Half-Life 2 preload commenceith

[MikeMike]

so is there a way to preload w/o steam, or just to install steam so i can get this? i wanna see what type of speeds i can get from valve on my college connection.

MIKE

 

[purbeast0]

who cares about this game ... its going to be all hype, just as Doom 3 was, if it ever comes out.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

this reduces the stress on the servers when the game actually is released

 

[RaiderJ]

So as someone who will probably go out and buy a retail copy, does it make sense to do any preloading?

 

Originally posted by: RaiderJ
So as someone who will probably go out and buy a retail copy, does it make sense to do any preloading?

Not really. You can enter your CD key into Steam after you get it and always be able to play it, even if you lose the CDs.

 

[Kyteland]

Originally posted by: UglyCasanova

Originally posted by: Rent<BR>Well, the preload is done. Now "You have a locked copy of Half-Life 2 on your computer"<BR><BR>:frown:<BR><BR>Comon Valve, unlock it :|

<BR><BR>SO what is the point exactly?

The preload isn't a full copy of HL2. It is only those files that won't change between now and the release date. Artwork, maps, etc. Even is comeone cracked the encryption you wouldn't have a functioning game of HL2 to play. The executable is surely missing from the preload files.

The reason they have a preload is because a lot of people are wanting to download the game. If everyone had to wait until the release date to start downloading Valves networks would be so overloaded that nobody would be able to complete the download. If Valve can distribute all of the files that won't change between now and the release it greatly eases the load on their servers. On the day the game is released a whole lot of people will download a small file (50-100MB?) to complete their previous download instead of everyone trying to get 1GB+.

Or you could just go to the store and get the game on CD. Either way works.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0

Originally posted by: tRaptor<BR>

Originally posted by: UglyCasanova<BR>

Originally posted by: Rent<BR>Well, the preload is done. Now "You have a locked copy of Half-Life 2 on your computer"<BR><BR>:frown:<BR><BR>Comon Valve, unlock it :|

<BR><BR>SO what is the point exactly?

<BR><BR>So the second its released you can play. And cause as we get closer to the launch more and more people will want to get it.<BR><BR><BR>On a seide note, i think i read somehere what steam/valve has enough bandwidth to give HL2 to one person every second.

<BR><BR>That's not that fast...<BR>that's like one OC48... 3GB/s?

I read 6 people per second at 2 GB each, so 12 GB/s = 96 Gbit/s

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
this reduces the stress on the servers when the game actually is released

teh winn4r!

The hardcore fans are gonna get pissy if they have to wait to download it, so they are getting as many to get as much of it downloaded as possible.

Pretty good thinking when you think about it this way.

 

[xboxist]

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