340°

The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2

EG writes: At 6am on 7th May 2004, Axel Gembe awoke in the small German town of Schönau im Schwarzwald to find his bed surrounded by police officers. Automatic weapons were pointing at his head and the words "Get out of bed. Do not touch the keyboard" were ringing in his ears.

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coldfoot4819d ago

This is such an awesome story, needs to be read by everyone.

dabri54819d ago (Edited 4819d ago )

This guy is seen as some hero yet when Geohot is mentioned, he needs to be burned at the stake.

Very interesting story though. Good read. I remember reading up a bunch on this when it happened. The game really was a mess when it was leaked. When it was pieced together, it ended up being nothing like the final product. Some elements from it ended up in the later episodes though.

Question: Can he ever step foot on US soil without immediately being flagged and arrested to be tried here?

Redempteur4819d ago (Edited 4819d ago )

There is a big difference .

For one , he didn't do it for the glory.
For two seeing how everything went bad , he actually went to try to talk the people concerned.
Third : no rap music vid on youtube.

Fourth : one game leaked doesn't equal the stability of an ENTIRE network

AccountClosed570294819d ago (Edited 4819d ago )

$250 million in damages and actually pirating games (which everyone on here refer to as scum of the earth) through cd keys, creating viruses, and handing the leaked game over to someone who would distribute it online. He broke a an international law that caused the the German police to raid his house, the FBI became involved, he was interrogated for a few hours, and would have been tried in a criminal court and not a civil court, and he was on probation. All of that was worse than what Geohot did and will recieve as punishment. Now he's better than Geohot because of the stupid reasons that redempteur wrote? 1: that's just a stupid reason and is all speculation. 2: yeah he tried to talk to them after the material was all over the internet (same as Geohot) and wanted a job from his victims (same as Geohot). 3: Okay, really? That's just a lazy attempt at trying to have as many reasons as possible (quantity over quality) and it still wouldn't affect your feelings towards Geohot had he not made that rap video. 4: The leak really fucked over Valve causing a revenue of - $1 million each month which scared everyone and even had people questioning if Valve would go under ("Is this going to destroy the company?"). Everyone is kissing his ass because he got a job in the security sector, which is what exactly what Geohot wanted and will probably end up doing. I'm not kissing Geohot's ass, in fact, I actually made fun of him after my cousin kissed his ass and I thought his picture on the iPod was a picture of Frodo, but when I see people on the fence about "hackers" and hopping on side when it comes to this guy and hopping on the otherside when it comes to Geohot, it makes yo look like "you don't know what you're talking about" or "oh the uninformed person that you are ...", sound familiar? Using someone's quotes against them is an asshole move, but here I am using it against you.

Redempteur4819d ago (Edited 4819d ago )

very funny . i guess you were buthurt by my previous comments. next time i'll try to do less damage to your mind.

4) the leak , with or without it , the game wasn't done . ( everyone know that ) they were losing money regardless.. and they had the perfect escuse to release it later with less pressure. and it suceeded (both as a game and financially ).

Now releasing a completly done game days before release is a another move but halflife 2 wasn't done.

1) Nobody ( not even the justice ) proved that he did release the game over the internet and that after examining all his logs on his computer. and he didn't take credit for it.
thank for doing better than the german justice system ALL BY YOURSELF.

3) geohotz is certainly the first fool , to make a rap vid on the internet to try to seem unconcerned by legal charges. I dunno how you judge quality, but the quality wasn't in the youtube video that's for sure.

2)Lol let's put everyone in the same bag. you really can't make a difference between black and grey can you ?
Fine. the main difference in this case is answered in part 1 .. he didn't take credit for it on the internet. also geohotz didn't find the rootkey , but guess who is taking the credit now ?.

my guess was right .. you were uninformed.
Ps: the ENTER key ...use it..for everyone here trying to read each other

AntoineDcoolette4819d ago

In all practicality what Geohot did is far far less illegal than what Axel Gembe did.

HolyOrangeCows4819d ago (Edited 4819d ago )

He said "awesome story" not "Awesome guy", troll.

This guy's story: This article
Geohotz story: Fail, come back and steal the glory from another group when they're successful by rushing out a useless CFW that greets with text, go into a legal battle with a corporation for the "right" to distribute, and tamper and distribute, with their copy-protected software/codes.

"He should have ran out of there with a crowbar like Gordon Freeman"
.
I read the police lines in the Combine voice.
And imagined the situation in first person.
I couldn't help myself.

AccountClosed570294819d ago (Edited 4819d ago )

Okay, I just wrote WAY past the 4000 character limit set by N4G, and would require too many bubbles to completely put it together. I'll apologise right now, and if you want to actually see my full response (which I think would be really helpful and informative to anyone who reads it), I woul be glad to send it over PSN. It contains a full response to everything in your reply.

AccountClosed570294819d ago

Anyone else who like to see it, I would be glad to share it with anyone who would like to see an actual response, and if you want, debate over it. Add me on PSN. It takes 10 full "messages" over PSN to completely read it.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 4819d ago
MGRogue20174819d ago (Edited 4819d ago )

He should have ran out of there with a crowbar like Gordon Freeman, lol :D

GrilledCheeseBook4819d ago (Edited 4819d ago )

very interesting read
had a happy ending

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Chard8d ago (Edited 8d ago )

I never got around to mass effect - I’m skeptical that it would hold up if I were to try it now

Furesis8d ago

I would say it does. The combat is a bit shit for todays standards but everything else is great.

anast8d ago

It's worth a play through today.

gold_drake8d ago

the first one is abit the odd one out but after u finished it, believe it it gets tremendously better and better

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thorstein51d ago

.... from the 2000s (mostly).

shinoff218351d ago

I can't fk with this list. They missed on alot of games probably before the writers times. Also I know people loved some portal but I was never a fan.

Cacabunga51d ago

Tomb Raider 1
Driver 1
Abe’s Odyssey
FF6
King of Fighters 94
Mortal Kombat OG
LINK 2 the past
Street Fighter 2
Resident Evil 1

Inverno51d ago

Infinite but not the first two games? Witcher 3 but not the first two games?? GTA V but not literally any of the games before it??? Portal 2 but not the first? Also if you're going to play Shadow of The Colossus play the remaster and not the remake. Can't say I disagree with the list but my man it's all over the place.

Name Last Name51d ago

I mean some sequels are objectively better and you don’t need to play the whole series.

Inverno51d ago

But most of these games have a story to follow, sure you can catch up with a YouTube vid but where's the fun in that?

LucasRuinedChildhood51d ago (Edited 51d ago )

A list like this isn't telling you not to play the previous games if you want to. It's just giving you legendary games to play.

But tbh, you don't always have to force yourself to play every entry in a franchise to get to the better ones.

- The vast majority of Witcher 3 players never played the first 2 and had a great time. The first 2 games aren't in the same league.
- The GTA games are self-contained with the odd fun reference. You can easily jump into any of them.
- The Shadow Of The Colossus remake looks and controls better than the original (plus it has a 60fps option while the remaster is just 30fps). New players will enjoy it more.
- Portal 2 is a lot better than Portal 1 and takes the concept much further gameplay-wise. Storywise, Portal 1 is fairly light too. Not that you shouldn't play it but realistically ... you'd love Portal 2 whether you play it or not (at lot of Portal 2 players have never played 1).

Bioshock 1 is the only one I agree with you on simply because it's one the best games of all time and arguably better than Infinite. No other setting like Rapture.

Looking at the list, I'd recommend playing Uncharted 1 before 2 but no doubt, 2 is the legendary one you have to play.

Inverno51d ago

I get it, but that's just my opinion on his opinion. I just think that before you play a sequel you should still play what came before it. Maybe it's just me but i find it fascinating playing through the first game in a series and seeing how it has evolved through its sequels. Like I said I don't disagree with the list, other than SoTC which I strongly believe the remaster of the original should be played above the remake.

AuraAbjure51d ago

Awesome list! Hot take on Fear (and it's hard af expansion Persaus Mandate!) Bioshock Infinite is stellar, so is the Witcher 3 and you nailed it by having Ocarina of Time. So many fantastic games! Gotta play 'em all! Next one on my list is Prey after I beat Dead Space 2 and Splinter Cell Conviction.

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