Valve release fake CD key, ban warez monkeys

[Bucket]

[serial number removed, for Great Justice - red. Mordeth] will get you banned from Steam forever.

Valve leaked this fake "infinite use" CD key onto warez sites and banned anyone attempting to use it from playing HL2 OR ANY GAME THAT USES STEAM.

No Counter-Strike for you! Gotta love it.

http://www.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=14

[gatewatcher]

who cares

[Fredrik]

The thing worth caring for is that Valve sucks.

[Melfice]

?TJL BDFW BFGV JVVB

(for the record that's the original Doom64 password to unlock the features menu, I still have it memorized after 5 years, heh)

[Disorder]

Fredrik said:

The thing worth caring for is that Valve sucks.

Yeah. I bought the game today. I'm happy with HL2 but I'm not at all happy with Steam. You have to be connected to the steam network all the time. It costs too much time. Very annoying.

[DoomDan]

Liam said:

gatewatcher, doomdan, if you don't care enough to make any kind of contribution to the discourse then don't bother. numbermind, please don't maker users guess at a thread's content.

OK

[Sephiroth]

Disorder said:

Yeah. I bought the game today. I'm happy with HL2 but I'm not at all happy with Steam. You have to be connected to the steam network all the time. It costs too much time. Very annoying.

yea i know. i dont think you can play the game if you have steam off or if you are not connected to the internet. i'll have to try and play it without my network connection.

if you do have to be connected then i do say "that's fucking bullshit!"

[Bloodshedder]

I believe Steam has an offline mode.

[Liam]

gatewatcher, doomdan, if you don't care enough to make any kind of contribution to the discourse then don't bother. numbermind, please don't maker users guess at a thread's content.

[Quast]

Oh whine, whine, whine...jesus...YOU CAN play HL2 without being online OR connected to steam

[Revenant100]

My friend doesn't have an internet connection right now, so is there a way to install the game without one?

[GooberMan]

Thanks to my severe case of "no net at home" I am experienced in getting offline mode working:

1) Take your computer to a net connection somewhere (a friend's house works) and install HL2 whilst connected to the net.
2) Don't log off Steam. Just exit Steam without logging off.
3) Restart computer without net access. Steam will ask you to start in offline mode.

Steam still blows big giant hairy elephant balls.

[Opulent]

Quast said:

Oh whine, whine, whine...jesus...YOU CAN play HL2 without being online OR connected to steam

unfortunately, you are completely wrong.

Steam sucks. it is all for Valve, nothing for the consumer.
Q: Is HL2 better than Doom3 for gameplay and eye candy?
A: Yeah, but Doom3 didn't make me bend over first before I could play it.
I'd rather kiss two ugly chicks than a guy and a pretty chick.

on top of that, I'm at a part of the game where I cannot continue. I will have to reload a savegame many maps back. Did they even playtest this?
in short, I regret buying the game.

[gatewatcher]

Liam said:

gatewatcher, doomdan, if you don't care enough to make any kind of contribution to the discourse then don't bother. numbermind, please don't maker users guess at a thread's content.

By saying who cares, I was simply implying that Steam is a pile of dogshit, and most people seem to agree.

[Arioch]

I much prefer running Steam to having shitty safedisc requiring me to have the CD in the drive before playing.

And HL2 kinda sucks for eye "candy".

[Amaster]

Arioch said:

I much prefer running Steam to having shitty safedisc requiring me to have the CD in the drive before playing.

Those of us who bought a copy on CD (as opposed to buying over steam) must still have the CD/DVD in the drive.

[Opulent]

Amaster said:

Those of us who bought a copy on CD (as opposed to buying over steam) must still have the CD/DVD in the drive.

yes, which is BS, because you have to authenticate with them already.
won't even let you play CSS or HLS without the CD.
Valve makes Microsoft look like your friend... with big boobs.

[S1lent]

Warez people and hackers should be shot. Then shot again.

[Arioch]

Amaster said:

Those of us who bought a copy on CD (as opposed to buying over steam) must still have the CD/DVD in the drive.

Not if you remove the cache and then allow Steam to redownload it for you.

A stupid workaround, but it's a workaround nonetheless.

[Snarboo]

S1lent said:

Warez people and hackers should be shot. Then shot again.

Companies that release Fake CD keys to warez sites knowing they can manipulate people and ban 20,000 accounts should be shot. Then shot again.

[GooberMan]

Snarboo said:

Companies that release Fake CD keys to warez sites knowing they can manipulate people and ban 20,000 accounts should be shot. Then shot again.

Sounds like double standards to me - you can rort the company that's trying to sell a legit product, but they can't rort you for not purchasing the legit product.

[gatewatcher]

People that bring up shooting people should be shot, erm, twice.

[Snarboo]

GooberMan said:

Sounds like double standards to me - you can rort the company that's trying to sell a legit product, but they can't rort you for not purchasing the legit product.

I have no problems with a company trying to stop warez, but that just seems low to me for a company to release a fake CD-key and then ban a few thousands accounts. I don't know I feel that way either. I wish I could explain it better.

gatewatcher said:

People that bring up shooting people should be shot, erm, twice.

Well...uh, I have mutant healing abilities, so I could easily just shrug off a bullet wound!

[Arioch]

gatewatcher said:

People that bring up shooting people should be shot, erm, twice.

Are you saying you should be shot 4 times?

[Arioch]

Snarboo said:

I have no problems with a company trying to stop warez, but that just seems low to me for a company to release a fake CD-key and then ban a few thousands accounts. I don't know I feel that way either. I wish I could explain it better.

So a company shouldn't be able to screw the people who're demonstrably and provably trying to screw them? And only in a way that makes immediate sense and is immensely relevant only to their own product?

[Bucket]

Yeah, Steam is bullshit, blah blah blah.

Broken down version: Valve screwed anybody who was poking around looking for an illegitimate way of obtaining HL2. Any person with sense would've bought the retail or Steam version and, if there were problems associated with installing or verification, would've known that finding a supposedly "cracked" key wasn't going to help matters. I'm sure that anyone who can provide proof that they BOUGHT THE GAME will have their account reactivated and Valve would do anything in its power to accomodate those people.

Otherwise, what the fuck are they going to do: demand a refund for a game they didn't pay for? Demand they be allowed to play the other games they may or may not have bought legitimately? They have about as much chance doing that as a junkie walking into a police station demanding they arrest the guy who stole his stash.

It's harsh, but they've got every right to protect their investment.

[Snarboo]

Arioch said:

So a company shouldn't be able to screw the people who're demonstrably and provably trying to screw them? And only in a way that makes immediate sense and is immensely relevant only to their own product?

Well, I guess that doesn't bother me since what they are doing is no different than a police sting. However, I remember reading on Adrenaline Vault that Valve denied the claims of releasing the fake key. I guess that's what bothered me.

[Arioch]

Snarboo said:

Well, I guess that doesn't bother me since what they are doing is no different than a police sting. However, I remember reading on Adrenaline Vault that Valve denied the claims of releasing the fake key. I guess that's what bothered me.

And maybe they didn't release it.

But it's gotta be fairly fucking obvious that there's 20000 Steam activation attempts for the same HL2 key from an improperly executed warez release.

[Snarboo]

Arioch said:

And maybe they didn't release it.

That's probably the case, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did, either. A few people who work at Valve used to work at Microsoft, after all. :P

[Ayu]

this is why you don't buy retail, you get it VIA Steam Download (a while back it was "preloading" on steam) so you don't have to bother with CD keys.