Arg ... maybe i overeacted ... we'll see how it turns out ...

I agree that it could be a good thing for mod developpers and eventually for us ... the gamers

by the way, valve are planning on letting people sell their mods over steam.

they are also planning on letting shaweware developers sell their games over steam too! which is great news.

ok,

the only reason theyre doing this is to make it cheaper for people to play hl2. Theyre not doing it to be greedy. The cut down version will cost less than usual, the hl2+mp wont cost more than usual.

i'll decide what version i'm buying when they are announced. will either be the hl2+mp or the collectors or over steam.

It would be even cooler if Valve became like Garage Games - they could let people have access to the whole game engine source for $100 (charging more for 'top tier' developers), and then continue to promote the top mods like they have been while distributing them using Steam.

Who needs publishers?

---------------------------------------------
Supporter of the "a happy fredster is a fredster in a bathtub full of gasoline smoking a cigar" fanclub.

I hope they make us pay for patches

What would be really cool is if Value gave a cut of that subscription money to the authors of the mods they host. In the long run, that single innovation would probably do more to change the face of computer entertainment than any single change up to this point. It would provide a financial incentive for fans to become producers and result in alot higher quality of mods than we've seen thus far. We'd all win.

Whats next ... paying for the tons of fix/patches ?

Good lord man! Keep your voice down!

<nin looks around for beancounters taking notes>

Supporter of the "A happy fredster is a muted fredster" fanclub.

http://www.hybrid-group.com/

Whats wrong with the regular way of selling games ?
What is it with the online playing paying bullshit nowadays ... is it that they are finally realizing that pc games is less and less profitable ... sic

Whats next ... paying for the tons of fix/patches ?

I've taken the time to let the details of this sink in, having personally gotten quite pissed off at the prospect of pay to play HL2. But now I understand what Valve are doing I still don't like it.
Okay, I'm going to buy the retail +SP+MP+Mod-sub version from a store - I'll be able to play the single game through, get fragged a lot online and install the odd SP or MP mod that eventually comes out. Now for at least 4 to 6 months there will be no new non-Valve content worth a damn but there will a scheduled release of new content on Steam to make the subscription appear more attractive. And what about the mods that gave HL such a shelf life - new versions locked into Steam deals.
I think what I really dislike about this is that no matter what I do there are going to be disadvantages. Between HL1 and HL2 was what, 4 years? That's $480.00 if you want to keep playing and keep up with new content before the next major iteration of the series. (HL3...)If you just want to dip in and out of the game and you're buying all the content as retail boxes (say 4 expansion packs a la HL1),
it's costing you less, you have the flexibility to install/uninstall the game fairly easily, you can even lend the game to your friends and family BUT you'll never have access to all the content.
So now, just thinking about this again, I'm getting stressed that I'm going to have to subscribe to make sure I have everything, but then the sub will sit idle for months at a time while I'm engrossed in some RPG or other MMOG. And as somebody somewhere has already said, if it works for Valve then everybody else will jump on the bandwagon. So what happens when mod authors are automatically getting locked into agreements only to host their mods on official game servers? Valve aren't forcing this on anyone but you can be sure some producer/publisher somewhere will.
And what about people who through geographic location have no access to broadband?

But too bad you can't use mods

Oh, I didn't notice that little bit. Forget it. Mods are a must have. That's a sucky deal then.

Oh and this should really be a regular news message by itself at the top, biggest news of the day and in a while IMO. This is something totally new to gaming.

Most people don't have broadband or play multiplayer, so the single player at a saving makes sense.

The tradtional SP/MP and collector's edition make sense of course.

Steam downloading makes sense.

All of the things are great, but the subscription service is BS. If there were two games being released on the same day this way, I might consider $120 per year, but without any guarantee of what upcoming content will be, I ain't payin for dat shit! (Unless I get the game earlier than everyone else. :D)

There seems to be some speculation on the forum this links to about if this post is legit.

It's legit. Gabe himself posts to verify it several pages into the thread.

I think this is an interesting idea, but to announce it (and this is a really half-assed annoucement) this soon before the game goes gold seems odd.

I'm not opposed to subscription-based games per se, but they do seem to take advantage of your most loyal customers.

Maybe they should let people buy each level seperately, just to confuse them further...

What is this shit? 3 versions, and that not including Steam. I can understand trying to reach a wide audience, but this is a bit too much.

There seems to be some speculation on the forum this links to about if this post is legit. I'm inclined to agree it may not be. Even if the game takes somone what the most a week or two to go through the single player only portion then Valve loses. You only pay $9.95 for this game, which they have invested millions in. The math doesn't add up to me.

McSterls

" We've had some feedback that we should sell the top SKU (single-player only no MODs) on Steam, and my reaction has been "yeah, right, for the three people in the world who have a broadband connection, are sophisticated enough to purchase software over the Internet, but DON'T want to play MODs and multiplayer".

I've never been into multiplayer, but I want to play the SP mods (there were tonnes for the orginal HL). If they let me download HL2 SP off of Steam, they should allow me to have a version that permits mods without making me pay extra for MP. A simple "do you want fries with that?" kind of deal.

Sounds like Sierra isn't too entranced with Steam: "Sierra isn't exactly jumping for joy at the idea of selling us boxes so people don't buy Half-Life 2 in stores"

I like the idea of buying the version without multiplayer...

But too bad you can't use mods. There were some single player mods for HL that I enjoyed, and I can see even more being released for this game.

I don't usually do multiplayer, either, but I like to have it just in case. There have been only two games I have ever played online alot, Day of Defeat and Battlefield 1942.

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22

I don't do multiplayer. Just a single player gamer, that's me. I'm no cheapskate but that reduced price single player version sounds like a great deal. Why clog my disk with a load of multiplayer crap I'll never use? Thanks Valve!

Which version have I preordered?

I'm thinking the "normal" one.

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22