Half-Life 2 is a great game, no doubt about that.  But Steam just about ruins it.  Steam tells you when you can play or not.  Steam will attach itself to your computer like a virus, update when it feels like it, and decide to crash when it feels like it.  All I'm trying to do is play the single player campaign for a game that I paid $55 bucks for.  But this is the 4th time this week that I'm unable to play, because the servers on Steam's side (nothing wrong with MY OWN COMPUTER) decided to choke and I can't play.  If all this sounds ridiculous, it is.  How they paired the greatest game with the worst idea ever to hit the gaming community, I don't know.  Their explanation:  Stop piracy? What, at the cost of "legitimate" customers like me that actually go out and buy the game?  Now more people who actually bought the game are looking for hacked version just so they can play the game they already paid for.  Sounds like a farce to me.  Do yourself a favor and boycott all Steam products lest it become a standard for the future gaming, which would be a total nightmare...
Half-Life 2 is a great game, no doubt about that. But Steam just about ruins it. Steam tells you when you can play or not. Steam will attach itself to your computer like a virus, update when it feels like it, and decide to crash when it feels like it. All I'm trying to do is play the single player campaign for a game that I paid $55 bucks for. But this is the 4th time this week that I'm unable to play, because the servers on Steam's side (nothing wrong with MY OWN COMPUTER) decided to choke and I can't play. If all this sounds ridiculous, it is. How they paired the greatest game with the worst idea ever to hit the gaming community, I don't know. Their explanation:  Stop piracy? What, at the cost of "legitimate" customers like me that actually go out and buy the game? Now more people who actually bought the game are looking for hacked version just so they can play the game they already paid for. Sounds like a farce to me. Do yourself a favor and boycott all Steam products lest it become a standard for the future gaming, which would be a total nightmare...