Half-Life 2 retail - steam activation MANDATORY?! [Archive]

Stalkid64

October 24th, 2004, 00:58

Courtesy of the magical land of slashdot;
"In a recent Gamespy interview with Doug Lambardi it was revealed that the retail version of Half-Life 2 will require product activation. This isn't just restricted to multiplayer, you will have to create a Steam account and activate your retail purchase before you can even run single-player. "

So... you need to install steam (that buggy, bloated pile of garbage delivery system), register an account and have an internet connection... To install a singleplayer boxed retail copy of the game I'm paying £30+ for? Ha ha ha. Good one. :happy:
What? They're serious? Hm, smacks a little of "Microsoft" syndrome. Screw that then. I just lost interest. :bye3:
*Kills amazon preorder*.

AlphaWolf

October 24th, 2004, 03:02

Yep, anticipate it being gay...

http://www.emutalk.net/showpost.php?p=169560&postcount=23

vampireuk

October 24th, 2004, 12:51

I have a fun game to play, its called lets all post in the right forums :D

ScottJC

October 24th, 2004, 13:36

Beh it'll be cracked in five minutes ;)

Stalkid64

October 24th, 2004, 13:50

I have a fun game to play, its called lets all post in the right forums :D
I also have a fun game.

It's called quoting the section of the forum it was posted in;
"Talk of the town - talk about anything in this forum"
What's that word again? Oh, "anything".
What? Really? Like an important topic that people should be aware of, for example..? Advising and helping people as opposed to moving threads which no one else seemed to be objecting to just out of personal spite, say? *cough*
My game also promotes discussion. Thus, I like my game better. :P

Seriously though, you even need Steam to login and play the SP game offline. Why can't they just include a retinal scanner and get it over with? At least then we could have a comedy robot voice to accompany it. ;)

*Retinal scan complete. Steam login authenticated. You may now play the game you already paid for, thank you.*

Gorxon

October 24th, 2004, 15:38

I also have a fun game.

It's called quoting the section of the forum it was posted in;
"Talk of the town - talk about anything in this forum"
What's that word again? Oh, "anything".
What? Really? Like an important topic that people should be aware of, for example..? Advising and helping people as opposed to moving threads which no one else seemed to be objecting to just out of personal spite, say? *cough*
My game also promotes discussion. Thus, I like my game better. :P

What's your problem?

The gaming forum is here so that we can have all gaming discussion in one place, instead of having a darn mess...we dont post i.e PJ64 discussion in Talk of the town, do we?

ScottJC

October 24th, 2004, 16:18

Maybe the forum description of talk of the town should be changed to "Everything that isn't covered by another forum" :P

Have to agree with Gorxon here.

blizz

October 24th, 2004, 18:14

I have banged my head against the wall too many times over these things

Hexidecimal

October 24th, 2004, 18:29

AlphaWolf

October 24th, 2004, 19:22

Gorxon

October 24th, 2004, 19:27

Who cares? You all have net connections anyways, it takes like 5 minutes to make a steam account, you activate it once, and anyone who says they aren't going to play HL2 online is a liar to boot, quit bitching.

Well, we all have internet connections, but what about the people who don't? I still know a very few people who don't, and who would perhaps consider buying this game.

Besides, it's a principle thing. In this case I think I'll buy it through Steam anyways, so its no issue for me. But on the other side a DVD with case would be nice...hmm...

(I guess I should mention that I haven't used steam before (only got normal HL version), and that I have no idea how good it is/isn't)

vampireuk

October 24th, 2004, 19:29

I personally wouldn't want to have to be conected to the internet just to play a single player game

DuDe

October 24th, 2004, 21:35

We're not living in fucking 1995 you know, I doubt that there are many gamers out there who aren't connected to the Internet.

Trotterwatch

October 24th, 2004, 22:17

Well I'm not connected to the internet :/

Jaz

October 24th, 2004, 22:17

I personally wouldn't want to have to be conected to the internet just to play a single player game.

Personally I don't see the problem. A good example is Fable on Xbox. You can sign in to Live on that game (no online features whatsoever) just so you're friends can invite you to other games, etc.

So it's nothing new, I guess.

blizz

October 24th, 2004, 22:26

nah, it's all about fighting the power!

of course people could just vote with their wallet and not buy things they disagree with....

Modem

October 25th, 2004, 00:14

You only have to be online for regestration for a steam account. Just register, then you can play the game through steam in OFFLINE mode.

1: There really aren't that many people who aren't online.
2: Most people that aren't online likely won't have a computer to run HL2.
3: This is mainly bad for game pirates. Which, IMO, is a GOOD thing.
- Modem

Stalkid64

October 25th, 2004, 00:42

The piracy argument just doesn't hold up if you look at it for a second;

1. Pirates will download the game. They'll have it nice and cracked and all wrapped up in a cute little .rar file or 1,000 and they'll unarchive it, then get on with happily playing the game, never having to worry about the steam issue. They'll do this regardless of any such measure, and were always going to. It won't `put them off` because that's what they'd do anyway. They're pirates. So what does this do to even cause them the slightest worry?

2. People who buy the game will pay for it. They were always going to buy the game and happily give Valve their money. After all, why would they really want to pirate it when they can install it and reinstall it happily forever from their cd/dvd boxed edition? That's the point of the retail version. Except they have this little annoyance, permanently tied to steam and their account if they want to reinstall the game on, say, a laptop or something similar, just to play singleplayer.

Now, who gets the better deal there? The person who was going to download the cracked version anyway and who won't be bothered with this nonsense at all, or Joe Normal, who was willingly paying for the product? Which one does this activation process actually *really* effect?
Painting it as an `anti piracy` measure is flawed at best. It doesn't affect the pirate one bit. It'll affect the people who bought it though.
Just doesn't seem right. :(

AlphaWolf

October 25th, 2004, 06:03

Bingo. I don't care how solid you think your copy protection is, crackers always get around it.

Stalkid64

October 25th, 2004, 11:20

I have banged my head against the wall too many times over these things
Noted and appreciated, for what it was worth. :down:

Stalkid64

October 25th, 2004, 11:24

Bingo. I don't care how solid you think your copy protection is, crackers always get around it.
And the "end user pirates" who only have to unrar and play will end up with the better option because of it. It's a sad precident for the software industry.

willljjj

October 25th, 2004, 11:45

And the "end user pirates" who only have to unrar and play will end up with the better option because of it. It's a sad precident for the software industry.

I always get the cracked version, even of games I buy because I HATE the copy protection garbage.

PsyMan

October 25th, 2004, 11:55

euphoria

October 25th, 2004, 13:38

I have no internet connection at my home, where i play. Is the system so smart that you can transfer the activation to my home machine? I doubt it.

This sucks big time!

vampireuk

October 25th, 2004, 13:58

Noted and appreciated, for what it was worth. :down:

You really cannot resist trying to complain about something can you?

Jaz

October 25th, 2004, 14:01

You really cannot resist trying to complain about something can you?

And you really cannot resist replying with something sarcastic to every one of his posts. Grow up dude. :plain:

vampireuk

October 25th, 2004, 14:04

You have a pm and check the staff forum

smcd

October 25th, 2004, 14:34

I always get the cracked version, even of games I buy because I HATE the copy protection garbage.

Agreed. I play Popcap games, but get them through RealOne Arcade, since I know how to knock off their "protection" stuff and can make backups :)

2fast4u

October 25th, 2004, 15:02

We're not living in fucking 1995 you know, I doubt that there are many gamers out there who aren't connected to the Internet.

the real question is whether you want a game to connect to the internet for no practical reason. i think i would pass on that one. personally i would (means i _would_ if i would give a damn about the genre) buy the game then apply the usual crack and presto. valve has no damn business making people register to play their stuff offline.

MasterPhW

October 25th, 2004, 15:43

And the last question of this online registration f*ck is: what will be transfered to check every time that's you're PC... I don't like phoning to home, not with my OEM (not pirated) WinXP and not with my (upcoming and not pirated too) HL2!
And again the point go to the pirates!

MasterPhW

October 25th, 2004, 15:49

Cheezey

October 25th, 2004, 16:41

So... you need to install steam (that buggy, bloated pile of garbage delivery system), register an account and have an internet connection... To install a singleplayer boxed retail copy of the game I'm paying £30+ for? Ha ha ha. Good one. :happy:

What? They're serious? Hm, smacks a little of "Microsoft" syndrome. Screw that then. I just lost interest. :bye3:
*Kills amazon preorder*.

WHINE, WHINE, WHINE.

So your going to install it on a pc with a internet connection and your going to have to install steam. Of course your going to have to do, the game will be patched through steam the game requires steam installed for this reason. If you dont want to install steam guess what you aint playing the game.

If you cant except that and want to continue posting this moaning drivel, #care tbfh.

:whistling

MasterPhW

October 25th, 2004, 16:50

WHINE, WHINE, WHINE.

So your going to install it on a pc with a internet connection and your going to have to install steam. Of course your going to have to do, the game will be patched through steam the game requires steam installed for this reason. If you dont want to install steam guess what you aint playing the game.

If you cant except that and want to continue posting this moaning drivel, #care tbfh.

:whistling
And why do you post this SIX times???!!! Delete your other 5 posts, please!!!

Gorxon

October 25th, 2004, 17:04

revl8er

October 25th, 2004, 17:07

And the "end user pirates" who only have to unrar and play will end up with the better option because of it. It's a sad precident for the software industry.

The bad part about pirated games is no multiplayer. Sure they get the better deal for the most part but if they want to play multiplayer then they have to buy the game.

vampireuk

October 25th, 2004, 17:48

I think it is pathetic and I hate warez kiddies who whine about everything. The fact is to play a single player game on your computer you should not have to be connected to the internet.

ScottJC

October 25th, 2004, 18:52

Work, work, work...

6 posts...how did you manage to do that if not on purpose?
I have deleted the posts for you, but next time either delete them yourself, notify me or the only way I will be helpful is shoving your account out the door.

Well I dunno about that but earlyier emutalk was taking ages to respond to my "submit replys" on another thread, i clicked a few times and 4 posts popped up, had to delete three of them.

smcd

October 25th, 2004, 19:38

...The fact is to play a single player game on your computer you should not have to be connected to the internet.
Perfectly put.

Stalkid64

October 25th, 2004, 21:44

Work, work, work...

6 posts...how did you manage to do that if not on purpose?
I have deleted the posts for you, but next time either delete them yourself, notify me or the only way I will be helpful is shoving your account out the door.

Actually I had the same problem this morning. The site didn't appear to be refreshing to display a post even after a couple of minutes wait, I just happened to have time to erase a few before running out for work. MasterPhW_DX appears to have posted the same thing twice as well which may be the same deal..? Just a little issue I guess; I sometimes get "high server usage" messages up in IE when I try post or send PM's the last 2 or 3 days, so people may not be totally to blame.
EDIT: Like I'm having right now in fact! 4 extra posts. Didn't even appear when I went out and refreshed the page between attempts.

Gorxon

October 25th, 2004, 22:10

Alright, seems like it is a server issue then. I have also noticed problems lately, but it always accepts my posts. The server's resources seem to be drained for some reaon. I'll try to notify Martin when I see him, but he has been gone for a day or so.

Stalkid64

October 25th, 2004, 22:11

On the other side I don't have a problem with reasonable copy protections (steam activation is not reasonable) but I use NO-CD patches or ISO images when possible just to avoid putting the CD in the drive whenever I want to play :)
This is the point most people are making and the real problem the steam forums are making an issue of. You'd find most software devco's don't really bother too much about no-cd cracks. They save wear and tear on the CD, and as long as they got your money it isn't really an issue. IIRC EA actually removed one of the Battlefield CD checks in a patch, to let people play LAN games after there was an outcry on the forums about Road To Rome.

Modem

October 25th, 2004, 23:07

The fact is to play a single player game on your computer you should not have to be connected to the internet.

Only for the innital regestration. Once you have steam regestered, you can run steam in offline mode, with no internet access required. I think it's great, and it'll make it harder (though, of course, still not impossible) for people to get a pirated Half-Life2. It's only a matter of time 'till someone makes it so you don't need steam, but until then, people have to buy the game, which is great. Stupid pirates, and stupid people who download games illegally.
- Modem

Stalkid64

October 25th, 2004, 23:20

See earlier argument re: anti piracy argument. The day or two it'll take to crack - assuming Valve can keep their security high enough to not be hacked again for that long and have the game leaked early - will be nothing considering the undoubtedly huge download time. End-pirates (the people who by that point don't have to crack it, just leech it precracked) will not be bothered by this Steam quirk odds are, only end-users will and already are.

Yes, pirates and illegal downloaders of full games are pretty much scum, but this won't affect them and thus is pretty pointless. Many people just don't want Steam at all. It's not necessary, it's been tied in to make it necessary. Much like IE was in earlier Windows versions. There are security issues still remaining with Steam, and I sure don't want to be `indebted` to it when mostly what I'd been planning on was having fun with Worldcraft/Hammer again. It's the beginning of the DRM-locked PC age, and it really does suck.

Cheezey

October 25th, 2004, 23:53

And why do you post this SIX times???!!! Delete your other 5 posts, please!!!

The six times were blatently necessary to get my point across.

Stalkid64

October 25th, 2004, 23:55

Now that's comedy.

Cheezey

October 26th, 2004, 00:08

Only for the innital regestration. Once you have steam regestered, you can run steam in offline mode, with no internet access required. I think it's great, and it'll make it harder (though, of course, still not impossible) for people to get a pirated Half-Life2. It's only a matter of time 'till someone makes it so you don't need steam, but until then, people have to buy the game, which is great. Stupid pirates, and stupid people who download games illegally.
- Modem
This is you;
http://www.tehcheeze.co.uk/images/duhduhdannyfront.jpg http://www.tehcheeze.co.uk/images/duhduhdannyback.jpg

And here is a cool person;

We need more people like this tbfh.
http://www.tehcheeze.co.uk/images/softwarepirate.jpg

And I R not stupid thank you very much.

Stalkid64

October 26th, 2004, 00:34

Pirates bad, Games good.

Gorxon

October 26th, 2004, 00:36

Cheezey:
Seemed like I had to shove your account out the door after all. I bet you saw it coming anyways so...

If you feel that a mod has done something wrong you PM them and clear it up, rather that doing it your way...

smegforbrain

October 26th, 2004, 03:25

Only for the innital regestration.

You miss the point entirely then.

Contrary to popular belief, not everybody in the world has internet access.

As much as I want to see useful deterrents to piracy, there are just as many bad deterrents. This is one of the bad deterrents.

AlphaWolf

October 27th, 2004, 06:25

Many people just don't want Steam at all.

That is also my category. I really don't like steam, it just bothers me to have software running 24/7 for games that I don't run 24/7. Sure you can manually exit the steam applet if you want, but that is annoying. What is even more annoying is the popups that steam creates while its running. Steam has a few traits of spyware.

StanTheMan

November 4th, 2004, 04:04

The bad part about pirated games is no multiplayer. Sure they get the better deal for the most part but if they want to play multiplayer then they have to buy the game.

Actuall, from what I heard, Half Life 2 will be only singleplayer. Counter Strike Source is supposed to be Half Life 2s multiplayer. I could be wrong though....

-Shadow-

November 4th, 2004, 07:25

Actuall, from what I heard, Half Life 2 will be only singleplayer. Counter Strike Source is supposed to be Half Life 2s multiplayer. I could be wrong though....

There's already a petition against the missing HL² Multiplayer Mode. I don't have a link to it because i don't really care about it.

willljjj

November 4th, 2004, 10:22

That is also my category. I really don't like steam, it just bothers me to have software running 24/7 for games that I don't run 24/7. Sure you can manually exit the steam applet if you want, but that is annoying. What is even more annoying is the popups that steam creates while its running. Steam has a few traits of spyware.

That's because steam is spyware, and malware and bloatware, count me out also (until the crack is out and I don't need steam to run HL2). Then I'll give the game a fair shake, and still not pay valve for trying to fource Steam, which is horseshit, plain and simple.

Modem

November 4th, 2004, 11:00

I have had, total, zero problems with steam that I didn't cause. No popups that you're talking about (probably something else on your computer at the time then) and no access attempts to the internet other than to update the games it has. People without internet, HOW THE HELL ARE YOU POSTING IN THE MESSAGE BOARDS? Paying for a internet cafe? It'd be cheaper getting dialup at your house. It's obvious that most people, do infact have internet access, one way or another.
As for "steam sucks, I don't want it" posts, you gotta understand, they're NOT doing this to piss people off. They're NOT doing it to give themselves money. They're doing it because they're freaking tired of pirated games, and they'll do all they can to stop it, or at the very least, slow it a little. The only part of steam you technically need installed is the frontend, and you don't need anything else installed, from the original Half-Life, Half-Life: Source, CS: Source or any other part you don't want. You can uninstall all that if HDD space is the problem.
If you don't like steam that bad for some reason, you can let Sierra/Valve know, and then, don't install it, and let the game that got a freaking 98% review in the US edition of PC Gamer get played by all but a few, stuborn headed people. Steam is there, it's not going away for now, and you can't do anything about it other than not play the game, and show them that you don't like Steam. Play it or don't, it's your choice. Me? I'm going to go through hl2 once it gets released on the 16th, and I have no doubt that it'll be the best FPS I have ever played.
Last, I'm not looking for a war with you guys, I'm just going with the flow of how this perticular company is handling the issue of piracy. They're not charging anyone for steam, they're just making it a part of their games now. You install, regester your game, and never *have* to do it again.

Cheers :party:
- Modem

willljjj

November 4th, 2004, 20:34

As for "steam sucks, I don't want it" posts, you gotta understand, they're NOT doing this to piss people off. They're NOT doing it to give themselves money. They're doing it because they're freaking tired of pirated games, and they'll do all they can to stop it, or at the very least, slow it a little.
If you don't like steam that bad for some reason, you can let Sierra/Valve know, and then, don't install it, and let the game that got a freaking 98% review in the US edition of PC Gamer get played by all but a few, stuborn headed people. Steam is there, it's not going away for now, and you can't do anything about it other than not play the game, and show them that you don't like Steam. Play it or don't, it's your choice.
- Modem

You're forgetting a very valid 3rd choice. Get the crack and play it without Steam. That's the ethical thing to do because this corporation (Valve) has given away some of your liberty (and privacy and cpu cycles, therefore time and even a piece of YOUR LIFE) for their monetary security. Franklin had some stuff to say about this, and it wasn't positive for those of you who may just bend over and take the Steam. That sounds funny.

"They're NOT doing it to give themselves money. They're doing it because they're freaking tired of pirated games,"

So their not doing it for money, their doing it because their tired of losing money? My bad, I see the difference now. HA HA.

Stalkid64

November 5th, 2004, 20:54

In a rather longer manner, I explained exactly why this just *doesn't* stand up as an anti-piracy measure. The fact is it has proved to be an extremely unpopular decision even on the Steam forums with regular users. A lot of us for various reasons just don't like it, and why should we have to accept a measure that really can't work as anti-piracy just to play the game? It's silly.

DuDe

November 5th, 2004, 21:09

You're forgetting a very valid 3rd choice. Get the crack and play it without Steam. That's the ethical thing to do because this corporation (Valve) has given away some of your liberty (and privacy and cpu cycles, therefore time and even a piece of YOUR LIFE) for their monetary security. Franklin had some stuff to say about this, and it wasn't positive for those of you who may just bend over and take the Steam. That sounds funny.

"They're NOT doing it to give themselves money. They're doing it because they're freaking tired of pirated games,"

So their not doing it for money, their doing it because their tired of losing money? My bad, I see the difference now. HA HA.
Oh hi there crhylove/pandamoan/whatever the fuck you're going to call yourself next. Enjoy your ban.

AlphaWolf

November 5th, 2004, 22:33

I have had, total, zero problems with steam that I didn't cause. No popups that you're talking about (probably something else on your computer at the time then)

You probably haven't been using steam long enough then. Every now and then they'll give you a popup advertising the newest game that they have just added to steam. It's not from any other spyware (I don't even get spyware,) it is definitely from steam. Hell the popup appears in a steam window and everything.

Sure these popups are rare, but that doesn't make them any less annoying and stupid.

Modem

November 6th, 2004, 00:21

I've been using steam for about a year and a half, but I took steam out of startup, so I don't have it running at any time but when I want it to. But even then, I've never seen a popup. Weird. Wow, just started it, more hl2 stuff to download. Yay, getting closer and closer to the release! :)
- Modem

AlphaWolf

November 6th, 2004, 01:34

Modem

November 6th, 2004, 03:44

Speak of the online activation requirement, I think it might be beyond prevention of simple piracy. It probably isn't to prevent piracy as a whole so much as it is to prevent any 0day releases. It's entirely possible that the game engine isn't included on the CD, and you can only download it when you first activate it. This would effectively prevent any warez groups from releasing the game before it actually sells in the stores.

After that it would be a simple matter of hours.

That would be good, yeah, except that what would happen, is a good portion of the people that'll be buying the game via amazon or ebgames, or whatever, likely don't have broadband. That would seriously piss of those people to have to download hundreds of mb of stuff, not to mention it would really bog down the steam servers with thousands upon thousands of people downloading at once, which'll happen anyway with updates. Guess it's pretty much a no win siduation for 'em.
- Modem

Gorxon

November 6th, 2004, 11:46

I do not believe that the way AlphaWolf mentioned is the way to go, but it could work out without any problems really. The part you removed could be simple, yet important, stuff in the engine like the part that calculates coordinates for 3D gfx or such. I am sure they could get a vital part down to 500k, and I really think Valve's 30 or so content server's can keep up with that. Remember that they are going this way with the online release through Steam already. With this online release I have no problems with the way they do things though, as you know what you're going to.

As for advertisement, sure Steam has it, but only for their own products. It's very easy to disable them though, and I believe you get the choice upon registration. If not, just go to settings.

AlphaWolf

November 6th, 2004, 15:12

I never said it was a good thing, just thats what I think they are doing :D

Stalkid64

November 7th, 2004, 01:02

Then isn't it going to be even stupider when eventually you can't in several years time reinstall the game..?
Besides, giving away part of the game via online still wouldn't make a difference. What would happen then... well, a piracy group would grab a legitimate copy as they often do, `activate` it and get this essential piece and then they're back at cracking state. Archive it, back it up to a DVD, whatever they can store it on in its full activated state. Barely even an inconvienience to the larger groups at a guess.
Hm, interesting though...

Stalkid64

November 14th, 2004, 12:01

Ah, the Steam Experience...
Step 1. Get annoyed at stupid activation requirements for single player game.
Step 2. Find out there is zero point buying retail version for reasons above, only with the added bonus of shiny coaster. Realise that at least you could be playing CS:Source now.
Step 3. Give in and install steam.
Step 4. Give in and attempt to purchase HL-2.
Step 5. Discover you can't pay for the damn thing without a major American credit card brand... Rather than say, paypal or similar which would've been sensible. Way to go for the global audience Valve! :)
Step 6. Give up on the whole process and decide this hysterically stupid garbage isn't worth it over a game.
Step 7. Advise people who are pissed off but want the game to BUY RETAIL, because Valve make less $$$ this way. ;)

Gorxon

November 14th, 2004, 22:03

As most of you know, the game is to be found on store shelves already. An official spokesman from Vivendi however, had a different view on the issue:

http://web.uvic.ca/~mwquinn/hl.jpg

If you don't get the joke, read this:
http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/566/566154p1.html?fromint=1

Stalkid64

November 14th, 2004, 22:17

Now THAT right there... comedy genius. :happy:

Hexidecimal

November 15th, 2004, 00:29

Modem

November 15th, 2004, 00:49

That is pretty funny.

My Half Life 2 however, is already preloaded and awaiting activation, god bless ATI HL2 Offer finally paying off!

Tomorrow at this time I will be saving City 17, now if you'll all excuse me...

Me, too. But tomorrow? Uhhhh... sorry, it doesn't come out 'till *tuesday* at midnight (neaning Tuesday Monring: 12:00am). I'm going to be waiting anctously.
- Modem

Hexidecimal

November 15th, 2004, 00:57

Sigh, there I go messing up dates again.

Stalkid64

November 15th, 2004, 20:07

Hm, ordering it at the stupidly low price over a year ago appears to have paid off. :P

From: auto-shipping@amazon.co.uk <auto-shipping@amazon.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:13:42 GMT
Subject: Your Amazon.co.uk order has dispatched (#202-8993171-_______)
To: ------------------------------(sorry spammers, nothing to see here;))
Greetings from Amazon.co.uk,
Your order #202-8993171-4097459 (received 12 August 2003, 22:24 BST)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ordered Title Price Dispatched Subtotal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Half-Life 2 24.99 GBP 1 24.99 GBP

Mm, cheap Source-y goodness. I'm suddenly feeling unwell tomorrow... yeah, suddenly coming down with something right now...;)

Roll on `hacktivation`.

AlphaWolf

November 18th, 2004, 05:18

Speak of the online activation requirement, I think it might be beyond prevention of simple piracy. It probably isn't to prevent piracy as a whole so much as it is to prevent any 0day releases. It's entirely possible that the game engine isn't included on the CD, and you can only download it when you first activate it. This would effectively prevent any warez groups from releasing the game before it actually sells in the stores.

After that it would be a simple matter of hours.

And how right I am...

http://www.izonews.com/release.php3?releaseid=93951

Happened around midday yesterday, before many of the legit guys were even able to get it.

Not only did they manage to crack it but also write a steam emulator. I swear these guys must be able to disassemble x86 code in their heads. Never underestimate them.