The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2

By Simon Parkin Published 21 February, 2011

The story behind the $250 million robbery.

At 6am on 7th May 2004, Axel Gembe awoke in the small German town of Schönau im Schwarzwald to find his bed surrounded by police officers. Automatic weapons were pointing at his head and the words "Get out of bed. Do not touch the keyboard" were ringing in his ears.

Gembe knew why they were there. But, bleary-eyed, he asked anyway.

"You are being charged with hacking into Valve Corporation's network, stealing the videogame Half-Life 2, leaking it onto the internet and causing damages in excess of $250 million," came the reply. "Get dressed."

Seven months earlier, on 2nd October 2003, Valve Corporation director Gabe Newell awoke in the large American city of Seattle to find the source code for the game his company had been working on for almost five years had leaked onto the internet.

The game had been due for release a couple of weeks earlier but the development team was behind. 12 months behind. Half-Life 2 was going to be late, and Newell had yet to admit how late. Such a leak was not only financially threatening but deeply embarrassing.

After a few moments pondering these immediate concerns, an avalanche of questions tumbled through Newell's mind. How had this happened? Had the leak come from within Valve? Which member of his team, having given years of their life to building the game, would jeopardise the project in the final hour?

If it wasn't an inside job, how the hell did it happen? Did someone have access to Valve's internal server?

But the question which rang out loudest of all was the one anyone who has ever had something stolen from them cannot push from their mind: who did this?

Anticitizen One

"I got into hacking by being infected myself," Gembe says today. "It was a program that pretended to be a Warcraft III key generator and I was stupid enough to run it. It was an sdbot, a popular general purpose malware at the time."

'The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2' Screenshot 1

The town of Schönau im Schwarzwald, where Gembe was living with his father in 2003.

The young German soon realised what he had installed on his PC. But instead of scrubbing the malware and forgetting about it, he reverse engineered the program to see how it worked and what it did.

This led him to an IRC server from which the malware was being controlled. By following the trail back, Gembe was able to track down its operator. Rather than confronting the man, Gembe began asking him questions about the malware. He had a plan.

"While I have a €2000 Steam account nowadays, at the time I couldn't afford to buy games," he explains.

"So I coded my own malware to steal CD keys in order to unlock the titles I wanted to play. It grew quickly to one of the most prominent malwares at the time, mostly because I started writing exploits for some unpatched vulnerabilities in Windows."

"Follow Freeman!"

On discovering the breach, Newell's first thought was to go to the police. His second was to go to the players.

At 11pm on 2nd October 2003, Newell posted a thread on the official Half-Life 2 forum titled, "I need the assistance of the community."

"Yes, the source code that has been posted is the HL-2 source code," he admitted in the post. Newell went on to outline the facts Valve had been able to piece together so far.

He explained that someone had gained access to his email account around three weeks earlier. Not only that, but keystroke recorders had been installed on various machines at the company. According to Newell, these had been created specifically to target Valve as they were not recognised by any virus-scanning applications.

Whoever had done this was smart, capable and specifically interested in his company. But why?

Point Insertion

Gembe's malware crimes, while undeniably exploitative and damaging, were crimes driven by a passion for games rather than profits.

His favourite game of all was Half-Life. In 2002, like so many fans of the series, Gembe was hungry for details about the forthcoming sequel. That's when he had the idea. If Gembe could hack into Valve's network, he might be able to find something out about the game nobody else knew yet.

A socially awkward loner who had endured a tough upbringing, he would gain status in the community of gamers he had adopted as his family by offering up such insider information. It was worth a try.

"I wasn't really expecting to get anywhere," Gembe says. "But the first entry was easy. In fact, it happened by accident.

"I was scanning Valve's network to check for accessible web servers where I thought information about the game might have been held. Valve's network was reasonably secure from the outside, but the weakness was that their name server allowed anonymous AXFRs, which gave me quite a bit of information."

AXFR stands for Asynchronous Full Zone Transfer, a tool used to synchronize backup DNS servers with the same data as the primary server. But it's also a protocol used by hackers to sneak a peek at a website's data. By transferring this data, Gembe was able to discover the names of all the subdomains of ValveSoftware.com.

'The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2' Screenshot 2

By July 2003 Newell knew the team wasn't going to make the September 30 release date, but he had yet to tell the community that.

"In the port scan logs, I found an interesting server which was in Valve's network range from another corporation named Tangis that specialised in wearable computing devices," he says.

"This server had a publically writable web root where I could upload ASP scripts and execute them via the web server. Valve didn't firewall this server from its internal network."

Gembe had found an unguarded tunnel into the network on his first attempt.

"The Valve PDC had an username "build" with a blank password," he explains. "This allowed me to dump the hashed passwords for the system. At the time the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich offered an online cracker for hashes, so I was able to crack the passwords in no time."

"Once I had done that... Well, basically I had the keys to the kingdom."

Entanglement

At this point, Gembe wasn't bothered about covering his tracks. So far he had nothing to hide. But he wanted to ensure he would remain undetected as he explored further.

"All I cared about at that point was not being thrown out," he says. "But I had access to an almost unlimited amount of proxy servers, so I wasn't worried. My first job was to find a host where I could set up some sort of hideout."

Gembe began poking around for information about the game. He found various design documents and notes about the game's creation. This was what he had come looking for. This was why he was here.

As the weeks rolled by, Gembe realised nobody at Valve had noticed he was inside the company's network. He began to push a little harder.

'The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2' Screenshot 3

Soon after the leak, images of the characters in compromising positions were distributed online, much to Newell's dismay.

That's when he hit the payload: the source code for the game he had been waiting to play for so many years.

The temptation was too great. On 19th September 2003, Gembe hit the download button and made off with Valve's crown jewels.

"Getting the source code was easy, thanks to the network performance of the Perforce client, but the SourceSafe client for the game data was horrible," he explains.

"Because of this I coded my own client that basically had its own transfer mechanism over TCP, detected changed files by hashing them and transferred the changes.

"The game didn't run on my computer. I made some code changes to get it to run in a basic form without shaders or anything, but it wasn't fun. Also, I only had the main development trunk of the game. They had so many development branches that I couldn't even begin to check them all out."

To this day, Gembe maintains he was not the person who uploaded the source code to the internet. But there's no denying he handed it over to whoever did.

"I didn't think it through," he says. "There was, of course, an element of bragging going on. But the person I shared the source with assured me he would keep it to himself. He didn't."

Once the game was on Bit Torrent, there was no containing it.

"The cat was out of the bag," says Gembe. "You cannot stop the internet."

"A Red Letter Day"

The response of the community to Newell's plea for help was mixed. While many expressed their sympathy at the theft, others felt betrayed by Valve for being led to believe the game would be ready for its scheduled launch in late 2003.

Despite a few leads, nobody was able to provide information about who might have perpetrated the crime. The FBI became involved in the investigation but also drew blanks.

Meanwhile the team at Valve, which had been in crunch mode for months, was left reeling by the leak. The game was costing the company $1 million a month to build and the end was still far from sight. The leak had not only caused financial damage but had demotivated a tired team. One young designer asked Newell, "Is this going to destroy the company?"

At 6:18am on 15th February 2004, Valve's MD received an email with a blank subject line from sender 'Da Guy'.

"Hello Gabe," the author began, before going on to claim responsibility for infiltrating Valve's network months earlier.

Newell was unsure whether to believe the story at first. But two attached documents, both of which could only have been obtained by someone with access to private areas of Valve's server, proved the sender's claims were valid.

Five months after Half-Life 2 was released onto the internet, long after all leads had gone cold, Newell's man had turned up on his doorstep.

Sandtraps

Why did Gembe send that email? "Because I was sorry for what happened," he says. "I wanted them to know who did this thing, and that my intention was never for things to work out the way they did." But that wasn't all that Gembe was after. The young man saw a way he could create a positive outcome from his crime, both for Valve and himself. In a separate email, he asked if Newell would consider giving him a job.

"I was very naïve back then," he says. "It was and still is my dream to work for a game development company, so I just asked. I hoped that they could forgive what I had done, mostly because it wasn't intentional."

To Gembe's surprise, Newell wrote back a few days later saying yes, Valve was interested. He asked if Gembe would agree to a phone interview.

'The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2' Screenshot 4

Gembe had access to Hammer, Half-Life 2's level editor.

The real motivation behind the suggestion was not to discover whether Gembe would be a strong candidate for a position within the company. It was to obtain an on-the-record admission from Gembe that he had been responsible for the leak. It's an old FBI trick, designed to gain a confession by appealing to a person's sense of pride.

Gembe had his suspicions but he pushed them to the back of his mind. "I hoped for the best," he says. "I was not the brightest kid back then."

He recalls the phone interview being conducted by Alfred Reynolds, developer on Counter-Strike and Steam, and Portal writer Erik Wolpaw, but says he could be wrong. (In fact, Wolpaw says he had yet to join the company at this point.)

"At first they wanted to know how I hacked into the network. I told them in full detail. Then they asked me about my experience and skills. I still remember they were surprised that I spoke fluent English without much of an accent."

The trio talked for 40 minutes. Any sense of guilt dissipated for Gembe in the presence of his heroes. But that was nothing compared to the adrenaline rush he felt when he received an invitation to a second interview. This one would be face-to-face at Valve's headquarters in Seattle, on American soil.

Having set the trap, Valve and the FBI needed to obtain a visa for Gembe (and his father and brother, as he had asked if they could accompany him to the US). But there were concerns about the ongoing access Gembe had to Valve's servers and the potential damage he could still cause. So the FBI contacted the German police, alerting them to the plan.

Highway 17

It was soon after this that Gembe awoke to find himself staring down the barrel of a gun. He got dressed and headed downstairs, escorted by the armed policemen squeezed into the small hallways of his father's house.

"Can I get something to eat before we leave?" asked Gembe.

"No problem," said one of the policemen.

Gembe reached for a kitchen knife to cut some bread. "Every policeman in the room raised his rifle at me," he says.

After drinking a cup of coffee and smoking a cigarette, Gembe climbed into the back of a van and was driven to the local police station. There he was greeted by the police chief. He walked up to Gembe, looked him in the eye and said, "Have you any idea how lucky you are that we got to you before you got on that plane?"

Gembe was interrogated by the police for three hours. "Most of the questions they asked me were about the Sasser-Worm," he says, referring to a particularly vicious malware that affects computers running vulnerable versions of Windows XP and Windows 2000.

"For some reason they thought there was a connection between me and Sasser, which I denied. Sasser was big news back then and its author, Sven Jaschan, was raided the same day as me in a co-ordinated operation, because they thought I could warn him.

"My bot used the same vulnerability in the LSASS service that his did, except it didn't crash the host system, so I guess they thought I gave him the exploit code. Of course I denied this and told them that I never write such shoddy code."

After the police began to realise there was no link between Gembe and the Sasser-Worm, they moved on to asking him about Valve.

"I could have refused to answer and demanded an attorney, but I chose to tell them everything I knew honestly and completely, which I guess they appreciated," he says. "The guy questioning me liked me because, he said, 'You are not an asshole like most of the other guys.' That department has to deal mostly with child porn.

"I guess I was so open with them because I didn't believe I did much wrong, at the time."

Gembe was remanded in custody for two weeks. He was released once the police were determined he wasn't about to flee, with the proviso that he check-in with them three times a week, every week, for three years, until his trial.

Our Benefactors

While waiting for his day in court, Gembe worked hard to change his life. He finished an apprenticeship and got a job in the security sector, writing Windows applications to manage security systems and performing database and server administration work.

Axel Gembe's trial lasted for seven hours. No one from Valve was present, though someone from the Wall Street Journal turned up. Security breach aside, there was no evidence to suggest Gembe had been responsible for pushing the Half-Life 2 source code on the internet.

'The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2' Screenshot 5

The initial level of Half-Life 2 open in Hammer.

However, Gembe admitted to hacking into Valve's network. The judge sentenced him to two years' probation, citing his rough childhood and the way he had worked to turn his life around as considerations when it came to deciding on the relatively lenient punishment.

By the time of the trial 8.6 million copies of Half-Life 2 had been sold, its success seemingly unaffected by the leak of 4th October 2003.

Today Gembe is 28. Nearly a decade on, he is remorseful about the Half-Life 2 episode.

"I was naïve and did things that I should never have done," he says. "There were so many better uses of my time. I regret having caused Valve Software trouble and financial loss. I also regret having caused some universities financial harm by using them as speed tests for my malware.

"Basically I regret all the illegal things I did at that time... And I regret not doing anything worthwhile with my life before I got busted."

What of the man he stole a game from? What would Axel Gembe say to Gabe Newell today?

"I would say this: I am so very sorry for what I did to you. I never intended to cause you harm. If I could undo it, I would. It still makes me sad thinking about it. I would have loved to just stay and watch you do your thing, but in the end I screwed it up.

"You are my favorite developer, and I will always buy your games."

Picture of Simon.

About Simon Parkin

Simon Parkin is an author and journalist on video games. A regular contributor to Eurogamer since 2005, his work has also appeared in Edge, The Telegraph, Gamasutra and Boing Boing.

Read more articles from Simon by visiting the Simon Parkin archive page.

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Comments (206) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • coolbritannia #1 1 year ago

    Seems like a nice kid, and I always thought Gabe Newell was a bit of an asshole. Is he still on the Sony payroll to praise the PS3 after slating it for years?

    Of course, none of this reflects on the sheer utter brilliance of Half Life 2. Episode 3 please. NAOW.

  • Omroth #2 1 year ago

    Amazing story. I wonder how it would have been different if he'd got on the plane.

  • KevvyMetal79 #3 1 year ago

    I wonder what we would find if someone leaked the source code for Half Life 2 : Episode 3.
    ...probably just an empty file with one comment -

    //game goes here eventually.

  • Bagpuss #4 1 year ago

    I was one of those who downloaded the leaked build of the game all those years ago, and i dont for one moment think it harmed sales of the game...just like millions of others i was (legally purchased) downloading the game on the day of its release, and the follow ups EP1 and EP2.

    It was just a buzz to have a play with something before most others, and its not as if you got the whole game anyway, it was just a couple of areas in the game, that didnt even make it into the final release.


  • Erinan #5 1 year ago

    Great article, thank you. And has it alreayd been more than 6 years since Half-Life 2 came out? Are Valve actually working on Half-Life 3...?

  • dwalker109 #6 1 year ago

    A fascinating article. Top stuff!

  • Hunam #7 1 year ago

    I'm glad the german police stepped in. If he'd ended up in America they would have made an example of him for sure. I kinda think Valve trying to trick him to going to the US was a horrible move as it's just sinister and spiteful as well as the whole job interview ruse. Of course this added on top that they were more angry about being shown that they were a year behind their release date and yet had said nothing makes it all the more worse.

    I'm glad the guy turned his life around and I'm also glad he realised how wrong he was back then, but if I think I've have a slight bit of ire for Valve considering the insidious tactics they used against him when he was basically a kid.

  • andromeda #8 1 year ago

    bah , the world's slyest marketing exercise ever.he worked for Valve all along. You knows it.

  • Carbon_Altered #9 1 year ago

    Interesting article - cheers Eurogamer!

  • DavoTheDiv #10 1 year ago

    A good read Eurogamer. May we please have some more?

  • b-tek #11 1 year ago

    Very interesting article. He seems like a kool guy. And if I was with Valve I would eventually give him a job... probably something to do with security ;p

  • Nighteyes #12 1 year ago

    That was an absolutely thrilling read, very well written.

  • Kristine #13 1 year ago

    Really interesting article.
    Impressive how the guy turned himself around too.

  • ucankurbaga #14 1 year ago

    It is interesting to find out what exactly happened after all these years. Seems like the kid didn't have bad intentions other then to play the game without thinking about the consequences. I wonder now, what happened with Crysis 2 beta leak?!

  • Murton #15 1 year ago

    Am I alone in being interested in what Gabe thinks of all this now and whether or not he feels any guilt about his attempt at entrapment? Something which is technically supposed to be illegal in many civilised countries, which is probably why the German police drummed up a quick charge of their own to bring him in on and slapped him with probation requirements that meant he couldn't possibly travel to America to be crucified.

    Most hackers want us to think of them as heroes and many in the media grant them that wish. There's a delicious irony in the fact that Axel Gembe is now going to be the recipient of such admiration not because of his talents but because he realised that he wasted those talents when he could have been doing something more constructive to someone's benefit other than his own. A stark contrast from George Hotz who when interviewed years from now, will likely still be a douchebag with a victim complex.

  • cheeky_pete #16 1 year ago

    Great read indeed there's a great movie in there somewhere.

    What Valve did seems ridiculous now but I suppose at the time it seemed right before things like leaks were really shown to not effect sales. The guy seems to have reformed himself now which I suppose is what the police meant when they said "lucky we got to you first" if he did go to the US he would have ended up doing some hard time and instead of becoming a productive member of society another life would have been ruined.

  • markyHD #17 1 year ago

    Very well written article.

    I guess it shows that motives sometimes are very simplistic, and not 'Teh Conspirazy'. Just a skint kid with no new games and too much time :)

  • Quint2020 #18 1 year ago

    Brilliant story, great article, thanks EG!

  • Mkwone #19 1 year ago

    Very interesting article, and would make for an interesting film i think.

    Linking in with the geohot thing it seems these people start off with good intentions (or rather harmless ones) but their sense of achivement results them to tell the world, and thats when things go wrong.

  • PixelPirate #20 1 year ago

    Articles like this get the "thumbs up", more investigative articles like this and less of the headline grabbing stuff would be most welcome!

    Fascinating story, it was a good job the German police got there first. It sounds more like a talented kid hacker stumbling across a large security loophole, rather than some evil mastermind the media (at the time) was painting him out to be.

  • HoriZon #21 1 year ago

    Would the real Gembe please stand up!


    I downloaded the leak back then it wasn't a game tbh it was more like the tech demo they used at E3 that one time.

    Was fun messing with it though.
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/11 @ 14:37

  • rotmm #22 1 year ago

    I just want to echo the comments about how interesting this article was. Parkin is clearly one of the best writers in the videogame industry today, and this piece was yet another example of that.

  • Shinetop #23 1 year ago

    "AXFR stands for Asynchronous Full Transfer Zone"

    Huh?


    Am I alone in being interested in what Gabe thinks of all this now and whether or not he feels any guilt about his attempt at entrapment? Something which is technically supposed to be illegal in many civilised countries, which is probably why the German police drummed up a quick charge of their own to bring him in on and slapped him with probation requirements that meant he couldn't possibly travel to America to be crucified.

    Uh, that wasn't entrapment. Entrapment is convincing someone to do something illegal so you can catch them in the act. As such, it would have been entrapment if Valve had encouraged him to hack their servers and steal the source code.
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/11 @ 14:46

  • coyote37 #24 1 year ago

    Great article, would love to see more of this journalistic type feature on EG, especially if Simon Parkin is going to be writing them

  • mrdiamond #25 1 year ago

    Really interesting and well written article. Have to admit, in the past I have overlooked the EG articles, but this is the 2nd article in a couple of days that has certainly changing the way I read EG. Nice work :)

  • drew327 #26 1 year ago

    Great read, thank you

  • tnomad #27 1 year ago

    No hyperbole, that's probably the best thing I've ever read on Eurogamer. More investigative journalism please!

  • SFG_Clan #28 1 year ago

    Yeah I think we as the gaming community should chip in and hire him
    and get us some episode 3
    or at least some concept art... a screenshot... ah forget it

  • Murton #29 1 year ago

    @shinetop

    Entrapment is probably the wrong word, is there a term for coaxing a confession under false pretences and without caution? Which is just as bad as entrapment in my book. The article gave me the impression that Valve were planning to lure the kid to the US and then trick him into making a detailed confession in the precense of the FBI, who would then arrest and charge him under US Federal Law rather follow internation law and file for extradition with the German authorities. Any way you slice it Valve was invovled in some pretty shady activity and it would be interesting to know if Gabe knew how close he came to destroying that kid's life, a life which as we now know has turned out to be quite productive.

  • mcmonkeyplc #30 1 year ago

    Great article EG. More of this, less of the daily mail type shit. :)

  • TelexStar #31 1 year ago

    +1 on the great read. Nice work.

  • BremXJones #32 1 year ago

    As awesome as the story is, for those who are tutting at Valve, it's worth remembering this wasn't a finished game leak. It was a source code leak. In other words, doing it meant Valve had to go back and change it so it couldn't just be hacked apart when it was released for whatever messed up purposes. We can argue whether or not leaks effect sales, but source code leaks certainly increase costs.

    KG

  • spekkeh #33 1 year ago

    I'm a Phd student in computer science and have no clue what all that technical mumbo-jumbo was about. So, er, well done for such a young guy.

    Also yay for European justice systems and boo for the 'Murikan tomfoolery.

  • HurbleBurble #34 1 year ago

    An absolutely superb article, I cannot praise it enough.

    It's interesting to see in light of modern 'leaks' how sheer, naked curiosity lead to the (unintended) release of HL2 and all that followed. I have nothing but respect for Gembe in being so candid and honest in his appraisal and regrets. It speaks volumes for his character, as others have said, how he used it as a spur to turn his life around. The greatest shame seems to be his naivety, braggadocio and implicit trust leading to his downfall.

    Neither Gabe nor Valve seem to come out of this with much credit, it must be said. In their defence, they just wanted to defend what was rightfully theirs, but the cynical manipulation of Gembe and heavy-handedness of the approach smacks more of anger that they had been revealed as liars and wanting to hurt whoever was responsible for damaging their reputation rather than the game itself. It can be shown the leaks had little to no impact upon the game's commercial success and in the end probably even raised it's profile within the general public rather than just the gaming community.

  • butler` #35 1 year ago

    I hope they invested a little money on server security since then...

  • customfirmware #36 1 year ago

    Comparing him to geohot would be so wrong, he's seem like a nice person. Geohot on the other hand comes off as a nasty piece of work.

    Great article by the way Simon.
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/11 @ 15:03

  • smirny #37 1 year ago

    This article. +1

  • siro #38 1 year ago

    Really good article. I think it depicts lots of the young internet criminals out there, who would need to get busted before seeing the wrongs in their ways. At least I know I didn't fear anything back in the day.

    I wouldn't be surprised if that Geohot guy says similar things one day.

  • Walkerj #39 1 year ago

    Between this and the WWE article eurogamer pieces keep getting better!

  • makariel #40 1 year ago

    Great article!

  • FogHeart #41 1 year ago

    If there's something hackers can learn from this experience it's to examine your motivations and recognise that there are people you consider friends that want to exploit your naivete and generosity.

    If you feel you need to break laws and endanger the financial welfare of people you otherwise admire, to get praise and encouragement from people you don't know in real life, as a substitute for praise and encouragement you don't get from people who really should be giving it to you, it's time to stop. To quote the Wise Sage of the Eighties, Kelly Brock, "People will like you for who you are, not what you can give them."

    Perhaps it always starts with a talented individual with a 'noble cause', which is subverted by his ego causing him to brag about his achievements to someone who will exploit him. Geohot, are you there?

  • Wolf0x #42 1 year ago

    Very interesting story, great article eurogamer

  • iago71 #43 1 year ago

    Great article. A very interesting read. More of this anecdotal fare as soon as you can please EG. :)

  • Fellblade #44 1 year ago

    "Newell called fucking Interpol in on this kid, he's the one who should be sorry for being such a wanker."
    He's a wanker because he wanted justice for someone who stole a load of his company's work and forced them to re-write a load of code? It's not like this guy was a three year old who took a cookie without saying 'please'. He broke into a company, stole their source and assets, and then shared them with others.

    Edit for minor grammar badnesses
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/11 @ 15:39

  • j-bo #45 1 year ago

    good work eg!

  • markyHD #46 1 year ago

    @Murton

    I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Very shady indeed, considering the age of the kid at the time. Perhaps it's Gabe's guilt that has led to his binge eating over the last 10 years :D

  • TearYouAsunder #47 1 year ago

    Excellent read!

  • Xabarin #48 1 year ago

    Very interesting read. More stories like this! :)

  • up_the_ante #49 1 year ago

    Cannot believe he thought he'd get a job after stealing 4 years work and costing them $250M!

  • Lgmk #50 1 year ago

    Fantastic article, once again this is what separates Eurogamer from other gaming sites, well this and honest reviews. Keep at it making this the best site for gaming news and info there is.

  • samk #51 1 year ago

    Great article. More of this please, less of the "Why I Hate..." fanboy baiting guff.

  • yupyup #52 1 year ago

    Fantastic read Eurogamer.

  • Kayin #53 1 year ago

    If he'd got on that plane he'd have been sharing showers with rapists and murderers for the next 25 years given how reactionary and overkill US law services tend to be when hacked by anyone overseas.

    Glad the German police got to him first, he sounds like a decent kid and doesn't deserve to be in amongst the real scum - which is exactly where he'd be if they hadn't picked him up.

    Edit: Ah, yes - http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_McKinnon
    Edited by 2 at 21/02/11 @ 15:40

  • chiz #54 1 year ago

    Best thing I've read on Eurogamer for a long time. Well done.

  • _tangent #55 1 year ago

    Jesus - trying to con him into travelling to the US (with his father and brother, no less) under the auspices of a job interview while secretly planning an FBI ambush? The reactionary, vindictive, over-active hand of american justice at work again :D That's a shitty way to treat another human being, especially when the source of their criminal nature was (in this case) loneliness and a mixed-up childhood. He didn't steal the source code for personal profit, or to rip valve off, just because he was an enthusiastic fan. Obviously this doesn't excuse the crime itself, but it certainly should inform the reaction of the authorities to it. Thank god he ended up in a german court and was given the opportunity to turn his life round. If he'd been prosecuted in america he'd likely have been locked up, not to mention the effect on him personally of having his (self confessed) heros con him into walking into a trap.

    Great article EG!
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/11 @ 15:30

  • Shinetop #56 1 year ago

    Entrapment is probably the wrong word, is there a term for coaxing a confession under false pretences and without caution?

    Yes, it's called 'interrogation'.

    Which is just as bad as entrapment in my book.

    Why is it just as bad?

    The article gave me the impression that Valve were planning to lure the kid to the US and then trick him into making a detailed confession in the precense of the FBI, who would then arrest and charge him under US Federal Law rather follow internation law and file for extradition with the German authorities. Any way you slice it Valve was invovled in some pretty shady activity

    How is that shady? As far as I can tell that's all perfectly legal.

    and it would be interesting to know if Gabe knew how close he came to destroying that kid's life, a life which as we now know has turned out to be quite productive.

    Benefit of hindsight.

  • patriot #57 1 year ago

    Fantastic read, would love to see more articles like this.

    It also raises a good point though, he got probation as he showed remorse and owned up to everything, and now he has turned his life around. Imagine if he got that plane. He'd probably be in guantanamo bay still for all we know! (well most likely a federal prison, but you never know with those crazy yanks).

  • sonicyoda #58 1 year ago

    This is an incredible interview and a fascinating story that I'm amazed Gembe would want to talk about in public. I never even knew anything about this whole escapade and have never been interested in the hacking community so this was a real eye-opener. Being a Eurogamer reader just got ever so sweeter.

  • Kode #59 1 year ago

    Hollywood blockbuster anyone?

  • iago71 #60 1 year ago

    Whats with all the negs to people who liked the article and found it an interesting read?

  • jonbwfc #61 1 year ago

    if this kind of thing interests you, you really should read 'The Cuckoo's Egg' by Clifford Stoll. That's a much better movie than this.

    Jon

  • Mkwone #62 1 year ago

    In regard to the entrapment thing.

    I'm not sure it can be classed as that seeing as he voluntarily contacted Gabe to confess, both over the phone and in email.

  • _tangent #63 1 year ago

    @Shinetop

    Benefit of hindsight.

    I don't really think you need hindsight to appreciate that the kid wasn't a malevolent career criminal, and had a fairly decent chance at a productive life if given the appropriate motivation and opportunity. His criminal skillz0rz themselves are, after all, professional in nature.

    The US authorities and Valve themselves appeared to be primarily concerned with extraditing him via the back door rather than responding in a measured way to the crime. Surely the german government would have had a problem with them conning a german citizen out of the country? Shouldn't he have been extradited through formal diplomatic channels? I'm sure the American government wouldn't take kindly to american citizens being conned into german court rooms.
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/11 @ 15:45

  • INTVGene #64 1 year ago

    Excellent read. It's articles like this that differentiate this site from the rest of the internet.

  • CHACK #65 1 year ago

    that was good, now if we can just get to the bottom of the whole DNF Charlie Wiederhold chair leg story with mark Rein and Epic.

  • MikeN #66 1 year ago

    I'm disappointed with how easily people paint Valve as the villains and condemn them for 'shady' activities in regard to fooling Gembe to travel to the states. Regardless of his motivations he still broke the law & stole their work. Valve's job offer doesn't make them villains, it simply makes Gembe a naive teenager.
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/11 @ 15:53

  • Koborover #67 1 year ago

    Gembe was in an incredible bargaining position. He could've applied at Valve before leaking the source code.

    Being a great hacker does not mean you're very clever, that's for sure. But I guess all his naïvity saved him in the end.
    Edited by 2 at 21/02/11 @ 16:03

  • DiamondIce #68 1 year ago

    Very interesting article.

    Although I don't condone his actions I find stuff like this fascinating.

  • FortysixterUK #69 1 year ago

    Valve / Gabe Newell guilty of attemped entrapment?

  • rob230 #70 1 year ago

    Brilliant stuff.

    More like this ta

  • _tangent #71 1 year ago

    Valve / Gabe Newell guilty of attemped entrapment?

    Technically, no. As has been explained by others, entrapment is persuading or encouraging a person to break the law, not lying to someone who has already broken the law so that they'll unwittingly get themselves arrested. However, certainly they are guilty of morally questionable and vindictive behaviour.

  • jablonski #72 1 year ago

    This is fantastic. Good stuff.

    Agree with others wanting a contemporary view from Gabe/Valve.Tthe only thing it was missing.

  • MoGamer2006 #73 1 year ago

    Love how people on here take Gembe at his word and portray him as a poor, misguided kid while simultaneously portraying Valve as sinister manipulators trying to send an innocent to Guantanamo Bay!

    FFS, ignorance and naviety can't excuse what this t*t did.

  • mooseti #74 1 year ago

    That article had me hooked, but...

    Ep 3? When, Valve?

    Please?

    Anyone?

  • jonbwfc #75 1 year ago

    Just to clear things up, there was no entrapment. At all.'Entrapment' is where a police agency presents someone with the circumstances where they could commit a crime and then, if they give in to temptation, arrests them for it. By the time Gembe contacted Valve, he'd already committed the crime. You can't be entrapped into something you've already done. In fact this kind of tactic is one police officers all over the world use all the time.

    There probably is a legal term for 'inducing a suspect from another country to cross a border into your jurisdiction' which may also be against the rules, but whatever that term is, entrapment isn't it.

    And as for all those people whingeing about the FBI - how over the top was the german Police's reaction anyway? Sending a GSG9 team into his house because he'd leaked a game's source code? Automatic weapons to arrest a geeky kid? How is that 'reasonable force'? If one of them had been a bit trigger happy when he reached for that breadknife, he'd be dead.

    As it is he seems to have turned out OK and Gabe is still Scrooge McDuck wealthy, so in the long term it doesn't seem to have done anyone permanent harm.

  • Soton4084 #76 1 year ago

    Well done Eurogamer, that was a fascinating read! To be honest, it sounds like Valve made a mistake in not considering this guy's offer of employment. It sounds like he would have made quite an asset to the company!
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/11 @ 16:12

  • _tangent #77 1 year ago

    @MikeN

    I'm disappointed with how easily people paint Valve as the villains and condemn them for 'shady' activities in regard to fooling Gembe to travel to the states. Regardless of his motivations he still broke the law & stole their work. Valve's job offer doesn't make them villains, it simply makes Gembe a naive teenager.

    I'm a software developer profesionally, so I can appreciate valve's frustration at the theft of their work (and indeed the frustration of the broader community that theft of software is somehow perceived as a lesser crime than physical theft). However, going after a "naive teenager" as you accurately put it, in the way they attempted to is, imo, pretty uncompromising. Ultimately, personal circumstances and intentions have to play a role here. Software (and hardware) companies need to recognise that demonising the hacker community at large is not the best way to protect their investment. Ultimately, a great many hackers are enthusiasts rather than vindictive criminals. In this case, Gembe did not set out to do harm.

    By all means, vigarously pursue those who wish to steal from you in order to harm your business by way of undermining profits. However, work with those elements of the community who aren't out particularly to do harm per se, and you might find a happy medium can be reached.

  • DodgyPast #78 1 year ago

    Depends if you think the judicial system is for revenge or rehabilitation.

    Gabe was obviously motivated by revenge and was prepared to go to quite some lengths to get it, personally I don't think that that's a particularly civilised attitude.

  • abcd #79 1 year ago

    Super article. Thank you Simon Parkin.

  • cynical #80 1 year ago

    Valve put in so much love and affection into making HL2, I'm not at all suprised that they tried to get him to the US. If they had succeeded, he would have been lucky if the cops got him before the devs did with their pitchforks and torches.

    It's good that he regrets what he did, and that he has made more of himself now.. but anyone that feels Valve was underhanded in the way they treated him should maybe try and put themselves in the shoes of a dev that has had their (metaphorical) baby stolen.

  • speedjack #81 1 year ago

    Good read.

    A highly intelligent individual who was lacking common sense.

    I lack both.

  • Huntcjna #82 1 year ago

    This was a superb piece by Mr Parkin and something I would certainly like to see more of on the site. Great work EG.

  • _tangent #83 1 year ago

    @DodgyPast

    I think they'd probably try to argue that they were trying to make an example of him in order to deter other inviduals of a similar mind. Fact is though, most evidence shows that punishment is rarely preventative (unless you're prepared to go the whole hog and do something really unpleasent, like cut off a person's hand). Look at the random prosecutions of illegal music downloaders a few years ago; has that had any impact on the illegal downloading of music whatsoever?

    Hey wait - dodgy past? What's yours? Are you Axel Gembe?

  • Lotos8ter #84 1 year ago

    Thanks for a fascinating read EG. I suppose the modern parallel is with Crysis 2 and I hope sales aren't negatively affected there either.

  • NorUraeus #85 1 year ago

    ok, so some people seems to think he actually cost them 250M$. It is extremely unlikely he cost them that much or maybe even anything. The 250M$ was a figure created by Valve as an estimate of how much lost sales the leaked source code could theoretically cost them, but in the end as the article states, the game went on to sell very well and there is no indication that it would have been a lot higher without the leak.

  • E2K #86 1 year ago

    If he got on that plane, he would have been taking into a room. There would be no questions, only the hacker, and Gabe Newell.
    ...a hungry Gabe Newell.

    They say Gabe Newell also eats the bones, but this has never been confirmed. Anyway, I doubt the hacker would ever been seen again.

  • DodgyPast #87 1 year ago

    Making an example out of someone doesn't tend to work, since most people who break the law do so expecting to not get caught. There's all sorts of psychology that goes into the thinking behind it, but the end result is that it's not very effective.

    On the other hand rehabilitation has been shown to be very effective at preventing people from committing crimes again.

    Of course it's worth bearing in mind that in the US the prison service is privatised, so obviously it's in the interests of the prison companies that when their 'customers' leave they end up returning as soon as possible.

  • gani.slimshady #88 1 year ago

    A very good Article!! Thanks EG~

  • Lusterpurge #89 1 year ago

    Kudos to Eurogamer and Simon. Echoing others' sentiments, that was a fantastic and very interesting article. Maybe one day we will be reading about the Crysis 2 hacker.

  • spekkeh #90 1 year ago


    Ep 3? When, Valve?

    Please?

    Anyone?

    I say somebody oughta hack into their servers to get the real lowdown on Ep3s release schedule.

  • fleeboy #91 1 year ago

    This was probably the best article I've ever read on EG. Would be interesting to get Gabe's comments though.

  • memeroot #92 1 year ago

    we were all innocent then....

  • shogo10 #93 1 year ago

    Very good article, one of the best EG has done this year so far. Though I do have one question, did valve ever catch or sue the person that leaked the source code on the internet? In the article Gembe says he gave the code to someone else who I assume uploaded it.

  • MikeN #94 1 year ago

    @_tangent
    If Gembe had done nothing more than download the HL2 code for his own interest then perhaps Valve's actions could be viewed as vindictive. But by naively (if you take him at his word) distibuting the code to his associate Gembe cost valve both money and effort.

  • spidermanalf #95 1 year ago

    Superb article.

    As mentioned before, this and the WWE article are excellent! Could this be a turning point for Eurogamer? Having excellent articles about our great hobby?

    Thank you.

  • Praetorianer #96 1 year ago

    I like cyber-crime stories!

    No, make that "love"...I love cyber-crime stories!

  • Skandalle #97 1 year ago

    This is the sort of story that could win Oscars! The badass cop is screaming "Samuel Jackson"

  • Ka-blamo #98 1 year ago

    ummm I remember reading at the time that Gabe invited him to work for Valve(to trap him) then when he got off the plane he was arrested.

    Anyhoo, back to reading the article

  • dagas #99 1 year ago

    Great work! This is the kind of journalism that the video game industry lacks. usually it's not journalism at all, but just forwarding messaged like "game X have sold Y number of copies." or "Game studio A sues game studio B."

  • _tangent #100 1 year ago

    @MikeN

    In his defence, he distributed it to a single, trusted associate. That's pretty much just human nature though isn't it? When told a secret, all of us will tell one person we trust, as if that one person is exempt from the "you cannot tell anyone about this" qualification with which the original information was offered. In other words, I don't really think that fact alone makes much difference. He didn't steal it with the intention of distributing it online; he didn't give it to his friend with the intention that it end up distributed online. It certainly cost valve time and money to resolve, but in practice very little. The build stolen was so incomplete in no way could it serve as a substitute for the full game when released, so it's unlikely it hurt sales numbers. Obviously none of this excuses the theft, but the claim of $250M is patently absurd.

  • BremXJones #101 1 year ago

    Christ! As the article says, HL2 was costing a million a month to develop. Let's assume recoding the game to re-secure the source was revealed just took a month delay. That's a million he cost Valve. If it took a week, just under a quarter of a million.

    To be honest, if you fucked me over for 100 quid, I'd do far worse.

    KG
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/11 @ 16:37

  • metalangel #102 1 year ago

    So had the German cops not gotten to him first, he'd be in San Quentin being bummed by Big Black Bubba, and Gabe will still be swimming in his money pile. I'm glad we got the happy ending.

  • Feanor #103 1 year ago

    The people in this thread claiming Valve did something wrong by trying to get this guy to the US so he could be prosecuted for his crimes are fucking morons.

  • Scopeh #104 1 year ago

    Lovely read. I have to admit though all the mumbo jumbo about DNS's and hashes etc, right over my head.

  • garengarch #105 1 year ago

    Nice read - thanks

  • _tangent #106 1 year ago

    @Feanor

    The people in this thread claiming Valve did something wrong by trying to get this guy to the US so he could be prosecuted for his crimes are fucking morons.

    Morality is pretty subjective, so it's not uncommon for people to disagree. Thanks for the inteligent contribution to the debate though. And leaving aside the question of whether it was "right" to treat the guy like that, the FBI (and valve to a lesser extent) certainly did something wrong when they attempted to trample all over the sovereignty of the German judicial system.

  • arcam #107 1 year ago

    I don't really understand why people are more sympathetic to this guy than other *unnamed* hackers.

    He broke into a company's servers and copied and distributed copyrighted code, and before that he was writing viruses that stole people's legitimate CD-keys on a mass scale.

    I cannot understand how the morality of the EG hivemind works.
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/11 @ 17:02

  • wizbob #108 1 year ago

    It's not entrapment but Valve deliberately took advantage of the naivety of the kid to try to have him prosecuted in a brutal fundamentalist court system rather than that of his home country. I wonder if it would impinge on Gabe Newell's conscience if he knew Gembe was serving a 20 year sentence for international cyber-terrorism under the PATRIOT act or some such nonsense. Don't forget that the Americans have ruled that their constitution does not protect dirty foreiogners.

    I can understand the anger and frustration at Valve, but luring a kid into a foreign jurisdiction in cold blood with legal counsel is unpleasant. "Gee sure kid you can have any job you want, you just come over an' see ol' uncle Gabe". All they had to do was notify the German police. If only the British govenment could have offered the same proptection to Gary McKinnon.

  • Bluetooth #109 1 year ago

    This guy sounds like a legend and a gentleman. You know those stories of thieves back in the day who never grassed anyone, who, despite committing crime, would always be polite about it? This chap is a real life example.

    Also

    "Can I get something to eat before we leave?" asked Gembe.

    "No problem," said one of the policemen.

    ========

    Somehow I don't think police are that nice to criminals over here!

  • Olemak #110 1 year ago

    Great article, one of the best published on EG. The wrasslin' story was also quite excellent. Keep them coming, please.

  • ubergine #111 1 year ago

    Great read. I remember the leak back when ithe story first broke, enjoyed the reminder and further explanation.

    People don't understand why I like to read about this industry so much. It's riddled with fascinating stories and intrigues with millions of dollars at stake. Hollywood behind-the-scenes generates so-and-so-snorts-blow-off-so-and-so's-ass stories week to week, but computer games combine real-life creative characters whose acheivements are more than skin deep with what amounts to science fiction for most people.

  • konnsky #112 1 year ago

    Very interesting read! More like this, please Eurogamer!

  • jonbwfc #113 1 year ago

    "they attempted to trample all over the sovereignty of the German judicial system"
    Agreed, this is where the FBI look bad. They should have started extradition proceedings with the German government. It may have been a case of one FBI agent taking a chance on short-cutting the process rather than some form of institutional skullduggery, but it was still wrong.

    "Somehow I don't think police are that nice to criminals over here!"
    You can afford to be nice when you've got an MP5 :).

  • Incarta #114 1 year ago

    Good article. Personally, I think the kid got off lightly.

  • spongebob #115 1 year ago

    A really good article! Game journalism needs more top notch material like this. 8/10!

  • el_pollo_diablo #116 1 year ago

    Mire articles about the people behind games please EG

  • fragjam #117 1 year ago

    Fascinating article but not the title: he was hardly a boy if he's 28 now, and how do you come up with the huge sum of $250 million 'stolen'?
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/11 @ 17:33

  • Murton #118 1 year ago

    "If only the British govenment could have offered the same proptection to Gary McKinnon.

    Our extradition treaty with the US is a joke, we couldn't protect Gary if we wanted to. I don't know who signed the treaty and essentially gave away our right to refuse but whoever it was should really be brought up on some sort of charge themselves. For years now we've have Home Secretary after Home Secretary employing delay tactics on behalf of Mr McKinnon instead of running the risk of saying no to the US and violating the treaty. That being said, the US aren't pursuing McKinnon as rabidly as they were a few years ago, they're more interested in the truth behind the release of the Lockerbie Bomber and bringing BP to trial for the oil spill, but I suspect they'll come back to McKinnon sooner or later.


    I also don't think the German authorities approach was totally legal either. They basically arrested Gembe on a higher charge so they could put on strict probation to prevent him from giving himself up and an investigation into their actions would probably find that their intelligence didn't warrant a GSG9 raid in conjunction with the SASSER worm. What they essentially did was call the FBI's bluff. By securing their man within their own jurisdiction they forced the FBI to either give up or file for extradition properly, and if they filed their ruse would come out in the extradition hearing and the German judge ruling would simply refuse the transfer, at worst case scenario the German Government could take offense and cause a diplomatic incident.


    I've quite enjoyed this little debate actually, here's hoping that EG can keep it up with these more enlightened and informative articles and inspire more great debate in the future. I'm sure the readership would appreciate a more intellectual and less fanboy baiting Eurogamer.net

  • Scimarad #119 1 year ago

    Excellent article. More of this sort of thing!

  • Kerome #120 1 year ago

    Good read, and nice to hear Axel's side of the story, which is a first for me.

  • coldfoot #121 1 year ago

    If only he had sent the source code to Gabe instead of his shady friend, he'd probably avoid all this and have a job at Valve now.

  • mdsll #122 1 year ago

    Great article, there should me more quality content as this one on Eurogamer. Please keep this standard up!

  • varkdm #123 1 year ago

    Didn't Valve use the leak as the main excuse as to why the game was delayed? I seem to remember people saying the game had been delayed because they needed to rewrite parts of the engine to counter the source code leak, this guy almost did them a favour.

    I think the kid sharing the source doe makes him an idiot (as he admits) and Valve trying to get around extradition law by getting him to the US on false pretenses also makes them look like pretty nasty characters in this.. not a pretty spectacle all around really.

  • Trowel #124 1 year ago

    Great article, good work EG.

  • Paul_cz #125 1 year ago

    Fascinating article - THIS is the kind of stuff I want to see on eurogamer!

  • Ikaros_O #126 1 year ago

    Fascinating read - thanks EG

  • RevanEleven #127 1 year ago

    More of this please, Eurogamer.

  • Bilstar #128 1 year ago

    Seems like a nice kid. Nicer than the smarmy, prepubescent, imminently punchable Hotz turd.

  • bell_801 #129 1 year ago

    It does feel a bit wonky to the fact valve (Newell) never seemed any bit interested in the guy and just washed his hands hopin he would rot in a cell like any other small fry hacker. I thought any "smart" gamer/person would be at least angered or curious tothe point of wanting to know each intrecate detail about the guy who almost ruined his business by accident.

  • DrStrangelove #130 1 year ago

    Fantastic read, thanks EG.

    I can see that Newell's behaviour wasn't quite honourable, but honestly, in the given situation I think it's quite understandable. The leak must have been shattering for Valve, and suddenly the guy contacts you personally... if he did this to me, I would feel less inclined to act gallantly too, even more so at a point when it was not clear if he was really just a naive "kid" (btw, at about age 22 you're not really a kid anymore, technically) or maybe a confused cyber criminal.

    I would like to know what Valve's further reactions were. Did they try to have him extradited because they felt he wasn't being punished enough? Or did they maybe realise there was no point in that, that it might be better to let German justice deal with the case their way, and just let go of the whole thing?

    I also don't think this should be connected with the McKinnon case. This is about stealing a game's source code, attacking military networks is a different story.

  • Rodchenko #131 1 year ago

    And as for all those people whingeing about the FBI - how over the top was the german Police's reaction anyway? Sending a GSG9 team into his house because he'd leaked a game's source code? Automatic weapons to arrest a geeky kid? How is that 'reasonable force'? If one of them had been a bit trigger happy when he reached for that breadknife, he'd be dead.

    Gembe's account of his arrest by the German police does sound a bit overblown (expecially the part with the kitchen knife). After a quick seach on Google I didn't find an article (neither in German nor in English) that would confirm his version. I am sceptical, since German police usually don't storm buildings with weapons cocked, let alone family houses in small Schwarzwaldian villages, and the GSG9 is usually only called in for anti-terror operations.

    I guess Gembe took a bit of an artistic licence there, elevating himself to be Gordon Freeman who is surrounded by combine soldiers.

    Still a fascinating story and a great read.

  • ichobi #132 1 year ago

    One of the best featured article on Eurogamer this pass months. The drama of gaming industry never cease to amaze me. I particularly like the way the kid explain his methods in details. We are lucky to be able to go through his mind and the way these genius do their things, politically corrected or not.

    Anyhow, I also disagree what Newell did. That was not nice, exploiting people's genuine intention that way. He could have handled better. But I do understand the frustation the leak might have caused the Value team. It could potentially break the company apart and we would have not been able to play the great games for them like we did.

    Gotta admire the German police did made an effort to protect their citizen. Can't imagine how fucked up he would be should he got on that plane.
    Edited by 2 at 21/02/11 @ 19:50

  • AdamAsunder #133 1 year ago

    Excellent article. More of this please.

  • Mister-Wario #134 1 year ago

    "While I have a €2000 Steam account nowadays, at the time I couldn't afford to buy games," he explains.

    Forgive me, but how much was Half-Life 2 when it eventually released?

  • prettyboytim #135 1 year ago

    I don't think he would have got a huge sentence in the US, although he also wouldn't have gotten away with probation. Kevin Mitnick was sentenced to one year inside plus three years supervised release for stealing the source code to DEC's RSTS/E operating system, for instance.

    I don't really blame Gabe Newell for trying to get him to come over to the US; trying to get him extradited would probably be incredibly difficult.

  • Rehabveteran #136 1 year ago

    Great read, props to the writer.

  • Goodfella #137 1 year ago

    If Gembe went to prison would he have got a half life sentence? ;)

  • Siberian_Khatru #138 1 year ago

    Great article.

    I've been going through my old PC games, looking for things that are worth keeping in these times of digital distribution. Found a DVDR with this leak on it, first instinct was to throw it out, but then I decided to keep it. It is after all a snapshot of the development of one of the best games evurrr.

    One thing that the article doesn't mention is that Valve used the leak as a public justification for the delay. That was a half-truth, it was obvious to everyone who'd checked it out that the game was far from ready.

  • Cirdain #139 1 year ago

    wow... bloody interesting article. Good job!
    :)

  • HeNiCiDe1988 #140 1 year ago

    man bit harsh trying to trick him to america for a more severe punishment. But frankly the expose didnt effect me buying it and wouldnt surprise me if it increased their sales lol but fascinating how he learnt to hack, but also shows you will always get caught suppose.

    Great article.
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/11 @ 20:30

  • ZizouFC #141 1 year ago

    Fantastic read.

    Don't like what he did, or him really (so happy that you have a fat Steam account now after avoiding deserved jail time), but I would love to see a hack battle between him and Geohot - just to see Geohot squirm.

  • Zaltan #142 1 year ago

    Half Life day? A University Challenge question and a Eurogamer feature!

  • bioreit #143 1 year ago

    @ _tangent

    "In his defence, he distributed it to a single, trusted associate. That's pretty much just human nature though isn't it? When told a secret, all of us will tell one person we trust, as if that one person is exempt from the "you cannot tell anyone about this" qualification with which the original information was offered. In other words, I don't really think that fact alone makes much difference. He didn't steal it with the intention of distributing it online; he didn't give it to his friend with the intention that it end up distributed online."

    All of which is only known now, after the fact. Regrettably, as ace at Valve are at coding games, they're not psychic, so they had no way of knowing whether he was a naive kid hacking into things because he was lonely and shared the stolen code with someone he trusted who subsequently betrayed him, or a super-hacker working for a criminal organisation who deliberately went after the code and maliciously released it into the wilds. Before the phone conversations, how could they possibly even guess at what Gembe's motivations were? And even after Gabe talked to him, how could they know he wasn't just good at acting? And that the person who turned up at a US airport for an 'interview' was even the person they had the phone conversation with?

    The benefit of hindsight - especially a completely biased version of it, coming from only one participant - will always colour past actions. Which is completely and totally unreasonable, as is the criticism of Valve on that basis.

    "The build stolen was so incomplete in no way could it serve as a substitute for the full game when released, so it's unlikely it hurt sales numbers. Obviously none of this excuses the theft, but the claim of $250M is patently absurd."

    I agree - the $250M was obviously one of those pumped up, MPAA-style headline figures designed to scare people off - which never works. Still, the galling prospect of having to go back through the nearly-finished game and building in safeguards because someone released your source code is the last thing any programmer would want when they think they're on the home straight.

    Glad he's turned his life around, but at the time, the situation would have seemed very different to all concerned, especially Valve, so I think they can easily be forgiven for acting on the opportunity to possibly capture the culprit who was seemingly anxious to confess.

    EDIT: Teh speelling wurms.
    Edited by 1 at 21/02/11 @ 21:01

  • MinerWilly #144 1 year ago

    Best story on Eurogamer for ages that. Great job Simon.

  • Monkey_Chops #145 1 year ago

    This is pretty much my favourite Eurogamer article to date. Thanks, guys!

  • kupocake #146 1 year ago

    "Nearly a decade on, he is remorseful about the Half-Life 2 episode"
    Poor Valve. Even the people who hacked them realise that Episodic publishing doesn't work.

  • dom6918 #147 1 year ago

    Fantastic article!!

  • mukki #148 1 year ago

    Good article thanks!

  • vegard #149 1 year ago

    @Monkey_Chops

    hah, those are pretty much the exact words I was going to post. A great</a> read!

  • malloc #150 1 year ago

    Depressingly, despite having a degree in computer science and working in an IT depo at a bank I can't understand half of what he's on about.

    Probably one of the most interesting articles I've read on this site. Great stuff. Pulizter vote from my myself.

  • Red-Moose #151 1 year ago

    So, basically Gabe Newell was cruising for sex on the net, and tried to groom a german boy? Or have I misread the article?

  • furp #152 1 year ago

    Excellent article, more in depth articles like thus please eurogamer. Reminds me of the excellent articles that appear in wired every now and again.

  • silent_snake #153 1 year ago

    Amazing article!
    I've read it in a single breath, kudos to the author and Eurogamer!

  • IronCladChicken #154 1 year ago

    @kupocake
    Better tell that to the guys at TellTale games.

  • OliverH #155 1 year ago

    @jonbwfc #115

    "Agreed, this is where the FBI look bad. They should have started extradition proceedings with the German government. It may have been a case of one FBI agent taking a chance on short-cutting the process rather than some form of institutional skullduggery, but it was still wrong. "

    It is actually more than that. Because unlike apparently with Britain, there is a snowball's chance in hell that they would have gotten the extradition. The German Constitution restricts extraditions of German citizens to International Courts or other EU member states. And you can expect the FBI to know that. It was not a case of short-cutting a process, it was a case of trying to circumvent the German constitution. Not to mention that the issue of which jurisdiction actually applies is even more complex because he was sitting in Germany when he did what he did.

  • OliverH #156 1 year ago

    @bioreit #149

    "The benefit of hindsight - especially a completely biased version of it, coming from only one participant - will always colour past actions. Which is completely and totally unreasonable, as is the criticism of Valve on that basis. "

    I beg your pardon, but he was tried in court and a verdict was reached. Unless you want to suggest that German courts are biased, we can take it as a given that the evidence supported these claims.

  • Sarlix #157 1 year ago

    I can't say I'm impressed with how Gabe/Valve handled this. Luckily things turned out well for both parties.

  • blunted #158 1 year ago

    Good article.

    It's been mentioned earlier in the comments, but if you liked this you should read 'The Cuckoo's Egg' by Clifford Stoll - proper gripping true story about KGB hackers, and how one guy tracked them down.

  • SG #159 1 year ago

    Given the circumstances, I think that Valve and the FBI behaved like utter and total cunts. Mind you,who's surprised in the case of the FBI?

  • arcam #160 1 year ago

    FBI actions were because they seem to have thought he wrote the Sasser worm, or knew who did (maybe not far-fetched: the author was also a German teenager).

    If you don't remember Sasser, that was some serious shit, that did millions of dollars worth of damage. Not surprising the FBI took it quite so seriously.

  • SG #161 1 year ago

    There's a thing called proper procedure. They should have spoken to the German police, not try to get to him by going around them and getting him to go there.

    EDIT: WHAT?! I'm negged for that?! It's so depressing that it's funny.
    Edited by 1 at 22/02/11 @ 16:28

  • CaLeDee #162 1 year ago

    I actually nearly did tear up at the end. Never had that happen to me before by just reading something. Great article.

  • TackyCheeba #163 1 year ago

    At first glance i thought this was news about Episode 3..

    ...and now i'm sad again.

  • Kerome #164 1 year ago

    @ kupocake: episodic publishing does work though, its just that no-one has devised a way to make it fast enough, you need weekly episodes of an hour, rather than one episode every two years...

  • handsonhips101 #165 1 year ago

    A couple of well done prizes to be given here.

    Eurogamer: well done. Best games article I've read for ages. Keep it up.

    Coolbritannia. Well done. Your ability to turn everything into a anti ps3 tirade despite no real connection... never ceases to amaze.

    Fair play.

  • gjgjg #166 1 year ago

    echoing the +1 for the article.

  • z8Jay #167 1 year ago

    I remember downloading the source when it was released online

    Then buying the game when it was released in the shops.

  • orangpelupa #168 1 year ago

    Eurogamer! really good article. Keep making articles like this :D
    good use of the easy to understand wordings and explation too.

    thanks a lot

    @ the boy who stole half-life 2
    its will be nice if then Episode 3 is released, gabe will ask you together to go drink together in a coffee shop. Talking about the nostalgia between you and valve

  • orangpelupa #169 1 year ago

    btw anyone know is eurogamer allow a full-text translation of this article to another language, posted in a gaming forum in my country?
    of course i will clearly say the Eurogamer is the original article creator.

    this is a nice read. i want to spread this to the gamer in my country, that unfortunately not all can read english.
    Edited by 1 at 22/02/11 @ 00:03

  • jonbwfc #170 1 year ago

    @SG "They should have spoken to the German police, not try to get to him by going around them and getting him to go there."
    They patently did speak to the German police, otherwise how would they have known to raid his house, you fool. Maybe the FBI were running parallel plans - go through official channels AND run the sting to try to get him to US soil. Certainly the best way to play the percentages. Nobody here has any actual clue what actually went on. Doesn't stop a whole host of people apparently spouting off about who the 'bad guys' were.

    To summarise
    Kid - broke into Valve's systems, took (stole is the wrong word) their IP and gave it to someone else who he laughably 'trusted' who then put it up on the net for all & sundry - so he's not the good guy.
    Valve - Saw several years work spread across the net and spent many dollars to fix the problem but used it as an excuse for their own project management failures. So, not the good guys.
    The FBI - Strung the guy along to try to get him out of Germany, very likely on the basis it would make their lives' easier, even though it would make his life harder - so they're not the good guys. Ooh, I See a pattern developing.
    German police - if we are to believe him, raided his house as if we was an armed hostile criminal, rather than a kid who spent too long in front of his computer. Just about managed not to shoot him to death. So they're not the good guys either, really, although they probably did him a favour in the long run.

    So, hey, what do you know, NOBODY is the good guy. Everything is a shade of grey. Shit, it'd not like a video game after all this real life is it?

  • riz23 #171 1 year ago

    Would make a great movie in the style of 'the social network'.

  • Lucodeath #172 1 year ago

    On well, valve made enough money. So the Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2 didnt know its wrong to do but clever enough to do all that stuff must be telling some porkies! Why did it cost valve 250mil? they still had all the code. If I had sensitive data on any computer it wouldnt be connected to the internet.
    Oh crap all my dodggy porn collection has just been pinched!
    I did buy all the halflife games and expansions and buy them again on different platforms. Next installment sooner than later please.
    Edited by 1 at 22/02/11 @ 00:45

  • OrgasmicMutton #173 1 year ago

    Great article Mr Parkin.

    As others have said more of this type of thing please Eurogamer. Nice to have a good bit of human interest/cautionary tale type stuff.

  • Khab #174 1 year ago

    Well written, great idea for an article! Very nice.

  • Felwyn #175 1 year ago

    They already made this movie - except the guy in real life had to serve 5 years in Murikan jails.

    http://www.imdb. com/title/tt0159784/

  • Savatage #176 1 year ago

    Brilliant article. Interesting, well-written and quite moving at the end.

    Thanks EG.

  • Gunhappy23 #177 1 year ago

    Dear EA/Crytek i am sorry for hacking your servers and stealing your game i hope one day you could forgive me and give me a job . Jokes aside that was a good read!!
    Edited by 1 at 22/02/11 @ 03:27

  • Agiel7 #178 1 year ago

    An outstanding article and a truly fascinating story.

    In the end, I'm glad that this Gembe guy turned out alright at the end. He still looks up to Valve, and a lesser man could have launched an internet-wide crusade against them after that debacle. But, he still goes on and buys their games and turns his h4xx0r skills for the forces of good.

  • MTC87 #179 1 year ago

    Fascinating read. I registered just to give that bit of feedback.

  • BadFlounder #180 1 year ago

    Great article. Hackers are asshats and deserve to get busted. I'm glad this moron learned his lesson and has turned into a productive person. It's too bad there are too many other dorks out there who still get off on ruining the party for others by hacking.

  • fredrikpj #181 1 year ago

    Tons of great comments here, and It has to be said again, amazing article! :)

  • mashk #182 1 year ago

    I remember trying to hack into a computer games companies server back in the 80s. I was looking for some new and interesting games, and I thought I found one in 'Thermonuclear War'

    Little did I know, I almost inadvertently started World War III.

    Doh!

  • GamesConnoisseur #183 1 year ago

    Interesting story, but I m amazed at the sentiments if the developers breached their promised release date then all hell loose and deserves to be punished.

    Release date are usually just arbitrary anyway, would we prefers rushed inferior quality job or a finished article? GT5 way late and yet people don't go after Poly and hack the hell out of em.

    There is relationship between gamers and developers/publishers, we don't want to be fobbed off but we can be so demanding and fickle.

  • Widge #184 1 year ago

    Great read this. Loved it.

  • lordofthedunce #185 1 year ago

    I wonder what Newell's take on the whole episode is now and if he thinks he might have overreacted at the time or it all went a bit too far.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #186 1 year ago

    Really interesting, thanks Eurogamer.
    Edited by 1 at 22/02/11 @ 10:27

  • DirectAim #187 1 year ago

    I downloaded it and played it for a while, the game was seriously unfinished with holes and labels flying around everywhere! I obviously bought the game (I have bought it twice bcuz my steam account was hacked) and I doubt that sales figures wer hit bcuz all it did for everyone I knew who downloaded it was make them want the final game more!

    Valve should hire him!

  • ardamillo #188 1 year ago

    Great article, and quite moving at the end. Interesting to remember Valve weren't always the benevolent overlords they are today.

  • Sp3ct3r #189 1 year ago

    Great article, i think it's the best article i've read on EG.
    More like this plz :)

  • xaqread #190 1 year ago

    This is one of the few stories I have read fully through, it was a great read and an inspiring story. Here is your reason to stop hackers, do something useful with your time and ability just like this guy realised he should.

    Amazing, just amazing.

  • carlitoswagon #191 1 year ago

    More articles like this. Great read.

    It's understandable why Valve wanted to stomp on this kids nuts. I can only imagine how angry they were when this went down, although I actually felt relieved when the German police caught up with him and not the FBI.

  • daft #192 1 year ago

    Between this and RPS' articles about Fox News one might hope that video games writing is slowly moving away from being mouth pieces of publishers and developers PR departments and becoming creative outlets for actual games journalism. Long way to go yet though, but an excellent article. More please.

  • FenderMaster #193 1 year ago

    how did this cause damages in excess of $250,000,000?

  • fabio78 #194 1 year ago

    I'd also like to know what Gabe has to say to Gembe nowadays.

  • Iliad #195 1 year ago

    Excellent article guys - more great features like this to read please.

  • Vixremento #196 1 year ago

    Agreed - nice read! It's amazing to think that someone is as smart as this dude was and to think that he feels some remorse for what is did is commendable. I do however think that HL2 was a bit of a letdown in terms of what the original brought to the table. Think back (those of you that can remember) to the first time you played the very first Half-Life:
    - That train ride (I kept thinking to myself...is this gonna bore the crap outta me?)
    - The first time you whacked a head crab
    - The awesome set pieces
    - The fucken crowbar was awesome!!!

    HL2 was great - without a doubt however the load times every friekin 30 metres (or at least that's what it felt like back on our super computers back in the day) really pissed me off. The silly steam issues (it took me several hours to get the damn game installed and patched even though I'd purchased the original retail copy) before even getting to play it (I still had dial-up back then).

    Then again I still refuse to use Steam so I guess I'm just getting old...maybe one day I'll still get to play HL3 before DirectX 15 hits...just maybe (either that or I'll be reading about COD: Red Station being top of the charts for the last 39 weeks and playing mediocre FPS ports on my PC still thanks to the wonderful console generation).
    Edited by 1 at 22/02/11 @ 17:00

  • itsfuzzy #197 1 year ago

    Best Eurogamer article since the interview with the Demons Souls creator. More of these please!
    Edited by 1 at 22/02/11 @ 18:00

  • Wegberg #198 1 year ago

    And a +1 from me.

    What a fantastic read, to echo what the others have already mentioned what a brilliant article more of the same from Eurogamer please.

  • ShiroBen #199 1 year ago

    That was a fantastic article. Kudos, sir. Kudos.

  • smelly #200 1 year ago

    And how much was this little shit paid for this article to give him "fame" for what he did?

  • barnettbeans #201 1 year ago

    A fantastic read. Great job.

  • BigMikeyP #202 1 year ago

    Absolutely fascinating read!

    Well done guys

  • Mark1412 #203 1 year ago

    Echo all the positive comments, more like this.

  • eulogy1337 #204 1 year ago

    What Gabe and the FBI tried to do was not entrapment.

    Entrapment is when they get you to do something illegal when you normally wouldn't have. This kid obviously already broke the law on his own terms, it's not like a police officer told him to hack their servers.

  • OliverH #205 1 year ago

    @eulogy1337 #213

    But he broke the law while sitting in Germany, and normally could have ONLY been tried by a German court for doing so. They tried nothing less than circumventing the constitution of Germany, which prohibits extraction of German citizens to the US.

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