HL2 hackers arrested... but who cares

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040611/ap_on_hi_te/game_code_theft

So they arrested the guys who stole the HL2 source code?  I don't think it was worth the bother.  What the heck could they possibly do with an alpha copy of the source?  It sure wasn't worth tax payer money.

anon
Monday, June 21, 2004

Trade secrets? I dont know really. Even the complete source wouldnt do much for anyone except other game studios. But what kind of game studio would dare to touch this? Besides, its probably cheaper to just license the bloody 3d engine, rather than try to reimplement it.

Eric Debois
Monday, June 21, 2004

Maybe because they committed a crime?

Caffeinated
Monday, June 21, 2004

"The stolen code was circulated over the Internet, although security experts said it could not actually be used to play the game. "

Guess again, Gabe.

Not me
Monday, June 21, 2004

Yeah obviously we shouldn't have gone after the people who did it.  After all what we really need is to give incentives to breaking into company networks and stealing proprietary information.  While we're at it, we should give rewards to people who release viruses too.

anon
Monday, June 21, 2004

"Authorities have arrested suspects in a case involving the theft of software blueprints for the hotly awaited action computer game 'Half-Life 2.'"

Theft? Since when was copying source code *theft*?

The Iron-Fisted Hot Dog and Pretzel Baron of Fulton County
Monday, June 21, 2004

In the U.S. it's considered theft of trade secrets.

It IS a big deal because they're banking on the multiplayer capability, for which you need a critical mass of players to attract other players (nobody wants to play with just 1 or 2 people at a time). But if the source code is freely available, everybody will assume everyone else has hacked copies and cheats, so won't buy it.

So it could cause considerable economic harm to them... which is the reason it's a big deal.

Game Programmer Bob
Monday, June 21, 2004

Given the amount of time people have waited for HL2 I think the "critical mass" have probably already wandered off elsewhere to have their fun.

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Good point!

RP
Tuesday, June 22, 2004

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