tell me about it. i've played the demo twice, and was still scared the second time, even though i knew what was comeing. i'm just to cheap to pay full boat for it, so i'm waiting to someone has it on sale for $25 or less. as far as valve goes, the whole reason i have a desent win pc, or even one at all, is becasue of hl2. I LOVE THAT GAME. as far as dod:s goes, its still too buggy, and as i said before, all my buddies that were big dod fans don't like dod:s and are now playing bf2, or staying with old dod. as far as your beef on the retail hl2 package, this is the first time i've heard of your problem, and i agree, that really bites. but then thats why i got it online and not in a store, just to make sure that nothing like that could happen to me. have you emailed valve and complained? and if so, what did they say?