PAX 2010: Duke Nukem Forever is a reality–seriously!
by at September 4, 2010 8:00 am
Sections: Consoles, Conventions, Developers, Exclusives, Features, Game-Companies, Gaming News, Genres, Nostalgia, PAX, PCs, PS3, Publishers, Shooter, Windows, Xbox-360
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In other news, icebergs have been spotted in Hell.
2K Games and Gearbox Software have teamed up to finally bring this long-awaited game to fruition. After all, as the press release noted, Duke Nukem Forever was first announced during the latter end of the Clinton administration. Hell, I bet that half the PAX attendees were still in elementary school!
Duke Nukem Forever has indeed had a legally and financially convoluted history. 3DRealms, the creators of the first Duke Nukem game, announced Duke Nukem Forever in 1997. Over the next several years the company would release bits of information and occasional screenshots but kept mum about an actual release date. They eventually reached a point when they pulled a Blizzard and said that the game would be released, “When it’s done”.
In 2009 3DRealms lost the game’s development team due to downsizing. It got worse when Take-Two Interactive (who owned publishing rights) sued the company for not completing the game. In early June 2010 both sides finally settled, and Gearbox Software took charge of development, and now also owns the intellectual property.
Because of all the delays and 3DRealms’ financial and legal issues, Duke Nukem Forever became the poster child for vaporware, a long-time running joke among the gaming community. It has appeared on Wired Magazine’s Vaporware list for about nine straight years. At long last, it’ll get to leave their list.
“Gearbox has enabled die-hard key Duke Nukem franchise builders and skilled veteran game makers to stand together and deliver,” gushed Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox Software in the press release. “All gamers deserve a happy ending and after all of us gamers feeling the full range of emotions about Duke Nukem Forever, I am thrilled to be in a position with the trust, power and means to make it happen. Am I crazy? Balls of steel, baby, balls of steel!”
The Duke Nukem universe remains un-apologetically ensconced in the 80s. Our beloved hero is still a hypermasculine, cigar-chomping, babes-loving badass out to save the world.
Duke Nukem Forever will be available for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2011. And just to prove that this is no longer an empty promise, 2K has provided honest-to-god playable demos at the their booth at PAX. You can only imagine how long the line is for this booth. What’s really crazy is that there were four security guards blocking the main entrance, preventing any potential line jumpers. Talk about being serious about a game!
Not too many pics have yet been released for Duke Nukem Forever, but here’s one I took at their 2K booth at PAX, and the other is an official screenshot.
Site [Duke Nukem Forever]