Steam
Well, the first question is, how do you get you hands on a copy? I’m asking this because uniquely, Valve have released HL2 in several version which you can get in two ways. First, you can stroll into your local games shop, hand over your cash and walk out with either the bog standard HL2 and Counter Strike: Source on six CDs, or opt for the Collector’s Edition which gives you HL2, CS:S, and Half Life: Source all on DVD along with a book and a t-shirt.
Or, you can not move from your chair other than to grab your credit card, sign up to Steam, Valve’s online delivery system and download everything. Here you have even more choices, but without the pain of having to actually move outside and get fresh air in you. Steam: Bronze gives you HL2 and CS:S. Steam: Silver gets you those two, plus HL:S, Day of Defeat: Source and the entire of Valve’s back catalogue. Finally, Steam: Gold showers you with all of the above, plus a Prima game guide, posters, a cap, postcards and the soundtrack. All without having to move from your chair. As long as you have broadband, you’ll be laughing.
So what is this ‘Steam’ thing I’m talking about? In a nutshell, it’s a service provided by Valve which you use to buy your games and then download them to your PC. On top of that, it’s used to activate HL2, which should drastically cut down on piracy. To be perfectly honest, Steam is a new idea and has a few teething troubles. Like it or not, it’s the future of games retailing and with a bit of tweaking, it should be fairly hassle free for the majority of people using it.
Now, be warned, HL2 HAS to go online to be activated. So if you’ve bought a boxed copy from the shops, you need to have an internet connection to get the game running. Once you’ve done that you can play as much as you want without needing to hook up each time but the game won’t play until you connect to Steam to unlock it.