Half-Life 2 in a Browser • Hacker News Board

Re: Half-Life 2 in a Browser

#71

Post by account42 » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 9:23 AM UTC

utopiah wrote: post #56

That's also the kind of Website, beside the impressive technical result, that reminds me nothing can be blocked. It's not about bypassing VPN or deep pack inspection, rather it's about how once anything, including a very complex video game (like here) to an entire OS with a host machine (like QEMU on WASM, or a random InternetArchive link about emulation) is "just" a Web page that can be hosted... on anything (includ…

Sounds like companies should start locking down browsers to disable WebGL, WASM and other similar APIs targeted at apps as opposed to web pages. I would welcome this if it got web developers to stop using more than they actually need.

Re: Half-Life 2 in a Browser

#72

Post by kevinten10 » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 9:23 AM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Half-Life 2 in a Browser

#73

Post by account42 » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 9:25 AM UTC

AzzyHN wrote: post #2

[flagged]

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

Re: Half-Life 2 in a Browser

#74

Post by Cthulhu_ » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 9:26 AM UTC

memoryuns4f3fff wrote: post #42

Here is a link to the blog post since I didn’t see it mentioned https://www.slqnt.dev/blog/hl2-in-web

Yeah probably better to link to this instead, else everyone clicking will start downloading the big files.

Re: Half-Life 2 in a Browser

#75

Post by account42 » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 9:27 AM UTC

flordaman wrote: post #53

crote wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

Turns out "too big to fail" doesn't just apply to reckless financial behavior.

Re: Half-Life 2 in a Browser

#76

Post by Cthulhu_ » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 9:28 AM UTC

crote wrote: post #31

AzzyHN wrote: post #2

[flagged]

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.

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.

Re: Half-Life 2 in a Browser

#77

Post by account42 » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 9:29 AM UTC

KeplerBoy wrote: post #25

londons_explore wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

Technically it isn't illegal until the copyright holder decides not to grant (retroactive) permission.

Re: Half-Life 2 in a Browser

#78

Post by Cthulhu_ » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 9:29 AM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #15

AzzyHN wrote: post #2

[flagged]

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.

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.

Re: Half-Life 2 in a Browser

#79

Post by account42 » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 9:30 AM UTC

rvz wrote: post #33

londons_explore wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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…

> 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.

Re: Half-Life 2 in a Browser

#80

Post by zombot » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 9:32 AM UTC

nba456_ wrote: post #64

crote wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>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!

It only works like that for the Big Thieves. Us regular folks get screwed over just like before.