I think that if I buy something I should be able to have total possession of it. You guys don't care if it's still partially held by the seller. That's fine. We disagree at a fundamental level.

What is total possession, when any piece of software is just a series of bits stored in the appropriate order on some physical medium?

Anyway I'm certainly not going to stop playing games because of this. It's just pushing me more into console gaming.

...because there's no Digital Rights Management in console games, huh? 

I had questions, not opinions.


I dont suposed anybody knows how to crack my HL2 copy ? I looked around but all crack sites look like "fuck my computer up the ports" sites.

I think I've covered this repeatedly before, but I want to be able to play the game without internet access and I want to be able to install the game whenever I want to. I don't care about the one game per one machine limit. I only play the game on one machine at a time anyway, and I don't pirate games unless I absolutely can't buy them due to their not being published any more. I absolutely don't want to have to repeatedly go back to a vendor I rely upon to make the game work because game vendors fad away in time and, more importantly, cease support for products that are no longer profitable to them.

Total possession of a game for me would be the kind of ownership that allows me to operate independently from the vendor of whom I have no interest from the moment I leave his store. It's such a simple concept. That's the way the rest of every single purchase you ever make happens (except rentals which aren't really purchases). When you buy a car you never have to go back to the dealer. Ever. Even if they offer free upgrades. Even if they go out of business. The buyer is his own master in that scenario. The same thing happens with console gaming. I can only speak about Nintendo and PlayStation (since I'm anti-Xbox), but after you buy a game from the store shelf you can bring it home to your internet-free cave or highway underpass and you can play the game there. You never have to contact Nintendo or Sony, and if both Nintendo and Sony were to self-destruct, well you could still play the game anyway. That's total possession. With Steam you have a glorified rental system. The real issue is that they don't allow gamers to buy games any more - only parts of games. That's the definition of non-total possession to me.

Is that somewhat clearer?

>>The scenarios you guys are describing make it sound like PC games are out-of-the-box single player stand alone games,<<

But I only wanted it for the SP stand alone portion. I almost never play anything online.

But I only wanted it for the SP stand alone portion.

But I only wanted it for the SP stand alone portion.

I'd also be happy if they released two versions. An online version with paid subscriptions or whatever and an offline version capable of sole possession by the consumer. The online version may as well feature exclusive content and be obtainable only through DRM services. I just want sole possession of a single-player version.

I think I've covered this repeatedly before, but I want to be able to play the game without internet access and I want to be able to install the game whenever I want to.

...

after you buy a game from the store shelf you can bring it home to your internet-free cave or highway underpass and you can play the game there. You never have to contact Nintendo or Sony, and if both Nintendo and Sony were to self-destruct, well you could still play the game anyway.

Having to go online to use something you bought at a store is fucking bullshit. I haven't bothered hooking my PS3 up online yet, and I'm gonna be really pissed off if the impetus to finally get around to doing that is some bullshit thing like a new game won't play unless I download something.

Get ready for it.  System updates come out on a regular basis for the PS3.  Hell, you're probably well over a major version behind, at this point.
The PS3 was designed to be launched low and upgraded over time.  You should check out some of the wacky shit your system could do!

>>The scenarios you guys are describing make it sound like PC games are out-of-the-box single player stand alone games,<<

But I only wanted it for the SP stand alone portion. I almost never play anything online.

But whether you want it or not, it has a MP portion.  Hence the system.

Get ready for it.  System updates come out on a regular basis for the PS3.  Hell, you're probably well over a major version behind, at this point.
The PS3 was designed to be launched low and upgraded over time.  You should check out some of the wacky shit your system could do!

Somehow this bothers me less than if the only way you could play a game was if you hooked up to the internet and got permission from Papa Sony.
Are they charging for upgrades? Do you have to register and log into an account on their servers?
Or are these upgrades free for all?

No idea mate, I still haven't hooked the thing up!

I had questions, not opinions.


I dont suposed anybody knows how to crack my HL2 copy ? I looked around but all crack sites look like "fuck my computer up the ports" sites.

http://search.gamecopyworld.com:9999/data/gcw.shtml?search=half+life+2&sa=Search

Edit:  Actually http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_half-life_2.shtml this one, specifically, would probably be more helpful.

" Keep in mind that the files listed on this page do NOT circumvent the STEAM online activation/authentication! "

That answers that.

Thank you.

Oh shit, that's right.  I forgot what assholes they were with that.  Hmm.

Yeah, if I remember right you can play the game with a crack, but it'll crash halfway through or something.  I bought a copy so it wasn't a problem for me.

That's why I like consoles better.  I bought a cheap used copy of the Orange Box for the 360 and didn't have to worry about any of that shit.

~chuckle

I bought a copy too ! 2nd hand.

I blame the seller.

Are they charging for upgrades? Do you have to register and log into an account on their servers?
Or are these upgrades free for all?

free upgrades, no accounts required (except for the local, non-internet one which you create).

~chuckle

I bought a copy too ! 2nd hand.

I blame the seller.

You know, I bet if you called Valve tech support or something they would probably accomodate you, somehow.  But they'd probably make you mail your copy of the game in, though, dunno.

You need a receipt or some kinda peice of paper, i looked it up. You have to prove you are the original buyer.

You know what's fucked up.  I actually have a free copy of HL2 I can give away, because I purchased HL2 when it first came out and I purchased the Orange Box a year later to play TF2 so I have an extra copy (Steam gives you an extra copy to give away).

Joe if you want it you can have it (I've had this gift pass for over a year and a half and haven't used it so no one else is going to want it).  Just give me your email address and I can send you the Steam gift, you should be able to authenticate it and play it (it's full legit version of HL2).

sweet. you sure it don't void (date)

positive

check yo email

dude, its yahoo. fucking thing almost rapes me when something comes in.

The only console we have is a Wii and for everything else we use the good ol' PC. Currently I'm actually addicted to Okami. It's hard enough that I can work out what to do and feel good about myself but not so hard that I'm struggling all the time. And where I do struggle (usually in the fighting), I can call on help... Because I'm a cheater at heart.

I'll make you feel good, if you promise to struggle.

The only console we have is a Wii and for everything else we use the good ol' PC. Currently I'm actually addicted to Okami. It's hard enough that I can work out what to do and feel good about myself but not so hard that I'm struggling all the time. And where I do struggle (usually in the fighting), I can call on help... Because I'm a cheater at heart.

Okami is awesome. Well... I haven't yet played on the Wii but I loved it on the PS2. I rented and beat it like three times for that console.

My girl and I bought a Wii together, I let her keep at it her place the majority of the time cause I'm always gaming on my PC.

She really loves the Wii Zelda game and Okami both.

I think my favorite Wii game was Super Mario Galaxy.  It wasn't particularly hard or revolutionary, but it was mind-blowing the kind of stuff you can do with the gravity system and flying from planet to planet, etc.  It was fun.

Also Rock Band rules.  We don't have the parts now though because she didn't have room to haul it to the East Coast.

I think I've covered this repeatedly before, but I want to be able to play the game without internet access and I want to be able to install the game whenever I want to.

You can play without internet access. Well it worked with Audiosurf at the very least.

I don't know much about Audiosurf except for the game concept. If you can buy Audiosurf and install it on an internetless computer then that's great.
Unfortunately that's not possible with an annoyingly increasing number of games.

I don't know much about Audiosurf except for the game concept. If you can buy Audiosurf and install it on an internetless computer then that's great.
Unfortunately that's not possible with an annoyingly increasing number of games.

I doubt you can install it without internet. I was talking about playing it.