Originally posted by: Don_Vito
Originally posted by: nemesismk2
I just sent an email to ATI PR department asking a few questions about their Half Life 2 marketing. I doubt I will get a reply because I used words like dubious, marketing and scam in one sentence. I also asked them why their new video cards are technologically retarded compared to the advanced geforce 6800 range.
Did you also ask them when they stopped beating their wives?
Originally posted by: nemesismk2
No I forgot about that, I did however ask them why they beat so many cute seals to death.
Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
I keep getting the impression the nV fanboy label is being directed at me, if so care to find where I bash ATi? I have a 320m IGP notebook and 9800pro, I love it, I do not complain about the drivers. In fact I have stated that I didn't so much as follow the SOP for removal of Det's and install of Cat's and then Omegas yet my system has been flawless. Thogught I had a AA problem, it turned out I was a dumbass, I readily admit that too.Originally posted by: Dean
Originally posted by: superbooga
Originally posted by: Dean
The only people who have a right to be p*ssed off are the people with the vouchers. It seems the only ones truly upset are the ones that do not have the vouchers. Why is that?
Just read the forumplanet post I linked, it explains why ppl are pissed at Valve (and have a right to, I guess). A company should treat it's fanbase with a light a bit of integrity!
OK I can see why some people may be upset regarding Valve not keeping them updated. What i'm questioning is why there seems to be Nvidia fans trying to tie this in with ATI? Grabbing for straws anyone? Valve could have very well had full intentions of releasing the game when they first announced it but ran into road blocks.
There are people out there trying to turn this into some Valve+ATI conspiracy. Valve stated way back then that the NV30 class hardware ran Halflife 2 badly. That was the issue everyone seems to have a problem with but it was the truth. For all we know Valve could have used ATI for the extra developement money, who knows.
As to the complex conspiracy theories, I have done nothing of the sort. I have taken comments made by Gabe himself and shown a elementary "working" theory of why they would announce release dates they knew they couldn't meet. I believe ATi colluded in this because as that blurb at the Inq mentioned they sold a lot of cards because of that voucher due to many customers belief they would be playing HL2 *at least a demo* on that card in the fall of '03. Is it absolutely, positively, the only explanation? Certainly not, I however, am as entitled to voice my ruminations as you or anyone else here. That you do not agree is understandable and I will not for a moment infer you cannot be correct. My only criteria for excepting an explanation that is more innocuous is demonstrating that Gabe's comments were taken out of context, misquoted, ect. at that point I'd issue appologies to anyone offended by my accussations, retract them, and take my lumps for jumping on the lynch mob wagon. Until that time, should it come, I will continue to be vocal in my belief that underhanded tactics were used to drum up funding and that's something I feel merits some negative feedback :light:
Originally posted by: nemesismk2
All I really care about is DOOM III, that game is going to make everyone forget all about Half Li.. What was it called again?
ATI/Counter-Strike 2 Bundle? [May 10, 2004, 10:49 am EDT] - 21 Comments
Counter Strike 2 to be bundled with X800PRO-XT on the Inquirer (thanks Stoo) has more on their rumor of another ATI/Valve bundle deal, even as gamers with previous generation ATI cards wonder what video card they will be using when their Half-Life 2 bundle is eventually fulfilled. According to the report, this is a scenario that could possibly play itself out yet again: "For their side, ATI partners are not comfortable to go for one more bundle as there is still no game available. Summer could well mean the end of summer rather than the beginning and it will still take some time to finish Counter Strike 2. This might easily put ATI in a position where it has another card, the R480, before the piece of paper can be exchanged for the real thing."
This is the post from the PHL dude. Just in case Valve has any ideas like mentioned in the articles.Now that I'm leaving PlanetHalfLife and resigning as Site Director, I'd like to be a drama queen, burn a bridge or two, and possibly maybe explain a few things. I apologize in advance the incoherence of this babbling, but it's not like you're being forced to read this crap.
I started PHL in 1998, just after Half-Life hit store shelves. Half-Life: Day One absolutely blew me away. It was incredible. The full game was even better. I loved everything about Half-Life and I threw myself into the community. I made maps, I wrote horrible fan fiction (Walter's World), I spent hours playing HLDM (mostly on Gasworks). Half-Life is easily one of the best games of all-time (well, IMHO, at least) and nothing will ever change that.
I reluctantly left PHL in 1999 due to my increasing workload. During my first stint at PHL, I was mildly irked by things like the TFC delay, PowerPlay, and the confusion over TF2 (it's an expansion pack! Oh wait, it's not!), but these were just minor inconveniences and as whole I liked the way Valve did business. Their support of the mod community in those early days is the reason why Half-Life is still so popular today.
I quit GameSpy in 2000 and came back in mid-2002. When I took over PHL again, things had changed. Half-Life was clearly past its prime. Valve clearly wasn't the same company it once was.
In early April 2003, Half-Life 2 rumors started to leak out. Print magazines were given the exclusive on all Half-Life 2 information and online sites weren't allowed to post screenshots or previews until 5/8/03. I felt this was a pretty stupid thing to do -- forcing people to jump through hoops and hunt down low-quality, blurry magazine scans to get a glimpse of the sequel they've been waiting five years for -- but hey, that's just my opinion and I'm obviously biased about the viability of the print medium. Valve's doing essentially the same thing again this year; print mags saw HL2 awhile back and that information will start trickling out shortly.
I sat in on the first demonstration of HL2 at E3 2003 and was pretty damn impressed. When Gabe said that the game was coming out 9/30/03, I totally believed it. My interest in Half-Life had begun to wane, but that demo rekindled my interest in PHL in a huge way.
Two months later, things started to get complicated. In mid-July I heard from multiple reliable sources that Half-Life 2 wasn't going to make 9/30/03. Then I got hold of pretty conclusive evidence that Valve's Doug Lombardi had flat out told print magazines (off the record, of course) to plan on pushing their reviews of Half-Life 2 back to the Holiday issues. Then in late July, Vivendi announced that Half-Life 2 would be delayed to the holidays. Since I knew the delay was coming, I jumped right on this and confidently reported it as fact.
Unfortunately Valve -- for whatever reason -- refused to own up to the fact that Half-Life 2 was going to be delayed. Gabe made that ridiculous "First time I've heard about this" response, and other sites overreacted and assumed that this meant that Vivendi's announcement was a mistake. This situation was further complicated by Vivendi's backtracking: after Valve essentially refused to confirm the delay news, Vivendi was forced to (kind of) retract their original delay announcement. So tons of people incorrectly assumed this meant HL2 was still coming out on time.
At this point, I was stuck: I knew Half-Life 2 was going to be delayed, and instead of backing down and keeping my mouth shut, I kept (loudly) proclaiming that HL2 was going to miss 9/30 while other sites kept reporting the exact opposite, This was very frustrating, and if you were around during this period of time, you'll recall that I was acting like a real jerk. And to be fair to these other sites, they were being fed rather misleading information.
Most of the above stuff I already talked about in this editorial from September, but there's one key piece of information I left out: In August, I made a mistake. I was recruited to work on Prima's Half-Life 2 Behind the Scenes book and signed an NDA. Now I was privy to all sorts of Half-Life 2 information and quickly became 100% sure the game was going to slip, but thanks to the NDA, I couldn't say a damn thing about any of it. This was INCREDIBLY frustrating. I haven't even mentioned I was (emphasis on was) working on the book until now, and even then I only mention it because word leaked out on some other forums recently and there's no point in denying it.
In late August at ECTS, Valve's Doug Lombardi and Greg Coomer were both quoted as saying that the 9/30 release date was still happening. Lombardi told a co-worker of mine, to his face, that the game was still coming out September 30th worldwide. Some would call this marketing, but I'd call it lying.
I visited Valve in early September to conduct interviews for the Behind the Scenes book. It was quite a bit of fun, but I was a little disturbed by a few things. I won't get into the specifics, but information wasn't matching up. Things said during the E3 demo turned out to be either misleading or untrue, for example. I don't want to say exactly what kind of state the game was in when I was there, but you'll recall that when other fan sites visited Valve later that month (BEFORE the source code leak, even), they were unable to see the game. Now, if the game was in a playable state and supposedly ready to go gold within a couple of days, don't you think they would have shown it off?
Then the source code leak happened. I feel sorry for Valve that this happened because there's a possibility this could have a slightly negative on HL2 once it's finally released, but they really should have taken more precautions in the network security department. At first, Valve claimed that only 1/3rd of the source code was stolen, but once people compiled working versions of the game, well...
The Anonymous Leaker, despite being an asshole such as myself, was basically correct. HL2 wasn't nearly as far along as Valve was hinting at, and a lot of the things Valve showed in the E3 demo were misrepresented. Did he really release all the work Valve had done on HL2? To be honest, I don't know for sure. It's a possibility. Valve certainly made little effort to dispute his claims.
Valve didn't announce that Half-Life 2 would be delayed until 9/23. This, to me, was inexcusable. It takes ten minutes to send out an email.
OK, now you may be saying, "so what, why are you still crying about things that happened last year?" I think it's important to reiterate this story because it shows what kind of company Valve is. I don't feel they respect the community. If they did, they would have just confirmed Vivendi's delay announcement in July instead of stringing people along.
Where is Half-Life 2 now? Beats me. I haven't kept up with the past 5-6 months of development and E3 is coming up anyway, so you'll see for yourself. I do know that content has been cut from the game in an attempt to get it to ship sooner. Will it ship this year? I guess there's a 50/50 chance, but keep in mind that this is the same company that took three years to add bots to a mod they didn't even make and slap it in a box.
Now, I could go on and on, talking about Steam, all the screw-ups with Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (I mean, JESUS, how do you declare a game GOLD, say it's FINISHED, and then not ship it until NEARLY SIX MONTHS LATER?), how Valve has messed up their relationships with Ritual, Gearbox, Vivendi (do you think Vivendi is a big fan of Steam?), and ATI... I could point out all the things Valve said they'd do but didn't, like releasing the HL2 benchmark or the SDK. I could whine on and on about how maddening it is to get flooded by mails from people complaining about how people can't play Half-Life anymore thanks to Steam or how Valve's customer support is non-existent. But the bottom line is this: I am not a fan of Valve anymore. I don't believe a damn thing they say and I'm sick of their bullshit.
Valve needs to learn how to properly communicate with their online fan base and treat their fans with respect. That means not telling your fans 7 days before the ship date that HL2 is delayed. That means not giving out vague "oh HL2 will be released this summer and by the way we didn't say summer of what year and it's always summer somewhere in the world so who knows LOL we'll see!" answers to direct questions. That means not streaming a couple hundred megs of cache files to Steam user's hard drives without their permission or knowledge.
I feel most of the problems at Valve are due to the ineptitude of one individual in particular. I'm not going to name names, but you can probably guess who I'm talking about. This person is easily the worst person I've ever met during my time within the "video game industry," and that's saying a lot, considering that this business is filled with superstar jerkwads like... well... me. I don't feel that he does his job properly, and he isn't what I'd consider to be a decent, trustworthy, or moral human being.
Plus, Valve has gone over my head a couple of times and interfered (or attempted to interfere) with the content of this site, which I think is pretty sad. Forum posts of mine have been deleted on their orders and I've been forced to edit news posts because Valve didn't care for the information or opinions I was sharing. I'm sure they'll complain about this post and attempt to get it yanked, but I don't care.
Don't get me wrong, Valve has some of the most talented developers in the industry. Some really great people who I respect immensely work there. It's a shame that most of these guys have been working hard for years on projects that have yet to see the light of day. There are just a few bad apples spoiling the soup. Or something.
Oh man, this is possibly the most scary, convoluted thing I've ever written. ANYWAYS, it's obvious that I have no business running a site like PlanetHalfLife when it's obvious this crap has made me CRAZY INSANE, so it's time to give up my silly little crusade of constantly telling people that they're wrong and turn the site over to more professional management with a better attitude and perspective than myself. Jabberwocky will be taking over PHL and I'm sure you'll see plenty of other new faces on the site as well.
A few more things: First, I'd like to publicly apologize to Pratt for a comment I made in the forums which seemed to imply that he wasn't reporting news properly. I was wrong, and he has the right idea. Secondly, I'd like to thank the HL2.net forums for their... enthusiasm... and some of the most hilarious things I've ever read. I'll never forget that thread where somebody compared me to Hitler for saying that Half-Life 2 would be delayed last year. Lastly, I'd like to thank all the PHL readers who have put up with the peculiar brand of garbage I've been dishing out the past couple years and for suffering through those "funny" flash movies of mine.
Half-Life 2 will almost certainly be a great game once it's released and I can't wait to play it. Be patient, don't believe everything you read, think for yourself, and remember that history has a habit of repeating itself. Repeating itself. Repeating itself. THE END.
The two bold items here show twp things. That I'm right about the last minute delay - that it was one week before shipping. So close. and that Fat Gabe is an idiot.Valve needs to learn how to properly communicate with their online fan base and treat their fans with respect. That means not telling your fans 7 days before the ship date that HL2 is delayed. That means not giving out vague "oh HL2 will be released this summer and by the way we didn't say summer of what year and it's always summer somewhere in the world so who knows LOL we'll see!" answers to direct questions. That means not streaming a couple hundred megs of cache files to Steam user's hard drives without their permission or knowledge.
Just stop. Let that be your final post and everything will be fine.You know somethin ppl? If you don't like Gabe or HL2, be my guest and don't buy it.
So I'll say it again. You are insane if you believe Gabe is a loser. He's a perfectionist smart fvcker who cares for his company most of all, and quite frankly I'll give him the credit for that.
I HIGHLY ANTICIPATE HL2, even though I won't be able to play it so good, as I would if it was released in its programmed date. Guess what?
That's real life and if you are so ignorant and pissed and cannot accept it, you better start reconsidering your thoughts...
*I don't see Nvidia fanboyz talkin about the delay of DOOM3? What? They didn't give an official released date huh? Ohh plz give me a fvckin break here....
certainly does.LOL. Well, this puts the rest of your post into perspective...
But not 7 days before launch.I guess I can understand people's impatience with Valve, but I think it's important to keep in mind that the time since Sep 03 has been spent perfecting one of the most anticipated games in history. If they had rushed HL to market, it would have been a totally different experience than what we got (which was, IMO, perhaps the best single-player experience ever), because they scrapped a nearly-complete build of the game after feeling it was not up to their standards. I would rather they focus on quality, regardless of how long it takes, to ensure that HL2 can live up to its name.
I'm an ATI lover, but I can't exclude the option that ATI could have been involved in it.OK I can see why some people may be upset regarding Valve not keeping them updated. What i'm questioning is why there seems to be Nvidia fans trying to tie this in with ATI? Grabbing for straws anyone? Valve could have very well had full intentions of releasing the game when they first announced it but ran into road blocks.
There are people out there trying to turn this into some Valve+ATI conspiracy. Valve stated way back then that the NV30 class hardware ran Halflife 2 badly. That was the issue everyone seems to have a problem with but it was the truth. For all we know Valve could have used ATI for the extra developement money, who knows.
Well, Valve doesn't seem to think it's bad business.Anyone who thinks ATi knew that HL2 wasnt going to ship last year, is ignorant. Do you really think they would have put vouchers with their cards if they did? That would be bad buis.
I have no clue. To me there was a demo and then a delay and then another demo and then it was out just like that. What delay?Hey... how many times, and how long was Far Cry delayed from it's original release date?
Again, I cannot exclude the option I have stated above and I also think that video games should be discussed in Video. That's just me. I have always thought that and I have always posted my video game questions here.Actually that was not directed towards you at all. My issue is seeing this thread posted in the video forum and not in software.
The game was delayed so many times, I can't remember.A quick question on timing as well... Wasn't the voucher actually included with the XT's which came out in Oct 2003, after the Sept date was already missed? The voucher was intended for the Feb release of HL2 if I recall correctly. I could be wrong on this, though. Anyone have a better memory than me?
I'm sorry, but after this, can you honestly say that ATI was not included in the scandal. They're going at it again, stupid idiots. I guess they fear the Nvidia bundle that much.from Blue's comes word of another ati/valve bundle:
quote:
ATI/Counter-Strike 2 Bundle? [May 10, 2004, 10:49 am EDT] - 21 Comments
Counter Strike 2 to be bundled with X800PRO-XT on the Inquirer (thanks Stoo) has more on their rumor of another ATI/Valve bundle deal, even as gamers with previous generation ATI cards wonder what video card they will be using when their Half-Life 2 bundle is eventually fulfilled. According to the report, this is a scenario that could possibly play itself out yet again: "For their side, ATI partners are not comfortable to go for one more bundle as there is still no game available. Summer could well mean the end of summer rather than the beginning and it will still take some time to finish Counter Strike 2. This might easily put ATI in a position where it has another card, the R480, before the piece of paper can be exchanged for the real thing."
The 6800 range supports SM3.0 and the X800 range only supports SM2.0 so technologically the 6800 is more advanced. You did know that right and your not clueless are you?
Originally posted by: VIAN
I'm sorry, but after this, can you honestly say that ATI was not included in the scandal. They're going at it again, stupid idiots. I guess they fear the Nvidia bundle that much.
Um, not according to this guy... Fragmaster says goodbye to Planet Half-Life From that article... "I do know that content has been cut from the game in an attempt to get it to ship sooner."Originally posted by: Blastman
Gosh ?VIAN ..cry me a river. Do you even have a HL2 voucher?
I?ve got a HL2 voucher with my 9600XT and while its been a bit of a wait it really doesn?t bother me. It was a bonus for me because I was going to get a 9600XT anyway -- as is the case I suspect for most people that bought an ATI card with the HL2 voucher.
It seems Valve wants to add more content to the game to make it better -- so by waiting we will get a better product in the end anyways...
Originally posted by: Robor
Um, not according to this guy... Fragmaster says goodbye to Planet Half-Life From that article... "I do know that content has been cut from the game in an attempt to get it to ship sooner."
The fact he states he thinks the game will be great, and honestly admits he is crazy insane about this topic is what makes him believable to me. He doesn't attempt to paint himself in a better light, but he does provide insider information that is condeming to Valve and that carries weight with some of us here, even if not with you I agree the "ATi is acting out of fear of any nVidia bundle" is very wild speculation but the cloak and dagger stuff has been going on as I pointed out so it's not difficult for me to believe this is more of it. Enron, WorldCom, Haliburton, Martha Stewart's recent troubles, the old Micheal Milkin junk bond scandal, the list goes on and on for precedent that when there is money to be made through less than ethical means, even the filthy rich are not above engaging in the pratice. You spin it any way you want Counselor, as will IOriginally posted by: Don_Vito
Originally posted by: Robor
Um, not according to this guy... Fragmaster says goodbye to Planet Half-Life From that article... "I do know that content has been cut from the game in an attempt to get it to ship sooner."
Again, I can't give great weight to anything that guy says - he sounds like he is one step away from a tinfoil beanie. You will note that he goes on to say that he expects the game to be fantastic, in any case.
It appears that the XT's with the voucher shipped in October, after the September delay. The only reason I bring this up is because it is actually possible that ATi and Valve had wanted to bundle an actual copy of HL2 with the XT's when they came out. If that was the case then a deal would have already been struck between Valve and ATi, so together, they did what they had to do: offer vouchers. The questions that still remain are if it was an honest mistake on Valve's part, and if not, was ATi privvy to the knowledge that the game was nowhere near completion? If the intention was to ship actual HL2 cd's with the XT's, it would seem to indicate that ATi was unaware of the state of HL2. Also, I would imagine that with the enormous pressure on video chipset manufacturers, ATi can probably not even fathom a delay as long as the one on HL2. To them, "we're a behind", means weeks, not months or years. Either ATi or nVidia would be out of business if they ever delayed as long as Valve.Originally posted by: VIAN
The game was delayed so many times, I can't remember.A quick question on timing as well... Wasn't the voucher actually included with the XT's which came out in Oct 2003, after the Sept date was already missed? The voucher was intended for the Feb release of HL2 if I recall correctly. I could be wrong on this, though. Anyone have a better memory than me?
I agree with most of what u have to say, except for the end part about doom3. Basically people's complaints revolve around the fact that the hype around HL2 made u think things that werent entirely true. I cant think of any other game that has ever done this by causing this much hype so far ahead of its release date. I find it a bit rediculous that he underestamated that much. Carmack on the other hand, has always kept saying "it will be out when its done" and OTHER people have speculated on its release date. Far less marketing and bashing from ID compared to Valve. So i guess im just saying that its how insistant and manipulative they were with their marketing strategy compared to ID's that turns me off.
ID hasnt even updated the Doom 3 website yet for launch, the doom 3 hype is created by the community, the HL2 hype is created by Gabe, and valve has missed 2 tentative release dates now.
LOL. Well, this puts the rest of your post into perspective...
also funny about the "demoralizing" loss of the code.. i can't imaging they were in great spirits to begin with considering how far they were behind on the project in the first place. while it may have made a minor contribution to the delay, i doubt it made THAT much difference - they were well behind already.
Just stop. Let that be your final post and everything will be fine.
I think he sounds more like a frustrated guy who put a lot into a product/company and in the end felt lied to and cheated by them. After all, what reason does he have to lie? It's not like he's going to get anything out of it. Seems to me he's just "spilling the beans". Put it this way, considering all I've read I believe Fragmaster a lot more than Gabe or anyone from Valve.Originally posted by: Don_VitoAgain, I can't give great weight to anything that guy says - he sounds like he is one step away from a tinfoil beanie. You will note that he goes on to say that he expects the game to be fantastic, in any case.
Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
and to sum up the arguments....
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
PS: To anyone who says only ATI owners with vouchers have a right to complain I say bullspit. Anyone who upgraded their computer (CPU, RAM, Video, HD) in anticipation of HL2 has just as much right to complain.
PSS: The worst thing about this whole situation is Valve trashed Nvidia for poor PS2 performance and pimped the new ATI line of cards using their "shaderday" HL2 benchmarks as proof. I wouldn't fault them for trashing Nvidia if HL2 was released on time and the new ATI cards were really that much better than the available Nvidia line. However, Valve knew damned well HL2 was no where near finished so those *beta* HL2 benchmarks were totally useless and they ran their story anyway. Why? To sell more HL2 vouchers and video cards for their bedpartner (ATI). If that's not underhanded I don't know what is.
And if you think I'm an Nvidiot trashing Valve and ATI, you're wrong. My main rig is running a 9800Pro (flashed) and I couldn't be happier with it.
Originally posted by: Killrose
Sounds like Valve was definately in denial over the readiness of HL2 and I would agree with people that anything Gabe say's about a release date should be taken with a grain of salt, or better yet, ignored completely.
Obviously if it was nearly ready, they could release it less a few troublesome parts of the game, and patch it later on. But evidently it is not even ready for that. That alone leads me to beleive they are really having big problems.
The HL2 benchmarks were right on. They showed the FX line to have weak shader performance compared to ATI?s R300 line. Exactly what Farcry showed too.Valve knew damned well HL2 was no where near finished so those *beta* HL2 benchmarks were totally useless and they ran their story anyway. ?
Originally posted by: ShinX
Hey , Gabe Newell is a fat baby. John Carmack is a 2 faced bastard as well , he promoted ATi cards because of thier D00M3 performance , now hes preaching that nvidia has the fastest cards around . what a nerdy queer.
PS: To anyone who says only ATI owners with vouchers have a right to complain I say bullspit. Anyone who upgraded their computer (CPU, RAM, Video, HD) in anticipation of HL2 has just as much right to complain.