So now that HL2 is gold, what version will you be getting?
I have yet to decide which of the following I want.

Half-Life 2 Steam Offers

STEAM OFFERINGS

1. "Bronze" -- $49.95
-- Half-Life 2*
-- Counter-Strike: Source
*(To be made available upon product's release.)


2. "Silver" -- $59.95
-- Half-Life 2*
-- Counter-Strike: Source
-- Half-Life 1: Source*
-- Day of Defeat: Source*
-- Valve's back catalog currently available on Steam
*(To be made available upon products' release.)


3. "Gold" -- $89.95
-- Half-Life 2*
-- Counter-Strike: Source
-- Half-Life 1: Source*
-- Day of Defeat: Source*
-- Valve's back catalog currently available on Steam
-- Complete Half-Life 2 Strategy Guide from Prima Games
-- 3 different Half-Life 2 posters
-- Half-Life Collector's box
-- Half-Life 2 hat
-- Half-Life 2 postcard
-- Half-Life 2 stickers
-- Half-Life 2 Soundtrack CD
-- Chance to win a trip to Valve! (1 trip offered for every 5000 Gold packages purchased).
*(To be made available upon products' release.)



The bronze version is available in stores, the rest are only available over steam.

I think I might shell out the extra $10 and go for the Silver version.

I really want silver but I cant buy anything over steam

Ah well, it will have to be bronze for me then.

Bronze, since I don't use steam. Is there going to be any way to get DoD: Source without the Gold or Silver packages?

You need an option for none: will go over to a friends house and live there until I finish it.

heh, I knew I forgot an option.

needs a "i'll get it when you get me a new computer" option

Silvber I do believe. I want DoD:Source so bad.

I do not want it at all.

Where's the Warez option? :p

Silver, once I get the money and the system to run it.

Is there a way to get HL1:source and/or DOD:source without a DVD player or steam?

Does no-one else think it's frankly ridiculous to pay $90 for a game you're downloading?

I mean, the whole concept of Steam content delivery is that they completely avoid all the manufacturing, the packaging, the retailers, and all the costs incurred. Which'd suggest that buying something over Steam should be a huge amount cheaper than a boxed game. They could keep the same profit margin and the product would still be loads cheaper, as the costs are merely for upkeep of servers, which would at least be subsidised by banners and things.

The profit here must be absolutely massive.

I refuse to pay for any game, music or video where it does not result in me owning a physical, manufactured copy with packaging and booklets.

I have some pride you know.

I've had Silver for a week. It's sweet, can't wait for the full release.

Well, I wouldn't go that far. What you're paying for is not so much the physical CD, booklet, plastic packaging, but rather paying for permission to use their product. It is, after all, their product, their creation, you're just buying into a contract that agrees that you can share it. I think it is quite acceptable to pay some amount of money towards that, rewarding the programmers and designers and artists and musicians, giving them the ability to do more of it.

But you would think that through Steam, you'll only be paying that contract, not paying for the CD, booklet, and all that, so the cost should be considerably less, and there's no need for manufacturers or publishers or anything of the kind. The money would be going straight to the programmers and designers and artists and musicians. Well, that's the theory, anyway. And Steam does do some rather odd things.

I must agree.

I'm not getting it for awhile. Awhile as in, 2 or 3 months. Halo 2 is going to occupy quite a bit of my time.

I'm still pretty sure you'll need to play the game via Steam.
Also, I would suspect that DoD: Source will be available for a price to Bronze users later, since its now an In-House production for Valve, therefore it won't be free, as far as I can tell.

Theres pride in owning the crappy throwaway packaging?
Screw that, I'm going for gold.

If you WANT to play ONLINE. You don't need it for SP. And as I've said many a time, I've just about given up with playing online.

No, you need Steam to play offline too. That's how you play HL SP nowadays.

All I want to play is HL2 and DoD: Source.

so let me get this straight-- you need f***ing steam for single player? Why?

Gold, if I had the money and the computer to run it.

You forgot collector's edition

I'm glad I haven't, and CAN'T, update my games then. That's bloody absurd and ridiculous. Screw them.

FYI, I can't update because I'm on a 56k connection. No way in hell am I updateing all of my games over that. Especially considering the end result.

Your just talking about DoD and CS: Source right? If not, that is ****ing bull****, but I am not sure. Will CS: Source be playable over a LAN?

Ha ha! To prevent people like you from stealing the product!

You saying i'm a warezer? I may symathize with the warez community and i may root for them, but that doesn't mean that I indulge in it personally.

Yeah whatever. I still burned you.

Whoa whoa whoa... you need steam to play the freaking SP game? **** that... what about people with no internet connection, or a very crummy one? Is Valve that stupid? That makes me want to get this game a whole lot less.

yeah? how? By making accusations with no proof?

Yes, Steam is required to play the game at all. No, you don't need to be online when you play it. You will require to connect to the internet once, for a one-time authentication before you play the game. After that you don't need to be online at all when you play.

Well, you only need steam to play half-life sp if you want the latest version. If you don't mind not playing the latest version, just install half-life from the CD and just play it from there. Sure, you'll have essentially two versions of Half-Life on your computer but that is no big deal if you have plenty of hard drive space.

Why are you asking so many questions if you've got nothing to hide?

You will not beat me at my own game!

in theory, that shouldn't be too hard to crack if it only checks once. It would likely be either a registry change or a file on the hard drive, either of which could theoretically be easily redistributed once the activation procedure is isolated.


(thats how winxp activation works-- it writes a file to your HD.)

My point is, steam would be useless as a safeguard if this is the case.

admins: don't f*** with this post, i'm just hypothesizing, not givinga cracking procedure.

I will be getting collectors edition at EB Games, why someone would not want their game on a physical disc is beyond me.

I agree.


... Which is exactly why I'm ordering the gold edition and burning it to a DVD.

What the hell is steam other than water at or near boiling point??

Jesus christ everyone just stop speculating...

You're all "OH HL2 REQUIRES STEAM FOR SP" is BS

Had any of you actually gotten Condition Zero you would know that Steam wasn't required for that game as it had its own little thing. I would imagine HL2 would do the same exact thing.

Anything else is MERE SPECULATION