Submitted by We don’t do a whole lot of gaming news (a few reviews every now and then, just for my own personal fun), but in this case, I’d like to make an exception. Iconic and legendary, Duke Nukem is going to really really really return to the main stage of gaming. Borderlands developer Gearbox has announced that Duke Nukem Forever will be released early next year, for both consoles and PC. A playable demo is now being trotted around PAX. Instant update: VIDEO! VIDEO!
This is no joke. No more empty promises. This is the real deal. The game will be shown over the coming days at the PAX conference in the United States, and Gearbox has a history of delivering, so this one is really coming out. The Duke lives. Again.
I think we’re all familiar with the story of the Duke. The first two instalments were 2D side-scrolling platformers, in the traditional Apogee style known from things like the Keen series and Monster Bash. The third instalment was the big hit; a first person shooter with an over-the-top macho and misogynistic style. Duke Nukem 3D was the epitome of everything the anti-gaming lobby hated about video games – it’s a big, satisfying slap in the face of those puritanical hypocrites.
Duke Nukem Forever was announced in 1997, but became the poster child for vapourware. The lead developer of the project was a perfectionist, and every time someone came out with a hot new engine or game element, it just had to be part of Duke Nukem Forever. Eventually, after more than ten years of development, 3D Realms went bust, and Take Two Interactive took over the franchise.
And now, here we are, in glorious 2010, and the Duke is finally back where he belongs: the spotlight. Gearbox’ CEO Randy Pitchford announced Forever on stage at PAX. “This is a game you can’t make promises about,” Pitchford said, “Haven’t we not been teased enough? We don’t want to tease. We just thought we’d bring it to PAX.” A trailer. And, an actually playable demo.
“It’s coming in 2011. It’s coming in 2011,” Pitchford reiterated, “It’s absolutely going to come, and we will have it shipped. We brought you Borderlands last year. We know what we’re doing. It’s coming on the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and Windows PC.”
Joystiq has an actual description of the demo, as well as photos, but no video at this point. “That’s my personal takeaway: this game works,” Christopher Grant writes, “It may not be the best game ever – who knows, I only played 15 minutes! – but it’s a game. And it works. And it doesn’t look, at least graphically, like it began production in 1997.”
“For now, this is enough,” he adds, “It’s more than enough. After 13 years in development, and then being pronounced dead, Gearbox has performed something of a miracle here. Pitchford and company didn’t just raise the dead, but they did so without most of those pesky zombie side effects. Duke Nukem is here and he’s alive.”
The beauty of the Duke is that he doesn’t have to set the gaming world aflame with innovation – 3D didn’t do that either – he just has to be the Duke. I can’t wait for Forever to come out.
Mandatory: Oh really… LOL
Hopefully these guys don’t go bust. That said I wonder what the changes of a Linux port are. Watching the video now over dialup (it feels very 1997) its probably never going to load X.x
I’m here to kick ass and chew bubble gum and I’m all outta gum.
It’s about time.
Sounds like the CEO of Gearbox used to work for 3dRealms and is a fan of Duke… Gives me hope for the game 😀
quote: “You cannot kill Duke!” “You cannot kill Duke!” shouted Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford to a group of gamers that had waited in line Friday at Take-Two’s PAX booth to see the game. Pitchford, a former employee of 3D Realms, was wearing the Duke shirt the company gave him in 1996.
“I couldn’t let Duke go, either,†he said.
from http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/09/duke-nukem-pax/?pid=112&pagei… (and some more screenshots)
It’d be great if they released it on April Fools’ Day too 😀
What are you waiting for? Christmas?
Gearbox founders Randy Pitchford and Brian Martel also where involved in Duke Nukem 3D development.
Sometimes though, it’s better to let the dead rest and just move on. Let sleeping corpses lie and all that jazz.
I guess I won’t be using this joke while playing fps online anymore:
“You know those that make Duke Nukem Forever ? they’re campers”.
Edited 2010-09-03 23:50 UTC
I guess that 2011 will also be the year of the linux desktop then…
I suppose with the world ending in 2012 and all, they couldn’t wait anymore.
IS there a torrent yet?!??!?!
Will it run on the new Amiga, too?
It’ll run on Amiga X1000, which by using the second processor by itself, will give maximum muiltasking abilities the rest of the OS uses the other.
AND it’ll be avail for MorphOS running on 2 dualcore processor G5 Powermacs.
I don’t know about the Commodore USA’s AROS based amigas, that’s just vapourwear init.
Sure thing… Why not pre-order it now ; )
I mean, I had a total blast back in the days playing Duke Nukem 3D but now.. Well, the videos of Duke Nukem Forever just don’t seem all that wonderful. It seems like a rather bland FPS with nothing new to throw in, even the few weapons shown are just kind of.. well, lame. I really love Duke as a character, he is a total badass and as such he’d deserve a game with some serious punch in it.
Oh well, I can always hope the demo videos just don’t give it enough credit and that the actual game will be more enjoyable. I know I will be buying it even if it sucks, I just can’t resist the power of my nostalgia goggles.
I agree with you. Duke Nukem was special especially because of:
– the voices, the bad talk
– the different references to movies
– the … colours! In fact this game was very colourful
– humour
– the weapons (the foot, the 2 feet at the same time, the laser bomb to set up a trap)
Indeed; Duke Nukem Forever started out very colorful too. Just look at the 2001 trailer. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDlB2P1leRM )
Edited 2010-09-04 14:22 UTC
the 2001 game looks a lot better than the 2010 version, or maybe that’s just the terrible music on the new videos…
The environments were nice an often unique as well, and the game also had excellent level design. Even the music was good, IMO. Duke3D was just an all-around good game.
Duke is never gonna give you up… ^^
Come on, any real gamers here?
What engine does it have? Is in the same Unreal Engine 3 that was used for Borderlands?
What does games have to do with this? The Duke is a life style, a philosophy, not a game!
He can’t be reduced to technical details, that would be as saying the Monkey Island series is “an adventure game”.
Outrageous!
Amen, Reverend.
No news but would be miracle if it isn’t. I think that is main reason why they make it so fast on Xbox360/PS3 and hopefully it will lead to good quality. Most of the graphics are probaply done just needs to port them to new engine and build world again.
Who cares? What “real” gamers should be concerned about is: is it fun to play?
That’s really the only thing that matters.
That’s “casual gamers”. Real gamers play games like DCS Black Shark, and run Crysis benchmarks.
(and only play on PC).
😉
aka “not complete losers”.
Right. It seems to be a thing of the past generation though. “Kids these days” are mostly casual gamers.
Preach it Soulbender. Too many games lately have eye candy but lack the ability to entertain for longer than 30 minutes. If it came down to choosing between fun and pretty, I’d choose fun every time.
The video of the demo looks exactly like borderlands.
Looks like they just modified that code to make this new duke game.
http://www.pidjin.net/2010/01/25/iwish/
First Amiga, then Duke Nukem…
It seems that the time for the miracles has never ended…
I sympathize with all those little computer magazines, which should be forced to renew their vapourware top-ten for the new year’s eve…
Too much work for their poor tired fingers to type a brand new top-ten… LOL!
Let’s celebrate!
It can’t be long until Hurd..
Edited 2010-09-05 02:32 UTC
Well, this is likely all due to me. I mean I did just yesterday find and buy from Goodwill (for a whopping $.99!) a copy of “Duke Nukem – Manhattan Project” w/GLOPP for free. What’s next? Looking in my crystal decanter of Parthian Panther Piss, I foresee the release of a new Leisure Suit Larry. And, don’t forget to honk for Zork.
Heey, I’m not the only fan of Larry Laffer!?
Now I just need a dog collar, a whip, some mud, a diamond ring and some gum.
Yeah well, lets hope the new Duke does not turn out like the new Larry. The new Larry is pretty much the ass-end of the bell-curve.
http://dnir.ytmnd.com/