Orange Box, Bioshock, Registration, etc

[EwJ]

With the Orange Box getting many positive reviews, I am thinking about purchasing it, but have heard there may be a bit of a 'hassle' installing these games.  Same for Bioshock.

Is there anyone with these games that can confirm/deny or shed some light on the requirements for installation such as on-line registration, the use of registry keys that collect personal information, the need for the cd/dvd to be in the drive in order to run the game, or any other requirements?

Or is it simply a matter of entering a serial number from the box or game manual on installing,then  running/playing the game.

I'm all for buying new games to try out, but am not for being treated like a criminal by the software companies i am supporting through the purchase.  One would think that if the software companies want happy, loyal, repeat customers, they would not require things that are intrusive to their customers privacy, or cause annoyance like limiting the number of installs on your pc, or require the cd to be in the drive, etc.
 After spending a relatively large sum of money for software, I have no qualms in circumventing things that collect personal information, or disabling things that are annoying like the requirement for the cd/dvd to be in the drive to run the game. It's just annoying that sometimes it has to be done.

So, the main question that I have is:  Does anyone here know if either of these games have any 'extra' requirements for installation (like on-line registration (how would that work for customers without an internet connection anyway), collection of personal information, or require the disc to be in the drive).  If they do, are there ways to circumvent these requirements for these games (no links please, just a yes or no for this stuff). I would just  like to know if I am going to have a hassles/inconveniences  before spending the hundred or two on new games.

Appreciate any info from those with these games.  Thanks.

[ahofle]

I feel the same way as you.  I was going to purchase Bioshock until I read about the ridiculous piracy protection they incorporated (and rumors of rootkits, etc).  You have a limited number of installs (used to be 3!) with the disc.  So if your computer crashes, or you upgrade to a new computer more than that you are the proud owner of a coaster.  I love anti-piracy software that encourages piracy! 
The Orange Box requires you to install Steam which is constantly wanting to connect online, check your keys, versions, popup stupid ads, track your playtime, and just generally make playing a simple game into a big network-enabled production.  I did end up buying this one because it was $25 on Black Friday and I wanted to be able to play TF2 online eventually.

I absolutely loathe software that installs unnecessary crap, tray icons, hidden services, etc so this trend lately of PC games requiring this crap is really irritating to me.

[EwJ]

Thank you for the first-hand info.  With that being the case with Bioshock, I'll hold off on that one - at least until they do something to rectify the situation.   They must be aware of how many customers they are losing (or at least really pissing off) and , like you said , only serving to encourage piracy.

With the Orange Box - if Steam is required to be installed, can it be uninstalled after installing the games?(or is it somehow part and parcel of the whole thing).  If not, can it be totally blocked with a firewall and still have the games install and function fully?  Or does it need to connect to activate or some such thing?

I couldn't agree more about the software that installs all kinds of unnecessary crap, services, etc.  Equally annoying is software that keeps trying to connect to the internet (which is most software these days).  At least there is some that give you option to disable this (although almost never selected by default upon installation).  A decent firewall is pretty much the #1 necessity for a pc these days.

[Sprucemoose]

I had steam installed on my PC for playing Half-Life episode 1.  It appears that steam and the software are "linked."  Once you start a title such as HL2 it automatically opens steam and checks for updates.  I don't think you can play the games without steam running.  I am not a big fan of the system they use, but I love HL so it was worth the annoyance.

If you are going to hold off on Bioshock you should check out Gears of War/PC...cool game.

[mybrainhurtz]

Just to give you guys another point of view...

I have Bioshock and actually purchased it on Steam. There are no keys to enter, no limits on number of installs, no protection to worry about, no cds to lose or get scratched. Just set Steam to autologin, and I can play any time. Once you have your game installed, you can have Steam run in "offline mode" so you can play your games when you aren't connected to the internet. You can even install it on multiple computers, all you have to do is login to Steam and you can play!

As for the Orange Box... I haven't had the chance to buy it for myself yet, but I have played Portal, and that game by itself is reason enough to get the Orange Box... go now... go get it!

[Howard_Casto]

Agreed... short of pleasuring some guy you should be willing to do ANYTHING to play portal!

(Insert cake joke here.)


The cake joke is a lie.

[ahofle]

Agreed... short of pleasuring some guy you should be willing to do ANYTHING to play portal!

Haha, that is true.  I can't remember the last time I've been wowed by a game like that.

[Space Fractal]

Even brought Bioshock trouch Steam, it still have the copy proctection used. On the steam shop page, wrote its Contains SecuROM copy control software. Installations limited to five PCs per license. I do remember they have created a tool to fix these uninstall issues that came with it. I do hear they remove that limit sooner or later.

For the Orange Box, I have no problemo with Steam at all. It works very well.

Portal is short and great and fun game... one of the best credits I ever seen and stil have that song in the heard.

[EwJ]

Thanks for all the info guys.
Is Portal available by itself sans Orange Box or Steam?

If not, and it really is as good as you guys say, perhaps i'll
make an exception for it and bend over, grease up and
accept all the Steam stuff installing, running in the background,
connecting and (insert deity here) knows what.

Other suggestions so far are Gears of War.  Any others?

[Howard_Casto]

AFAIK portal by itself is only available via download (through steam). 

In all honesty, the rest of the orange box, at least to me, is crap.  I know half-life  2 got all these awards and such, but to me it's just another fps.  Mind you it is a nice looking fps with a decent story and (gasp) a single player oriented one at that, but at this point fps to me are like iterations of sf2 were to me by the time the late 90's rolled along.  You've seen one you've seen em all.  Portal might run on the same engine, but the fpp (first person puzzle) is definately a unique and new genre with fun to be had for all.

[slycrel]

I'd say that portal is well worth your time, and it's worth putting up with steam if you dislike that kind of thing.

HL2:Ep 2 is closer to the calibre of HL1 than HL2 was I think.  The story is getting better, and expect the concepts explored in portal to show up in later half-life episodes.  They've already paved the way for this in the episode 2 story.

TF2 was very well done, but about 5 years too late.  It's simply an updated TFC.  Unfortunately I played TFC to death, so it was too close to the original for it to be exclusively fun for me and I didn't play it much.

I played the some of bioshock and unless you're a graphics whore, you're better off trying out system shock 2.  The story is similar and it's a better game IMO.

Best of luck in whatever you do.

[Pongo]

Sort of on topic,...


Does anyone know of a site that lists the type of protection used on games? I have been simply not buying anything, but I would like to be able to look up a game if I'm interested in it.

Don't like Steam at all, and have not purchased a bunch of games because of it. Same with Starforce.

[Sir Auros]

The easiest way to avoid the hassle of copy protection on PC games is to buy an Xbox 360 and the games you want. Most of the good stuff is on the 360, too. 

[Pongo]

The easiest way to avoid the hassle of copy protection on PC games is to buy an Xbox 360 and the games you want.

Yea, that's my current thing to do. Have not bought a PC game in ages due to all the copy protection crap. (And also the fact that my computer is getting a bit old.)

[EwJ]

Just checked the Steam site.
Portal is available by itself for $20.

It's also available in three different packages:
1) Orange Box $50
2) Source Premier Pack $80  -  (same stuff as Orange Box + Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source, Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, Half-Life Deathmatch: Source)
3)Valve Complete Pack $100 (same as previous + Counter-Strike, Team Fortress Classic, Day of Defeat, Deathmatch Classic, Opposing Force, Ricochet, Half-Life, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Half-Life: Blue Shift, Day of Defeat: Source)

Are any of these worth it?  So far, it seems as most here feel that the only really good one is Portal.

Btw, if your video card is a NVIDIA Geforce, Steam is offering an extended demo of Portal for free called Portal: First Slice:
http://www.steampowered.com/nvidia/

[AtomSmasher]

Are any of these worth it?  So far, it seems as most here feel that the only really good one is Portal.

If you like first person shooters, then the Orange Box is definately worth it.  You may want to check this thread out: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=72995.0

I wouldn't bother with the other packages available unless you really love multipler FPS games.  Most of the games in the other packs you can buy for a lot less if you can find them on cd since they came out a long time ago, but they're all pretty dated, so I wouldn't worry about it.

[crummy]

You need Steam running to play any of the Orange Box games - but once you're done playing you can quit Steam and it's not going to leave anything running in the background.

Honestly Orange Box is the best $50 you can spend on games right now. Ridiculous amount of excellent gaming to be had there.

[ark_ader]

What most game boxes do not tell you, for the most part, is the ability to play the game on Vista.  You get a game saying 2000/XP on the box so you think it will run in XP compatibility mode...WRONG!

Great! I buy the game try to install it and it goes dodo.  Take it back to the shop and they say no refund - opened software.  So make sure it will run in Vista before you buy it as I found out the hard way.

Oblivion, Far Cry (with patches), Orange Box, Bioshock Battlefield 1&2 works for me on Vista 32bit.

A good link: http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List#Games

For the most part I find that games like Bioshock just make me want to play another game after 15 minutes or so.  Call me soft or girly, I like violence in games but not morbid violence.  Bioshock is definately morbid.  I need the odd Counterstrike Source game or dig dug after playing it to pick up my sprirts.   

Whatever happened to the happy games?

Consoles are a definate way to go.

[Pongo]

Whatever happened to the happy games?

THIS!


that is all.