This is cool, and also probably illegal, since you don't own any of this and don't have the right to redistribute it.

Valve already gave Half-Life 2 away for free, and released the source code of the HL1 engine.

Is it technically illegal? Yeah, but Valve isn't losing out on any money, and there's no way they're going to risk the negative PR blowback they'd get for a takedown.

Besides, IP law is dead. The rise of AI made it pretty clear that you can steal literally anything without consequences.

▲

Cthulhu_ 20 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Giving things away for free (at one point) is not the same as making it public domain or relinquishing your (copy)rights. Source available is not the same as open source. Open source code does not mean open source assets/product. I find it weird that this needs to be explained in this community.

▲

dminik 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

GoldSrc (HL1 engine) is very much not open source (or even source available). There's at least one open source remake (which is possibly illegal due to using the SDK) but no official release.

▲

nba456_ 41 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>Besides, IP law is dead. The rise of AI made it pretty clear that you can steal literally anything without consequences.

God, AI keeps making life better than I could've ever imagined!

	▲	zombot 15 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		It only works like that for the Big Thieves. Us regular folks get screwed over just like before.

▲

foldr 26 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

HL2 is not free: https://store.steampowered.com/app/220/HalfLife_2/

▲

flordaman an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

No no, you can't steal anything without consequences, only big corperations who are making slop machines(tm) can.

	▲	account42 21 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Turns out "too big to fail" doesn't just apply to reckless financial behavior.

▲

account42 22 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This project seems perfectly congruent with current year industry standards regarding copyright, which are to move fast and lobby for permission later.

▲

londons_explore 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That is up for the copyright owner to enforce or not to enforce.

Until they decide, we can't know if it's illegal or not - who knows, this site might have a license.

▲

Cthulhu_ 18 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

A crime is a crime even before a judge rules over it. Sure, innocent until proven guilty, but most people know when they're doing something wrong and then don't do it.

Of course, this is a lot more grey area for copyright violations etc because it's a civil matter.

▲

KeplerBoy 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's not legal just because the copyright owner doesn't immediately sue you.

	▲	account42 18 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Technically it isn't illegal until the copyright holder decides not to grant (retroactive) permission.
	▲	simondotau an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		If a copyright infringement falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it, did it make a sound?

▲

rvz 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It's quite dangerous to make unsubstantiated comments and assumptions on US copyright law without the proper research.

Valve still owns the copyright to the game and just because they won't do anything now does not mean it is legal to redistribute it without their consent, especially when we know that the game is still being sold. [0]

They (Valve) reserve the right to enforce that and this site clearly does not have such a "license" and haven't disclosed as such. Why would you expect Valve to be in discussions with a 15 year old to redistribute the game for free?

So just say you do not know.

[0] https://store.steampowered.com/app/220/HalfLife_2/

▲

Ukv an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> just because they won't do anything now does not mean it is legal to redistribute it without their consent

I don't think the parent comment is claiming it's legal, other than the (unlikely) chance that this is licensed, just that it's up to Valve to enforce and not really our concern. A lot of cool things (like the similar https://noclip.website/) are prima facie copyright infringement.

▲

nhinck2 an hour ago | parent [-]

> we can't know if it's illegal or not

I think we can.

	▲	Ukv an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		We can guess this is unlicensed, and likely be right, but whether it gets taken down is up to Valve.
	▲	xeyownt an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		And I think we don't care.

▲

account42 17 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

> Why would you expect Valve to be in discussions with a 15 year old to redistribute the game for free?

Because projects like this are free publicity and don't actually compete with the product sold on Steam.