Hey guys, just wanted to give you a quick update on the underground book as I have some time to work on it this week due to Thanksgiving break.

The book is making good progress. I spent at least 3 hours today on chapter 3, and it will require some more effort before I am finally done with it.  To wet your tastebuds, here are the five tentative chapters of the book so far:

Chapter 1 – The Foundation

Chapter 2 – Scratching the Surface

Chapter 3 – The Underground Scene

Chapter 4 – The Unspoken Learning Curve

Chapter 5 – The Modding Scene

These chapters are not set in stone, and there is time still to change titles and all that.

I do not have a good title for the book yet, or any cover art. If you want to help in this process, let me know NOW.  The goal is to have the book done by January 2010, and it will be released as a free e-book here on the Underground.

Also, if you have any comments or stories related to the underground, please let me know and I can incorporate you into the book somehow.  I believe these personal stories from myself and others really add a new dimension to the book, and makes it that more enjoyable to read and write.

If you have any suggestions or ideas I should look into please let me know.  Voltaire has agreed to help out with some of his own chapters, so it will be a tight squeeze this year to get this book done.

Why the rush?  I want the book done so I can focus on other items.  Whether you believe it or not, I have started this before summer and now I am getting close to having it done.  The book will be great and it is the best way for me to thank everyone here who is a reader of the blog.

What is the book about?  In short, it is insight into the underground, what it consists of, who the main players are, and the risks associated with the underground.  This is a far stretch, but if your mom read it,  then she will be more aware of your computer activities and might be bold enough to ask you where your music is coming from, or in surprising cases, ask you how to get her some free music?

Please note that this is not a political book or a piece of literature that praises piracy. It is simply an educational time piece, no more and no less. This is a community that has been living in the shadows for a long time, and its time to bring it to light for the mass market to acknowledge its existence. You are foolish to think that there are no pirates living in your area, because I can assure you they are there whether you know it or not.

Here is the new update and a lot has changed (for me at least) since the last time I have written.  As we all know, when Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 came out it was crazy on the Internet.

PC Gamers went straight to the Internet to learn how to make their cracked copies of MW2 work online and they did beat IW, for a limited time.  Steam was patched and it made the MP crack  just about useless because you can’t connect to anyone now.

At the same time, team Teknogods released a fix that lets players play co-op Spec Ops online with their friends. While people are silly enough to go to Hamachi or Garena, the real deal is with Tunngle :0

In other news, L4D 2 is out. Razor released a version of the game, and there are people trying out fixes to get the game to work.  Once a firm solution has been found, expect me to be blogging about it.

Next week is Thanksgiving week, so I will be out on vacation. This means no work, and just relaxation. Not sure if I will do an article or two, but definitely no Youtube videos as I left the gaming PC behind. I will be working more on the Underground book, and expect to get it to be about at least 80% done is the goal. I can’t wait to work on it again.

The highlight of the week for me has been a decision I have come to terms with my Youtube account.  For those that follow me on youtube, I have had my account since October 2007, and in a little over 2 years, I have about 1030 subscribers, and 200+ friends.  I have over 20K channel views which is just astounding to me.

I have a following, and although I like to have an article with a youtube video, it is not always possible, and its hard to do a mix between more articles versus more videos and whatnot.  The bottom line is videos are somewhat faster to make, but if it makes sense, I will always make an article to accompany the video.

With that said, about 95% of my existing videos is gaming related in some shape or form whether that is game tutorial related, or console modding.  The other 5% is about general computer knowledge.

To make a long story short, next month I will be retiring the versatileninja youtube account, to join a fellow youtuber under a new account, and together create an audience larger than if we were working separately.  He does a lot of gaming related videos, and I do the tutorials. We both have youtube as a hobby, and don’t see that going away anytime soon.

The past few days I put up my very last video.  If you get a chance to see it, watch it as it is very touching.  Still thinking about it still gives me a tear to my eye to the new journey I am about to embark, and I am ready to do it.

Maybe to some people that doesn’t seem like a big deal at all, but I can assure you it was a tough decision for me to make as it was the only true way to give up what I love to even become stronger.  As a side subject, accounts are never ever truly forgotten, as you can recover the account and reclaim it given you know the email address the Youtube is connected to.

I have a backup of all my videos, so the only items that would be gone is the statistics and the comments. Seeing how many ridiculous questions there are still related to Garena to this day, I wouldn’t mind seeing them disappear.

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I had an e-mail from someone asking what is the story with the other authors, like Voltaire and Chyea.  I had no answer for them, just that they were busy with school.  So if you are an underground author and you are reading this post, please leave a comment as to what is new with you these days, and what you want to do over the next couple weeks here at the blog.  The viewers miss you!

Are you tired of the default Windows 7 Logon? Well I’m about to quickly show you how to change it like I did.

lets get stuck in:

1. Download the Windows 7 Logon Changer.

2. Extract and run the Win7LogonBackgroundChanger.exe file (or install it from the setup folder contained inside) .

3. Click on any of the available images in the preview bar at the top or click on Choose a folder to open and add images of your own to the preview bar to select from instead.

4. When you have selected the image you want click on the Apply this background button.

5. When it’s done, click on OK.

7. You’re log on screen is now changed. You can press Ctrl+Alt+Del to test it.

8. When done, close the Windows 7 Logon Background Changer program.

If you cannot read the text there is also options to make the text brighter or darker, a little bid of fiddling might be required to get the best results.

And there you go, I know this is a small post but a handy one at least.

This year with the USA being in a recession, retailers are itching to get you into their store and open your wallets. What better way than celebrate with awesome deals on Black Friday?

If you are looking for that gift for your loved one (or yourself), then I suggest you take a look at this website and take a look at the ads for what is good to get this year. I might get a GPS, and man, the deals look sweet!

Link

Foreword: I’ve decided to put this tutorial back up, which was originally created by author Chyea for Call of Duty World at War. Please note that the preferred method is Tunngle. You need to update your game to the latest version. Please see my exclusive Tunngle video below.

Of course, this article is no way in shape or form created to promote piracy. There are legitimate players with legitimate users who want to play this game via LAN with their friends.  This is an educational piece, and shall be treated as one.  ~ Versatile

Revisions:
11-17-09: Re-release of an old article per indiscreet demand. MW2 is a better game. Does anyone care about this one?

Note: It is highly recommended you go to www.filefront.com and download ALL the game patches to update yourself t the latest version. If you need new patch files, then go to www.gamecopyworld.com.

All files have been scanned with NOD32 antivirus.

1. Download Hamachi 1.0.1.5: (the older versions are better, the newer one didn’t work for me)

http://rapidshare.com/files/166420002/HamachiSetup-1.0.1.5-en.exe

2. Run Hamachi and create a virtual LAN.

3. Download this patch for the singleplayer version of the game:

Call of Duty: World at War v1.0 PRIVATE SERVER PATCH #1
http://rapidshare.com/files/166420570/CoDWaW_LANFixed.exe

This fixes the “CD key in use” issue.

4. Paste the patch into your cod5 directory, don’t need to rename or anything.

5. Both CLIENT and the HOST of the game server will use this patch to start up your game.

6. If you encounter an error involving a conflict of CD keys, download this keygen by razor http://rapidshare.com/files/162328894/rzr-c5kg.exe

and change your cd key.

Edit: In the case that you have no friends, you can join a hamachi network with more activity. There are tons of them out there, if you know any, we’d appreciate it if you posted it in the comments.

Much thanks to RedDot, we acquired a lot more servers:

• Name: coop zombie -> Password: 123

• Name: coop zombie2 -> Password: 123

• Name: cod5waw.vcr.pl-> Password: 123

• Name: cod5waw.vcr.pl1-> Password: 123

• Name: cod5waw.vcr.pl2-> Password: 123
• Name: cod5waw.vcr.pl3-> Password: 123
• Name: cod5waw.vcr.pl4-> Password: 123
• Name: cod5waw.vcr.pl5-> Password: 123
• Name: cod5waw.vcr.pl6-> Password: 123
• Name: cod5waw.vcr.pl7-> Password: 123
• Name: cod5waw.vcr.pl8-> Password: 123
• Name: cod5waw.vcr.pl9-> Password: 123
• Name: cod5waw.vcr.pl10-> Password: 123

Warning: if you do join a big hamachi network, be sure to go to your control panel and make sure your hamachi network is set to “public”, so that other peeps won’t be able to see your personal folders.

Don’t go anywhere, we will write a tutorial on how to play multiplayer soon.

Here’s a screenshot of it on my computer:

And here is a video of how I got mine to work, you can download it here and see it more clearly, or you can scroll down and look at the crappy youtube quality vid.

http://rapidshare.com/files/168327132/cod5.wmv

Obviously porn is a pretty big industry, and the internet definitely made it bigger. Being able to find free porn is a fundamental skill that everyone has, although the efficiency varies.

Youtube has been a repeated target for those 4chan douchebags, who have been collectively uploading massive amounts of porno as a defiance to Youtube’s tough copyright measure. It goes without saying that the only weapon these virgins have, is porn. They are indeed the most notorious group of assholes on the internet, Rick Astley and that black kid from chocolate rain will agree with me. They are responsible for the countless occurrences of lolcats, pedobear, mudkipz, creating Rick Astley’s career, and ruining that black kid’s life. My favorite is when these trolls went on to Omegle chat and made every reply with the word “egg”. (A lot of Omegle users thought they kept on connecting to the same person).

That being said, Am I a 4chan user? Maybe.

Therefore, as a comic relief, I will show you how to obtain porn from Youtube.

In Youtube’s search bar, type in “Porn”.

Sort the results by “Newest”.

Done, finding free porn has never been easier.

The catch is, those porn sucks, most of them is only several seconds long. So unless a 5 second fapping session is all you need to blow your load, you are not gonna have a satisfactory experience with Youtube porno.

Revisions:
11-15-09: Initial Release

11-16-09:  Youtube video shows dedicated server concept. Video added.  Oh yea, new words about this space in your nickname fix.

11-17-09: Added someone else’s youtube that shows how to play MP online.

Important Foreword:  This post was started by fellow Underground Author Chyea, who in all the best intentions loves the game in question that I am pretty sure any active gamer knows that I am talking about.  I have stepped into finish it up since he is busy with real life responsibilities.  With that said, no full fledged tutorial will be written up unless I have something concrete to talk about. I have seen the activity, and there is a lot of stuff that is going to happen the next few days.  Trust me.  It’s called the community versus IW.

Hence, this is just a proof of concept article only to get your taste buds moistened.  An educational document if you will about a real story of real life game hackers who want to prove to the “man” that yes, the game will be modded to hell to bring back dedicated PC support as commanded by gamers across the world.  I mean no ill will to Chyea, we just got to handle this smartly.  Suspension, remember? >_>

Over the course of time when I am comfortable, I will change the title of the article and everything else as necessary to reflect current times.  ~ Versatile

News Articles on MW2 and Cracking and hacking:

http://www.gossipgamers.com/modern-warfare-2-servers-cracked-within-days-after-release/

http://www.destructoid.com/big-surprise-modern-warfare-2-already-hacked-154854.phtml

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2009/11/11/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-already-hacked/

So with that said, it is no surprise MW2 was subjected to a lot of piracy for those in the know.  These same type of people have been looking for ways to take their copies online for dedicated server play and what not.  What we have today (at least) is a work in progress that gives you 90 seconds of online Steam playing flavor before you get disconnected.  The creator (and the competition) says they are working on ways to fix this, but they want to get their digital signature into it to prove they are the creator.

All I am for seeing is a long battle of hacker versus IW doing a cat and mouse play.  Might as well give up and wait for Battlefield Bad Company 2 perhaps?

How to play this work in progress Steam fix for non-legitimate players:

1) Download the file, extract to the ROOT directory of your Modern Warfare 2, have steam running, and play!!!  Note: 90 seconds of play is available right now until this fix gets updated.  If it does, we will let you know.

No, we will not reveal the sources, as the more visible this gets, the more likely it won’t last that long.

2) Hamachi or Tunngle is NOT necessary.

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=00DH9IOJ

VIDEO TUTORIAL (not Versatile, someone else’s)

Short tutorial:

New Notes: Add a space to your Steam Nickname. If you use the questionable file and play online with no space in your name, you get kicked after 90 seconds.  Now add a space and you can play for a long time!  Example: “PortalCake” turns into “Portal Cake”.  Enjoy.

Note: Recommendation for using a fake steam account is very high.

Proof of Concept MW2 Dedicated Server Video!

Revisions:

11-14-09: Initial release. About time, right?

11-15-09: Added youtube video.

11-16-09: Added “Things to lookout for”

EASY TO REMEMBER URL = http://tinyurl.com/mw2guide1

Note: My thanks go out to TeknoGods obviously for providing one of the most important files ever for this game, and a friendly shoutout to all the people on Tunngle.  Sorry Garena guys, you get no love from me.  ~ Versatile (Tunngle ID = versatile)

Important Personal Message From Versatile:

Guys, I know there are a lot of you out there searching the Internet like mad for a GOOD guide that shows you how to play multiplayer online without using IWnet. As of today (11/14/09), there is a fix to play spec op co-op online, but not the real multiplayer portion. Once new information comes up, this guide will be updated.

Also, it is very important that this guide is for legitimate uses only.  Piracy will not be tolerated in any shape or form.  If something is written or found out of line, it will be corrected ASAP.  We (The Underground Staff) do not want a WordPress suspension.  We will not be offering links to “cracks” or obvious game executables.  There are legitimate users out there who want to play offline co-op for legitimate purposes.  This guide is for them.

If you have a question or specific problem that lies outside this scenario, then we will deal with it at that point in time.  Please understand my good intentions.  Modern Warfare 2 is a great game, and the co-op (and hopefully soon to be online multiplayer) will rock your socks off.  ~ Versatile

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 for PC has no dedicated server support, and likewise there is no native LAN.  All game playing is to be done online with the help of Steam and IWnet facilitating the process.  There are many PC users claiming foul cry. Why else was there a patch on 11/13/09 to bring updates to the IWnet matching making process? This tutorial will show you how to become a smarter gamer/consumer, and how to play the game offline for legitimate purposes. To use this guide for any other use is not the goal of this guide at all, and we will not be helping you if you decide to go down that route. You have been warned.

Pre-Reqs:

* Teknogods Spec Ops Offline Fix:  Megaupload

* You need to have Steam installed.  Find it here.  If you do not want to risk your legit Steam account, please make a dummy steam account then.

* A bucket of patience, and a desire to learn.

Preparing your game for a world of cop-op pleasure:

1) Extract the contents of the teknogods zip file into the root of your Modern Warfare 2 directory.  See screenshot below.

Here I extracted the “TeknoGods_MW2SP” and the “TeknoMW2.dll” into the ROOT directory here.

2) To make life easier, I made two shortcuts on my desktop to the “TeknoGods_MW2SP” and labeled one shortcut as “Host MW” and another Shortcut as “Client MW”.  Of course, you don’t have to do this but let me show you why I did this.

3)  In the client shortcut, right click and go to properties.  In the target box, we need to add the syntax –ip=x.x.xx.xxx where the Xs represent the host IP address.  (more detail on this later)

UPDATE: WordPress sometimes screws up the symbols I use. It is (dash)(dash)ip(equal sign)(ip address)

For example, friend ABC in Tunngle has an IP address of 7.1.71.198.  My shortcut has properties as shown below:

“E:\Modern Warfare 2\TeknoGods_MW2SP.exe” –ip=7.1.71.198

Now let’s get specific and show you how to host and join in Tunngle and Hamachi. Tunngle guide is first because Hamachi is the new step child in the VPN world.

Assumption: To play a game in Tunngle, you are in the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 room. Also, it is assumed you have no Tunngle problems. This means that Tunngle is the primary adapter in your network connections list, and you have port forwarded UDP 11155 (necessary only if you have hard time seeing all people in the network or difficulties hosting).  If you want to learn more about Tunngle, see my guide below:

Tunngle – The Hamachi Killer

How To Host a Game in Tunngle

1) Login to Steam. Minimize and let it sit in the background.

2) Login to the Tunngle Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 room.

3) Launch your shortcut on the desktop to host a game.

4) Click special forces, and 2 player online.  Select a game mode and map and wait in the lobby. It will look like screenshot below:

5) Wait for someone to join you (you have to let people know you are hosting obviously) and they will connect.  Then you can select a difficulty and play!

How To Join a Game in Tunngle

1) Login to Steam. Minimize and let it sit in the background.

2) Login to the Tunngle Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 room.

3) Right click your “client” shortcut and add the IP address of the host in the properties section. If confused, see step number 2 in the “Preparing your game” section.

4) Launch the client shortcut.  When you are at the main menu, press “F12″.  If it doesn’t go through the first time, press it again and it will say connecting and then you will be in a lobby with your new buddy. Now you can start fragging!

Assumption: To play a game in Hamachi, you need to have Hamachi installed from Hamachi.cc.  You can use default settings, no VPN alias required for Modern Warfare 2. We are also assuming you are in a Hamachi network to play the game. Need help finding Hamachi networks?  You are on your own. Google can assist here.

How To Host a Game in Hamachi

1) Login to Steam. Minimize and let it sit in the background.

2) Login to your hamachi gaming network.

3) Launch your shortcut on the desktop to host a game.

4) Click special forces, and 2 player online.  Select a game mode and map and wait in the lobby. It will look like screenshot below:

5) Wait for someone to join you (you have to let people know you are hosting obviously) and they will connect.  Then you can select a difficulty and play!

How To Join a Game in Hamachi

1) Login to Steam. Minimize and let it sit in the background.

2) Login to your hamachi gaming network.

3) Right click your “client” shortcut and add the IP address of the host in the properties section. If confused, see step number 2 in the “Preparing your game” section.

4) Launch the client shortcut.  When you are at the main menu, press “F12″.  If it doesn’t go through the first time, press it again and it will say connecting and then you will be in a lobby with your new buddy. Now you can start fragging!

Why no guide for Garena?

Garnea is a community full of tools (about 90% of them). Sit in a chat channel for a few minutes and you will start to understand why.  I will NOT be providing any support for Garena. If you used this guide and the method helps you play on Garena, then so be it.  All of my focus and attention is growing the Tunngle community. Have fun with Garena, and all their behind the scenes problems.

Video Tutorial

Strict NAT Versus Open NAT

If you are hosting a Strict NAT game, and people are having problems joining your game, then you need to go into your router and adjust your settings. At the time of this writing, the only way to go from Strict to Open nat is to put your IP address of your computer in the DMZ zone. I realize this is dangerous as it sends everything to your computer, but if you have a solid Windows Firewall application, what are you worried about?

Questionable Content Discussion

In my research on the Internet, there are people saying that if you use the “razor” files and overwrite the files in the “skidrow” release, then the game will work with Steam.  I just want to point out that I have no idea what these people are talking about nor do I want to be involved with it.

Author Chyea may put in his own 2 cents about this subject on the method of how people are making the “razor” files work with the “skidrow” files, but I am going to leave it up to him to touch upon the subject as I am oblivious to this subject.

Author Chyea’s Additions

Things to look out for:

- Coop will not work if you applied the Skidrow crack. However it is fine if used the skidrow installation, and then proceeded to apply the razor crack over that installation.

- Some people’s game will not start after the razor crack is installed.
The solution to “razor1911 crack + teknogods = fail” is actually quite simple:
Use this updated razor crack: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0D51XGIN

- Once the exe crack is replaced, as everyone already knows, you have to start up steam. Then, you must run the Teknogods’ lan patch as administrator.

- Also, you must open your NAT:
“If your NAT is Strict, you may have to open these ports on your router:
CODMW2 Ports:
UDP 1500
UDP 3005
UDP 3101
UDP 28960

Steam Ports:
UDP 27000 to 27015
UDP 27015 to 27030
TCP 27014 to 27050″

For those of you who find these different cracks confusing, I will describe the history of MW2 cracks.

In chronological order
Before Official Release:

- The Russian version is leaked.
- The English version is leaked. This is the original retail ISO which required Steam to play. Infinity Ward put about 80% of the game files in the ISO, while the other 20% is to be downloaded from Steam upon the game’s activation.
- At this point, we cannot install the game, simply because we do not have the serial key to begin the installation.
- Luksi installer is released. This installer is a standalone that essentially forcibly pastes the files that are on the ISO directly into a folder.
- At this point, we can install the game. However, we still do not have the other 20% from Steam, since it is before the game’s official release.

After Official Release:
- The missing files from Steam were obtained. These include the essential exe’s with which we launch the game. Of course, the exe’s need to be cracked in order to run the game.
- The respectful Razor1911 team cracked the game. However, this razor crack still requires that you run Steam in the background in order to run the game.
- The Skidrow crack was released shortly after. This crack eliminated the need for Steam.
- At this point, custom installers have been made, so users no longer have to go through the hassle of using the Luksi installer. However, installation is a moot point, as long as SOMETHING installs the game, I’m happy.
- Teknogods released a crack which allows pirated versions of the game to play the co-op spec-op missions over lan, which can be achieved with Tunngle or Hamachi if you wish to play over the internet. This release needs Steam to be running, and because of this, you need to turn on Steam, and use the Razor crack.

Hey guys, just wanted to get a quick blog update because the next few days will be very exciting around here.  I recently beat Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and the single player was just WOW.  There are some very controversial missions in there, and when you play it will have you stunned.

I do not want to spoil it, but there is one mission where you are a terrorist and you are in an airport with guns and you have to take out civilians.  Another mission later on is an assault on the White House.  It was a lot of fun playing it, and to see all the different environments. It truly is better than the first game.

Now as we all know, MW2 has no LAN or dedicated server support.  This means you are forced to use Steam to play online.  Well, hell.  What if I don’t want to use Steam and play online with my friends?  What if I want to bypass Steam and play offline with a friend with the spec op mode?

I spent a good portion of my evening just doing that, and once I got it working, I was literally pounding my fist in the air!  There is something dead sexy about gunning a helicopter gun and covering your teammate on the ground as he tries to get to the extraction zone.

Now of course I know there are a lot of people out there wanting to learn how to play multiplayer online bypass the IWnet.  >_>  I also know Activision is also out there doing the same thing.

Not sure what to do, but I am sure something will come out of this.  Stay tuned.

Oh yea, as I went through the game, I took a lot of screenshots to become my wallpaper.  The picture above is one such example.  I will show off the album in a future post.

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On a side note: I have been working on a private blog for Tunngle to basically get Tunngle people together to plan something special when the international version of Tunngle is released.  We are starting to get some good ideas, and we need more people involved with the brainstorming or participation.

I may have to youtube a quick video to get the subscribers notified too. It is a lot of work, but the payoff will be great.

Next week is L4D 2 week, and you know what that means? I will be there playing it and most likely making a guide. Learning from my mistake witih L4D1, I am going to skip hamachi and garena.  It has been a tough decision, but its worth it because I am going to Tunngle for the guide/videos.

Garena has an immature player base, and the hamachi networks are just too small to have a good game going. Plus, I have to manually prune people out is no fun or productivity save on my end, so Tunngle all the way.

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If you are a big xbox modding fan, you might have noticed that Assassin’s Creed 2 is now leaked online before November 17th. Do you have it?  Are you playing it?  Let me know how it is, because I want to play it too!

If you are a gamer, you will know that today is huge because Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 has been released.  Reviews have been high for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and it is no surprise that some PC gamers are giving it low scores.

Here are some quick reasons why PC gamers got screwed:

• 16 maps. The max amount of players on any map is 9v9.
• No dedicated server support. Infinity Ward’s IWNet protocol controls everything.  This means no mods and no customizations whatsoever.
• No console. You can’t even kick people.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  If you search Google News right now for Modern Warfare 2, there are thousands of headlines on this.

One headline that really got my sight was this one: ” Modern Warfare 2 Shunned by Several Digital Distributors Due to Steam ‘Trojan Horse’.

What does that even mean?  If you bought this game retail from the store, you are FORCED to install Steam in order to play this game.  The Steam protocol ensures your game is updated, anti-hacked, and everything else that comes with it.

Per Direct 2 Drive, an online distributor, they will not carry this game because of the inclusion of the Steam client.  Below is their statement:

“We believe strongly that when you buy a game from us, you shouldn’t be forced to install and run a 3rd party software client to be able to play the game you purchased,” D2D explains in a statement masquerading as a listing for Modern Warfare 2 in its store. A representative later told Kotaku “We don’t believe games should force the user to install a Trojan Horse.”  Source

What makes it worse is that if you had pre-ordered the game on Steam, you will have to wait until November 12, Thursday to play the game!  What is even more hilarious is that if you went out to the store and bought the game instead, you will be playing it online right now.  The retail version of the game also has Steam, so it makes absolutely no sense why pre-order purchasers are getting screwed over right now.

This signifies that DRM is not all it is cracked to be, and even innocent gamers are getting punished.  With no dedicated server support on PC side, it is expected the game is going to be released online via torrents and some hacker group will figure out a way to mod the game and get dedicated server support going.  It is just a matter of time.

Read more about the Steam debacle here.

It goes to show that Steam is not always welcomed, and when you have to tie gamer’s hands behind their back and force them to use a 3rd party client against their will, it makes you wonder if it is even worth the purchase.