Steam News
(thanks Frans) follows up on the story below this one announcing that Half-Life
2 authentication issues have been solved:
We have resolved the issues that
caused some to experience delays with Half-Life 2 authentication earlier today.
We appreciate your patience and hope everyone enjoys the game.
I even hate the idea of steam, so my plan was to just order a physical copy of it from a store, but upon reading the BS that it requeires steam and requires cdcheck I just thought screw it. cancelled order right away.