Half-Life 2 delayed until April 2004 because of source code leak

[Dark Jaguar]

Sure, open source has been done for a while, but that's for when programmers decide to give out their source code to the people of their own will. Someone else taking it is another matter. I know I would certainly be VERY mad if I found out someone stole code from a program I did, making money on my work. They say they are changing it to prevent the number of hacks people will make to the game with the code, but as Penny Arcade pointed out, that won't do much with the hack community as it is. All it'll do is delay the time before hacks come out.

My comment on blackmail was mainly a general comment about those who go around making and using cheats all the time and ruining game experiences for everyone else. If they just stuck to specific servers where everyone knew about and agreed to use hacks then I'd have no problem with them, since after all experimenting like that is always fun. However, "searching for knowledge" doesn't justify using stuff beyond that.

He certainly didn't just "get lucky" according to the article. He hacked into those computer systems to get it. It's one thing when you hack your own system or someone else's who's agreed to let you hack it, but quite another to do it to a stranger's system. It's virtual breaking and entering.

In any case, I'll say this. I certainly would LOVE to have source code for my favorite games with all the bounty of knowledge they contain. I certainly agree that getting something like that would be like striking liquid diamonds. Then again, I'd also love to have a cruise ship. I won't go stealing either though just because I want them.