Duke Nukem Forever - Never ?

[Sean Tudor]

Have any of the online journalist types here received any news about DNF ?

How long has this game been in development now ?

How can the development team maintain funding for DNF ?

How many guys are actually working on DNF at the moment ?

Is DNF actually expected this year ?

[Mark Asher]

3DRealms won't talk about the game, but the funding is no mystery. They got a nice deal from Take 2 when GOD sold and they got a big chunk of the Max Payne IP sale -- about $20 million, I think.

[Wholly Schmidt]

Does anyone still try to defend them? Does anyone think that taking this long could possibly be good for the development? What does Broussard's hair look like these days?

[xahlt]

Out of any possible franchise, I think the Duke Nukem one suffers the most from a huge delay. After all, Duke Nukem 3d was about fun gameplay at the expense of using yesterday's technology and the games before that are little more than minor blips even in the PC side scroller history.

There isn't the slightest good reason to delay a sequel to a game with stolen one-liners and strippers. They could have turned out 2 or 3 of them in the intervening time and satisfied their constituency (and I'm right in there with the other fans) even if they were fairly mediocre.

Instead, I'm waiting on a single game with 5 years of development that will revolutionize the way we play games with stolen one-liners and strippers. Uh... no.

[Matthew Gallant]

Oh, it's not going to be pretty. Like xahlt said, the high production values are wasted on the low concept. They're stuck-- they have to be faithful to the previous iteration, but still somehow come up with something that will get people's attention. Now, on top of that, they have to justify how long it's taken.

Tastes and norms have changed quite a bit. People who are still basking in the glow of GTA 3 are going to look at Duke and say, "So what? This guy is a goofball." The cribbing of ideas from other games and movies isn't going to fly in today's post-internet market either.

They keep saying "When It's Done," but I don't think they really know. Lloyd Kaufman knows when a Troma film is done.

[Anonymous]

Nah, you guys are being too harsh. The original was great because it let the player run around in a realistic and very interactive modern enviroment. Other than GTA3 no game has pulled this off, and that wasn't an FPS.

On the other hand... what the fuck? How can it take 5 years to do a Quake 2 (3? Unreal?) mod? And if it takes that long then there's probably something fundamentally wrong with the developer that would preclude a good game. And how fresh can the visuals be if it was developed for release in 2000?

I hope that it's good, but I'm skeptical.

[Matthew Gallant]

I'm just having a Strike Commander flashback, that's all I'm sayin'.

[Kool Moe Dee]

I'm just having a Strike Commander flashback, that's all I'm sayin'.

Except Strike Commander was actually good. Or, at least, I thought so.

[Met_K]

You're all forgetting the fact that they're still churning out Duke games. And still pulling cash off old games. And still pulling in cash off Max Payne. Pulling in cash off the promotion of DNF. Pulling in cash from... well, every direction.

Duke Nukem Forever? You bet. Why? Because they have absolutely no reason as to why they should finish the game. Free beer and pizza for the rest of their lives already while keeping the longest running gag (the development of the game) going on forever.

[Desslock]

Duke Nukem Forever, and forever, is a bummer - in a Team Fortress 2 kinda way. I think both looked great -- even the video at the 2001 E3 of Duke 4 was really impressive. But those character clearly just can't put a pin in the game and ship it. Feature-creep, anyone?

[Jason Becker]

"Does anyone still try to defend them? "

There's a guy that goes by the name 'Dr. Foxy' on 3DActionplanet who will. Very vigorously. He wrote a column not too long ago about why it will be a good game.


It could still be a very good game, but so many shooters are coming out now as compared to '96 with Duke 3D. There's good stuff being done by several devs. Even tech wise its getting out of date since the new upgraded Unreal engine will start showing commercially. Unless their upgrading again to that which would add another 2 years to the games development, but hey with the game talking so long anyways why not...

[Anonymous]

Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project was fun in a stupid platformer kinda way. Nice graphics...

[Matthew Gallant]

Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project was fun in a stupid platformer kinda way. Nice graphics...

Which a lot of people said. And it was advertised fairly heavily. But it didn't sell. Never even broke the top ten. Either the $24.95 value price point doesn't work, or people just weren't interested, or both.

[Mark Asher]

Who wants to play a platformer on the PC? For that matter, considering the age group Duke is aimed at, how many of those want to play a platformer on any platform?

[Bub, Andrew]

Bah, it was a good game. Some people like non-3D perspective platformers. Now, I don't know Duke's sales numbers, so maybe not a lot of people, but it was a good game and one that probably didn't cost a lot to produce.

[Xaroc]

Bah, it was a good game. Some people like non-3D perspective platformers. Now, I don't know Duke's sales numbers, so maybe not a lot of people, but it was a good game and one that probably didn't cost a lot to produce.

It may be a good game but to many like myself it is irritating as hell to watch them put out anything that would take time away from DNF. Even if it didn't take a lot of time, it is still time that they could have used for DNF or at least that is the popular perception.

-- Xaroc

[Dave Long]

The game wasn't even made by 3D Realms. It's an Arush Entertainment production. It didn't take time away from DNF.

--Dave

[xahlt]

Were they even involved in the development? I thought it was outsourced to another production house. I dunno, making side games might have been a great strategy if they churned out several in the interim, but one small budget platformer feels more like they are desperate to remind the public of something other than DNF's interminable development.

[Jack]

I heard 3D Realms is trying to work out a deal to provide a live stripper with each purchase of DNF.

Shake it, baby.

[Xaroc]

The game wasn't even made by 3D Realms. It's an Arush Entertainment production. It didn't take time away from DNF.

--Dave

Ah, ok never mind then. :) Still it irritates me they are not done with it. I really hope we have a Half-Life type development delay rather than a Daikatana one.

-- Xaroc

[Alan Au]

I agree with the Strike Commander comment, except that Strike Commander actually pushed the envelope of what could be run at the time. In fact, the game was even better if you went back a couple years later and played it on faster hardware. Despite being released in 1993, I would actually call it the sleeper hit of 1995. I doubt DNF will be able to match that.

- Alan

[deanco]

I heard 3D Realms is trying to work out a deal to provide a live stripper with each purchase of DNF.

Shake it, baby.

Except by the time it comes out, the strippers will all be 45 years old and have wrinkly boobs.

DeanCo--

[Matthew Gallant]

Except by the time it comes out, the strippers will all be 45 years old and have wrinkly boobs.

It doesn't matter; the bikinis will hold them in place and hide the wrinkles because none of the strippers will actually strip. Welcome to the audience/idiom paradox.