OK maybe more like, self-owned. So Half-Life 2 Episode 1 was supposed to launch on Steam today, June 1. Though Jason already had a chance to play the game earlier (see our preview), we wanted to give another reviewer (moi) a crack at the game. That meant jumping on Steam and playing the game right from the public get-go. The plan was that I'd preload the game on Steam, come in to the office at midnight and then crank through the game during the dead of night and be ready with a review first thing in the morning. The only reason I didn't do this from home, btw, is b/c my home computer is a bit on the pokey side, and I wanted to get a better gaming experience from my faster computer here at work.
Good plan right? I even slept at home from about 6PM to 12AM so I'd be bright-eyed and bushy tailed for a late night of HL2 action. So I stroll into the office tonight, all ready to go with some dinner and two tallboy cans of Mountain Dew Amp to keep alert. I open up the Steam app and find...the game is still locked. WTH. Then I realize...the game doesn't unlock on Steam until 10AM Pacific, not 12AM. pwnt.
Well, no sweat right? With no traffic in the middle of the night it's only a 20 min drive home from the office, so I'll just go home and try to go back to sleep. Except for the fact that CalTrans closed off all access to the eastbound portion of the Bay Bridge. All traffic on the 80 E was actually diverted to surface streets and all on-ramps to the 80 E in downtown SF were closed except the one on Bryant. This led to a gargantuan backup of trucks and cars at 2:30AM in the SOMA area. Rather than get in the stupid-long line of cars from 8 different streets trying to cram into a SINGLE on-ramp, I decided to drive all the way south on 101 to the San Mateo bridge, and take the long way around to the East Bay. The 20 min drive home turned into an hour long drive. Yea it wouldn't have taken that long if I just got in the line of cars, but that's just how I am...I'd rather drive miles out of the way to avoid slow traffic than willingly get myself into bumper-to-bumper grind.
The worst part is, I'm still awake. Time to try to get some sleep before I come into the office to start on Episode 1. For REALS this time!
Jeff and Alex definitely owe me a can of Hyphy Juice for this one!