6 days...

[Pants]

What are HL2's spec. requirements?



(Still shocked that Doom 3 ran as well as it did on his machine.)

Looking at the box (yes, I snagged a copy today):
Minimum:
1.2 Ghz Processor
256 MB RAM
DirectX 7 level Graphics Card
Windows 2000/XP/Me/98
4.5 Gig of space on a HD
Internet Connection required

Recommended:
2.4 Ghz Processor
512 MB RAM
DirectX 9 level Graphics card
Internet Connection required

 

[EricNoah]

Bought it online via Steam. Eagerly awaiting deployment!

 

[EricNoah]

So ... anyone get to take a peek? I started the process of activating the game this morning but didn't actually get to play. And I'm stuck here at school until 8pm tonight... Urg. Me want shoot stuff!

 

[Pants]

Awesome game so far. I'm in Ravenholm and the creep-factor is really increasing (gahh, headcrabs *shoot shoot shoot* gaaaaah, really fast headcrabs *shoot shoot* noooo really fast headcrab-zombies... etc..). Also, the gravity gun is the coolest gun... ever. Pick up a sawblade with that thing and watch it cut some zombies in half.

 

[Viking Bastard]

Looking at the box (yes, I snagged a copy today):

It should run on my machine, then. Hmm, why is a internet connection a requirement?

EDIT: Is this somekinda lame copy-protection thingy? Shhs! Why bother?
Some geek's gonna crack it in a week, anyway.

 

[driver8]

It should run on my machine, then. Hmm, why is a internet connection a requirement?

EDIT: Is this somekinda lame copy-protection thingy? Shhs! Why bother?
Some geek's gonna crack it in a week, anyway.

Yep. An effort to reduce piracy- your game isnt complete until you get on Steam and unlock it. It also I think is an attempt to drive the consumer to an online, boxless method of game distribution, ie Steam.

I have mixed feelings myself. I understand protecting their rights, but its annoying having to wait 20 or so minutes on top of installation to get authenticated, and unlocked.

As it is now i think it raises issues about who actually owns a game. I like the box and physically owning the game.

But no rant for me.

Im amazed that HL2 runs so well on my machine. I have a Geforce 6800, but an older mobo with just 4x AGP support and a 2 GHz proccessor.(Im in the middle of an upgrade.) But the games looks great. I have a few sound issues..

but holy crap it looks amazing.

 

[Pants]

I have mixed feelings myself. I understand protecting their rights, but its annoying having to wait 20 or so minutes on top of installation to get authenticated, and unlocked.

I think it's a... questionable idea at best. Sure it makes copying games harder, but having to wait for authentication and unlocking the game is... really irritating. Also, going to a boxless method is a bad (IMO) idea. If your harddrive fries or gets formatted, you lose the game... unless you backed it up somehow. With a CD, at the very least you have a hard copy.

It should run on my machine, then.

It runs perfectly fine on my 1.9 ghz athlon and still looks bloody amazing at 800x600 resolution.

 

[Aesmael]

As it is now i think it raises issues about who actually owns a game. I like the box and physically owning the game.

If I understand it correctly (no guarantee that I do), you never owned the games you paid for. The software is just leased and the disk is the real packaging.
I'm curious whether companies would be within their rights to revoke your right to play the game as soon as you click 'I agree' but before you actually get to do anything with it.

 

[Viking Bastard]

But no rant for me.

What about borrowing the game? Or installing it on more than one machine?

Will there be problems?

 

[driver8]

If I understand it correctly (no guarantee that I do), you never owned the games you paid for. The software is just leased and the disk is the real packaging.
I'm curious whether companies would be within their rights to revoke your right to play the game as soon as you click 'I agree' but before you actually get to do anything with it.

This is true technically speaking in regards to doing things other than just playing the game.

But what about 2 years from now? Say I just discover the game. Not all companies are as successful as Valve; alot dont support games for years..how would I be able to play the game ( or replay an old favorite?)

OK heres my mini rant- Alot of entertainment companies want to protect their properties but it seems they go about it in odd ways.If the movie companies had had thier way in the infancy of DVDS, all DVDs would have been disposable, with limited viewings allowed.

Online, "ondemand", no box methods of distribution seem to give alot of the power to the game developers. If I pay for a game I want to own it, not just be given access to it.

Apart from the convenience of getting the game online, which is faster I suppose, what is the advantage? Valve eliminated the box, but the game wasnt apprecaibly cheaper.

So Im sceptical, maybe irrationally so.

But the game is great.