Well done Valve

[jcoquillon]

Three cheers for valve a company so out of touch with it's users that they may have just managed to alienate their entire fan base again.

We're all used to valve using us as it's beta testers to save money, it's a common practise that Microsoft seems to have brought into the market. But they've gone one step too far this time.

In the past they've been stupid enough to not consider ATI users play their games and after installing their latest patch at the time for a week or so all ATI users were kicked from servers for cheating until another patch was released. Surely at some point in any serious testing this would have been noticed??

No we come to Steam, an ingenious idea to amalgamate all the HL based games into one. A new unique ID system and automated updating. Sounds great in theory but in practise it's so full of holes it's scary it even got off the drawing board in it's current form let alone released globally!

Firstly as WONIDs are set to disappear every single server ban ever placed is null and void. Admins spend hours each day placing these bans and collecting evidence and for nothing every one of them is free again. Why not use STEAM to collect WONIDs to a DB so ban lists can be updated to the steam ID. It would require a bit more effort but in the long run be enormously useful.

Secondly they didn't realise the demand, it's been hyped for weeks if not months. HL based games make up a stupid proportion of online gamers of course demand will be huge. They should have the sense to realise that and make provision for it.

For 56k users it's a nightmare. The prospect of downloading a file almost 400megs in size to get it working is just not even worth considering. Sure it's doable, but it would take forever as we do like to be able to use our bandwidth for out own needs not to download needless updates on Valves whim. Steam also looks set to use some of our precious bandwidth, pings are all important and that could be the difference between us continuing to play and giving up.

We want to be able to DL updates at our own leisure not automate the whole system and be tied to it. We want a system that's thought out and tested before release not thrown into the river to see if it can swim and if it doesn't try fixing it, it's too late by then. This cache released by some kind soul actually came fro valve and it's their way of admitting defeat, they got it wrong and now are feeding us a Double-Decker Bus sized crumb to appease us. Is that really going to work?

Am i the only one that not only feels totally and utterly ignored but also insulted. Anyone else spot the forums went down as release time hit and the FAQ page is down as they don't appear to be able to give us any answers that won't get them lynched.

Am I the only one who feels this strongly about this total balls up? I'm at the point where 56k gaming seems to me to possibly be not just dieing out but in it's death throes and for many that means no gaming online as there isn't an alternative.

[bsodmike]

hear hear!...Valve you seriously need to stop and think. Now jump off a cliff!

[TeePee]

Actually, it's not all valves fault. remember they are an international company, and the majority of demand is in the US and the rest of europe, where everyone has broadband. It's not surprising that valve doesn't account for the minority of UK users still stuck on 56K. I think more blame lies with the infrastructure here in the UK, which leaves us so far behind the rest of the world.

[Shad]

Products like Steam will help with the take up of broadband in the UK and other countries. It's all about providing content and this is one of the best uses for broadband yet.

The British government and BT in particular are at fault for not spending money on our telecomunications infrastructure. Valve are not totally at blame here. I do think however that an alternative system should be offered...

[jcoquillon]

Originally posted by TeePee
Actually, it's not all valves fault. remember they are an international company, and the majority of demand is in the US and the rest of europe, where everyone has broadband. It's not surprising that valve doesn't account for the minority of UK users still stuck on 56K. I think more blame lies with the infrastructure here in the UK, which leaves us so far behind the rest of the world.

But as one of the biggest gaming markets isn't that short signted and ignorant? To just ignore a vast number of people like that is fundamentally flawed. Mnay european countries are avid gamers and have low BB useage. France and Spain fo example make up a huge number of gamers.

[Bindibadgi]

I dont know about steam, but the upcoming halflife 2 - valve has listened to more fan peeps than anyone i can remember, with benchmarking and engine design and gameplay. Im sorry to say but they are thinking of the future. 56k is on the virge of death sorry. Within the next 2 years more and more people will have broadband access. You cant really even game on 56k anymore - 200+ ping? Youve got to be a guru to work well on that.

Youve got to push forward to get anywhere otherwise we'd still be using 28.8 modems and P2 cpus.

I dont play on halflife 1 engine stuff anymore anyway cause the engine is so damn dated, so this steam stuff doesnt concern me sorry.

[Lowe]

Here here!

Not amused with Steam and I'm a broadband user! Steam sucks resources, bandwidth and what's more is less stable than the beta it replaced!

I had no issues whatsoever installing the beta and was actually looking forward to it. Bandwidth on Valves side seems to be pretty good with many people reporting decent (40kps+) downloads even at the peak point. But, they didn't have many slots open and the software itself is completely unreliable. I can't download any content from Steam itself. As soon as I try it just crashes. I've installed and uninstalled several times, even created new accounts. Still no joy.

I'm hoping the bundled 360meg download I'm getting will be more sucessful. I do feel for anyone not on a 512k+ connection though since this really is a bitter pill to swallow. Yes broadband is the way forward and Valve are pushing that, but unless Steam is a whole lot more solid and reliable people won't use it - simple as.

[Bindibadgi]

I dont get it - how exactly does steam work?

So basically you can ONLY download updates through steam? Not 3rd party? That indeed does suck major wang if that's right.

What about game demos in general though? They are a few hundred meg. Also how can you complain - you are getting it now for free, whereas previously youd have to shell out £10+ for the game. Next youll be complaining air doesnt smell nice enough. At least Valve are trying.

[Russ]

i just deleted it

[SilentDeath]

whereas previously youd have to shell out £10+ for the game. Next youll be complaining air doesnt smell nice enough. At least Valve are trying.

no, dont u still need a valid wonid? that will cost u £10 for a new one, which u then convert to steam.

[directhex]

okay.

you download the steam client, it updates itself if required, then lists the games available on steam. you click a game, it'll download everything needed to get the game going & launch it (then download levels as & when needed). end of. you don't need to have HL installed or even own it to play via steam. the idea is that future games will be distributed via steam for a lot less than in the shops since there's no middleman. patches are seamless as whenever you run the game, it'll authenticate your copy vs the valve copy & send you updated files if neccessary.

the problem (or one of them) is that they don;t have the bandwidth for a million CS players to update at the same time.

--jo

[Bindibadgi]

So y dont they release the patches as 3rd party and just do level updates thru steam?

[directhex]

it's supposed to mean they can do minute patches one at a time rather than big 40mb patches

--jo

[Theo]

Reminds me of when OSI patched in Renaissance to Ultima Online. Killed it, it did, killed it.

[Richie]

Originally posted by Bindibadgi
At least Valve are trying.

I agree !!!, Valve are VERY trying at this moment.


I have downloaded the big 360-odd MB download twice to get this working and the furthest I have ever got it "preparing to play counterstrike" where it then tells me its unavailable.


It then proceeds to crash (this is VALVE's fault so no use trying to blame ppl's connections for buggy-as-hell-software) and then when I try to log in again it says my account doesnt exist...... The same one I was just in.

[Nick]

Originally posted by directhex
okay.

you download the steam client, it updates itself if required, then lists the games available on steam. you click a game, it'll download everything needed to get the game going & launch it (then download levels as & when needed). end of..

the problem (or one of them) is that they don;t have the bandwidth for a million CS players to update at the same time.

--jo

Sounds exactly like the Ultima Online update system, after the initial install and connection UO spent a good wee while updating itself (as in go away and watch a movie, then come back later), but after the first update of all the patches it was hardly noticable that it was there.....

That said, I think that for Valve to do a 400meg update is ignoring those without a BB Phatpipe! Most peeps even have a 2hour cut off, so they are essentially stuffed! Valve SHOULD have broken this patch into chunks that could be reasonably downloaded...

ANd we AGAIN see the whole 'Ooh, we didnt realise how popular demand was going to be....' scenario. What utter cobblers!

These people KNOW how many games they've sold, they can easily get server logs to see how many people are playing their game or a derivative of it... the real answer is they are just being tight arses with the bandwidth. Anyone with half a brain would be able to figure out that they SHOULD fork out for massive bandwidth for the first coupla weeks of a release, then wind it down as fewer people need to patch..

Unfortunately, they KNOW that we will not stop playing but will patiently click refresh until we get the patch, or sit here and fume mildly while looking at a 0.5 kbps download rate.