ATI's HL2 Promotion

smapdi · November 11th, 2004, 02:12 AM

I'm not sure how the mods will think about this but bare with me as I believe this is a legitimate question.

I bought an ATI A-I-W 9600 Pro many months back with the free HL2 coupon. Being the lazy person that I am I have never sent them the form to get the HL2 box sent to me when the game is released and have since missplaced my receipt for the A-I-W which means I can't prove to ATI that I bought the thing. I still have that scratch-off card that has a HL2 cd key on it and I know that I can get the game via Steam when it's released on Tuesday. I don't particularly like Steam and would rather have a CD backup that I could install if (well more like when) I redo and/or get a new PC. I was wondering wether the....ahem....downloadable version from a certain nova would work with my completely legit key.

Thanks for reading and please don't give me any of that "well it's not right to download the game" stuff as I have a legitimate, I guess you could call it "license" to have an external media copy of this game. You know, Fair Use and all that.

noony · November 11th, 2004, 02:21 AM

when you install steam, there is an option to *register a product i already own* you can use your cd key to preload HL2 as well as cs:source. once it's downloaded, you are able to back up the game files to a cd. just right click on the game and choose backup files. you lucky dog you, getting HL2 and cs:s for free!

smapdi · November 15th, 2004, 12:31 AM

Hmm, allright I guess I'll try doing the Steam thing. I just finished the preload and am eagerly awaiting the activation from Valve. Quick question tho, do I have to have the Steam client installed to play the game? I noticed that whenever I play CS: Source (which is just awesome, why did I wait so long to play it I don't know), it turns on the Steam client.

originel · November 15th, 2004, 12:41 AM

i know you have to start it from steam, and you have to register it through steam. btw, when you reinstall your computer you are allowed to redownload hl2. in fact you can download it as many times as you want to as many computers as you want, it just won't allow more than one person to use a steam account at a time.