As you already know, someone hacked into the Valve offices and stole the HL2 code, prompting a 8-9 month delay in the publishing of HL2. According to some recent articles on Slashdot and HalflifeRadio, the FBI launched a raid on the San Francisco home of programmer Chris Toshok, confiscating various items of hardware and software. Toshok was also questioned by the FBI and Secret Service regarding his association with Hungry Programmers, his ex-house mates. While some of the source code has already shown up on the net, apparently a 2-disc pirated version has found its way onto store shelves in the Russian city of Novosibirsk this month, translated into Russian, but with some gaps in the game. This delay has really screwed up ATI’s million-dollar deal with Valve – particularly the HL2 bundle with the Radeon 9600XT. Many of ATI’s partners are pulling out of the deal, not providing the HL2 copy supposedly included with video card, or just covering over the HL2 mention on the box with a sticker. ATI says;
“Beginning in December board partners had the option of purchasing the bundle from ATI for a small fee with all RADEON 9800 and RADEON 9600 series products except the RADEON 9800 XT which continued to include the bundle without charge. So, there hasn’t been any change in the availability to our partners and they all have the option to continue with the bundle or not”