What if Half-life 2 uses Starforce?

[Juntei]

topic says it all...

[mb737]

Then I wil not buy it.

[Cota]

I wouldn't buy it, but then I'm not too interested in it anyways, so it's pretty easy to say that. My boycott of Starforced games is 100% though, doesn't matter what the game is. Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion could come out with Starforce on it and I still wouldn't buy it.

-Cota

[wankerjr]

I wouldn't buy it either.

Well if it were under $10 in the bargain bin I'll probably consider it.

[angrycoder]

I bought it on steam, so it can use whatever the hell kind of CD copy protection it wants      

[Jeff]

I bought it on steam, so it can use whatever the hell kind of CD copy protection it wants      

That's actually a darn good answer to this hypothetical question. Just get it from Steam

Of course, some people hate Steam as much as Starforce, I guess they're out of luck

[Thin_J]

I saw the thread title and thought "Since I won't have a CD, I probably won't care in the least"

Yay for Steam.

[SkyLander]

Fuck starforce.
Fuck steam.

[Greggy_D]

Don't care.  I have a separate XP partition just for Starforce games.

[Interloper]

Don't care. I have a separate XP partition just for Starforce games

Is it called "The Trashbin"?

[Jeff]

Don't care. I have a separate XP partition just for Starforce games

Is it called "The Trashbin"?

lol  :lol:

and err.. how does a seperate partition help? Don't the drivers still install into    the OS partition? Or are you saying you dual-boot?

[Falcon554]

I would buy it without careing one freaking bit. Starfoce, Starwars, Starass I dont really give a crap. Had both Toca 2 and Heroes on my machine without 1 single problem.

[CeeKay]

I'd still buy it.

[Drone]

Wait until the Xbox version comes out

[Greggy_D]

Yes Jeff.  Separate partition (dual boot) for a second install of XP.  That way the Starforce games can screw themselves up and not mess with my main XP gaming/internet/CD Burning partition.

[AttAdude]

Fuck some starforce.  I would not buy it.

[Raintitan]

Why does Steam irritate people so much?

I love not needing to track patches, CD's, ect.

[Big Jake]

Raintian, do you have AOL as your ISP?

(You got my point, right?)

[farley2k]

Why does Steam irritate people so much?

I love not needing to track patches, CD's, ect.

I don't know about everyone but my reasons.

1. I don't like haveing to be on-line to play a single player game.  I am not playing on-line so I shouldn't have to be.  Now to some extend that concern has been addressed but I am not sure how fully until we actually have HL2 in hand and can see.

2. People like having physical media.  There is just something unreal about not having a physical disk.

3. People don't like wasting their bandwidth for Steam.  I doubt it uses much be I don't like the idea of always having something running out there while I am playing a game.  I want my games to run as well as possible.  I keep my gaming machine clean of stuff in the start up group, I don't allow anything unnecessary to run in task manager, etc.  Now Valve is saying I will have to give up some performance so they have a better way to make money?  I don't like that very much.

[dmd]

I'd probably wait till a cracked version appeared, buy a license and obtain the non-starforce version.  Same thing with that chernobyl game--that more than likely will be starforce.

[jessie]

starforce is copy protection i assume...but what is it about it that makes it so bad?

[Thin_J]

starforce is copy protection i assume...but what is it about it that makes it so bad?

There's a long list. For some people it causes windows to stop recognizing some of their CD or CDR drives. They just disappear like they were never there. On others it breaks random functions or ruins specific other programs like Nero or burning software. There are also those who say that it's one big piece of bloated system-resource abusing spyware. I don't know any specifics of that, but I would believe it just given the number of other problems it causes.

Here's my only almost-first-hand example:. A friend of mine went to copy a couple of his new CD's. He always copies the discs, keeps the actual copies at home in the case or CD player, and carries the copies in a big CD book in his car. Idea being that if someone breaks into his car, he's only out 200 CD-R's.. not all of his music. He set it to burn the first disc like he always did before and left the PC for a few minutes. When he came back he was looking at some weird error message, and the realization that he had just created a shiny blue coaster. He later found out it was because Starforce had come with one of his new games, and it didn't "like" his burning software. He could find no evidence of this exact issue with anyone else on the net. But removing starforce (which took forever by the way) instantly fixed the problem. This is just a minor problem as it's only one ruined CD-R.. what's that worth like 5 cents? The issue is that it took him HOURS to get rid of starforce and all of it's components and to fix the issues it caused. And he still hasn't played whatever game it was that he bought, and he can't play it without ruining the functionality of other programs that he uses a lot.

I've experienced none of this on my PC as I never had any star-force infested games, but it has, does, and will happen to certain people when they install these games.

[Tony]

As much as it would pain me, I would take a pass on Half Life 2 if it had Starforce.  Heck, if a lot of games started having Starforce I might become a full time console gamer!   :shock:

[jessie]

is there a listing of games using starforce currently? i have a huge game library, and I dont think i've ever experienced anything like what's been mentioned above.

cheers.

[Cota]

is there a listing of games using starforce currently? i have a huge game library, and I dont think i've ever experienced anything like what's been mentioned above.

cheers.

http://www.boycottstarforce.org/games/

I'm not sure if it's being updated or not.

-Cota

[ericb]

The list is not up to date.  More newer games, like Singles UK, also used Starforce.  I've had it installed in the past and never had a problem but I won't buy any new games that have it.  Even Half Life 2.

[Beer Goggles]

I would not buy it.

[Clanwolfer]

It was just announced that the copy protection for ALL copies of HL2, including store-bought, will be through Steam.  Buy it, activate it once through Steam, and then it can be played offline in single-player or LAN mode.

So I guess all you people who hate Steam are out of luck.  It's a shame, because I don't see much wrong with Steam, personally, and it will hopefully do a decent job at eliminating more piracy than CD copy protection (which we know from experience doesn't work).

[Falator]

It was just announced that the copy protection for ALL copies of HL2, including store-bought, will be through Steam.  Buy it, activate it once through Steam, and then it can be played offline in single-player or LAN mode.

So I guess all you people who hate Steam are out of luck.  It's a shame, because I don't see much wrong with Steam, personally, and it will hopefully do a decent job at eliminating more piracy than CD copy protection (which we know from experience doesn't work).

Halflife 2 is such a hugely hyped game that it will almost certainly be cracked insanely quickly no matter what type of protection they use.

Online activation didn't work for microsoft and one would hope that microsoft is pretty good at securing stuff....

[Big Jake]

...

I cannot think of what else to say, except for certain vitriol that none of you would want to read.  

I just read the Steam comment interview.

F#$#$ F#$#$F#$#$F#$#$F#$#$F#$#$F#$#$
F#$#$F#$#$F#$#$F#$#$F#$#$F#$#$F#$#$F#$#$!!!!!!!!!
 :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:
God DAMMIT!!!!  Now, as much as I love FPS', I have to figure out what to do.  I hate Spyware/Adware/etc so much! [NOTHING will convince me that Steam is not in this group.  Why else would they force me to install this on MY computer  (instead of traditional copy protection) after they have my money?]

HL2 vs Principles.   Decisions.  I'm as pissed right now as I was when Blizzard was spying on people with Starcraft (no other word for it, people).

I have to leave, because right now, I want to kill someone.  I'm not joking.  I've been reading 1984 again lately, and seeing some people say "I don't mind!" just angers me all that much more.  Privacy is a RIGHT, and every year, motherfuckers try to take more of it away from us, and the most idiotic segment of our population says, "I'm fine with that."

edit - Oh, and if some of Ashcroft's jack-booted thugs are reading this right now. I, erm, I'm just joking.  Really Honest. :?

[SpaceLord]

I think Big Jake needs a Ritalin.  :wink: It won't have StarForce, yay.

[AttAdude]

Yeah well while he might be a bit "excited" he is 100% right.  Its just a shame more people dont realize thier privacy and other rights are slipping away.

[gameoverman]

I won't be buying HL2 because of the Steam requirement. The only way I have to vote on something like this is with my money, so that's how it has to be.

There is no way I spend money on a single player game that requires me to register it online, just no way.

I'm not interested in telling people what to do, but you people who buy this game, consider the precedent you are setting by supporting this.

[Jumangi]

The precedent was set several years ago with WindowsXP, and the world survived.

[gameoverman]

This is a GAME we're talking about.

[jessie]

Steam is a great concept, in my opinion.  I've heard bad things about their execution, but I haven't run into any of it.  It's always worked like a charm for me.

Yes, it's a game, but it's also a huge investment for Valve.  They see Steam as a way to protect this investment and I applaud them for it.

[Big Jake]

Ok, I've calmed down.  A little.  (and I apologize to anyone for the crack about "idiotic segment of our poloulation")

That's just it, gameoverman, it isn't 'just a GAME'.  It is the POLICY we are talking about.  If guys who want to play MP want someone monitoring* them, hey, that's their decision.  I don't.  But because they can get away with it, they will try and force it on everyone, including on me.  All evils start small and grow bigger.


* Oh, and for those of you who say I'm paranoid, and Steam won't be abused to invade customer's privacy:
1) Blizzard already did this (I must be the only one that remembers Starcraft)
2) Faceless Corporations have never used leverage to fuck with customers, right?

[Jumangi]

This is a GAME we're talking about.

So what. Like others said its still a multi-million dollar investment they are trying to protect.

[gameoverman]

They can do this for whatever reason they want, antipiracy or whatever, that's their right.

I'm just saying I won't pay for it, because that's a vote supporting this policy.  This is just an inconvenience to people who would buy this game.  The same way WinXp's activation didn't stop that, this won't stop HL2 pirates.

Multiplayer, I can understand, because an internet connection is intrinsic to that mode of gameplay. My 'gaming' computer is hooked to a router via a long cable(don't have wireless), so I have it unconnected if I'm not going to play online, to minimize wire clutter.  This means I'd have to plug it in just to install the game and play by myself, that's lame.

[Thin_J]

Just adding in that there is no evidence anywhere that Steam is spyware of any kind/shape/form.

If at some point evidence of this surfaces, my opinion will change and I will no longer support it. However, until that happens I'm quite happy with Steam.