Argh, so many people keep spelling VALV[sup]E[/sup] with a lowercase E instead of a superscript E!!!
This article's claim could be parsed in different ways. It could be that by "isolated" they're referring to interactions; Chell never directly meets other humans, they are all just voices on speaker systems. Perhaps they don't deem the Half-Life series isolated in this way.
Of course, it could also mean the same thing people have been inferring, and honestly I wouldn't blame VALV[sup]E[/sup] for this. Portal 2 just came out, but already the game has been cracked, and the single player campaign can be pirated, played without Steam. Online modes, however, still need Steam for matchmaking, as well as to keep up with frequent server/client security updates, and they've no doubt noticed that multiplayer-centric games such as Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead are far less pirated simply because it's much more difficult to have any fun with a pirated copy.
By switching to developing games with a nonoptional multiplayer component, they would be improving the effectiveness of their DRM without having to change it, and it would not involve something so offensive as the DRM seen in other recent games. I doubt anyone really has a problem with an "always-online" form of antipiracy that's necessitated by the game design itself rather than a simple result of phoning home.
P.S. Thanks
This article's claim could be parsed in different ways. It could be that by "isolated" they're referring to interactions; Chell never directly meets other humans, they are all just voices on speaker systems. Perhaps they don't deem the Half-Life series isolated in this way.
Of course, it could also mean the same thing people have been inferring, and honestly I wouldn't blame VALV[sup]E[/sup] for this. Portal 2 just came out, but already the game has been cracked, and the single player campaign can be pirated, played without Steam. Online modes, however, still need Steam for matchmaking, as well as to keep up with frequent server/client security updates, and they've no doubt noticed that multiplayer-centric games such as Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead are far less pirated simply because it's much more difficult to have any fun with a pirated copy.
By switching to developing games with a nonoptional multiplayer component, they would be improving the effectiveness of their DRM without having to change it, and it would not involve something so offensive as the DRM seen in other recent games. I doubt anyone really has a problem with an "always-online" form of antipiracy that's necessitated by the game design itself rather than a simple result of phoning home.
P.S. Thanks
