WON Authentication Ends July 31st

[Chris D]

We've just this second had news from Valve's director of marketing, Doug Lombardi.

Starting July 26th, the shutdown of the WON authentication servers will begin. This process will be completed on July 31st. This means players will no longer be able to access Internet features of Valve games, such as Counter-Strike 1.5, using the WON authentication servers. Users can continue using Valve games on the Steam service by downloading the Steam installer and setting up a Steam account. For more information visit www.steampowered.com. Counter-Strike 1.5 players will be upgraded to Counter-Strike 1.6 free of charge through Steam.

This has certainly been on the cards for a while now and we knew that it would happen at some point this month. I have heard mixed feelings about this from everyone. Some people are seriously going to resent having to upgrade to Steam but my personal opinion is that this is much more of a benefit than anything else. For those of you that still enjoy Counter-Strike 1.5 and do not want to play CS 1.6 then I am sure that somebody will release a third party version of CS 1.5 but having played both versions myself, I think you're better off with CS 1.6 anyway. Don't forget also, that with CS: Source just around the corner, you will essentially be playing CS 1.6 in a simply prettier package afterall, so it will probably be best to make the change now.

For those of you still with doubts about Steam, I wrote an article not so long ago about Steam which you can read here.

 

[Kangy]

Bah, WON should be kept going. For those who can't get broadband, this is a horrible blow. Also, I don't see why Valve can't just release 1.5 for Steam themselves.

 

[Chris D]

Bah, WON should be kept going. For those who can't get broadband, this is a horrible blow. Also, I don't see why Valve can't just release 1.5 for Steam themselves.

Steam works fine on dial-up. The only issue is with downloading new patches. It naturally takes a while and until you've updated you're unable to play the game.

Valve possibly will release it. I'll find out for you.

 

[Kangy]

:thumbs:

Thanks mate. The only problem I've found using Steam that really, really gets my goat as a DSL user is when Valve update the platform. Usually, this occurs straight after I get home, and I've often been unable to open Steam due to downtime while they add in all the changes. I don't mind being unable to play a multiplayer game, but being barred from single-player games too goes too far into the extremes.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

regardless of your connection you technically get the content slowly from anywhere, be that steam trickling it to you, or from fileplanet or some such site, I dont see why 56kers and and the like, see steam as the anti-christ of netplay.

steam is just a front end to your gaming, it has more stuff to fiddle with, runs better and is straight up cooler.
I never got the arguement of "steam sucks because if I format I have to redownload it all over again!!" when in reality regardless wether you were using steam or not you would have to redownload the content if you formatted (unless you were smart and burned it to cd, which you can do with steam caches anyway).

then again Steam did have a rocky start... but its pretty much rock solid now.

edit: Kangy, yes I agree, the whole "cant play single player" is pretty silly.

 

[Shuzer]

There's an offline mode for Steam now.. they do however, need to make it so you don't have to be physically offline to run it

 

[Yuri]

What about those with Dial-Up, or worse? I mean, I have cable now, but this would suck if i didn't. Steam just simply does not work with 56k, not just for me but many others that I know of. Meh, whatever.

 

[brink's]

Bah, WON should be kept going. For those who can't get broadband, this is a horrible blow. Also, I don't see why Valve can't just release 1.5 for Steam themselves.

In doing so valve would be admitting that they have made some mistakes with 1.6.

 

[Kangy]

In doing so valve would be admitting that they have made some mistakes with 1.6.

I think the 1000's still playing 1.5 pretty much covers that.

 

[[RDH]MastahFrag]

eer....right. not a bit of really HALF LIFE 2 news in it Whatsoever.
great. i keep checking this site for nothing. and when VALVE finally opens up its ISO-jail it doesn't have one friggin bit of useful information in it. on the contrary. bad news. for modem users. yup. doesn't bother me tho. even if i HAD modem-connection, i wouldn't play these OLD-FASHION games no more. get on with it VALVE, stop giving tours, cut the meddling with other companies, put CS:S on a hold and get Half-life 2 on shelves. when that is over, you can finally start dealing with business that isn't of my concern.

sheesh. Doom 3 has got to Mass-production now. i thought Valve could easily beat them to it. but they seem more busy...

for all i know, not at Half Life 2.

now is the time for YOUR moaning that im wrong.

 

[Phrozen Ice]

I am sure WON and steam both cost valve money so there is no reason that they should keep both going. At first steam was shitty but now its been improved a lot.

 

[brink's]

R.I.P. Won

 

[Some_God]

Won was cool... I went the the WON website once... it was cool.

 

[mashed]

1.6 is newbiefied....i'd rather stick with 1.5

the real issue is not steam vs. no steam the issue is 1.5 vs. 1.6. 1.6 is fulla random HS every 2 seconds, it takes less skill, the guns are for newbies, etc. I want CS to revert back to beta 1.0. when guns had recoil and when you were a woosie for using an awp. 1.6 anti cheat sucks as well. I can't say how many people i've seen haxoring on it. If i can't have 1.5 i just may quit this game till something else better comes along.

Please listen valve. Making the game easier to play/accessable is not the right answer. The right answer is making a game that challenges the player, creating one with depth, and not catering to the general masses. When 5 year olds are getting more frags than me because they simply hold down the trigger, the game is toast. this is close to where we are now. Skill is gone, its all about spray and pray, BS script monkeys and the awp.

This could be it for me and my CS relationship.

eatitPUNK

 

[tommie]

This is 2004, not 1995.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

well.. the pple who use WON have techically had since September 2003 to learn about and switch to Steam.. really theres no excuses now.. the only way pple don't know about Steam is if they are living under a rock or something... :|

 

[iamaelephant]

this marks the beginning of the end for dial up gaming.

 

[Yuri]

this marks the beginning of the end for dial up gaming.

Exactly. It isn't that people don't know about Steam, its that they can't use it.

 

[Kangy]

the real issue is not steam vs. no steam the issue is 1.5 vs. 1.6.

Ugh. Sorry, but this kinda comment is what makes me so resentful towards CS.

 

[Lobster]

Most games I play lose official support after 3 years at the most, and by 6 would have microscopic non existant communities, half-lifes is still hugely ahead of its nearest fps rival, instead of cutting support they are ensureing it survives even longer by providing ongoing incrimental support and upgrades.

I run steam via a 56k connection on my other system, inititaly the hardest part was getting all the content downloaded the first time, (a freshly installed and updated untampered with version of WON half-life with mods helps alot with the conversion process), once the initial setup is complete the updates download fairly quickly, (no worse than downloading them via filefront/planet whatever) and there alot smaller and spread out.

For those who really want CS 1.5 im pretty sure u can install it as a third party mod, there will be no support beyond the Half-Life engine updates, and network tweaks.

Isnt there a CS classic mod for steam?

 

[liminal]

I was under the impression that 1.5 and 1.3 are available now under Steam. I know they are not supported by Valve but you can install them into Steam.

http://www.steampowered.com/status/game_stats.html

This shows, at the moment, 34 1.5 servers and 5 1.3 servers. Will shutting down WON makes these unusable?

 

[Raptor6]

this marks the beginning of the end for dial up gaming.

Think about it people.

Back in won times, you had to download patches around 90mb and more at once to be able to play the game.

I think its better to download small patches from time to time.

 

[Chris D]

I was under the impression that 1.5 and 1.3 are available now under Steam. I know they are not supported by Valve but you can install them into Steam.

http://www.steampowered.com/status/game_stats.html

This shows, at the moment, 34 1.5 servers and 5 1.3 servers. Will shutting down WON makes these unusable?

Shutting down WON will not affect the third party releases of CS 1.5 and CS 1.3 on Steam.

I agree with Raptor6. In a lot of ways I see the advantage, even as a dial up user (at the moment), of using Steam over WON. I'm currently downloading the CZ update from last night. If this was a .exe patch then it's likely to take me a considerable amount longer than it is doing. The great thing about Steam is that it uses a distributed file system so it can just fill in and update the gaps rather than having to replace whole files.

 

[thefiznut]

I think it's funny all the die hard 1.5 CS players can't handle 1.6. It may be a tad easier to nail a headshot, but it still takes skill to excell in the game. Also, 56k works fine on Steam. You downloaded a 100 MB+ file to play CS 1.5 didn't you? Well how is that any different than downloading a Steam cache file?

Edit: Actually, my bad. Steam cache files are larger. 121 MB for CS 1.5, and the Counterstrike steam cache is somewhere around 250 MB. However, downloading HL and CS is cut considerably shorter if you convert your old HL and CS installs to Steam cache. It doesn't have to download as much. My point still remains.

 

[liminal]

Shutting down WON will not affect the third party releases of CS 1.5 and CS 1.3 on Steam.

I agree with Raptor6. In a lot of ways I see the advantage, even as a dial up user (at the moment), of using Steam over WON. I'm currently downloading the CZ update from last night. If this was a .exe patch then it's likely to take me a considerable amount longer than it is doing. The great thing about Steam is that it uses a distributed file system so it can just fill in and update the gaps rather than having to replace whole files.

I agree. I remember back in the "old days" when a new release of Counter-Strike meant trying to get your hands on the patch for a few days because all the download sites would be clogged. If you where lucky enough to get it sooner you still couldn't play because most of the servers hadn't updated yet. Steam has been great in expediting updates.

 

[Hallucinogen]

regardless of your connection you technically get the content slowly from anywhere, be that steam trickling it to you, or from fileplanet or some such site, I dont see why 56kers and and the like, see steam as the anti-christ of netplay.

What the hell are you talking about ?? I get stuff of the internet at 800KB/sec, if you think its slow you need to go check yourself.
Anyways, the bottom line is that Steam SUCKS and thats the fact, and valve will eventually fail because of it (I hope soon), and soon enough alot more people will get rid of CS and steam alltoegther, because vavle has no right to force you use their shat program if you dont want to, LEARN FROM ID SOFTWARE.

 

[thefiznut]

What the hell are you talking about ?? I get stuff of the internet at 800KB/sec, if you think its slow you need to go check yourself.
Anyways, the bottom line is that Steam SUCKS and thats the fact, and valve will eventually fail because of it (I hope soon), and soon enough alot more people will get rid of CS and steam alltoegther, because vavle has no right to force you use their shat program if you dont want to, LEARN FROM ID SOFTWARE.

That... was incredibly dumb. I can't put it any nicer. Why don't you tell us why you feel Steam sucks, instead of telling us it's "a fact" that it sucks. Valve is not going to fail because of Steam. Sorry buddy, how about you go play another game, since Valve seems to be so horrible and oppressive to you.

Edit: I found a nicer way to put things... That argument was incredibly lacking in thought.

 

[Hallucinogen]

That... was incredibly dumb. I can't put it any nicer. Why don't you tell us why you feel Steam sucks, instead of telling us it's "a fact" that it sucks. Valve is not going to fail because of Steam. Sorry buddy, how about you go play another game, since Valve seems to be so horrible and oppressive to you.

Edit: I found a nicer way to put things... That argument was incredibly lacking in thought.

I think your pretty dumb too, so everything evens out.
The fact that Valve forces people to use their shat steam is lame, not everyone wants to install bunch of bullshit on their PCs like YOU and some others.
Most people just wanna play the game and just that, not installing some crap steam that hogs bandwidth, and has to be on most of the time, and that you can get updates and upgrades only thru that, thats BS, and this is why Doom 3 is going to be better overall.

 

[liminal]

What the hell are you talking about ?? I get stuff of the internet at 800KB/sec, if you think its slow you need to go check yourself.
Anyways, the bottom line is that Steam SUCKS and thats the fact, and valve will eventually fail because of it (I hope soon), and soon enough alot more people will get rid of CS and steam alltoegther, because vavle has no right to force you use their shat program if you dont want to, LEARN FROM ID SOFTWARE.

I'm sorry but that’s not a fact, it's an opinion. If you check out the status page at steampowered.com you can clearly see that the number of users is increasing, not decreasing. I admit that Steam was intolerable in the first few months and the friends network is still barely functional but people have stayed with Steam, not abandoned it. It’s way better lately.

 

[thefiznut]

I think your pretty dumb too, so everything evens out.
The fact that Valve forces people to use their shat steam is lame, not everyone wants to install bunch of bullshit on their PCs like YOU and some others.
Most people just wanna play the game and just that, not installing some crap steam that hogs bandwidth, and has to be on most of the time, and that you can get updates and upgrades only thru that, thats BS, and this is why Doom 3 is going to be better overall.

Where in my post did I directly attack you by calling you dumb? I'm not trying to flame here. I'm simply showing you why you're so called "fact" is not a fact at all. I have quite a hatred to those who do not show respect for what Valve has, at the very least, tried to do for us... the community of fans. Look at it this way, you're not installing "shat software" on your PC. You're installing an interface. Steam is no different from the menu that comes up as you start the old Half-Life executable. It allows you to play the game. It just so happens that Steam is dynamic, and can update itself and the software that it interfaces to.

If you want Valve to die a horrible death as a company, so be it. You'll get nothing but utter hatred from HL2.net or any other community supporting products made by Valve by expressing those kinds of ideas. Go play Doom 3, and leave us alone.

 

[liminal]

I think your pretty dumb too, so everything evens out.
The fact that Valve forces people to use their shat steam is lame, not everyone wants to install bunch of bullshit on their PCs like YOU and some others.
Most people just wanna play the game and just that, not installing some crap steam that hogs bandwidth, and has to be on most of the time, and that you can get updates and upgrades only thru that, thats BS, and this is why Doom 3 is going to be better overall.

I don't mean to offend you but you should get your facts straight. Steam does not use extra bandwidth while it’s not updating. Steam does not need to be run all the time. I don't run Steam on Windows startup. It's optional.

Also, I’m going to buy Doom 3 and HL2. I don't understand how Doom not having a Steam like service is going to make Doom 3 more successful. Both games will win over players on their own merits. I think Id and Valve are both going to make a ton of money.

 

[env_explosion]

I hate valve because they make good games! I hate them even more because they have an established a healthy relationship and partnership with their fans! Steam is too freaking convenient to update, what the hell?! I mean come on, how dare valve change anything without consulting me first, that is so totally LAME! Man I am going to write them some hate mail right now, why won't they just freaking die?!

 

[thefiznut]

I hate valve because they make good games! I hate them even more because they have an established a healthy relationship and partnership with their fans! Steam is too freaking convenient to update, what the hell?! I mean come on, how dare valve change anything without consulting me first, that is so totally LAME! Man I am going to write them some hate mail right now, why won't they just freaking die?!

Maybe he'll understand.

 

[traesko]

Some people makes the world as we know it go down the drain. Almost as if you like HL2 for example, you're not allowed to like Doom III. Oh well.

Hellocigi.. Halligoce.. Whatever you call yourself. Can't you just admit that you were wrong and liminal and fiznut was right? Everyone just make up so that they wont close the thread. It's ok at this level, but go any further and start with namecalling then I will call your parents. So, now = good, later when somebody starts crying = bad.

I dont know what I'm talking about anymore so, lets continue. :]
i dont think that the fact that won closes will affect the community of fans really much. if they really like the game theyll be pissed about it maybe a day or so, and then get steam and realize it's so much better.

thank you for not reading this.

 

[thefiznut]

Oh don't worry, I won't go down to a name calling level.

Anyhow, back on topic. Yeah, I feel Steam will definately make things easier. I know the friends list is extremely helpful, even though Valve's having issues with it right now. When it's working, it's extremely helpful for when i'm trying to get the IP for a clan match server from one of my clanmates, or join a server my friends are on. No more messaging on AIM or bugging them on IRC only to not get a response.

 

[Kirkburn]

All this talk of hating Steam because it was 'forced' upon them'makes me wonder ... was there lots of complaining when WON was 'forced' upon you? Also the sheer outrage at being given a patch to improve a game every other week is, at the least, amusing Oh, and Steam works fine on 56k to me. And I love CS constantly evolving. Makes it more interesting ... anyways, i never saw the attraction of WON - only really got into multiplay HL after Steam arrived!

 

[Alig]

the real issue is not steam vs. no steam the issue is 1.5 vs. 1.6. 1.6 is fulla random HS every 2 seconds, it takes less skill, the guns are for newbies, etc. I want CS to revert back to beta 1.0. when guns had recoil and when you were a woosie for using an awp. 1.6 anti cheat sucks as well. I can't say how many people i've seen haxoring on it. If i can't have 1.5 i just may quit this game till something else better comes along.

Please listen valve. Making the game easier to play/accessable is not the right answer. The right answer is making a game that challenges the player, creating one with depth, and not catering to the general masses. When 5 year olds are getting more frags than me because they simply hold down the trigger, the game is toast. this is close to where we are now. Skill is gone, its all about spray and pray, BS script monkeys and the awp.

This could be it for me and my CS relationship.

eatitPUNK

Erm i think you know and i know that any CS has hax0rz gallore on them be that 1.0 or 1.6 and i played cs 1.5 for a whole year with no other multiplayer in my life and i can barely notice a difference in 1.5 and 1.6 regarding the actual way the game plays.

About connection, i dont know about 56k'ers but on my 512k dial up broadband i would normally get 50k/sec - 60k/sec downloading anywhere....on steam i get 400k/sec - 450k/sec so i dont really see the problem.

 

[Alig]

All this talk of hating Steam because it was 'forced' upon them'makes me wonder ... was there lots of complaining when WON was 'forced' upon you? Also the sheer outrage at being given a patch to improve a game every other week is, at the least, amusing Oh, and Steam works fine on 56k to me. And I love CS constantly evolving. Makes it more interesting ... anyways, i never saw the attraction of WON - only really got into multiplay HL after Steam arrived!

Nah its harder to cheat on Steam, and you can be permanently banned for cheating through your CD-KEY so thats probably why they are so arsed about it. Apart from that, all you steam haters will need it if you ever plan on playing HL2 and dont talk about steam bugs because if Valve are releasing one of the most anticipated games ever through it ya' think they are going to leave steam buggy and ****ed up?

 

[Mountain Man]

(unless you were smart and burned it to cd, which you can do with steam caches anyway).

Except Steam caches are huge and would never fit on a single CD.

 

[SubKamran]

I don't know why some people don't like Steam, it's either because they never gave it a chance or they were violated by it somehow earlier in the betas.

Steam is a god-sent, I just bought a CZ cd-key on eBay and I was playing CZ within an hour.

Second, I can login ANYWHERE and play my games, auto-updates, man, I wish there was some global program that'd do this to EVERY game. So I don't have to go to the fricken store to buy games, or wait for them to come online. Instant games with a $17 CD-key! God-sent.

I love Steam! :cheers: