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Half-Life 2
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Half-Life 2
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==Steam content delivery system== Integral to ''Half-Life 2'' is the [[Steam]] content delivery system developed by Valve Software. This allows customers to purchase games (or any other software) straight from the developer and have it downloaded directly to their computer. This system also allows "micro updates" to games - games are continually updated and only the most recent version is allowed to be run. This makes it much harder to hack the game to introduce cheats or to play online with an unauthorized copy. All users playing the single player game must also have an account on the Steam servers to do so. Steam can also be used for finding and playing multi-player games and features an integrated server browser and friends list. A 1 [[gigabyte|GB]] portion of ''Half-Life 2'' became available for pre-load through Steam on August 26, 2004. This meant that customers could begin to download encrypted game files to their computer before the game was released. When the game was released at retail, customers were able to pay for the game through Steam, unlock the files on their hard drives and play the game immediately, without having to wait for the whole game to download. The pre-load period lasted for several weeks, with several subsequent portions of the game being made available, to ensure all customers had a chance to download the content before the game was released.
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