I have an ATI voucher for a free copy of Half-life 2 from a 9600xt I bought for my dad about 6-months ago, I filled in the online form for a copy of the game when I first got the card, apparently I should have recieved an application form to fill in and I would need to send the voucher, reciept for the card and the barcode cut off the box to validate it. I haven't recieved an application form? Also, upon checking the details, it appered that the p+p to the UK would be almost as much as just buying the game from a shop?? Anyway, the unused voucher has been burried in a draw until now. I was looking at the steam website and apparently the holders of HL2 vouchers are given a Bronze account??? What exactly does this mean? it says: Half-life 2, Half-life 2 multiplayer and counterstrike: source? All very well, but it's not explained very clearly. Does this mean that I can download each of these three games for free? do I have to pay some sort of subscription? do I still need to pay for the games even with an account? Am I restricted to playing these games just over the internet or can I just download it/install it/burn it to DVD for safe keeping and then kill the internet connection for singleplayer? The steam website doesn't explain anything very well? any help is appreciated. AMD Athlon XP2200+ Aero7 lite 512mb Crucial pc2700 Abit NF7-s V2.0 80GB Seagate SATA 120GB Seagate SATA Geforce4 Ti4200 128mb Benq FP767-12 17" 12ms SB live 5.1 Digital

Valve currently offers 3 different packages via steam. If you go to http://www.steampowered.com/ is says right on the main page what is included with each of the three packages. The ATI voucher is equivalent to a bronze package ($50 value) " Does this mean that I can download each of these three games for free?" Yes it does. "Do I have to pay some sort of subscription?" There aren't hidden/extra fees. do I still need to pay for the games even with an account? The ATI voucher includes couter-strike:source, hl2 and hl2 deathmatch for free. (these 3 games will be free "forever") "Am I restricted to playing these games just over the internet or can I just download it/install it/burn it to DVD for safe keeping and then kill the internet connection for singleplayer?" Yes, once you activate hl2 via steam one time, you no longer require an internet connection. Just open steam and click "start in offline mode" By the way, here's a quote from steampowered.com "If you do not already have a Steam account, you can create a Steam account and use your ATI/Half-Life 2 product key printed on the coupon that came with the video card." So there should be a cd key on that ati voucher that you need to enter into steam. This will give you access to the three games listed above. Asus P4P800 P4 2.4c @ 3000 Mhz Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu HSF ATI Radeon 9800 pro 1 GB OCZ pc 3500 ram Sound Blaster audigy LS

Smart!!!:d