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Thursday 7 October 2004

Half Life 2 Steamy Suckzorz! [Slim]

OK, so I bought it...
Costs are right as listed today, but they add $10 tax for fuck knows what reason, we shouldn't pay any tax at all. Anyways, total cost was about £39, and as predicted the steam server was too busy to process...but it popped up and said fair cop guv, its our fault, so you can play it anyway!
Then the problems :)
You can only play CS:Source now, a game that I've pre loaded. But it's added some content tonight, so I'm now at about 97%, no worries, not far to go...
Execpt it also adds Day of Defeat: Source to your list of games. And it preloads it automatically despite the fact you can't play it yet, even though I'm set to 'do not update this game...'
The good news is it does seem to be leeching pretty fast, I'm up to 90% even after typing this bleat, so I'll be playing cs:source soon, woot!

21 comments:

  1. You're like one of those people who gives money to the roaming band of gypsy 'musicians' - thereby ensuring they come back for more. Down with Slim.

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  2. Why did it go from 97% to 90% while you wrote the blog?

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  3. Slim how can you lead the charge of the bleeeeat brigade on Eurogamer and then actually do it via Steam? Oh the shame, the total humiliating shame.....

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  4. You know I'm the first to say that steam sucks hot piss. However, the pre order and activation of cs:source worked almost flawlessly, I'm currently playing a game that I purchased after teh shops shut. Steams also been tidied up a shitload, the server browser's loverly.
    It is a shit idea steam, it wouldn't work for any game other than half life 2. But it has worked for me, even if it cost me a shitload :)
    p.s. CS:Source is basically CS with pretty maps. All the old vaves in there, playing chatau atm. Not stunning graphically, but a big improvement.

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  5. I Steamed too, Just couldn't be arsed to wait. Runs loverly. CS still at 60fps on me 9700 pro. Looks pretty & has retained the really positive feel about the old cs. (I never tried the source beta).

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  6. Yeah, it runs very nice indeed. There's some odness going on with collision detection though I think? Aztec is bloody good, the rest of the maps are just facelifts though.

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  7. Valve can't do maths and graphs. If you're gonna show a progress gauge at least GET IT FUCKING RIGHT:And what's with this bullshit about displaying throughput in kbps? And you can't pause either. Steam was coded by the work experience guy.

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  8. I think that's quite minor in the overall scheme of steam's suckiness.

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  9. Yes... like the fact that I've been charged Sales Tax despite selecting "United Kingdom" as my country. If Valve think HM C&E are expecting me to be charged VAT, they're wrong AFAICT...

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  10. Actually the charge is 17.5% so it looks like VAT to me. Of course there's no indication they are actually paying that to C&E...

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  11. Why Steam sucks #203: it doesn't think to pause leeching when you launch an online game. FFS.

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  12. That's Valve innit. The single most obvious feature that ought to be in Steam and it's like it never occured to them.

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  13. Really?
    Anyway, the big surprise from Steam is really a reversal of what Valve games I expected to like. Condition Zero is blinding, the AI is fab. It's not long but it's fun all the way through, it's a cracker of a little game. Who would have thunk it?
    Counter-Strike Source, on the other hand, is less good. The engine is fab. The atmosphere, bullet impacts and random things that float around all serve to bring the world to life. Excellent. Yet to start with the game was snailing on my rig and with a 3.4GHz P4 and X800XT, that's not right. Turns out it decided to automatically turn everything on and select 6X AA. I guess it was smart enough to work out what graphics card I have but not smart enough to work out the resolution (1600 x 1200).
    After I turned everything down the frame rate went up to huge amounts but the thing is, the game is still very imprecise. I can't quite explain it. It's like everything is on rails and runs faster than normal. I've had battles with people in the open where I've emptied a clip at them with the P90 and not hit them. That never would have happened on the old CS.
    I dunno, it just doesn't feel right. I don't feel in control. Maybe it's those years away that have done it but conversely I *did* feel in control when playing CS:CZ on the old engine.
    I don't think I'll be playing much of CS Source, not unless we get our own server and play it between ourselves. Getting repeatedly killed by some kiddie called (...((...|...))...) is just not really my idea of fun these days.

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  14. I know exactly what you mean about not being in control & the emptying clip scenario. The other thing is the console now gives damage stats & after one death I opened it up & saw that I'd taken 25 damage from someone in 0 hits! WTF is that about?
    I had a quick run around on DoD which was nice. Reminded me of CoD but faster paced (running subjectively seems 2x as fast) & more deaths. I think DoD shots are more lethal than CoD. Still prefer CoD tho.

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  15. DoD Steam isn't out yet is it? So what you're looking at there is the crusty old hl1 version? So, er, Why?

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  16. Despite bullets whup-whupping into the sand, and barrels being knocked over by flying bodies, there's something missing isn't there... nothing feels particularly tactile. I don't feel a part of the action. The lighting remains out-dated and this reflects badly (heh) on Source. I also find the weapons completely toy-like (the knife is an appalling realisation for a start).
    I tried a bit of CS:CZ last night. Not bad, it's just an utter mish-mash. Why did they reskin all the weapons? Why did they reskin all the maps? Pointless waste of devtime. The bots seem good, except when you call "Need Backup" and the two that have decided to camp Site A reply with "Negative" (!).
    Also, they tend to empty entire clips of 9mm from a USP at huge range trying to hit an enemy bot. They never hit once. And as soon as you die, you're chasecamming bots, and this is a big turn-off, and I've reached for "restart" a few times because of that.

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  17. Why? Well, steam downloaded it so I thought I'd have a look. It didn't entirely suck which means DoD Source is probably worth a look when it comes on line. But like I said, CoD is better.

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  18. I'm also puzzled why they redid half the sounds in CS Source and seemingly replaced them with shit ones. What's that about?
    Funny thing in CS:CZ though - they've got the same programmers to do the voices for the hostages with their gay little yank bedroom dwelling accents. Hilarious.

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  19. Good one. The chestnut for me is that CS:CZ has user-configurable packages in the buy menu, eg. you configure your "SMG package" to be MP5+kevlar+helmet+ammo+HE+FB and that's one click on the buy menu. Fully configurable, best thing evar! (caveat: implemented ugly and confusing the HL interface but still teh win)
    Along comes CS:S and they remove configurable buy packages! I'm spending ages in the buy menus and this blows. What is it, 5 years of playtesting to get us to this point?

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  20. Crumbs that hadn't even occured to me. You're right too. You can even prioritise what shit to buy if you don't have the cash. It's ace. I actually really enjoyed CS:CZ by the way. Although I tell you, playing it on Hard is impossible. It's making me use the fecking tactical shield to get four kills. I'm prepared to go in with a DE without the damn shield altogether and I'd have more chance. How pointless is that thing. Now I'm shielded but I can't see anything. Okay now I'm unshielded and ready to fire but half my screen is still covered...

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