Well, and don't hate me now, but steam seems to be working fine for me. I hav'nt bothered trying any of the mods, but playing HL and running my server seems fine. Sure got off to a buggy start though. As for valve alienating 56k'ers, I can't believe this is true. Gabe Newell has stated that the single player will most likely be shipped seperately through the larger retailers, (WalMart, Target, etc.) therefor you can just throw in the disc whenever you want. The option is there to download through steam, but why would any 56k owner do that when they can purchase it outright at the store?. There will also be a single/multi-player version at the retail level, but you will still need steam to access multiplayer. There will then be a super-uber version you can purchase via steam-download which allows for some as of yet unnamed extras and comes with a 10.95 monthly subscription fee. Using this will also get you TF2 when it comes out at no charge, unlimited updates and some other content I guess.

So my point is, Valve, while obviously waaaay behind in the steam readiness state is making corrections, albeit slowly, and 56k users will probably be phased out within a couple of years but not now(It's going to be inevitable that the technology will improve for everyone sooner or later.) You will be able to play HL2 on-line for free, but there will be no free add ons like TF2 and whatever else comes with that monthly fee.

? posted by KoRnFlakes

ROFL, man thats great

I made a comic, expressing my feelings...

http://www.snarkpit.com/pits/vash/steam.html

*cough*

holy shiet, and i thought people with 56k were in da stone-ages...damn dude, i feel for ya

kornflakes...thnx i needed that, funny shiet

? posted by KoRnFlakes

its so funny cause its true..