An ignorant question about HL2 and Steam

[Papageno]

So I gather that even if I buy a physical copy of the game, I have to authenticate it online before playing the first time (please tell me it's just the first time). That's fine I guess, but please tell me that I'm not SOL and stuck with a coaster if Valve pulls its servers or goes out of business eventually.

[moss_icon]

i think you have to validate the game each time you install it, but if for some reason the official servers vanished i would expect that someone would come up with a patch that gets around it anyway.

[KingB]

No, you are not SOL. It takes a few days to finally authenticate but eventually you can play without being on the internet.

Before mine was "officially" authenticated I would get online and then right before the game was about to take off I would disconnect from the internet and play the game with no problem.

[Al]

Steam has been up for me since day one. I had two timeouts on the authorization servers on day one but other than that, I haven't had any issues. It won't take a couple of days to unlock; it shouldn't take longer than 15 minutes or so, depending on your CPU speed.

[Smoove_B]

Your concern isn't the only one about this.

Valve's response about Steam is pretty much, "we're not going anywhere" when people ask the same questions regarding the future.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

So I suppose there is no way to sell the game used or trade it without giving the recipient my Steam account?

[Rich in KCK]

When Sierra went belly up this year people who played Nascar2K3 worried about the same type of thing. You had to log into a Sierra server that would check your version of the game and your copy before letting you onto the MP server lists. Last time I checked that service was still up and running even after the company was gone, I can't remember who owned Sierra when they closed shop but they could be the ones keeping it up.

IMO by the time Valve closes shop and you have to worry about this, the game will be old news and if there is any nostalgic need to play it, I'm sure by then there will have long been a way around the STEAM aspect of the game.

[disarm]

So I suppose there is no way to sell the game used or trade it without giving the recipient my Steam account?

it's my understanding that this is true...so you might not want to make your Steam ID anything personal (your name?) if you might want to get rid of it later...

[dangerballs]

When Sierra went belly up this year people who played Nascar2K3 worried about the same type of thing. You had to log into a Sierra server that would check your version of the game and your copy before letting you onto the MP server lists. Last time I checked that service was still up and running even after the company was gone, I can't remember who owned Sierra when they closed shop but they could be the ones keeping it up.

IMO by the time Valve closes shop and you have to worry about this, the game will be old news and if there is any nostalgic need to play it, I'm sure by then there will have long been a way around the STEAM aspect of the game.

They are owned by Vivendi Universial, the same company that is publishing HL2.

[Windows95]

So I suppose there is no way to sell the game used or trade it without giving the recipient my Steam account?

it's my understanding that this is true...so you might not want to make your Steam ID anything personal (your name?) if you might want to get rid of it later...

Hmm, wonder what EB and other gameshops will do for trade ins? I guess they'll have to stop assuming they're even aware of this.

[Asharak]

So I gather that even if I buy a physical copy of the game, I have to authenticate it online before playing the first time (please tell me it's just the first time).

It is just the first time. There has been some initial confusion and server problems with getting those first-time registrations done properly, probably due to the massive number of early sales, but once you do succeed in getting the game properly registered you are perfectly able to play the game without ever going online - and consequently don't need to worry about Valve's servers going out of business.

- Ash