Pretty much everyone, respected journos included, who have been within ten feet of this game tell us that Valve has this thing totally sorted. So ill frown at the overall price, pay the extra £5 for the convenience of doing it all on steam, and wait for this game.

And when it arrives, im sure ill stop caring how much it cost.

As a musician I have been on the receiving end of internet piracy – both albums for the band I was in were torrented straight away despite us being a smallish cult band. I don’t resent the lost royalties as the system is outdated. I welcome the ‘Radiohead’ model of ‘give us what you think it’s worth’. Plus, in music at least, someone with a torrent of your album is more likely to come to a gig. I know this doesn’t translate to the games world, but it does mean that a pirate who likes your work will, perhaps, buy the next product or feel guilty and cough-up for the current game.

There’s a lesson to be learned here for Valve; never give a sucker an even break.

P.

In the past two weeks alone I’ve managed about 50 hours of Zombie Panic! Source, as Left 4 Dead sounds even better than that then it’s definately on my “must have” list.