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[Buckethead]

DUKE NUKEM FOREVER is one of the most famous examples of vaporware in the industry. Duke Nukem Forever was a computer game that had been under development

by 3D Realms since its announcement on April 28th, 1997, originally slated to use the (then) state of the art Quake II 3D engine. A few months later, screen shots were

published in PC Gamer magazine, along with an intended release date of mid-1998. Excitement grew in May of 1998 when a few short video clips of Duke Nukem Forever were

shown at E3... Surely a final release of the game was right around the corner!

Just about when mid-1998 arrived (June, specifically) 3D Realms announced they were changing 3D engines to Epic's Unreal engine. George Broussard, the producer and co-creator

of the Duke Nukem series insisted that this change would not cause any significant delay, despite all logic pointing to the contrary. Also at this point, Broussard assured everyone

Duke Nukem Forever would see a 1999 release.

1999 came and went, Duke Nukem Forever saw another engine change, this time to an updated version of the same Unreal engine they were working on. 3D Realms even released

a Duke Nukem Christmas card, insinuating a 2000 release. Not surprisingly, the year 2000 came and went without Duke Nukem Forever. Another Christmas card was released,

this time hinting at a 2001 release.

In the summer of 2001, 3D Realms released the most substantial proof to date that Duke Nukem Forever has ever existed in any form- a two and a half minute game play trailer:

In 2002, 3D Realms hired new programmers, and decided instead of switching to another 3D engine, they would just develop their own, making this the fourth engine change since

the initial announcement of the game. Broussard eventually came out to say that at this point, "95%" of the already designed levels had been scraped, and had they remained on track

they would have been "two years" off from releasing Duke Nukem Forever under the Unreal engine.

In early 2003, the CEO of Take Two, 3D Realms' publisher announced Duke Nukem Forever would be released by the end of the year. This eventually changed to "by the end of 2004"

and then "in the beginning of 2005." In September of 2004, GameSpot.com revealed a rumor that Duke Nukem Forever had made its fifth 3D engine change, this time using the Quake

III engine. Broussard denied the rumor, but announced only a few days later that they had switched to a different physics engine for the game.

Duke Nukem Forever news in the years to follow was limited to rumblings on forums and mostly consisted of drama between 3D Realms and Take Two which wasn't very interesting.

During this time, the only thing we've even saw that provided any proof that anything was even happening with Duke Nukem Forever is a small (and I mean SMALL) 200x125 image

of a supposed screen shot which was posted on several 3D Realms job postings online.

A Duke Nukem Forever teaser was released on the 19th of December, 2007.

In May 2009, 3D Realms was downsized for financial reasons, resulting in the loss of the game's development team. Statements by the company indicated that the project was due to go

gold soon with pictures of final development. Take-Two Interactive, which owns the publishing rights to the game, filed a lawsuit in 2009 against 3D Realms over their failure to finish development.

3D Realms retorted that Take-Two's legal interest in the game is limited to their publishing right. The case was settled with prejudice and details undisclosed in May 2010.

In 2010 several videos, first in February (#1), then in April (#2) leaked onto the internet featuring never-before-seen footage of the game.

On September 3, 2010, after 13 years, Duke Nukem Forever was officially reported by 2K Games to be in development at Gearbox Software. It was originally confirmed to be released on May 3, 2011

in North America, with a worldwide release following on May 6, 2011. This has however been delayed by a month to June 10 internationally with a North American release on June 14.

On May 24, 2011, it was announced that Duke Nukem Forever finally went gold after 14 years. After going gold the launch trailer for Duke Nukem Forever was released on June 2, 2011.

The final game runs on a modified version of Unreal Engine 2.x; including a new physics engine called Meqon which was later acquired by PhysX, and a new renderer based on deferred rendering.

Starting June 10th, THE DUKE IS BACK and ready to kick some ass.

For more Duke history, visit here.

 

[Chiggs]

Nice job with the thread, but I think I preferred "it took 14 years, and it could use 14 more" the best.

 

[Sethos]

Nice job with the thread, but I think I preferred "it took 14 years, and it could use 14 more" the best.

Excellent thread sir, however I agree with the man above. ( Not that I proposed that or anything >.> )

 

[Maxim726X]

Nice work, OP.

Come... Get some?

 

[Face it Tiger..]

Bravo,


You can always bet on Duke.

 

[Bossniak]

My boner is ready.

 

[Chiggs]

Excellent thread sir, however I agree with the man above. ( Not that I proposed that or anything >.> )

Hey, it made me laugh.

 

[MNC]

Screw the haters, I'm going to enjoy this game wether it's shitty or not. Still love the 2001 trailer best. The semi-awesome 3D from that era has that awesome charm. Seeing all these screenshots not in the demo (I'm sick of seeing the same fucking demo over and over) make me happy and I'm interested in where the game will take us.

Yeah, there's that design doc released way back, but I never read it because of a possible release in the future of DNF

 

[Narag]

Great op, Buckethead. Hadn't seen the book signing screenshot before!

 

[Weenerz]

Grabbing this for a new avatar, since some a-hole stole my other one.

Also, buying the game for nostalgia, but the demo was completely shitty.

 

[Wallach]

This game comes out internationally before it comes out in N. America?

 

[Fix The Scientist]

Nice job with the thread, but I think I preferred "it took 14 years, and it could use 14 more" the best.

lol

 

[Chiggs]

Grabbing this for a new avatar, since some a-hole stole my other one.

Also, buying the game for nostalgia, but the demo was completely shitty.

My personal price for nostalagia (barring some completely out of left field reviews, as in 90% or higher) is $29.99.

 

[Dog Problems]

Very nice thread. And I love the Metacritic page.

Also, that bust would look good next to The Witcher 2 bust.

 

[luka]

This is gonna be awesome.

(That Soundblaster MIDI version of grabbag is terrible btw. Get a proper version played on a SoundCanvas! )

 

[Weenerz]

My personal price for nostalagia (barring some completely out of left field reviews, as in 90% or higher) is $29.99.

I'm going balls of steel, taking the bust to work and slapping it on my desk. Can't wait for people to ask what is it and I shall inform then that it is Lord Duke Nukem, God among insects.

 

[alr1ght]

yeah baby

 

[rikichi]

WOOOOOOOOO

 

[Guevara]

Is this real life?

 

[Nocebo]

I pre-ordered the balls of steel edition but after playing the demo I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. I don't like the two weapons limit at all, plus the second demo level was boring as hell. I'll keep my pre-order, though. Because I'm a sucker I guess.
I'll try to play it but I might have to wait for a mod that removes this silly limit in order to be able to enjoy the game fully.

 

[jgminto]

I'm really excited for the multiplayer. Obviously the 2 weapon limit will be less fun but I am still excited.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Good job, OP. Can't wait to get my pre-order in the mail.

 

[Square Triangle]

Great job on the OP. Not a fan at all of the demo, but glad to see this finally coming out!

 

[MrFortyFive]

I wasn't sure whether I was happy or sad to learn that this was coming out. I made a bet a long while ago that if it ever came out, I would buy the best/most expensive edition day 1. I guess we'll see how it turns out. Those balls of steel better not disappoint.

 

[Night_Trekker]

I won't lie: I will be waiting for a Steam deal before I buy this. But I WILL buy it, and I will love it.

 

[rikichi]

good shit on the OP bro

 

[Buckethead]

My original idea for the thread was to make it an evolution of the internet... start with a bunch of shitty textures and pixelated images, add a bunch of animated .gifs, then progressively get better looking.

But oh well, this will do.

Cannot wait.

Thanks everyone.

 

[daffy]

Looks like we got what we asked for.

A 14 year old game

 

[mileS]

man the 2001 trailer... so hyped back in the day for that.. why oh why couldn't they finish it at that point, with that engine.

 

[Buckethead]

man the 2001 trailer... so hyped back in the day for that.. why oh why couldn't they finish it at that point with that engine.

Supposedly, that wasn't an engine and they built specific demo maps just to make a trailer.

I don't know who to believe on that one.

 

[(._.)]

I want my key now

 

[MMaRsu]

Weird spacing in the about the game section

OT

HOLY SHIT ITS THE FUCKING DUKE NUKEM FOREVER YEA BABY ITS FINALLY HEEEEEEEEEERE

 

[CF_Fighter]

Grabbing this one

Can't believe it's finally here, still feels a bit surreal. Sadly I'm broke right now, but I will get this game by summer's end.

 

[whitehawk]

You should change the "Best viewing experience link" to the megadeth version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poyWs95UYCI&feature=related

 

[SpacLock]

Fuck yes.

 

[RustyNails]

Dont like the sub title. Other than that, good OT.

 

[Neuromancer]

Hell fucking yeah!

It doesn't even matter if the game is good or not; that's almost besides the point now. Either way, it's going to be part of gaming history.

 

[Salsa]

great job Buckethead

cannot fucking waitttttttttttt

 

[Baller. PhD]

OT for DNF...

I never thought I'd see it. Day 1 bitches.

 

[luka]

Looks like we got what we asked for.

A 14 year old game

I'm ok with this.

 

[Metalmurphy]

OT reminds me of those amateur websites from 1995... so in a way, it's an appropriate OP for the game.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

Yes!! I can't wait

 

[Hellcrow]

So... what do we wait and hope for after DNF?

 

[How About No]

Please don't suck.

 

[gray_fox224]

Is that Metacritc for real?

 

[MMaRsu]

I'm sorry to say this but is it okay to say that in this instance we are all posting in a legendary thread?

 

[Night_Trekker]

Is that Metacritc for real?

Look at the "Metacritic" banner.

EDIT: Hell, look more carefully at all of the image.

 

[saunderez]

So... what do we wait and hope for after DNF?

I dunno we're running out of games. Damn you DNF and LA Noire for releasing!!!

 

[How About No]

So... what do we wait and hope for after DNF?

Duke Nukem FiveNever!

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I'm sorry to say this but is it okay to say that in this instance we are all posting in a legendary thread?

It's literally a thread of the Forever

So... what do we wait and hope for after DNF?

Shenmue III, Blood III, a new F-Zero, a new Chrono Trigger, FF VII remake, FF Vs XIII, a new, good game from Rare, getting sucked by one mirrion troops, a new, good Silent Hill game and a new, good Zelda HD game (pick your choice)