In the end I'm glad I purchased the CD version because at least I can reinstall the product as many times as I'd like to a new system... "or whatever!" As opposed to the sucker deal some got out of downloading 4.3 Gigs of data across the bandwidth challenged US Ethernet. And lets not forget those suckers that if they loose a system they'll pretty much kiss away 49 - 89 dolloars they used for something they don't own anymore.

Valve included a CD/DVD backup tool into Steam. I've back my stuff up onto DVD's. Sure, I don't have the box or the CD covers, but who cares; I stopped caring about those long ago. AND, I don't need a CD in the drive to play.

Doing that, there's little difference between buying a CD version or getting it via Steam. My hard drive borks, I simply restore the files from my shiny DVD's.

Remember, the boxed set still relies on Steam to some extent. So, both would need a patch if Steam ever gets dropped and you want to reinstall the game to play.

Valve has truely stepped into the world both figuratively and materially of an Orwellian dictate. It's nice that they've made a game that uses the same premise as their paranoid mindset. But now they themselves are forcing this same mind-numbing watchdog bullshit on us, the consumer. Just like their bed buddy, Micro(soft)manage.

How is this Orwellian? Do they monitor how far you are, your hit-percentage, etc? No. Do they monitor if you're field of vision has been focusing too much on Alyx's ass? No. Steam offers some decent piracy prevention (though probably not perfect) and a distribution system I was quite happy with.

Piracy sucks. I have friends that are independent developers that sell their software, and are constantly battling with jerks pirating their software on newsgroups. "Activation" isn't a bad thing; it's not perfect, but it's better than some of the past alternatives. And there's nothing stopping you from installing the game on multiple machines, so long as you use the same login ID and don't play online at the same time as another machine. Unlike Windows XP, which locks itself to a specific set of hardware for like 6 months.

I preloaded HL-2 a week or 2 before it "shipped." I activated it at 7AM EST (since I had to go to bed early for a meeting) without any problems. By the time I was out of the shower, it was alreay done and I was enjoying about 30 minutes of playing before heading to the office.

Yes, we're on a slippery slope. If Valve wanted to, they could lock everyone out and demand a monthly fee. Then again, I don't see that happening.


With a 3MBit connection at home, I have NO problem downloading something as big as a game. Just start the process before I get to work, and everything is done by the time I get back. And if I "preorder" like I did this time, it's ready the instant it's released.

If you don't like the content delivery service, then OK. I don't blame you. But to go on a rant and compare it to something Orwellian; then either you're an alarmist or have no concept of what the term means.



"Space. It seems to go on and on forever. But then you get to the end and a gorilla starts throwing barrels at you."
-Fry, Futurmama

This comment was edited on Nov 18, 00:48.