An analyst reported that the effect was attributed to husbands drinking too much Hot Coffee.

Here is the actual email from Gabe that was sent out:

--

Hello,

Recently, your Steam account was erroneously banned from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

This was our mistake, and I apologize for any frustration or angst it may have caused you.

The problem was that Steam would fail a signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version. This was caused by a combination of conditions occurring while Steam was updating the disk image of a game. This wasn't a game-specific mistake. Steam allows us to manage and reverse these erroneous bans (about 12,000 erroneous bans over two weeks).

We have reversed the ban, restoring your access to the game. In addition, we have given you a free copy of Left 4 Dead 2 to give as a gift on Steam, plus a free copy for yourself if you didn't already own the game.

To share your extra copy of Left 4 Dead 2 with a friend, you can 'Manage Gifts and Guest Passes' from the 'Games' Menu in Steam, or visit this article on the Steam Support site for detailed instructions: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4502-TPJL-2656.

To access your own copy of Left 4 Dead 2, visit your library of games in Steam. If you didn't already own the game, it will now be listed among your others there, and is available for download immediately.

Regards,
Gabe Newell
President, Valve

I can see the headline now:

PETA Blocks Alternative Energy Research

What, they use inflammatory headlines all the time, might as well give 'em a taste of their own medicine!

Now that wireless hardware is so cheap I'm surprised we don't see more of these made commercially. Why are there so few of those little handheld electronic games that have wireless connectivity? They could sell like 4 of em together in one package.

The current environment encourages developers to unnecessarily toss multiplayer into their games without caring about it — or even considering whether anyone will bother playing it. It’s like they're checking an invisible quota box that demands multiplayer's inclusion.

Developers? No. The checking-off box mentality is created by the execs who look at past performance, market research, and all that boring stuff to come up with very specific ideas about what they want in a game. The developers usually have to build what the publisher asks for if they want to get paid.

Of course if you as a developer think you know better you can always strike out on your own, but most that do don't end up making much money. Thems the breaks.

Not sure why this is downvoted. It looks pretty accurate.

As the Internet becomes ubiquitous you should expect to see fewer and fewer games without a significant online component. Piracy is rampant and it's publishers won't pay developers unless they maintain control over the game environment.

Note that I didn't say this trend is GOOD or RIGHT, just that it's what is happening.

Let me guess, mister AC... you are a corporate drone with an inflated sense of self-worth who has never created anything of value on your own.

Too easy.

Anyone know if this release improves ZFS stability on 32-bit machines? even with 2GB of ram i still get occasional kernel panics due to it running out of address space.

So it will be like EVE Online, except with Wookies?

EXTRA! Politicians from 37 states find easy way to make it look like they are doing something useful while ignoring war in Iraq, war on drugs, out of control budgets, ...

Wow, I hope this will be as good as Spore!

Oops, just kidding.

Hmm... So just like the Nobel Laureates list, then?

Oh... Carry on.

He was trying to win the new Slashdot Moron Achievement. Duh.

Like you know better than the pros at blizzard what sells games. Ha. Haha. Hahahahahahhaa.

When I was a kid I was writing my own apps. Now get off my lawn!