take a moment to visit PHL

it is rumored that the MP portion of HL2 may be "pay to play"

 

 

 not good

i doubt it, tho... only microsoft could do something like that.

Yah, only Bill gates would have the nads to charge you 200 dollars or more for software and then  charge another 35.00 for every 15 minutes on the phone for support.

If it is, then it's SP all the way baby

As the interview of Doug Lombardi mentions:

"Steam va intervenir constamment avec HL 2 : via Steam vous pourrez mettre ? jour votre jeu, acqu?rir de nouveaux mods (ces mods pourront ?tre payants ou gratuits)."

And my probably very mistaken translation:

"Steam will interact constantly with HL2: via Steam you will be able to upgrade the game, download the newest mods (which could be free or paid)"

So I deduce that some mods will be free and some others will be pay-per-play or something like that. Maybe you have to buy them 1 time and the play as long as you want.

If it is pay to play then maybe I'll play HL1 too.

I'm not interested in paying to play any game.  Including HL2.  If that is the case, and I doubt it is, i'll just be happy playing the SP.

I remember reading that mod makers could buy a liscense from Valve so that they could make money off their work. Valve is most likely NOT gonna make HLDM pay-to-play, but other "amuature" mod makes may have you pay to play. Though I'm sure most mod makers wont do that.

Er where do u see this info? And yes stupid ass 11 year olds who think they can make the most l337 mod ever will charge you for their s**t...We might see alot more Grandpa Geezers(or whatever his name was) in HL2...

I should point out, since many seem not to realize this, that to charge people for your mod/map/whatever you have to PAY VALVE for a license. Start-up fees basically. Quite honestly, I don't think we'll see all that many pay-for-play mods. Maybe a few rich people will buy a license planning to do something and then sleep on their project, or whatnot, but very few are gonna go this route I would think.

tbh, I cant see them charging anything. I think someones got mixed up with steam & being able to buy hl2 via steam etc.

yeh thats what I think korn.

Perhaps, but think about it from Vivendi's money grabbing point of view- just make a single penny/cent per hour of someone playing CS online and they're rolling in it... I think the 'pay for mods' comment refers to add-ons for the game, like Opposing Force or Gunman etc., I believe someone once said they were planning on porting over or continuing them...

Hmm, this could also mean they're secretly working on Half-Life the MMORPG!  Choose your race, Human, Zombie, Electro Alien, Things similar but not really to dogs, Small things crawling on floor.  Then you choose your class, for Human, Man in Hazard Suit, Creepy Gov't Agent, Old Bald Scientist, Security Guard, Black Ops marine, generic bystander.   For Zombie, Slow Moving Warrior, Scientist Converter.  For Electro Alien, Thing with one big Eye, Big Floaty Head thing that only comes to Earth when Class Man in Hazard Suit is guarding Class Old Bald Scientist trying to work big machine. For Thing similar but noreally to dogs, you have acid spitter, cute multi-eyed sonic boomer.  For Small things crawling on the floor, headcrabs that can later change to Class Slow Moving Warrior or Scientist Converter, Class A Snark with short lifespan and can only be hostile to all Human Race classes, then Class B as cute companion to Class Man in Hazard Suit that gets pissed at Man in Hazard Suit when he throws him out and there's nothing for him to do. 

Obviously there's still a great deal more of stuff to be put in, but I think that's what they've got down solid right now.  Yeah, HLMMORPG...

Thats the best game i have hurd all day.

Can someone give a link to phl were this info is at?

If multiplayer was pay-to-play, how will multiplayer mods work out? You'll obviously have to pay the fees if you simply want to develop one. That would be rather sinister of Valve. :smile:

I downloaded steam...it doesn't help at all. All it tells me is that I don't have the videos or mods. And doesn't help me in any way to actually get them. What a waste. Hopefully Valve still has enough control and brains to figure out what has worked so far...

Yeh I got steam and I couldn't find where to download anything but it downloaded over 3 gig's of worthless crap including cs1.6 which it wouldn't let me play

Sorry to revive a dead topic, but it seems there's some news...

HL2 can also be played on a monthly fee basis. More here

http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?news=1062612003-51322500

CS1.6 has been terrible for me...I join a server which should have 80 ping, but get there to find it's about 600 for everyone...this has happened 5 times for me, there must be something terribly wrong. (I can play 1.5 right after, and I get great pings still.)

So will the 1-player only version be super-cheap I'm hoping? Because if they are pulling this s**t, that's all I'm going to buy.

Suddenly HL2 is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth. It seems designed around exploiting the mod community to put more $$ in Valve's pockets. Basically what they will do is see what mods get popular, then BUY those mods from the makers and FORCE players to pay for the 'new betas' of them. Imagine if when CS and DoD went retail, you could no longer have downloaded them for free. That's the future of modding for Half-Life 2 as far as I can tell. Why should Valve make TF2 when they can have US make it, then sell it right back to us? It's all a scheme to let them milk HL2 for 5 years like they did HL1, all by exploiting (oh I mean 'supporting') the mod scene.

Better to get UT2k4 for multiplayer goodness. After all, they release lots of great bonus packs etc. and don't try to make you pay for the extra content. They just see it as supporting the product you already bought.

/me opens UnrealEd back up and gets to work

 

I suppose they expect us to use the collectors edition, SKU3, as they call it. But all the same, the idea really, really stinks.

I really don't like the way they are splitting the game up into an SP version and a both SP/MP version.  There's no straight MP version, which does tend to hint at a poor MP that  couldn't stand on its own.  And honestly, I feel they will continue to do damage to the mod community by buying extremely popular mods like they have been doing.  As the release draws closer, I am more and more worried about it.  Although, there was one good note, Xen will somehow be in the game, so it won't be a total bore.

I use to be excited about HL2, now im just worried.

1)Everyones got a wrong release date, but gabe say`s september 30th.

2)Will i have the right damn spec`s to run it?

3)Am i going to have to pay more for this st00pid s**t..

4)Am i going to get to the store, only to relize they dont have any MP versions left, only SP?!

I don't see much wrong with this multiple SKU idea, although I'm a bit concerned about them buying up all the good mods and making us pay to download them... but if it's a modular system like HL is, it shouldn't be too difficult to download all the files and get them working anyway :wink:

The Steam subscription idea seems quite complex, but if it offers value for money I might give it a try. The way I see it, it'll only work if the games/add-ons you download have to be played/paid for for so long before they are 'unlocked', otherwise someone could subscribe for a single month and download everything, so we'll have to see if it's cheaper to buy the game and seperate mods or to subscribe... Of course, if Valve go around buying all the good mods they'll piss everyone who's not on Seam off, but hopefully they'll stick to releasing Valve-made content like TF2 and purposely-commercial mods like Gunman.

I would dare say that simple economics state that Demand decreases, when price increases.

So to charge for HL2 mods out right (Bearing in mind the average age of a user) would slice a great big chunk of the market off immiediately (As many would be unable to pay, i.e Debit/credit cards, and many would be unwilling to pay)

Then you have the extra loss of Word of mouth marketing. People try the game, like it, find out you have to pay more on top and you lose credibility.

What is more likely, is they will offer premium services, what these I are I can't be sure, maybe specific servers with higher bandwidth and moderators, I don't know, never really played it online before. But a charge to play online at all seems to be marketing suicide and would force people to maybe be a little bit sneaky and do it illegally.

I still think Doom 3 = teh win!!1 :biggrin:

I think everybody and their mother is over-reacting.  Valve has supported its customer and mod community more than any other company out there.  I don't think their trying to screw us, or somehow squeeze money from the mod community. Their just experimenting with Steam and different purchase plans.  Lets give em a lil credit.

Hey you leave my mother outta this....I wouldn't want to start commenting on your "Secret" :wink:

Let's give them credit for being capitalist lackeys, not a chance. Money grabbing whores, if they intend to charge people (who are most likely already paying a fair whack for internet connections anyway) for gaming online, I hope people down their crowbars and jump ship to a different game - where the developers do it for the love, not the corporate purse. The whole thing stinks.

Jinx said:
Basically what they will do is see what mods get popular, then BUY those mods from the makers and FORCE players to pay for the 'new betas' of them. Imagine if when CS and DoD went retail, you could no longer have downloaded them for free.

Commie. Considering you've been using their technology for years to make your own works, you might at least thank them.

"OH JESUS, THEY'RE MAKING US PAY FULL PRICE TO BUY A GAME, AND ALLOWING LOWER-SCALE RETAILERS TO OFFER IT FOR A SMALLER PRICE?! CAPITALIST PIGS!"

Think about it. Right now Valve is owned by Sierra, which is owned by Vivendi. And remember that Sierra is in serious danger of getting canned by their superiors. And what's Sierra's best game in development? Half-Life 2. And Valve may have control of some details of it's release, but they are not the publishers.

But time will tell. I would really prefer it if everyone stuck with HL1, in any case.

 !LONG LIVE DOOM III!

runs into Valve headquarters and detonates bomb attached to himself

I'm sorry if I came off a bit harsh/negative about the whole thing. I'm still miffed about that crappy TF1.5 patch, and how Valve broke all the mods but their own that time. I just don't like how they've handled things. Or that they haven't themselves produced much of anything for 5 years. Feels like they've just been milking HL.

I guess we'll see how this HL2 SKU thing goes. It might well backfire on them, I wasn't expecting to see this much negativity here of all places lol. Wonder if I could get the subscription service for $10 for a month, play through HL2, then quit? That could actually be a good deal

cassius: capitalist pig! :biggrin:

Now I thought Gabe Newell said that the box would be available to buy at WalMart or Cosco...so does that mean if ya buy the box with SP and MP in it, you'll still have to pay to play online?

No, I don't think so. 

But, does that mean, later down the road, when a patch comes out, that folks who bought the box will need to pay for the patches?  Gawd, I hope not.

Jinx said:
 Or that they haven't themselves produced much of anything for 5 years. Feels like they've just been milking HL.

Holy christ all of you are acting off of whims and "hints." The fact is that there is no confirmed paying monthly. The fact is Valve is taking steps to try to experiment in other forms of payment for THEIR PRODUCT, that THEY spent FIVE years developing. Now I agree IF they decide to charge monthly, thats lame. But since there are no statements saying so, I choose to NOT over react at them, rather the community who isn't standing behind them for any particular reasons but their self indulgence. Do you all think they spend their lives making games for free? No it is a paying job, that they enjoy, but none the less a paying job. Stop whining and complaining about what MIGHT happen and start embracing what they have already done for us. You guys are worse than when girlfriends disect our ever word.

I think all people are saying is, if it does turn out to be pay to play, they wont be paying. We're not the ones starting our posts with "holy christ" :razz: Overreacting? Look at blaspheming Billy over there... :wink:

Gwil said:
 Overreacting? Look at blaspheming Billy over there... :wink:

i was tempted to point this out to (minus the billy part, /me no gets that reference), but figured i been at the center of to many misunderstandings in the past.. so far i am storm free in v4

It hasn't been that long Orph, you'll piss someone off by the end of the month at the latest, it's pre-destined.

Edge Damodred said:
It hasn't been that long Orph, you'll piss someone off by the end of the month at the latest, it's pre-destined.

you volunteering bud???   :smile:

besides, you sound as if i were pissed off free :razz:

Orpheus said:

Edge Damodred said:
It hasn't been that long Orph, you'll piss someone off by the end of the month at the latest, it's pre-destined.

you volunteering bud???   :smile:

besides, you sound as if i were pissed off free :razz:

You wanna make somethin' of it buddy?  Yeah, you've crossed the line, you and your drippy faucet and your army of smileys. I'm gonna whack your head into the next version of the SnarkPit!!  Don't talk back to me!

Hugs and Kisses,

Your weekly arch-nemesis, Edge Damodred :biggrin:

From PHL:

"No, you do not have to pay for Steam."

Cassius loves to bring good news, peace and love to the masses!

As for Orpheus... we'll find something to get you fired bud, don't you worry :biggrin:

Gwil said:
Cassius loves to bring good news, peace and love to the masses!

As for Orpheus... we'll find something to get you fired bud, don't you worry :biggrin:

look closely, see my hair moving?

that made no sense :razz:

BTW, its been ages since you and i differed opinion.. wanna go a few rounds :heee:

you pick the topic, but try to find one we are on opposite sides on.. should be tuff, since we agree far to often :razz:

 

From PHL:

[color=limegreen]That is correct, you'll have to have Steam installed to play the most current version of Half-Life. [/color]

This is getting worse and worse as it goes along :sad:

HalfLife=Steam, Steam=BroadBand, fraggard != Broadband. fraggard!=Halflife...?

Here here fraggard, I just dont have the money let alone the actual technology in this area to look at broadband seriously :sad: Nice one Valve, for trying to destroy some of your most dedicated fans...

as bad as it sounds, i had 56k for almost 3 years of my HL life, and honestly, it did not dampen my fun at all.. course you must understand, my online fragging was little more than 5 hours a week total, due to my headaches, but my main fun was mapping, not fragging.. so...

also, my 56k was unlimited access, so any file size that was resumable was no issue for me, i had successfully downloaded in excess of 300 meg files with no errors, and very damned few reconnects, due to a fabulous ISP..

anyways, even if i were on 56k again, i would still have few issues cause i plan on purchasing HL2 and exclusively mapping for it.. i could care less about online time.. save my visits to SP and PFL..

i do agree that valve seems to be complicating the issue abit much tho.. but seriously guys, games cannot hold back for 56k users indefinitely.. the map and texture downloads for HL2 are going to be forking huge.. get used to it.. :sad:

urgh, 56k must be good in america. here i get slow downloads, bad pings, 2hr cut off limits and a subscription fee which seems to be raised every other month. sorry, i just feel particuarly bitter when ive had it since i got a PC... like 4/5 years!

Gwil said:
urgh, 56k must be good in america. here i get slow downloads, bad pings, 2hr cut off limits and a subscription fee which seems to be raised every other month. sorry, i just feel particuarly bitter when ive had it since i got a PC... like 4/5 years!

i feel for'ya sir :sad:

my connections were consistently 4.8 to 5.2 or so.. and unlimited.. for 19 dollars a month.. otherwise, i would prolly feel as you do now..

 

Orpheus said:

Gwil said:
urgh, 56k must be good in america. here i get slow downloads, bad pings, 2hr cut off limits and a subscription fee which seems to be raised every other month. sorry, i just feel particuarly bitter when ive had it since i got a PC... like 4/5 years!

i feel for'ya sir :sad:

my connections were consistently 4.8 to 5.2 or so.. and unlimited.. for 19 dollars a month.. otherwise, i would prolly feel as you do now..

 

aye, its pretty terrible at times - does have its good patches though. one of the reasons i quit league play for TFC though, couldnt even keep up with div2/3 (used to be div1/premiership) because of lag issues :sad:

as i understand fraggards is even worse... poor guy!

Gwil are you on NTL if so thats the problem for the realybad pings cos I was on that and I had a ping average of around 1000-1500 and my mate who also had a 56k was on freeserve and he had a ping average of around 600