation. There is a big world out there that is not USA, UK, Germany or France (this is probably a shock to the developers) but "unfortunately" true. And this big world out there filled with people and gamers don't have a superfast connection to the net, many of them don't have an internet connection at all. Many of them don't know that PC stands for "Internet Machine". It would seem to me that the developer-thought behind this is: "if you don't have an internet connection then you probably can't afford the legal copy anyway, so you don't get to play" or "you have a code on your games box and with it you can download a decryption key from us, if you can't do that, then you are a thief and we will have nothing to do with you". Spit in the face to poor people and people not residing in the beforementioned countries, by the developers.

Valve/Steam/VU Games basically say: This game can only be played by people with access to internet. I ask you: Where will this lead? Will games in the future be made specifically for countries with a certain BMP? For people of a certain sexual preference? Certain skin colour? Religion?

Am I going to far and off topic? Maybe, maybe not.

By all means, copy protection, yes. Invest and make a disc that can't be copied. Do whatever but don't make the internet a requirement for a singleplayer game.

What an internet-online-account-copy-protection means to me is that the pirates and hackers and crack programs will need to change direction and also become better and more specialised, meaning the internet security will drastically drop. As it is now hackers are hacking cd-s and copy-protection-specific programs not online databases, at least not to crack a mere game for a no-cd crack - which will need to be done in order to crack this sort of “future” protection.

Games for me are meant to be – p l a y e d - and enjoyed, for relaxation or recreation, not to be bartered like an economical investment... a pity that commercialisation kills yet another form of relaxation/entertainment. A low down, dirty, pity!

You couldn't have said it any better.....it's a scary thing when I start to think about consoles again....I'll feel like I'm going back in time like 6 yrs with a console, but, it might be worth it with the @$##%%$## pc companies put us through.....between unfinished crap that's released.....needing an internet connection to download 20 patches by the time these morons get it right...and now protection using online authentication......wtf......I had to wait 12hrs before I could use the offline feature.....but you know what, I figured this bs out......mf'z........I no longer need your steam bs to play offline.....look and ye shall find.