27 replies to this topic

[Noor]

I just read: "NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - When hackers broke into the computing system of Valve Software, they stole more than just the source code to Half-Life 2. They also stole enough game maps and other components to put together a playable build of the game. Today, five days after the first leak, they have released that build. "

Source



Hackers have leaked a playable version of Half-Life 2 onto the Internet.

[Noor]

Oh yah, for got to say... "the source code theft would result in a four month delay, pushing Half-Life 2 back to April 2004. " CNN/Money

:( :sigh:

[bladder]

OH TEH NOS!

This is Teh Horrible ™. Just the source code and valve could've pulled through, but THIS is just going to be really hard to recover from for valve. i wish I could do something, but I cant even help myself :eek:

[anubis]

what a kick in the balls...

i still can't get the idea out of my head that the nvidia hive minded mafia root of all evil has plotted this :)

but to be honest i think that this is the worst case of bad luck ever. some idiot figured that he/she could try to expoit valve over outlook and by accident found out that their all source code and game media is at their hands. storing the whole game on a computer that is so easy to access is more than naive though. you just don't do this when you play in the million dollars league.

[baldurk]

I'm most pissed off at the fact that I have to wait longer for HL2. With these dates, D3 will come out first :/.

[Noor]

Quote

With these dates, D3 will come out first :/.

I think that D3 is due out next year of the 2QR.

[Snape]

Well, I think we won't play HL2 until the following summer. At least I do not hope that now Valve starts postponing their dates like id does (Doom3 - release date: 2001 :wtf: ).

[davepermen]

we could download it and send money to valve and say look, just don't delay that shit, we want it now, we would even pay for it.

i actually thought it was a joke when i've seen the bittorrentfile around, and started downloading, expecting some gay porn or something.. now i see the news for the first time that its possibly something real i'm downloading.. nice, as it's 1.4gb, VERY BAD as its very bad for valve..

well anyways, it still looks like i want to buy it, and i don't think this demo will change my mind.. so, when ever valve spits it into our stores, i'll buy. who cares if i played it before i payed ? :D

but now, after 20h downloading, i don't think i need to stop..

i don't think they really delay it. well, i hope not. it wouldn't make the situation bether for them at all.. bether fill the market with legal, payable ones till christmas. it will be THE season for them to sell!

i wish valve all the best....

[davepermen]

anubis said:

i still can't get the idea out of my head that the nvidia hive minded mafia root of all evil has plotted this :)

hehe, yeah, it was nvidia, for sure! they are THE EVIL!

[lithander]

If HL2 is delayed 4 months, it's either the typical deadline-has-come-but-we-aren't-done problem or it's held back by the publisher! Vivendi is in the mood of selling stuff (look at the stock marget!) and a studio is selling better if it has a mega-seller on the stack! ;)

However, beeing hacked is embarassing for a company like valve. They are no garage-company, they play in the top league! Besides that I don't think the hack wont do much harm. Who could make use of having the code?
Crackers? The serial-stuff should be replaceable. The rest... well every Game's SP-mode is cracked. Who cares if the source is of any help here?
Cheaters? The code might be a good map to guide them but everything that's possible with this early-source also would have been without.
Competitors? They need a lot of time to analyze the code and use it to improve their own products. If HL2 is so close to release as Valve always says it will be sold much sooner than any competitors pruduct!
Licensees? Well the code doesn't help them if they don't have legaly licensed it because they won't be able to use it. So if the engine is as good as it seems they will still license it!

That's just my opionion/guess. Please correct me if I missed something!

-lith

[CyraX]

Leaking the source code will not allow a licensee to sell his game using the same engine. however a modified version of the source would entitle him to say that they have their own engine written.
Where did you get this stuff that nvidia is involved?? I dont know about it. I know of ATI leaking the demo of Doom3.
Souce code is gonna help ONLY the cheaters. But from what ppl have been telling me this seems to be a case of corporate espionage.

[anubis]

hey, the nvidia thing was a joke :)
modifying the code to an extent that it would not be recognizable would be difficult and it would involve a lot of work. and still it doubt that anybody would try to do it. imagine somehow this would find it's way to the net because somebody couldn't shut up. it would essentially mean that your company is doomed.

[davepermen]

it's not the problem of reusing the source, its the problem of finding inspirations..

just as everyone has yet written its own q3 map renderer, now everyone will write its own hl2 map renderer. but not only that, but you can get inspritations for one of the best ai-engines out, too, and all the invisible stuff.

its about NONproovabe that you used hl2source as an inspiration to your great a.i. simply NOT proovable. but you can, it's not THAT difficult..

same for all the other components of it..

[bladder]

am i the only one that dosnt give a rats ass about about when hl2 is going to be released?

[CyraX]

I dont know about others but for me leaking the source code would have serious implications to the company's revenues - in terms of the publishers screaming and yelling.
It however would be other wise - think of Q3 and Q2. There are so many groups and such stuffs that keep adding new ideas to the existing Quake engines. I believe that open sourcing hte game source code would only enable a better engine.
However in HL2's case it would not be good for the company - Why?
First any hacker who discoveres a bug in the HL2 engine cannot give the feeback to Valve.
Thus the whole point of having this leak is bad for Valve from all sides.
Valve sells their stuff - so if you write your own renderer - you are still not anywhere near Valve. You have to buy THEIR game for the art assets. That implies there are ppl who would buy their game. Of course there is other stuff - you can write your own renderer and also create your own assets (as in case of Q3/Q2)
I think it would be best if Valve open sources the code and gets developer feeback from all the ppl.

[johnnyv]

I don't care about the release date for hl2 either seeing that it won't be released for my os i will just hang out for doom3 and ut2004(for quite some time probably).
With the leak of the games media valve should definitely stick to their original schedule, delaying won't help them out, there game will just get older while they wait and people will be playing this leaked version.

[bladder]

yeah but it looks like a no win situation for valve now that the playable version is out. If they release now, then hacking hl2 will be extremely easy becuase the code would be the same. But if they release later, many people would have already played the leaked version by then...Once the leaked version gets on kazaa.......well, you know what happens then.

[baldurk]

Even though HL2 isn't coming out for any other OSs other than windows, I'll still be playing it.

Also, I wouldn't hold out hope that ut2004 will have linux support. ut2003 did, but u2 didn't :/.

[davepermen]

okay, that much about "playable"..

started, run, reported some funny errors, and closed after a while. the dude rotated around himself, was noncontrollable and shot around the whole time..

but yes, it works, and it looks great:D

was THAT worth the 1.4gb download? uhm, the 300mb of doom3 where more fun. i could at least PLAY the levels:D

anyways, it looks like a nice game from what i have seen, i can't wait for the real one..

funny sidenote, it reported one funny loading error: "displacement of the eye in ...somemonstername... not found"..

i don't want to see where the eye of that poor monster would have gotten placed to then.. hehe:D



simple said: don't download it, its not worth it. but it will be worth buying, for sure. at least THATs what i can see from that short buggy hack:D


but i have to ask myself.. that thing is unpacked 3.14gb of data, the source is 300mb or so.. how could valve NOT note that huge datatransfer? sorry.. but that is just stupid..


oh, and valve has not yet stated they delay it. only the publisher, but he, according to valve, talks out of his ass.

[UnknownStranger]

davepermen said:

started, run, reported some funny errors, and closed after a while. the dude rotated around himself, was noncontrollable and shot around the whole time..

Well, if I were you, I'd check the batch file I've executed, and then just change all given parameters, to stop hl2 from executing that script "turn-around"-script... :P