[Kahlan Amnell]

Valve and Vivendi Universal Games have finally reached a legal settlement of their differences, and as part of the agreement Vivendi will stop selling retail copies of Half Life games. A US federal lawsuit was originally lodged by Valve, but according to this agreement, “the parties have resolved their differences and the settlement provides for the dismissal of all claims and counterclaims”.

gamesradar reports: “Vivendi will cease distribution of retail packaged versions of Valve’s games from 31 August, opening the way for Valve to sell its games exclusively via its Steam download service. Games affected by the agreement include Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike Condition Zero and Counter-Strike Source.”

yes, this is at least two weeks old, but I just stumbled on it, didn't know if you all had read it.
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http://ctprofiles.net/799963

[Bright Red Nipples]

They are gonna lose a bundle
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God Bless You Blue Ruler

[John Doe]

I think Valve will just sell their stuff retail and Vivendi will be cut out of the picture.
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[Kahlan Amnell]

[powdermilkman]

yeah i can't imagine them not selling it through a retail chain. But the current trend is moving closer and closer to selling everything online. the new xbox and ps3 have hinted at buying games online.

Powder

[gindapoo]

You don't see it do you...

It is all one step closer to pay-to-play.

As every game distributor moves more to an online distribution method, the stage is set to force the gamer to pay to play their game of choice. HL3 could be "Here is the demo, which is level 1; now pay to download the next level" and so on. It is already moving that direction in other online market areas, and with the number of online gamers there is no doubt that the game makers want a piece of that action.

I hope that pay-to-play is not the case--but realistically, Steam could not have been more tailor-made for a pay-to-play system.
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where the name came from<---clicky

[Bright Red Nipples]

[Simpleman]

Yep me as well and seeing how good WoW did I see it even becoming more of a reality.
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<eVa>Simpleman-V$=<RIP>

[PolluX]

well..I've been afraid things were heading that way....I refuse to play pay-to-play games...it just violates my basic rules of gaming (I already paid for your game, I'm not going to pay to play it).

I'll just wind up in something like guild wars or Ragnarok Online (guild wars you just buy the game and RO you just pay to play [the game is free])...so we'll see what happens.

This is also one of the reasons I HATE programs like Steam...they never serve the end user (us) any purpose other than to enslave us to a proprietary system of some company....

bah...just bah.

[Mike]

i dont think valve would get that greedy to make it pay to play. I guess valve will publish hl2 for xbox by them selves or find a different publisher.
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R.I.P. Blue

[Bright Red Nipples]

The only way they would even be able to entice people to pay to play would be if they were to be the only ones providing servers. With regular people providing servers the idea would be laughed at and Valve would probably lose everything.
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God Bless You Blue Ruler

[SilverOne]

I see nothing wrong with pay to play if its worth it and the developer is adding content equal to the amount you are spending.

I've been playing pay to play online games since 1996 and except for the original half-life NO game bought at a store has come close to the hours and content these games have to offer. None.

There is a reason why you pay to play and the above is why.
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"STOP FLAPPIN' THE YAP AND WATCH THE LANGUAGE" ~Blue Ruler
"Silver is Cheezylicious" ~MErf

[Stevo]

[Kahlan Amnell]

[PolluX]