Retail Half Life 2 pirated in Russia

[Tristan Lindo]

Hi there, just found this on the net

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13573

if it is true ,does anyone here want to get a copy or are you gonna wait till april?

I know im gonna wait for the real game to come out.

[bsu legato]

Hmmm...I'm not too sure. The original theft was a near-complete Beta of HL2, but I don't believe it had any of the actual"story" portions of the game. This would imply a second code theft. I'd hope that after the first one Valve would have tightened up security.

[Max Jenius]

I think that the code theft was an intentional leak by Valve, I've played it and there was no way that they were going to be ready for the original Sept. 30th deadline... then magically on Sept 30th and incomplete version of the game gets 'leaked' and soon after they 'delay' it until April. I used to follow the story and it seemed like a few things didn't add up, but that's just my opinion.

I am looking forward to the game though and really have no desire to play it before its finished.

[Ladic]

I'm getting HL2 free!

well, not really I had to buy a new VC.

[Hurricane29]

Me too, I got a Radeon 9600 running that came with a coupon for HL2 free.

[SuperOstrich]

I hope you guys are willing to wait. Word on the street says late 2004 now.

[GobotFool]

I hope you guys are willing to wait. Word on the street says late 2004 now.

Ouch! hey anyone know the date for doom 3?

[Commander McBride]

I hope you guys are willing to wait. Word on the street says late 2004 now.

Ouch! hey anyone know the date for doom 3?

Yeah, shortly after Duke Nukem: Forever!

[Vostok 7]

I hope you guys are willing to wait. Word on the street says late 2004 now.

Ouch! hey anyone know the date for doom 3?

Yeah, shortly after Duke Nukem: Forever!

:lol:

You mean "when it's done"?

Vostok 7

[bsu legato]

I hope you guys are willing to wait. Word on the street says late 2004 now.

Don't even joke about that, Super O. You wouldn't screw with us like that, would you?

[JsARCLIGHT]

I for one am not surprised.

Vaporware has become the norm lately... all the games that I was looking forward to like HL2, Men of Valor: Vietnam, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault and Doom 3 kept getting pushed back more and more. I have all but given up on "streetdating" of games as some of these companys have basically established track records of never meeting their release dates.

At least the boys at Id have done the noble thing: they have not even bothered to release a street date because they probably know they would have welched on it several times by now like Valve.

But what can we do other than bitch like whiny school girls that our dates are late but we still buy them with gusto when they actually come out? I wish these developers had the work schedules I get put under... living in the fantasy land of making video games for a living with huge budgets and nebulous due dates like some of these companies have must be a dream job from heaven... but we all remember what happened when things like that exsisted before, right? Anyone else smell another tech bubble waiting to burst?

[bsu legato]

I wish these developers had the work schedules I get put under... living in the fantasy land of making video games for a living with huge budgets and nebulous due dates like some of these companies have must be a dream job from heaven...

Do you ever get the feeling we took the wrong career path? I for one could easily deal with a fantasy land work schedule.

[JsARCLIGHT]

Well Bsu, I used to work for a short time in mass media commercial advertizing in Texas... to sum it up it was always feast or famine and I like to think that the video game market is like that. Just look at that dork John Romero... he was on the top of the world, a millionare and a prize computer geek... and the idiot blew it all. He turned out to be more showman than actual producer and he got what he deserved. I'd rather work in the shadow of a deadline on an average budget than live like a king for a 22 month development cycle and then have to look for another job after that living on my brother's couch eating ramen out of an army helmet.

[MSW]

blah!...I hope it just ends up as another lame arsed copycat FPS!...I completely gave up on the PC game industry when Monolith mangled the great gameplay potential of the Tron license with that steaming pile of inbreed FPS/RPG crap that is Tron 2.0

I personaly could die a very happy man if I never see the day another FPS, RPG, RTS, or MMORPG is ever released

[Beltane70]

I personaly could die a very happy man if I never see the day another FPS, RPG, RTS, or MMORPG is ever released

Yeah, but then what types ofgames would we be left with? It would leave quite a few of us without any games to play.

[yellowlightman]

I personaly could die a very happy man if I never see the day another FPS, RPG, RTS, or MMORPG is ever released

Yeah, but then what types ofgames would we be left with? It would leave quite a few of us without any games to play.

I think MSW's point was that PC gaming lack innovation and that it's mostly just the same tired idea rehashed over and over again. Or at least that's how I feel. <_<

[MSW]

What would we be left with? games like Ikaruga, Viewtiful Joe, F-Zero, Secret of Monkey Island, Soul Caliber...shoot 'em-ups, platformers, racers, adventure games, and fighters...not to mention the other game genres that have died off or became unpopular over the last several years...

why must all retail PC games fit into the stale FPS, RPG, RTS, MMORPG genres (okay the Simms don't exactly fit in those groups either)?...It's damn disturbing given that the PC is a open platform to develop for (don't need to have an expensive console system manufacture's development license)...is it to much to ask for there to be pick up and play new PC games along the lines of Jet Grind Radio, Super Metroid, Legend of Zelda, Gunstar Heros, Maniac Mansion, and Mario Kart...All I want is to have more variety of new retail PC games available.

[JsARCLIGHT]

It's cheaper to immitate than innovate... and video games are a business after all. If they were some sort of strange non-monitary performance art piece then we would see more variation and individuality... but alas it is a genre bound by the chains of capitalism. People keep buying the same old things so they keep making the same old things. The trick is to fix the consumer and not the commodity.

[Max Jenius]

What would we be left with? games like Ikaruga, Viewtiful Joe, F-Zero, Secret of Monkey Island, Soul Caliber...shoot 'em-ups, platformers, racers, adventure games, and fighters...not to mention the other game genres that have died off or became unpopular over the last several years...

why must all retail PC games fit into the stale FPS, RPG, RTS, MMORPG genres (okay the Simms don't exactly fit in those groups either)?...It's damn disturbing given that the PC is a open platform to develop for (don't need to have an expensive console system manufacture's development license)...is it to much to ask for there to be pick up and play new PC games along the lines of Jet Grind Radio, Super Metroid, Legend of Zelda, Gunstar Heros, Maniac Mansion, and Mario Kart...All I want is to have more variety of new retail PC games available.

Some people out there are sick of platformers, racers, adventure games and fighters.

I would love to see a remake of Maniac Mansion though.

[MSW]

Some people out there are sick of platformers, racers, adventure games and fighters.

very true...But as long as they keep near exclusively produceing FPS, RPGs, RTS, and MMORPGs I'm not a customer...and as long as they exclusively produce platformers, racers, adventure and fighting games...then those that have no intrest in such games arn't customers either...however the video game market is now large enough that there should be little reason not to support both our gameing intrests...I'm not asking for the latest and greatest graphics here, heck good old 8-bit 256 color 2D VGA graphics would be fine by me...so I'm not exactly asking for a multimillion dollar budgit games...I would just like to see some more variety in what is available at retail...something between the rather small and simplistic typical shareware type games, and the big "update your PC every year" multimillion dollar heavily hyped 'AAA' mainstay titles...

Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project is a good example of the types of games I would like to see more of on the retail shelves...I don't mean that every PC game should be something like it, rather I just wish such games were more common.

[Graham]

I tend to agree with MSW. the PC gaming industry does seem very stale at the moment, with very little in the way of originality. The industry seems only to be able to churn out endless and similar FPS, RPGs, RTS, and MMORPGs.

Personally, I'm not interested in the above types games. Tried them and found them boring, which is why I stick exclusively with console games as thankfully there is still some originality and far more variety in console games.

Plus I have no interest in spending money to update my PC every 6 months just so I can play the latest 'hit' game.

Graham

[LePoseur]

I don't know if you can really call it a game, but I've been wasting hundreds of hours on Second Life. When I get into a good zone building something the hours just zoom by. Like digital Legos in a huge sandbox. It goes in cycles of course, but there have been many days of sleepless nights wasted there building/scripting/tweeking and when I'm not doing that I tour around seeing other people's creations that put mine to shame. Now every other game just seems flat and boring.

The minimum requirements are pretty high as it's streamed 3D world, but if you're up to it click the link in my sig to try it if you want. Although, I wouldn't suggest going in with any conceptions of it being a normal "game."

[Jawjaw]

I think the problem with pc games these days is that they are also made for all the conosoles. Thus, much of the games graphics, controls, interface, etc. is sacrificed so that it can run on say, a ps2. For example, I am playing Deus Ex 2 right now and while it is still a great game, it has some limitations because of the console support. The inventory system, upgrades, and other elements of the game have been greatly simplified from the original game to make it playable with a paddle cotroller. The game itself runs pretty bad on the pc. I bet it would of run better if the game was optimized for the pc.

As far as originality, I think it has always been rare to find an unique game that is fun to play. Over time, we tend to forget the average games and only remember the great ones. Most games share similar elements but might have one or two new things that make it fresh.

[LePoseur]

And if on cue...

Slashdot has a story up about the FBI raiding a guy's place in SF suspected of being involved in the code theft.

I'd always been in the "True Story" camp as a similar hack job was done on another recent FPS my wife was working on at the same time, but the fact that they are into legal action and police work would lead me to think it would be very... em... "disingenuous" for them to go that route if it really was faked.

[Cyclone]

why must all retail PC games fit into the stale FPS, RPG, RTS, MMORPG genres (okay the Simms don't exactly fit in those groups either)?...It's damn disturbing given that the PC is a open platform to develop for (don't need to have an expensive console system manufacture's development license)...is it to much to ask for there to be pick up and play new PC games along the lines of Jet Grind Radio, Super Metroid, Legend of Zelda, Gunstar Heros, Maniac Mansion, and Mario Kart...All I want is to have more variety of new retail PC games available.

Am I the only one to recall the horrorific number of PC based Super Mario Kart clones back when the original SNES game was released?

IMO Mario Kart and a number of console games fall into that area where outside having a hand controller it is just too complex via keyboard. Just like there are PC games that I find freaking awful on consoles without a mouse...such as FPS...

Cyc

[Tristan Lindo]

And if on cue...

Slashdot has a story up about the FBI raiding a guy's place in SF suspected of being involved in the code theft.

I'd always been in the "True Story" camp as a similar hack job was done on another recent FPS my wife was working on at the same time, but the fact that they are into legal action and police work would lead me to think it would be very... em... "disingenuous" for them to go that route if it really was faked.

here is the story

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13704

[Beltane70]

Lot's of valid points on this thread.

Yeah, but then what types ofgames would we be left with? It would leave quite a few of us without any games to play.

I think MSW's point was that PC gaming lack innovation and that it's mostly just the same tired idea rehashed over and over again. Or at least that's how I feel

I understood MSW's point, but it seems my use of the phrase "quite a few of us" seemed to have gone unnoticed 90% of the games I play are FPS, RPG, MMORPGs, If they stopped making them, I'd be bored to death

Like anythng else, there's good FPS, RPG, and MMORPGs amd there's bad ones. Ideally, of course, there wouldn't be any bad ones.

I tend to agree with MSW. the PC gaming industry does seem very stale at the moment, with very little in the way of originality. The industry seems only to be able to churn out endless and similar FPS, RPGs, RTS, and MMORPGs.

Every industry has their stale period, things always work in cycles. I'm sure in the future, MSW would probably see the types of games he likes start to get stale.

My personal belief, however, is that there's room in this world for eveybody's likes, so I say keep all types of games coming!

[Skull Leader]

I would love to see a remake of Maniac Mansion though.

I am SO in agreement... Maniac Mansion OWN3D.

[yellowlightman]

I tend to agree with MSW. the PC gaming industry does seem very stale at the moment, with very little in the way of originality. The industry seems only to be able to churn out endless and similar FPS, RPGs, RTS, and MMORPGs.

Every industry has their stale period, things always work in cycles. I'm sure in the future, MSW would probably see the types of games he likes start to get stale.

My personal belief, however, is that there's room in this world for eveybody's likes, so I say keep all types of games coming!

It isn't so much the genres themselves, just that the majority of games are just unoriginal rehashes of previosu games. Games that actually innovate and try to break out of genres, try new things, those games are far and few between. It's dispointing considering all this new technology that's capable of so much, and yet these FPSs and RPgs are pretty much the same games they were 10 years ago.

[Neova]

It isn't so much the genres themselves, just that the majority of games are just unoriginal rehashes of previosu games. Games that actually innovate and try to break out of genres, try new things, those games are far and few between.

Well, the PC games industry does have MANY, but not as much, innovative and new ideas as the console or toy industries.

But one of the BIGGEST influence is the investor, or usually the publisher. If the publisher were to receive two proposals from their studio or development team, the will look at the one that will bring in the quickest and fastest return. They have to factor in franchise recognition, sell through, piracy, economic growth for the company, quarterly earnings, customer acceptance and acknowledge the current trends. You ride the waves until a new one come along. You just don't create new waves.

A lot of people in the industry don't know squat about games but know a lot about money. So a lot of the "coulda, shoulda, woulda" have been new hits or misses would have been pushed aside into the ideas bin until someone else proves those ideas were right. After all, the games industry exists TODAY because of money and not soley because of love of games.

Edited January 21, 2004 by Neova

[GobotFool]

All I want is for the Sci-fi simulation games to return. Oh how I mourn the loss of games like X-wing, Tie-fighter, Wing Commander, Freespace, Mechwarrior (okay not exactly dead but MW5 was delayed indefinantly). All we get is weak mouse driven crap like Freelancer.

Adventure puzzlegames are another genre I want to see make a comeback.

Genres I would like to see shelved for a while are FPS's, and racing games.

Keep dem RPG's and RTS's coming!

Edited January 21, 2004 by GobotFool