Valve locking out north Americans who bought international copies of the Orange Box.

[RandomFool]

Looks like valve is cracking down on people who tried to save a few bucks by buying form international retailers. I don't really have a problem with that mostly because it seems like people were trying to beat the system by going international.

I don't like them not allowing people who bought a legit copy after getting locked out to reactivate.

Link

 

[Anubis]

the fact that they pulled this BS in the first place is just more proof that Valve does not care at all about the people that play their games

 

[PingSpike]

Thats pretty lame.

 

[ayabe]

Lame. Why do we have to subsidize software? Same deal with Windows.

 

[Czar]

so, I bought through steam instead of going to my local retailer, could almost buy two orange boxes by doing that instead of going to my retailer, thanks to the crappy dollar

what will they do about that?

 

[jjones]

Oh well, I don't buy Valve or Steam games now, and I'll continue to not buy them. I was actually considering TF2 but not anymore. I stick to games that have a physical disc and don't require internet access just to install, let alone play.

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: jjones
Oh well, I don't buy Valve or Steam games now, and I'll continue to not buy them. I was actually considering TF2 but not anymore. I stick to games that have a physical disc and don't require internet access just to install, let alone play.

Well your list of available titles is going to shrink to zero in 2 years or less.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: jjones
Oh well, I don't buy Valve or Steam games now, and I'll continue to not buy them. I was actually considering TF2 but not anymore. I stick to games that have a physical disc and don't require internet access just to install, let alone play.

even if it wasn't through steam, tf2 is online only game anyway...

well, i guess you might be able to play via LAN, but still, there's no single player.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: jjones
Oh well, I don't buy Valve or Steam games now, and I'll continue to not buy them. I was actually considering TF2 but not anymore. I stick to games that have a physical disc and don't require internet access just to install, let alone play.

Well your list of available titles is going to shrink to zero in 2 years or less.

then i as well as jjones will have extra cash then

i never bought into the steam system, and never will, if thats how all PC games go in the future, i will never play a PC game again, simple as that,

 

[Modelworks]

I was going to purchase it now that there are some retailers with some pretty good prices, but not now.
I don't support companies that screw over paying customers.

Valve should have warned the people that they could not do this.
Maybe put up a policy that all games bought international in the future will be locked out.
But to do it without notice is wrong.

Valve will get nothing from me in the future unless they address this issue.
They can join EA on my do not buy list.

 

[Xavier434]

So let me make sure I am understanding this correctly because it feels like I am missing something. My take on this is that Valve wants to force people to buy their product close to home since the prices there are higher. Hence, more profit.

Is that the only reason?

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Xavier434
So let me make sure I am understanding this correctly because it feels like I am missing something. My take on this is that Valve wants to force people to buy their product close to home since the prices there are higher. Hence, more profit.

Is that the only reason?

sure looks that way

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: jjones
Oh well, I don't buy Valve or Steam games now, and I'll continue to not buy them. I was actually considering TF2 but not anymore. I stick to games that have a physical disc and don't require internet access just to install, let alone play.

Well your list of available titles is going to shrink to zero in 2 years or less.

then i as well as jjones will have extra cash then

i never bought into the steam system, and never will, if thats how all PC games go in the future, i will never play a PC game again, simple as that,

I'm just saying most of the major titles have some kind of phone home feature built in as part of their copy protection and it's not going away.

 

[RandomFool]

It probably has something to do with someone not getting paid when people buy internationally. Does EA handle the publishing everywhere or just NA?

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: jjones
Oh well, I don't buy Valve or Steam games now, and I'll continue to not buy them. I was actually considering TF2 but not anymore. I stick to games that have a physical disc and don't require internet access just to install, let alone play.

Well your list of available titles is going to shrink to zero in 2 years or less.

then i as well as jjones will have extra cash then

i never bought into the steam system, and never will, if thats how all PC games go in the future, i will never play a PC game again, simple as that,

I'm just saying most of the major titles have some kind of phone home feature built in as part of their copy protection and it's not going away.

HL2 and Ep2 are th eonly 2 single player games i know of that you cant play if you dont have an internet connection, which is total fucking BS

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: jjones
Oh well, I don't buy Valve or Steam games now, and I'll continue to not buy them. I was actually considering TF2 but not anymore. I stick to games that have a physical disc and don't require internet access just to install, let alone play.

Well your list of available titles is going to shrink to zero in 2 years or less.

then i as well as jjones will have extra cash then

i never bought into the steam system, and never will, if thats how all PC games go in the future, i will never play a PC game again, simple as that,

I'm just saying most of the major titles have some kind of phone home feature built in as part of their copy protection and it's not going away.

HL2 and Ep2 are th eonly 2 single player games i know of that you cant play if you dont have an internet connection, which is total fucking BS

complately wrong and untrue.
there is an option in steam to play offline.

 

[Slick5150]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: jjones
Oh well, I don't buy Valve or Steam games now, and I'll continue to not buy them. I was actually considering TF2 but not anymore. I stick to games that have a physical disc and don't require internet access just to install, let alone play.

Well your list of available titles is going to shrink to zero in 2 years or less.

then i as well as jjones will have extra cash then

i never bought into the steam system, and never will, if thats how all PC games go in the future, i will never play a PC game again, simple as that,

I'm just saying most of the major titles have some kind of phone home feature built in as part of their copy protection and it's not going away.

HL2 and Ep2 are th eonly 2 single player games i know of that you cant play if you dont have an internet connection, which is total fucking BS

complately wrong and untrue.
there is an option in steam to play offline.

Well, but you do have to go online at least once to activate the game via steam. But seriously, who exactly is playing games on a computer that's not connected to the internet? Nobody.

 

[Sniper82]

Nothing wrong with Steam at all. I been on it since 04 and never had a issue. Of course I never tried to save a buck by buying at other places. I am a poor man and still paid US retail price. Ppl just need to quit being cheap and pay up or wait for prices to drop.

Wondering does this lock include the ppl on hot deals forum that got it for like $15-20?

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

Originally posted by: Sniper82
Wondering does this lock include the ppl on hot deals forum that got it for like $15-20?

Yes, this is directly aimed at them. Glad I bought mine through Steam. Still, these types of business practices can't be condoned.

 

[Balt]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: jjones
Oh well, I don't buy Valve or Steam games now, and I'll continue to not buy them. I was actually considering TF2 but not anymore. I stick to games that have a physical disc and don't require internet access just to install, let alone play.

Well your list of available titles is going to shrink to zero in 2 years or less.

then i as well as jjones will have extra cash then

i never bought into the steam system, and never will, if thats how all PC games go in the future, i will never play a PC game again, simple as that,

I'm just saying most of the major titles have some kind of phone home feature built in as part of their copy protection and it's not going away.

HL2 and Ep2 are th eonly 2 single player games i know of that you cant play if you dont have an internet connection, which is total fucking BS

Honestly I find online authentication to be much less of a hassle than having to constantly switch out CD's. I know there are no-cd cracks and virtual drives and the like, but I'd rather not have to deal with those either.

 

[Skacer]

I don't know enough about this to respond completely. But I wouldn't be surprised if they were legally obligated to do this.

 

[KeithTalent]

It is aimed at these people: http://forums.anandtech.com/me..._key=y&keyword1=orange

There is more to this, I guarantee it; probably some sort of licensing issue. There was something originally like this for LOTRO (not sure if it changed) where you could not play in the US if you purcahsed the EU version (and vice-versa).

KT

Edit: just let me say I think Valve obviously should have something in their EULA about this, but why the hell are you buying the game from Bangkok, I mean who does not think that is trouble waiting to happen?

 

[RandomFool]

Originally posted by: Skacer
I don't know enough about this to respond completely. But I wouldn't be surprised if they were legally obligated to do this.

That's what I'm thinking. Really EA (and/or whoever publishes the international versions) are the big loser(s). I'm sure Valve would prefer people buy from steam because they make more money that way but in theory Valve is making money either way. Even off the international versions although probably not quite as much.

 

[jjones]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: jjones
Oh well, I don't buy Valve or Steam games now, and I'll continue to not buy them. I was actually considering TF2 but not anymore. I stick to games that have a physical disc and don't require internet access just to install, let alone play.

even if it wasn't through steam, tf2 is online only game anyway...

well, i guess you might be able to play via LAN, but still, there's no single player.

I'm wasn't really referring to online gameplay, I mean just to install or run the game at all.

As for titles shrinking because of less availability on physical media, perhaps that may be the case. Pretty soon I won't have anything to play because it's either on steam, or some steam-like service, or it's got some repugnant DRM on the disc. Oh well, I guess my gaming days will be over and I'll go back to reading good books for entertainment. Or maybe I'll go back to getting games from sources that don't require putting up with this nonsense.

 

[Ichigo]

As some have mentioned here, Steam also acts as a no-CD/DVD check for every game attached to it that you buy. This is a pretty good thing, in my opinion.