(Editorial publicada por The Inquirer)

EXCUSE US for being uncharacteristically cynical, but now we’ve read most of the coverage of Half Life Two since last Thursday.

At least three things have occurred to us.


If Valve’s security really is so weak that it somehow lost the code to a hacker through a purported problem with Microsoft Internet Exploder or Outlook, we need fear no aliens or gremlins invading the world from Alpha Centauri or Sirius or Rigel or wherever. If games designers don’t know how to protect their own work, who does?

As you know, we don’t believe in coincidences here at the INQUIRER, so if there was leakage just when ATI was releasing its financial results and shouting at Bosnians in Munich and US graphics reporters in Alcatraz, then it’s pretty serendipitous for Valve.

Thirdly. Even the august Wall Street Journal splashed the story on its pages yesterday, but failed to contact Mr Valve for comment. Could you buy publicity like this?

Curiously, we spoke to several ATI people during the whole of last Friday and all of them claimed they hadn’t even heard that $6 million Half Life code had leaked.

Like we said, excuse us for being uncharacteristically cynical, but doesn’t the whole thing have the sniff of a fantastic David Blaine-like stunt? µ