That is definitely one way to discourage retailers from releasing a game early. Customer backlash is never a fun thing to deal with. Assuming this story is true, of course. I am not convinced, as ""pictures to prove it"" may also mean ""I can use Photoshop suckers!"".

I''m pulling for the pics to be real and for the game to be unlocked like tomorrow. That''d be awesome.

In some situations it can create an event, and even a frenzy. Midnight openings, for example, are great publicity and generate a perceived lack of product increasing instantaneous demand. When it''s something just within grasp, and yet unattainable it creates a sense of need for the product. In short, Halo 2 would likely not have sold as swiftly as it did unless it had this last momentum of enthusiasm.

And not just gamer enthusiasm, but general public enthusiasm, as well. Look at all the press Halo 2 got the other day. Who wants to take bets as to how little HL2 will sell in comparison, what with the zero publicity Vivendi has been putting out the last week or so?

I just bought the Silver dealie thingie via steam and it''s downloading now.

Just one o the many reasons I find the use of steam to be offensive to me as a consumer.

RE: The post at EA regarding the game''s sale from an EB here in Kentucky...

Honestly if it was me that had picked up the game and the fool had let me buy it, I wouldn''t take the game back. Nor would I probably feel all that bad about it. It''s not my fault he''s retarded. How do you work at an EB and not know when Half-Life 2 is supposed to release?

Not only that, but keeping the game and forcing EB to eat whatever penalty there is on breaking the street date would also cause valve to unlock the game early. I''d be the hero of HL2 players everywhere for at least five minutes. After that they''d start bitching that they don''t like the graphics or the multiplayer sucks. But for those 5 minutes...

Yeah, I think the whole ""early street date => open the floodgates!"" situation does not apply here. Sure, the game files might be on CD''s in someone''s house, but they''re also on thousands of hard drives. Valve finally put a line between the hard good and the license you actually purchased. Bravo to them for finding a way. This game won''t get released early unless they want it to be.

U2 said they''d release their new album on iTunes if it broke early on the net. It did, they didn''t. Money is good.

Because Valve is in a lawsuit with Sierra over HL and HL2, they have bad blood with the publisher, and they have specifically made it clear that if anywhere in the publishing chain there is a failure and the release date is broken, then they get to release it on Steam.

This is a developer taking on the ""evil publishing cartel"" and doing a not-too-shabby job of it, IMO.
It is _very_ important to Valve to be able to show that the publishing/distribution model is a)flawed and b)inefficient. Publishers hold developers to a very strict set of rules because of the money investment they make, and yet are unable to deliver on the promises they make in the contracts.

It is a big deal for Valve because of their investment in alternative distribution. And the fact that they want to license Steam to other developers.

Regarding Valve, Vivendi, and Steam:

Thanks to Steam, I purchased HL2 while not wearing pants.

Nuff said.

Please don''t.

FYI I checked this rumor out today. A friend of mine who works at Best Buy said they aren''t even getting their copies until Saturday and were told it has a strict street date. However I was at Target this morning doing some shopping (La Pucelle for 19.99!) and they had the HL2 strategy guide on the shelf but the electronics manager said they had been told to NOT sell it before the street date unless the got an official email saying they could. So that''s that. I don''t have the cash to buy it this weekend anyway!

Also DO NOT look at the strategy guide for HL2. I just opened it to one page to see what it looked like and of course there was a major plot point right there! It does look well done tho, but we all know that strategy guides are for losers...

I''d give it a week after retail hits. It seems there is always some kind of workaround.

CS Source has already been broken. You can DL it and play. I''m not willing to risk it with my account, but I know it has been done and works.

I disagree on both points. Steam is a great thing, overall. All updates are easy, the d/l rates are pretty good, and all my HL mods are integrated into the whole package seamlessly. I can decide to play Zombie Panic, Vanilla HL, Counterstrike, DoD, The Specialists, Action HL, or anything else through a common interface. Overall, its really well done.

As for the Warez puppies, I think it actually sells more copies.

My logic is something like this: 90% of games are crap. So you DL the files and a crap, test it out. You like it, you wait for a sale, pick it up. I think that is what at least a third of warez guys are doing.

Technically it''s stealing, but it''s a grey area, business wise, if it leads to a sale. Do you chase the pirates or not? Lot of money to spend to assert your rights, especially since the ISP''s are not there to recover from.

Maybe these ""l33t d000dz"" are actually 13 year olds with no money of their own, maybe not even able to legitimately purchase the copy due to ESRB restrictions. Industry is probably better off letting that slide to create a future client base than trying to chase down every warez crew.

Sooner or later, you start to realize that if you reall love gaming, you better pay for the privilege. There isn''t one legitimate Open Source game project to rival, say Doom 3. They won''t make themselves. Yet.

So they should make it easy to pirate instead? I don''t think so.

And consoles have been hacked as well. I can D/L just about any PS2 or Xbox game. Plus, there are Mame, ROMS, etc. for retired systems readily available.

I''d be heard pressed to call Steam spyware.