By SN
Thursday May 7, 2009
Tom’s Hardware via
Slashdot:
“Duke Nukem Forever developer 3D Realms is shutting down, according to Shacknews. They cite ‘a reliable source close to the company,’ who said the developer is finished and employees have already been let go. It looks like all of the Duke Nukem Forever jokes are turning into reality; DNF might turn out to be the ultimate vaporware after all.”
3D Realms’ webmaster, Joe Siegler, confirmed the closing, saying that he didn’t know about it even a day beforehand. Apogee and Deep Silver, who are working on a different set of Duke Nukem games (referred to as the Duke Nukem Trilogy) say they are 
.
There’s no surprise here. These guys were living off of profits made over a decade ago. With little focus and direction the game was never shown in a playable state. I guess this just ends the industry’s longest running joke. What a dud!
“Get back to work you slacker!” – Duke
Oh no!
I was looking forward to Duke Nukem Forever. It feels like I’ve been waiting for years, they even made a trailer for it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SY9rlZmfMA
given that it has been in [sic] production for about 12 years, haven’t they got anything for us loyal fans?
lol – shame though
They should have stuck with a single engine, rather than jumping onto whatever new and better one came along and wasting millions of dollars and years of development time.
They switched through so many different engines its no wonder they are where they are now.
Just look at what Valve did with the ancient Quake 1 engine for the original Half Life, using an older engine doesn’t automatically make the game suck.
They were getting so little work done the engine switching seems not to have been the issue. They were remaking levels 20 times and then deciding they were no good and throwing the whole thing out. Madness.
Former 3D Realms employee speaks out.
http://bit.ly/j4t7e
I guess its done…
BIGGEST vapor ware I know of is ELITE4..
PROMISES, and MORE promises..
AND neither will release their CONCEPTS to the other..or even let SOMEONE ELSE make it..
At least Myst got finished. For real. Myst IV and V were pretty amazing.
http://frontier.co.uk/
http://frontier.co.uk/games/older/frontier_elite_ii/
“”Frontier” also set a number of firsts. It was the first game to have real-sized planets, where cities could be viewed from orbit, it was the first to use curved surfaces (Bezier), the only game to do a palette-fit every frame to get best use of colours (Amiga and ST only), and (apart from First Encounters) is the only piece of software (games or otherwise) that attempts to simulate our entire galaxy.
Planets orbit and rotate correctly, so if you stay in one spot you will see sunrises, and the progression of stars, planets and moons through the night sky. It is possible to watch Saturn-rise from one of its moons.
Due to Gametek Inc.’s disappearance, accurate sales figures are not known. Royalties were received for around 350,000 sales but it appears that actual sales were in excess of 500,000 units.”
I’ll bet the webcomics are going to have a field day with this one. This comic got the ball rolling already.
In the racing world, DNF stands for
Did
Not
Finish
Guess it does in the game development world, too.
Nooooooooooooooooooo!
Well, I guess Duke finally found some bubble gum…
Ok, so, can they open source the code now?
I am pretty suddened by this turn of events, because I was really looking forward to seeing this game come out. We even made a tribute webcomic about it:
http://www.epictail.com/2009/05/07/forever-dead/
I wasn’t expecting the company to close down.. this isn’t due to DnF never being released, but it seems like they never WERE working on anything. Compaines are closing down left and right in this economy, but then again the gaming industry as a whole has done well regardless of the economy.
3D Realms should have sold off the rights to Duke Nukem 10 years ago to someone who would actually make the fucking game. Not sit on it for 10 years and let it rot.
Who wants some? Damn, those aliens are gonna pay for shooting up my ride! That space marine looks doomed…
Duke Nukem 3D imvented the idea of interactivity (even if it wasn’t really 3D). You could work the switches, shoot some pool, even pay a stripper to dance. It was way ahead of it’s time. The maps were huge, levels long, and bosses rough. It was the number one download on my BBS for months. I guess the fame and fortune was too much for these guys, they could’ve been just as successful as id-software had they had a better work ethic. Oh well, sniff, sniff, Rest In Peace Duke Nukem. I think I’ll install DN3D on this machine and get nostalgic.
Despite how primitive DN seems today, it was a very fun game. It didn’t take itself to serious. I loved the jetpack that let you fly. I loved the cops that were actual pigs, the strippers, the bars, etc. It was also one hell of a fun deathmatch platform. To be honest, I’ve yet to play a game as fun as DN was. It was like “Leisure Suit Larry” meets “Quake”.
Well, it sounded like the new version was going to be more serious anyhow.
19,
*sniff* you had me at BBS.
Duke Nukem Forever II: Open Source?
All the bosses in the game look like Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman
the interactive experience and humour made the game for me.
aside from all the coolstuff you could actually use in the game like #20 said,
when i walked into a toilet stall and
actually relieved myself and flushed the toilet, i was sold.. this game was the
epitome of fun. in between adrenaline
pumping fire fights, you had little
easter eggs that made you laugh your
ass off.
-after the whole toilet thing, you walk over
to the mirror and “use” it, -to which (iirc) Duke responds “hmm, i’m looking mighty fine today”
-alot of funny stuff to be sure.
imo, for a game of that time, DN3D introduced alot of “firsts” esp with great sense of
humor for a game of it’s type.
i’ll have to dig through my BBS archives
to see if i still have it. -anyone know
if it’s engine runs proper in ghz class
cpu’s? – i know some of the old DOS games
need something akin to a speed limiter patch,
otherwise they run at hyper speed, if at all.
no doubt someone will pick it up.. if not,
it’ll be great if the source gets released.
-s
odd trivia fact:
these games are specially attractive to game players who are in wheelchairs. (i’m in a chair since 1980, due to a spinal cord
injury (SCI) from a motorcycle accident
many SCI people i know who are game players
have found first person shooters “liberating”
in that once full immersion into these types of games take place, you find they tend to somewhat nurture (for lack of a better word) the longing desire to walk again.
me having been pretty much a strict flight sim
only player my whole life, considered FPS’s as
a pointless genre. I tried Wolf 3D when it first came out at the suggestion of a fellow SCI friend, found the illusion of walking in this game, dare i say, cathartic. -to the
point that i became almost instantly
addicted to this game solely for this reason.
subsequently, i found myslef hunting down
FPS’s with the best immersion factor (like Half Life) as time went on, just to relive
the experience of walking and walking related activities
years later, i had mentioned this at a SCI support group i volunteer at and found
several others acutely aware of this
experience. -others at the group who play games but not FPS’s, gave them a try and
most found themselves instantly hooked.
I think the most “cathartic fun” in relation to walking and “legged” related activity that precipitated out this discovery, was when we as SCI group, discovered the online America’s Army (AA) tactical FPS. (-this from a bunch
of a 30yr old+ SCI’s)
the tension release AA (and most all FPS’s) provides to someone in a wheelchair cannot
be adequately verbalized. -let alone the fun
factor.
-anyway, just thought i’d share a little
insight on a particular trend FPS’s created that is rarely noted.
I highly recommend to anyone reading this
that is in a wheelchair (or knows someone in a chair) to try a FPS. -esp new SCI patients needing a vent for the overwhelming initial anger that many experience in the first few
years of the injury.
Highly therapeutic, highly recommended.
(therapists take note, -esp for patients who take their anger out those around them)
-even if said patient(s) has never played
a game in they’re life
-s