Valve Talks About HL2 Source Code Theft

18 Jul, 2004 at 11:34am ET Article published in Tech

One month after announcing the arrest of the hackers, who allegedly stole and published the source code of Half-Life 2, Valve founder Gabe Newell provided more details on how the thieves were tracked down.

In an interview published in UK newspaper The Guardian, Newell explained how hackers got access to the code and that the company tried several strategies to find the hackers from the time the software was stolen form Valve’s network in October 2003. “Once into our network, hacking tools were installed, and a custom source control client created to extract the Half-Life 2 code,” Newell said. With the publication of the software, he knew that “something was terribly wrong” with the company’s network.

If it weren’t for this we would possibly be playing the game already. Everyone should get their turn taking at lash at these people. -KF

Source: Tom’s

Comments

18 Jul 2004 ~ 12:31pm Enverex We all know they were scapegoats for a blatantly unfinished product...
18 Jul 2004 ~ 12:32pm Thrax The code stolen was the complete development code, and the game was 1/4th finished. Newell's a damn liar.
18 Jul 2004 ~ 6:39pm Ben Yeh cause we all trust a hackers word.

Shesh.
18 Jul 2004 ~ 8:29pm Camman Gotta agree with everyone else here, Valve wasn't close to release, if none of this happened we still wouldn't have HL2 in our hands right now and Valve would have a few more angry customers, the ones that are actually buying their BS about this theft having anything to do with the release date.
18 Jul 2004 ~ 10:09pm Unregistered How do you know valve wasn't close to release?

And the release added to the delay it did not cause it.
19 Jul 2004 ~ 6:56am Outcast-Jedi I seriously think that Valve will still delay the release date even if the codes are not stolen. Their ambitions for HL2 are too high... Seem that the game is never to be completed.
19 Jul 2004 ~ 9:59am keto You're thinking of the Duke Nukem ForNever Project I am guessing

Kidding, kidding
19 Jul 2004 ~ 10:02am Shorty Half-life Forever is about right.

Im so unconvinced it's untrue. This time last year, I saw a preview of this game and was bowled over. But in the interim, we have had FarCry and now Doom III just weeks away.

Too little, too late ...