Saturday, May 9, 2009

12-year Duke Nukem pre-order may end in disappointment

There's a demotivational poster here somewhere - Image 1When Slash000 paid US 10 to pre-order Duke Nukem Forever through his local GameStop, little did he know that he would have to wait 12 years to wait for an answer. Unfortunately for him, the answer might be a disappointing "no" now that 3D Realms has run out of money and can no longer continue the game's development.

Ironically called Duke Nukem Forever, it has practically taken forever for the game to come out. It has been in development for 12 years now, and has even received top honors at Wired Magazine's Vaporware Awards for seven years out of the last eight, becoming somewhat of a running joke in the industry.

In spite of the long wait, 3D Realms was able to produce screenshots and trailers for the game, making it look like there was still hope. But now that 3D Realms has closed down, things are looking bleaker than ever.

"It would have been nice to see another Duke Nukem game, but given they had more than 12 years it's just incompetence of the highest order," Guardian Games writer Steve Boxer told BBC. "Sadly, Duke Nukem Forever was the most aptly named title in the history of games. Now, it's just Duke Nukem Never."

Take Two still owns the publishing rights, but there's no word on finding Forever a new team to develop it. On the other hand, Duke Nukem Trilogy (PSP, DS) development is still continuing, or so they say.



Duke Nukem Never: