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Half-Life 2 Distribution & Mod Plans

[Aug 01, 2003, 3:36 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

Wyatt, an attendee of SIGRAPH 2003, sends word that during the show a version of SoftImage XSI was demonstrated that will be freely distributed after the release of Half-Life 2 to serve as a modification tool for the game. According to Wyatt the program will be fully supported by SoftImage and Valve. Also, Valve's Doug Lombardi sends word of plans for another Steam-powered Half-Life 2 movie release today, as well as word on their plans to expand the service:

Valve, creators of Half-Life and Counter-Strike, has partnered with Nvidia, Game-Storm.net, and a host of leading technology companies to deliver high-resolution trailers of the upcoming PC game Half-Life 2 via Steam, a broadband platform for direct software delivery and content management.

"Bugbait," the latest in a series of Half-Life 2 trailers, will be released today. Additional Half-Life 2 trailers, as well as more digital content from Valve, will be delivered to participants of the Steam beta over the coming weeks. Then, later this year, Half-Life 2 will be sold via Steam as well as in retail outlets the world over.

"The delivery of these trailers is just the beginning of several activities and offerings we will be making via Steam with these partners," said Gabe Newell, Valve's co-founder. "Steam will broaden our relationship with companies such as Nvidia, and allow us to extend new offerings and services to our customers in both the current and future generation of our products."

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18.

Re: HL2 Steam discount?

Aug 1, 2003, 16:49

indiv

Distributors really hate being undercut, and have alot of power by refusing to carry stuff, except with a huge game like HL2 where Valve and Vivendi can do whatever they want. Would EB or Best Buy have the balls to decline to carry HL2 because they were been undercut by direct sales? I've never worked retail, so I don't know the politics of it all, but I'd imagine that if a publisher undercut the retailer on such a big seller like Half-Life 2, the retailer would be a lot less easy to work with in the future when the publisher comes back with some no-name title that they want prime shelf space for. But price is the only incentive I can think of for downloading instead of buying. I don't mind downloading from Steam and burning the copy to a disc, but if it's the same price, I'd rather have the box with the artwork and manual, if any (don't copy that floppy!). Maybe they're equalizing the downloaded version and the retail version by making the retail box contain no box art, and inside the box is a burned cd of the game.

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