The Boy Who Stole Valve - The Half Life 2 Leak

[@Nellooo]

Corrections! The game cost a million dollars a MONTH to develop, not a million dollars a day. Also yes, cell phones existed in 2003, I meant to say smart phones. Oops

[@Austin-sw5yb]

oops

[@ImaplanetJupiteeeerr]

Hahha I actually went back just to check if I actually heard it correctly and thought to myself that how the hell is producing video games so damn expensive :DDD

[@Maxxzyy]

I heard that sentence and I had to rewind and hear it again, then I immediately looked at the comments to see if anyone else noticed it as well. I'm glad you made a post about the error! :P

[@alexanderwingeskog758]

Ah, reacted to that one also...

[@TinyDeskEngineer]

"We pay our employees a salary of 5 hundred metric tons of solid gold bars a day"

[@EmbeddedWithin]

I thought this was when tf2 official Twitter said “heavy update comes when someone steals the valve in valve hq” and the payday 2 guys actually stole the valve

[@garunga597]

same

[@unr34L-]

What?

[@Arslan35]

1) Not official, you're reciting @Dev_TF2, which is a parody account. 2) Most likely wasn't stolen, probably was just a joke.

[@atrociousbean4096]

Well, they did released an update a month or so ago. All they added is snakes in the map. Best update ever.

[@undersc0r]

same

[@therealErmo]

6:49 Footage of German Police wearing Polish Police uniforms standing next to a Polish police van parked near an entrance to the Warsaw Metro. Interesting.

[@mikixyz123]

Was abt to point that lmfao

[@anonkig]

Oh well man, it’s a vid abt valve not uniforms of cops

[@cedrichabschi7312]

Yee our uniforms do look a litle bit difrent and here the police cant pull their guns out (ecept its a live threatning situation)

[@bananbananowy3552]

It's FBI's fault

[@alexmcfly31415]

Yeah, I spotted that too. I was kinda suspicious the uniforms didn't say "Polizei" but wasn't sure if it was the Police or another Slavic country.

[@Giganotti]

It's entirely possible that man actually saved Valve. Butterfly effect.

[@Cyrex64]

i think he actually did, because of the leaks people tried the "beta" and gave feedback to valve and what can be changed, as far as i know ppl hated it, it looks so unfinished, messy, too much stuff in one game. it kinda explains why the "beta" is so different from the actual release version.

[@TheBlackRose666]

@@Cyrex64 but then again think about how different of a story half life would have been if it were to go in the original direction

[@Cyrex64]

@@TheBlackRose666 yeah, the concept in the beta was cool but it was just too much for the source engine to handle, the game couldve been longer and much more darker.

[@HyperrealisticLuigi]

@@Cyrex64 most of the beta was already scrapped when it leaked i believe

[@evdestroy4121]

@@Cyrex64 It was not "too much for the source engine to handle". They just wanted to take the game in a different direction.

[@raidenstern6617]

Roomate Prisoner: Boy what you in for Axel Gembe: i stole a beta version of a game Roomate Prisoner: GET ME OUT OF HERE, HE'S CRAZY PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP

[@Mageh533]

Well technically he was only on probation, so he didnt actually go to jail.

[@monkey3582]

@@Mageh533 r/woosh

[@palleppalsson]

No need to steal beta versions now when you can just pay $60 for it on release day.

[@thathollyjolly]

@@Mageh533 What's probation?

[@Mageh533]

@@thathollyjolly probation is when you are technically and legally a prisoner but you don't actually have to be in jail, you can simply live normally under supervision.

[@Muscleduck]

I too downloaded the HL2 'beta'. It actually had a decent amount of playable bits, but that ERROR sign did pop up a lot. I remember a decent bit of City 17 with the strider was in the beta, as well as the benchmark map.

[@Hitman006xp]

It was a great time for a young boy =D

[@darthtortugas]

Around this time I found out I had a son and wanted to meet him for the first time and told my online friends I needed to sell my PC so I could take this trip, One of them decided to email Gabe to tell him my story. Gabe responded with a $500.00 donation that allowed me to go see Isak while keeping my PC. Gabe will always be in my heart.

[@FKProds]

WOW

[@nicoarrigoni3898]

Gabe’s a real one

[@darthtortugas]

@@nicoarrigoni3898 What makes this important to me is little did any of us know my son would die three years later and that money he gave me allowed me to have more time with my son than I might have.

[@nicoarrigoni3898]

@@darthtortugas Sorry to hear about your loss, man. Hope you still going strong and may he be in a better place.

[@jorgefelix9374]

Who is gabe ?

[@Spookoffi]

We need this dude to do it again for hl3

[@thisisarealhuman]

Working on it.. ( Dis is a joke )

[@yumi.8484]

alyx already came out and that's the most you're getting out of half life

[@Ninox32tgretwh]

Why? If Valve already shared what the story of Half Life 3 would be like and most people already know about, you just have to look for it on KZbin, that's why with HL Alyx they took another direction....

[@Puddspanker]

I enjoy videos that talk about crime, internet stuff and gaming history. Smart of you to branch off of RS.

[@epicidex1006]

Whats RS?

[@shying69]

@@epicidex1006 rainbow six siege

[@epicidex1006]

@@shying69 cheers

[@JB-fh1bb]

I remember getting it as a kid, loving the attention to detail, feeling for the first time behind the scenes of programming as I shot orange walls. I did end up pirating when it was released, but was very happy to be able to purchase it after I had income and Steam was around. I now use steam for 95% of game purchases, and have paid for all the HL content, including Alyx (though I don’t have a VR headset). The source leak helped guide me to the path I’m on today, and I think that’s a win.

[@noalear]

Same! I think it brought some much needed attention to the game as well. It got a lot more eyes on it and pushed Gaben to release the damn thing. Itd be nice if we could get Ep3 one of these years.

[@cybr69lol]

This man literally deconstructed a virus and asked the virus maker how to make his own viruses. Wow

[@Whatsabird]

Sigma grind set

[@Ardeact]

imagine the orignal virus creator like "what the fuck man how did you find me"

[@Whatsabird]

@@Ardeact I was kinda hoping he said “he then sent the virus back to the guy and hacked him

[@LastbutNotFirst]

@@Ardeact well pretty easily infact. they put their names on everything.

[@Ardeact]

@@LastbutNotFirst thats kinda funny, it's like getting shot by a bullet but his name is on there just in case you know who shot you

[@chrisford8500]

I love this channel. You will blow up my man, the expansion beyond OSRS is wise, your style is going to be enjoyed by sooo many more people. Hyped for you. ❤️

[@Nellooo]

Thank you so much!! I truly appreciate that. :D

[@swiftraven2346]

So this is why valve security is so high now

[@TheSpencermacdougall]

0:56 You could even say, that Valve, had a Leak!

[@robotz2129]

Ngl When the guy got the virus and he didn’t just break down and instead he made an actual key generator Kinda epic

[@kelvinminnaar9385]

Imagine the conversation he had with the malware author, "Hey dude, i got your virus, anyways can you please teach me how to make my own?"

[@imapigeonyoupeasant1489]

are you deaf?

[@henk8105]

Another great video! Can't wait to see where this channel is gonna go from here.

[@Nellooo]

Thank you! I'm excited too :)

[@slapslicks7531]

This was super interesting. Can't wait to see more content. I hope this channel blows up for you. And i hope that you will be able to focus on what you want to do always. Peace

[@Nellooo]

Thank you so much!

[@RandommBoyo]

I was thinking about how this is yet another of literal hundreds of videos about the Half Life 2 Beta leak, but this time I learned that the police didnt actually have their guns drawnd when they woke him up and the funny situation when he got a knife for breakfast lol

[@marble-q6j]

Why didn't he just smear the butter with a spoon? I always use a spoon because of the bigger surface area.

[@JubbLaRacing]

@@marble-q6j Spoon? A saw has much bigger surface area.

[@marble-q6j]

@@JubbLaRacing if i used a saw i would probably damage the toast

[@marble-q6j]

@GoTi4No what's so scary about a spoon?

[@Biochemistry-Debunks-Corona]

“Do not try and bend the spoon-that's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.” “There is no spoon”

[@highstereolove]

Heard this news from the recent GTA 6 leak... Interesting, never knew this happened to Valve! Great video buddy :)

[@RandomNulls]

In my opinion the best idea for when someone does stuff like that is to just announce: “seeing how the source was leaked we are now scrapping the entire project and restarting, expect massive delays in the game launch” and then a day or so later reveal it was a joke

[@MediaStudo]

Shareholders wouldn't be too happy... Lol

[@aero1244]

@@MediaStudo Valve is a closed company, they dont have shareholderes as they're a privately owned and closed company

[@inject0rr]

Found out bout this channel while scrolling and man, i cant wait for the next video!

[@Nellooo]

Thank you so much!!

[@samprice1302]

"this was long before cellphones existed" pretty sure they had cellphones in 2004 LOL

[@jemmapellemma8185]

I'm _really_ hoping it was joke, but yeah. Kinda hard to watch the rest seriously after cringing that hard. I remember this happening, it was big news - I was a teen, we had cell phones. rofl _Smart_ phones as we know them today did not exist, but things like blackberry sure did. Plus you know: laptops.

[@computerfis]

But reading emails with it? Good luck.

[@samprice1302]

@@computerfis any exec worth their salt would've had a blackberry in 2004

[@jemmapellemma8185]

@@samprice1302 Local Realtors had them and checked Emails with them.

[@michaelbrownlee9497]

I had a flip phone, color screen,access too mp3 ringtone and with my digital camera could subscribe a photo to a ring tone. Basically my dream come true moment in life. All phones were locked, so had to go and find the unlock code. (no one understood this) Blackberrys were popular with physical keyboards and had the ability to text. Skype was just developed that allowed users too make long distance phone calls for free. Wifi was developed with the intent of free wireless internet signals for the world and with skype and a laptop could be a mobile phone.

[@crossyright9493]

I just saw a joke vid about valve valve's getting stolen, so i thought this is about that at first. But, i wasnt dissapointed, nice presentation. Love it

[@Koyu_Ruh]

I love that it says Policjia when you metion German police - which is not even German. That would be "Polizei".

[@sleep8318]

That's polish police

[@burningjdm]

Or Latvian

[@sleep8318]

@@burningjdm you can see the Warsaw subway station in the background.

[@ShermyShroomy3101]

@@burningjdm it's *p o l i s h* police, in Latvia it would be policija

[@agrastiOs]

@@ShermyShroomy3101 also policija in Lithuanian

[@dreadpirateforex]

GTA 6 brought me here

[@PizzaPieee]

Thought this was gonna be in the whole, someone steeling the valve in valve

[@alainportant6412]

I was 13 in 2004 when that stuff came out. That was actually my first Torrent, as most people still used Emule / Imesh. I had to download it through a 512 kbps connection, but this was like waiting for christmas. The files were awasome, you even had the new Valve Hammer editor and lot of stuff they used during dev.

[@mrwafflez7211]

It seems history is beginning to repeat itself

[@WabbaJedda]

Dude I loved this! Shared it with a few friends who are all valve fans. Thanks for the upload!

[@Nellooo]

Thats awesome, thank you so much!!

[@Psyrecx]

"This is long before cellphones existed" Uh... Nope. It's not even before smartphones existed.

[@mattperson7293]

whoever wrote this was probably 3 when this all happened. Valve were not a small unknown company either.

[@polonium.is.sleep.deprived]

this boy needs to be the PAYDAY 3 protagonist

[@jesushernandez-dc7nq]

no dallas is good still

[@papipiipii6450]

If it has anything to deal with valve they can't count pass 2

[@bananbananowy3552]

Hell yeah

[@RHOMBLE]

great video! I like that you're branching out your content

[@Nellooo]

Thank you! :D

[@alec0062]

So the german police 6:40 went like : "let's kill him now!!" "and if they find the body?" "body? what buddy?!!" "huehuehueheuheue"

[@antonyzadymiarz2554]

Bro imagine that he has a friend or a family member in the US and they invite him to come over and he is like "i am wanted by the FBI for hacking one of the biggest companies in the world sorry i cant"

[@TaccRaccoon]

Gta 6 leak was pretty big, but I feel like this might’ve been bigger, the code actually got leaked. Gta 6 the code didn’t

[@TaccRaccoon]

The hacker claimed to have the code, turned out he was just scamming someone

[@itz_valx3053]

@@TaccRaccoon how you know that the dude scammed someone for 100k $ I mean he didn’t told anyone that he scammed them…..

[@morgann3972]

This whole situation just proved that the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference

[@RobiePAX]

This guy is lucky that his own police took initiative to arrest him in his home. Something tells me US judge wouldn't have been as forgiving. While some say he doesn't deserve a harsher punishment because in the end it all worked out. But here's the thing. This leak could have very much destroyed Valve at that time. Shooting a gun at a person and missing doesn't mean there shouldn't be any punishment.

[@RayvenGuard]

It's not just because it all worked out in the end that he didn't receive a more severe punishment. The judicial system in Germany is quite different from that in the US. The goal is to reintegrate criminals into society, rather than to fill prisons with as many inmates as possible. The judge most likely believed him when he said that his motivation was not to cause damage to Valve, and that he was sorry about what had happened. Honest regret and being cooperative will have severely reduced his sentence.

[@3DRiley_]

@@RayvenGuard Also that he just finished an apprenticeship and got a job is a huge factor. It's much better to have him lead a life where he is integrated into society and pays taxes than have him imprisoned and actually cost the state money. He was just getting his footing in life, having him go to prison at that point could have made him lose his job (the law states that more than two years imprisonment left at the time of termination is a valid reason to terminate the contract), which could cause him socioeconomic instability and in turn might make him a repeat offender.

[@tremendousyeet3467]

To be fair, he's not the one who took the shot. he just gave the gun to a person and even told him to not shoot it at Valve. which is what the other person did.

[@c1oudsky]

@@tremendousyeet3467 yikes, then you should remember he'd got the gun illegally. He did have fault by laws

[@ztokkiz]

In my country Vietnam there was a cyber criminal with a nickname "HieuPC", he hacked several identities, credit cards, social security numbers, bank accounts data of USA citizens while he was playing around with his pc in Vietnam and made 2 millions dollars . Thus, he was lured by the FBI in a business, got jailed in the USA. He eventually had to serve 7 years sentence in prison there (Initially it was 40 years in the prison, he did his training well so yeah). He's now working for a national cyber security organization in Vietnam, contributing all of his knowledge to this society. This guy right here might end up the same too if he can do his training well I guess.

[@estarossa1847]

Good ending: He gets an information security job for valve germany

[@léobellecouille_officiel]

The payday gang did a good jobs

[@mcproductionsotheraccount476]

Ngl, the thumbnail looks like Peter Griffin

[@ellredman2860]

These videos are so high quality, glad I found ur channel dude, really interesting stuff, I never knew half life 2's beta was actually a leaked version

[@unr34L-]

Here before 15k views, you're going places Nello.

[@Nellooo]

Thank you!! I hope you're right :D

[@MechanicCompetence]

I remember when this leak happened, my step dad downloaded it way back when it was totally brand new and we all had a go on it. The feel of the Source engine and the game as a whole was basically the same as release, from what I can recall, however the game itself and the levels (the very first train one from what I can remember) they were VERY different to the final thing. I think the leak probably lead to Valve having a BIG shakeup of the game and trying to change it quite a bit from what the whole world had seen, the story and pacing of missions at least. Ultimately, this could have been a big benefit as they got to see a community response to a "beta" and make changes based off that!

[@joonaa2751]

Much of the cut stuff had already been abandoned by the time the leak happened, and only existed as leftover in the code. The actual 2003 campaign maps were mostly just more primitive versions of retail levels, though a huge chunk of them were missing. The changes following the leak amount mostly to visual overhauls, removing bullsquids from the canals, removing the late-game sewer chapter with the hydras, further trimming down the arsenal, and some other bits and pieces

[@ПростойЧеловек-к8г]

It's amazing how such a nostalgic and amazing game also had a such insanely big, interesting and complicated story!

[@moronribbons5774]

5:46 wait... that email, it mentions... HAS MYGOT BEEN AROUND FOR THAT LONG?!?

[@Become-Eggplant]

I feel bad for the dude, he just wanted to play his favorite game and join his favorite company

[@Benissy]

i think if he didnt send someone the game it could've gone at least a little better for him

[@notarabbit1752]

okay but like, how would you feel if someone was coming into your house and rooting around though all of your stuff? And then when you ask them why they say its because they "love you?"

[@noalear]

@@notarabbit1752 if shes a cute hacker, then aight.

[@Pokaroquai]

@@notarabbit1752 Idk, felt weird

[@Pokaroquai]

@@notarabbit1752 wait I has a similiar accident with this on Discord, and it was actually a guy pretending to be a girl, great at hacking and having access on my devices It's scary and I'm glad now stop using Discord

[@johnwick7175]

I remember downloading the leaked HL2. You could run around and shoot a few guns, but it was a massively broken mess.

[@bonkmaykr]

Amazing video, very interesting. I always loved malware history so this was right up my alley. I hope you grow big some day

[@Nellooo]

Thank you! :D

[@NoVIcE_Source]

holy shit didnt think id ever see you in the wild pogchamp

[@bonkmaykr]

@@NoVIcE_Source I'm everywhere :p what happened to you?

[@adam_barfi5376]

wow, first video i watched from you, i really thought you had a million subscribers because the quality of this was so high level

[@Nellooo]

Thank you so much!!

[@DinoCarrot]

and now gta 6 is leaked

[@bighenchman3266]

Holy crap this was so interesting and fun to watch your channel is super underrated

[@Nellooo]

Wow, thank you so much!!

[@mikejustcant8240]

Wow! Only 1k subs? You are underrated! I loved this video

[@Nellooo]

Thank you so much!

[@vividatx]

Just found your channel man, you do high-quality work and I appreciate your time and effort in these videos. We need to get you to 100k subs man the algorithm is sleeping on you.

[@toastedcherries]

these are insanely good videos, i'm shocked you have less than 100k subscribers. :)

[@jazon80r13]

"Guys, the valve, go get it"

[@staceixan]

i bet this video will blow up in a few days :D i love your voice, especially when you're talking about a subject that i'm super into :D

[@Nellooo]

Thank you so much!!

[@lerniezifyouadvertiseyouca548]

Bro wtf I’m a huge hl2 fan and never before seen this footage like even the very first Chicago looking clip amazed me and had my gamer thirst going, wow they had some really beautiful creative content that I never knew about and it saddens me to have just learnt this.

[@Johnnii360]

6:48 Fun fact: That is no German police and the other with Policija either.

[@CheggDeo]

Nice to hear a familiar voice talking about topics I like. Love the channel direction and hope it's a success you enjoy doing. Thank you Mr. Colonello.

[@Nellooo]

Thanks for watching! :D

[@genericgamingchannel9378]

Tf2 heavy update comes out when someone steals the Valve

[@TMAXXPUNISHER]

I remember playing thr HL2 leaked game. It wasnt much to play, but you could try out the weapons and kill stuff. The physics were considered amazing at the time.

[@delatroy]

I remember hosting custom maps for the HL2 engine after the leak happened and my hosting provider shutdown my account because of the amount of people using it 😛

[@LG1ikLx]

Great upload. Keep up the good work!

[@Archman155]

btw this is a very good video but you probably should have used actual footage from the anon-hl2 beta leak instead of the fixed WC-mappacks (that were done much later). the original anon-hl2 beta is what people would've been playing in october 2003 and it was extremely broken because gembe didnt work at valve obviously and he didnt know how to properly compile half of it, its kinda bodged. even though it didnt represent actual development of hl2 it made people really upset as u said, it was the core branch of the game only but stuff with active development in their different branches wasnt included since he didnt get those branches. it was practically a really broken and cut down version compared to what would've been the full beta at the time

[@sebytro]

I remember downloading the HL2 Beta and running it. It was really weird looking and far from the final game but OMG I was playing Half Life 2! I was so in love with the look and feel of shooting that machine gun. Years later I felt so bad about it that I bought HL2 a few times (original then on Steam and gifts for friends).

[@PedroE]

Anybody else still have a copy of the leak? Got mine on a CD still to this day lol

[@TheGamingPolitician]

Let's get the Heavy update boys!!!

[@pb-wo7ul]

6:49 it actually Polish police on video 😉

[@OldQueer]

Branching off with this channel is a great idea. Hope it blows up.

[@Nellooo]

I hope so too, thanks! :D

[@Hellseeker1]

Stolen code this reminds me, I was able to get the Doom 3 demo with the Trent Reznor sound Effects back in the day. I can tell you they should have stuck with Trent. The dude used High Quality Foley effects for the bullet impacts.

[@tranquility6789]

Gta 6 leak is the sequel to this leak lmao

[@ninjaalok2208]

Very underatted channel , keep up the good work brother

[@Nellooo]

Thank you so much!

[@DarkRed]

The first guy was just chillin and overseeing it being developed

[@hesitatenothing]

daaamn i remember this new back in low school 2003 when one of my friend told me half life has been hacked, we gonna have to wait longer for it bo released lmao

[@MaxTovstyiMusic]

Very interesting video for me a HL fan for 20+ years, thanks

[@Hamburgaga]

wow this explains it in much more detail

[@OlviMasta77]

"Phones didn't exist back then (2003).." Well, this is awkward ~~me having a nokia since 1997

[@oXoSkaldeoXo]

🤯 whaaat as a OSRS fan I did not know you did videos like this 🤯

[@nacswapzz]

„this was long before cellphones existed“ Okay damn!

[@heartycoffee4754]

dude this is such a good video! was shocked when i saw how few subscribers you had

[@Nellooo]

Thank you so much!!

[@somersguy]

good video! i hope your channel gets traction with views flowing in soon! very quality!

[@Nellooo]

Thank you! :D

[@QuickFlixDailyyy]

so weird being on a youtube rabbit hole and being recommended this completely out of random and hearing a voice i only hear on osrs videos lmao

[@JoshPillault]

Yooo didn’t know about this channel, subbed

[@Nellooo]

Thank you!! :D

[@sau_of_lkwd]

damn this video was really good and interesting

[@kuutearica8722]

Ayo?! This video is from a 2k sub channel?! The quality is amazing! You'll going to be big in no time!

[@Nellooo]

Thank you so much! I hope you're right :D

[@cid3384]

I remember playing the first leak found off some irc bot channel, grabbed everything off newsgroups a couple of days later through a university's gigabit line. Shit was cashish

[@qm230]

2.5k subs what the hell? Very well put together.

[@Nellooo]

Thank you so much!!

[@wesleypatterson2284]

God, it's a good thing this guy is (at least seemingly) mature and well adjusted, he could've been an absolute fucking menace

[@njrailfanner45]

Why do you only have 1k subscribers? very underrated.

[@Nellooo]

Thank you so much!

[@Madhatten1989]

Cellphones did exist lol, smartphones didnt tho

[@appuifw3528]

Colonello? Talking about Half-Life? This is a dream

[@daniloivensmina]

I remember discovering this leak via a friend, and downloading the thingy on Torrent. It was totally broken but i remember some antlion models wich looked like they were out of this world in graphics department. Also do anybody remember Sixteam? A totally bypassed and free Steam client (steam at that time only had half life 1 and mods like counter strike) It`s been almost 20 years, god dayum.

[@tefax5515]

i really hoped for axel to end up as a valve employee :(

[@zack88005]

Your vids quality are really high, at first i though this video had millions of views and your channel has hundreds of thousands of subs

[@Nellooo]

Thank you so much!!

[@Legendendear]

I think he might have gottem the job if he'd contacted Vavle without leaking anything at all. And with "contacted" I mean, leave a note on every desktop.

[@Spacefish007]

5:08 that is Stuttgart Germany at "Kleiner Schloßplatz"

[@xxkah06xx]

"long before cellphones existed" what?

[@eskilmatiasmolstad7648]

Incredible channel! Hope it gets big.

[@Nellooo]

I hope so too, thank you! :)

[@jeremyboesmans]

Electronic music artist Aphex Twin's logo was made in the early 90's, I wonder if Valve got inspired by it...

[@undestony2669]

"That's the alarm, time to do some heavy lifting."