Half-Life 2 is piracy savvy

[d_unbeliever]

Half-Life 2 is piracy savvy

The Rocking Modder

By Wil Harris: Friday 12 November 2004, 11:54
AS GAMERS all over the world wait eagerly for Half-Life 2 to hit both physical and electronic shelves, I've been quietly gathering info and evaluating Valve's plans to stop HL2 going the way of so many other new releases recently - sunk to the bottom of the sea by pirates.

Arrr, 'tis true, t' curse o' ye pirate has hit the two biggest blockbusters this month, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Halo 2. Both are console games that were on the net days before they were in the stores, and prompted a huge amount of download activity from popular sites. Companies were quick to wheel out standard PR quotes that piracy is bad for the industry, bad for gamers, blah blah blah...

And in truth, they're right, but probably not for the reasons they think. Piracy of big releases like the big three this month won't significantly impact on sales: we know that San Andreas shattered bean-counting records in the UK this month, and Halo 2 has done $125 million in its first day of release in the States. If anything, however, early piracy creates an undesirable lag between the haves and have-nots, which compounds the gap between disparate worldwide release dates.

The gap between those who have the game and those who don't have it yet is part of what drives people to pirate games. This week, Halo 2 was released two days earlier in the US than in the UK. With the worldwide community created by the net - indeed, by Microsoft's own Xbox Live - having a bunch of your friends play a game 2 days before you can is unacceptable to many. Companies don't appear to understand that staggered worldwide releases aren't conducive to their anti-piracy cause - either give gamers the game at the same time, or put up with the fact that people will get it elsewhere. Companies can't create the amount of hype that they do then expect gamers to sit back while other people play games they can't get their hands on yet.

Which is why Valve's anti-piracy plan is such genius. I mean, it's utter, simple, calculated, but undoubted genius. Valve decided that the best way to stop piracy was simply to give everyone in the world the game at the same time. Early code to journalists? Fat chance. If journalists wanted to play the game early for reviews, Valve flew them to their offices in Seattle so they didn't have to send out copies. Online media won't get copies until the day before release to prevent leakage. But - and this is the kicker - US, UK, Italy, China, France, Germany - they all get localised versions on the same day, Tuesday the 16th, next week.

Not only that, but to beat those tricksy retail staff that pinch from the stockroom when the game arrives, they have added in an online authorisation system which means that no-one can play the game until Valve has hit an online switch that says the time is right. Whilst reports have been showing up across the net of gamers having boxed copies in their hands, no-one can play them because Valve hasn't bodged the switch-on. Perfect.

If the games industry really wants to combat piracy, it should take a leaf out of Valve's book. Establish one worldwide release date, don't stagger for different territories. Keep a tight check on where you're sending code, and drop outdated CD copy protection technology as the only check on piracy - use an online 'switch' to activate copies of the game. Keep gamers happy by keeping them equal - isn't that just common sense? µ

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19642 <<<taken from this site

Half-Life 2 3 days more to go...

give me meaning to live three more days of my life

[Faustus]

The entire game is unplay able unless you have an internet connection to open it up over? Total BS.

[JohnnyCNote]

Maybe you can call in, like with MS....

[TurboRunner]

still total bs if they do that they would loose out on sales as anybody without a internet connection or dont feel like ringing up on the phone to get the access code will not buy it.

The only way they could do it is to have a hardcoded date&clock in the xbox's and ps2 consoles and on the game have a date set that if it has not reach 24th nov 2004 then do not run. that would prevent early releases until the modchippers make a chip to bypass the hardcoded clock.

just my opinion

dont like software with internet activation real annoying so i just move onto better software especially if you use it on a computer that doesnt have access to the net and you dont want it to have access.

[junkmalle]

still total bs if they do that they would loose out on sales as anybody without a internet connection or dont feel like ringing up on the phone to get the access code will not buy it.

No, most of them won't notice the small print about activation. They'll buy it, get home and realize they have to have activate it, get pissed, and then go ahead and activate it.

The only way they could do it is to have a hardcoded date&clock in the xbox's and ps2 consoles and on the game have a date set that if it has not reach 24th nov 2004 then do not run. that would prevent early releases until the modchippers make a chip to bypass the hardcoded clock.

You don't understand: Valve's servers won't activate anybody's game until the the specified date. It's the date on their servers that matters, not the date on your xbox.

[JohnnyCNote]

I seriously doubt this will prevent the vast majority of gamers who've been waiting years for this game from buying it....

[Faustus]

I seriously doubt this will prevent the vast majority of gamers who've been waiting years for this game from buying it....

Indeed, and if they do provide a number thats a different thing all together. I just have a problem with the assumption of an internet connection. For example I may have to spend a short time without one soon. What If I want to buy the game? Do I have to wait anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks to play it?

In short: without a manual way of activation its just a bad idea. Since we don't know for sure the jury is still out.

[JohnnyCNote]

I can't imagine they wouldn't offer an alternate way to activate the game, but we'll find out soon enough either way....

[TurboRunner]

What i meant was they could go the hardcoded clock in the xbox way instead of internet i didnt say they were going to do that.

I ussually read up on the games i buy which you should have found out if it requires activation before buying and if i brought the game and found out its got activation i would return the game.

Its a stupid idea if they dont want it released before the date then they shouldnt send it to the shops until the date of release.

Also not everyone has access to the net so they are still loosing out on those that dont have net access and also what does it mean on consoles
will it require activation everytime you run the games or does it save the info somewhere in the xbox like memcard and if you blank or put in a new memcard you would have to activate it.

also what in 5-10 years time they close the server that activates the game and you want to play the game still but it requires activation then you would be sh*t out of luck.

[Faustus]

Clock in the xbox isn't hard coded. It can be changed. Besides its a PC game, not XBOX.

[JohnnyCNote]

Is Illegal File Sharing Declining?

If you know where to look, you can find a wealth of content on BitTorrent, both legal and illicit. Legally shared content such as Linux distributions, game demos, and software patches represent a large and growing segment of BitTorrent traffic volumes. Illegal sharing includes movies, TV shows, and computer games. A buddy of mine invited me over about two weeks ago to play his French version of Halo 2 that another friend had picked up through BitTorrent—the game had been leaked on the Internet almost a month before its scheduled release. I didn’t decline his invitation to frag people, bien sur!

If there's a will there's a way....

[chas0039]

Maybe you can call in, like with MS....

Nope. Sorry.

[RottenFoxBreath]

i give it 24-48 hours after its released before its cracked.
as for why people keep going on abuot the french version of halo2 on the net for download,it seems that they overlooked the english,french and italian ones,not to mention the US version being available too.
piracy wont stop,valve wont stop it.
the harder they try,the more others will keep piracy going.
its just one of these things that would seem to be almost impossible to eradicate completly.the thirst for more and more games movies,etc.

[JohnnyCNote]

Maybe you can call in, like with MS....

Nope. Sorry.

Oh well. Their loss, I guess...

[MOVIEGEEK]

"If the games industry really wants to combat piracy, it should take a leaf out of Valve's book. Establish one worldwide release date, don't stagger for different territories. Keep a tight check on where you're sending code, and drop outdated CD copy protection technology as the only check on piracy - use an online 'switch' to activate copies of the game. Keep gamers happy by keeping them equal - isn't that just common sense? µ "

I hope the record and film industry is listening.