5 ms·

Duke Nukem Forever is here.

47 points by phreeza 16y ago

troels 16y ago
I'll believe it when I see it.
kaitnieks 16y ago
Do you think their strange business model (hyping and promising the game for years without delivering; an opposite to release early philosophy) will work out in the end? Will people actually buy the game or simply satisfy their interest from reviews and videos?
- jordanroher 16y ago
  I will certainly buy the game. Those of us have been through the entire DNF emotional roller coaster just want something to show for it. A playable executable, if not the transcendental experience that was promised in 1996. Who knows, it might actually be fun! And you're getting the most famous video game ever created for $60. Given the kinds of forgettable dreck that also retails for sixty bucks, it's enough for me.
- hailpixel 16y ago
  I doubt there was a business model that stated that. It's the very common problem of to munch money and far to much hype. Half of their time is spent living up to the hype - 2+ engines switches! - and the other half spending their cash on frivolous resources. It's Daikatana all over again. But I'm still going to play it.
  - ido 16y ago
    It's interesting to note that Diakatana took 3 years to develop (which is not considered extremely uncommon these days) and supposedly made enough money to cover its development costs.
    - elblanco 16y ago
      Which is amazing since that was an absolutely wretched game.
  - dasil003 16y ago
    I'm not! When development started I was in high school. Now I'm married with children working at a startup. It's not that I don't want to play it, but there's just no time. The target audience outgrew the game during development.
    - hailpixel 16y ago
      But that's why we have to play it. Think of it as a time capsule made just for us!
      - dasil003 16y ago
        That's why I played Doom 3, and realized that was made Doom great was the visceral action much more than the theme. Just the feel of running around at literally 100 MPH and mowing down thousands of enemies. Once we left the sprite era, that kind of gameplay died and they tried to replace it with hyper-realism and atmosphere. However good gameplay has nothing to do with realism, it also doesn't really have anything to do with hookers. I don't have high hopes for the Duke in 2011.
- JoachimSchipper 16y ago
  Note that the company originally developing DNF has gone under, if I understand correctly. So I don't think it worked very well... ;-)
- nl 16y ago
  That wasn't their business model - it was a mistake that sent them bankrupt. This is a new studio who took over development. ArsTechnica has the complete - and quite incredible - story: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/09/the-death-and-rebirth-of-duke-nukem-forever-a-history.ars http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/09/the-death-and-reb...
rakkhi 16y ago
wow thats awesome Duke Nukem is a game I loved and if there are a lot like me even after being a poster boy for software development failure if it is halfway decent it will sell very well. There is just a nostaligia factor and the Duke is just such a memorable character I just hope it is like Starcraft 2, after 12 years it is just brilliant. ....and I'm all out of gum... :)
- tfh 16y ago
  That "and I'm all out of gum..." quote is actually stolen from John Carpenter's film "They live". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/quotes?qt0479492 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/quotes?qt0479492
Das_Bruce 16y ago
Looks like they have taken a lot of lessons from modern FPS games, limited weapon carrying, regenerating health etc. While this may be good or bad it definitely won't be what a lot of people are looking for, I've just replayed Duke3D and it's pure old school glory and I hope they retain as much of this as possible. If not then you can always count on the modding community to try.
m0nty 16y ago
"The game will be released ... sometime in 2011."
- rakkhi 16y ago
  Was that tongue in cheek or serious? If they have got my hopes up again .... I can't belive I fell for it again
  - stonemetal 16y ago
    When 3D Relms went under Gearbox picked up the rights to the Duke(so there might be future games) and all the work that was done on DNF. They are going to finish it up and ship it.
- elblanco 16y ago
  It's amazing they could snatch that property up, put a team on it cold, and peg a release date like that. If this happens, it'll be a wonderful case study on the powers of good project and product management.
  - angrycoder 16y ago
    Not really, that is most of what Gearbox does, ports and expansion packs. They are used to working other peoples code and using other peoples tools to create games.
  - ary 16y ago
    They didn't put a team on it cold. People from 3D Realms kept working on it even after the studio went under. Gearbox has some of these same ex-3D Reams people on staff now. http://kotaku.com/5630192/how-duke-nukem-forever-was-brought-back-to-life http://kotaku.com/5630192/how-duke-nukem-forever-was-brought... See the "How Duke Survived" section.
    - elblanco 16y ago
      Thanks for the link. I've known a few people who worked on the DNF project over the years and honestly thought they were a great bunch of developers toiling on a project under hideously bad management. I was really hoping somebody would bring on as much of the team as they could and just polish it off. The number of art assets alone must be worth millions of dollars in development time.
frooxie 16y ago
Is it a coincidence that Duke Nukem Forever reappeared only a few months after this comic was created? http://i.imgur.com/6n4x7.jpg http://i.imgur.com/6n4x7.jpg Could the Higgs Boson be far away?
steveklabnik 16y ago
> Okay, here's the bad news. The engine looks dated. ... Hopefully, this is something that will be addressed by Gearbox. I really hope this was tongue in cheek....
- lurkinggrue 16y ago
  They should swap out the game engine to get it up to date. How long could that take?
  - Das_Bruce 16y ago
    'bout a month. Tops.
Semiapies 16y ago
I'll believe it when it ships.
- lurkinggrue 16y ago
  http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/9/8/ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/9/8/
zavulon 16y ago
The title is misleading. It's "here" when it ships. From the article: "The game will be released on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 sometime in 2011". That's enough for me to keep ignoring it. I've heard "it's almost ready" since 1997, when it was on the cover of the first PC Gamer issue that I've subscribed to.

47 points by phreeza 16y ago

I'll believe it when I see it.

Do you think their strange business model (hyping and promising the game for years without delivering; an opposite to release early philosophy) will work out in the end? Will people actually buy the game or simply satisfy their interest from reviews and videos?

jordanroher 16y ago
I will certainly buy the game. Those of us have been through the entire DNF emotional roller coaster just want something to show for it. A playable executable, if not the transcendental experience that was promised in 1996. Who knows, it might actually be fun! And you're getting the most famous video game ever created for $60. Given the kinds of forgettable dreck that also retails for sixty bucks, it's enough for me.
hailpixel 16y ago
I doubt there was a business model that stated that. It's the very common problem of to munch money and far to much hype. Half of their time is spent living up to the hype - 2+ engines switches! - and the other half spending their cash on frivolous resources. It's Daikatana all over again. But I'm still going to play it.
- ido 16y ago
  It's interesting to note that Diakatana took 3 years to develop (which is not considered extremely uncommon these days) and supposedly made enough money to cover its development costs.
  - elblanco 16y ago
    Which is amazing since that was an absolutely wretched game.
- dasil003 16y ago
  I'm not! When development started I was in high school. Now I'm married with children working at a startup. It's not that I don't want to play it, but there's just no time. The target audience outgrew the game during development.
  - hailpixel 16y ago
    But that's why we have to play it. Think of it as a time capsule made just for us!
    - dasil003 16y ago
      That's why I played Doom 3, and realized that was made Doom great was the visceral action much more than the theme. Just the feel of running around at literally 100 MPH and mowing down thousands of enemies. Once we left the sprite era, that kind of gameplay died and they tried to replace it with hyper-realism and atmosphere. However good gameplay has nothing to do with realism, it also doesn't really have anything to do with hookers. I don't have high hopes for the Duke in 2011.
JoachimSchipper 16y ago
Note that the company originally developing DNF has gone under, if I understand correctly. So I don't think it worked very well... ;-)
nl 16y ago
That wasn't their business model - it was a mistake that sent them bankrupt. This is a new studio who took over development. ArsTechnica has the complete - and quite incredible - story: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/09/the-death-and-rebirth-of-duke-nukem-forever-a-history.ars http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/09/the-death-and-reb...

rakkhi 16y ago

wow thats awesome Duke Nukem is a game I loved and if there are a lot like me even after being a poster boy for software development failure if it is halfway decent it will sell very well. There is just a nostaligia factor and the Duke is just such a memorable character I just hope it is like Starcraft 2, after 12 years it is just brilliant. ....and I'm all out of gum... :)

tfh 16y ago
That "and I'm all out of gum..." quote is actually stolen from John Carpenter's film "They live". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/quotes?qt0479492 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/quotes?qt0479492

Das_Bruce 16y ago

Looks like they have taken a lot of lessons from modern FPS games, limited weapon carrying, regenerating health etc. While this may be good or bad it definitely won't be what a lot of people are looking for, I've just replayed Duke3D and it's pure old school glory and I hope they retain as much of this as possible. If not then you can always count on the modding community to try.

m0nty 16y ago

"The game will be released ... sometime in 2011."

rakkhi 16y ago
Was that tongue in cheek or serious? If they have got my hopes up again .... I can't belive I fell for it again
- stonemetal 16y ago
  When 3D Relms went under Gearbox picked up the rights to the Duke(so there might be future games) and all the work that was done on DNF. They are going to finish it up and ship it.
elblanco 16y ago
It's amazing they could snatch that property up, put a team on it cold, and peg a release date like that. If this happens, it'll be a wonderful case study on the powers of good project and product management.
- angrycoder 16y ago
  Not really, that is most of what Gearbox does, ports and expansion packs. They are used to working other peoples code and using other peoples tools to create games.
- ary 16y ago
  They didn't put a team on it cold. People from 3D Realms kept working on it even after the studio went under. Gearbox has some of these same ex-3D Reams people on staff now. http://kotaku.com/5630192/how-duke-nukem-forever-was-brought-back-to-life http://kotaku.com/5630192/how-duke-nukem-forever-was-brought... See the "How Duke Survived" section.
  - elblanco 16y ago
    Thanks for the link. I've known a few people who worked on the DNF project over the years and honestly thought they were a great bunch of developers toiling on a project under hideously bad management. I was really hoping somebody would bring on as much of the team as they could and just polish it off. The number of art assets alone must be worth millions of dollars in development time.

frooxie 16y ago

Is it a coincidence that Duke Nukem Forever reappeared only a few months after this comic was created? http://i.imgur.com/6n4x7.jpg http://i.imgur.com/6n4x7.jpg Could the Higgs Boson be far away?

steveklabnik 16y ago

> Okay, here's the bad news. The engine looks dated. ... Hopefully, this is something that will be addressed by Gearbox. I really hope this was tongue in cheek....

lurkinggrue 16y ago
They should swap out the game engine to get it up to date. How long could that take?
- Das_Bruce 16y ago
  'bout a month. Tops.

Semiapies 16y ago

I'll believe it when it ships.

lurkinggrue 16y ago
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/9/8/ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/9/8/

zavulon 16y ago

The title is misleading. It's "here" when it ships. From the article: "The game will be released on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 sometime in 2011". That's enough for me to keep ignoring it. I've heard "it's almost ready" since 1997, when it was on the cover of the first PC Gamer issue that I've subscribed to.