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Duke Nukem Forever Due This Year?

Posted by Zonk on Sat Jun 10, 2006 05:21 AM
from the an-end-in-sight dept.
Businesses Programming Entertainment Games IT Technology
nz17 writes "Under the original deal, 3D Realms was to receive some $6 million from Take-Two to develop the title. Now the Texas-based developer will receive only $4,250 for the oft-delayed game when it is completed. Just the same, 3D Realms has a fairly large incentive to get Duke Nukem Forever done by the end of the year; Take-Two has offered the studio $500,000 in the form of a promissory note if the game sees commercial release by December 31, 2006."
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Related Stories

[+] Duke Nukem Forever Update 250 comments
Gamasutra reports on an update to one of the longest running jokes in the games industry, Duke Nukem Forever. The title, already ten years in development, may (possibly) see release this decade. From the blurb: "3DR's George Broussard also demonstrated world interactivity that includes Duke standing in front of a computer and emailing the player, if he provides his email address for the game. But, according to the piece, Broussard was bashful, overall, about showing off the game, commenting: 'The problem is that when we show it, people are going to be like, Yeah, whatever. Honestly, at this point we just want to finish it.'"
[+] Duke Nukem Sheds Light on Brain 50 comments
bodger_uk writes "The BBC is running an article on the use of Duke Nukem in long term memory research. From the Article: 'It has long been thought that sleep deprivation affects your ability to consolidate memories. To test the theory, the researchers gave the volunteers place-finding missions in a virtual city created in the Duke Nukem game.' Slashdotters already know that Duke Nukem aids long term memory research of course. Just look how long we've been remembering about Duke Nukem Forever!"
[+] 3D Realms Won't Rush Duke Nukem Forever 310 comments
WeAz writes "GameSpot has news that 3D Realms has no plans on rushing Duke Nukem Forever. Despite the $500,000 bounty that Take-Two Interactive was found to be offering for the game after a filing with the SEC last week, George Broussard, President of 3D Realms, has given his official response: 'We're certainly not motivated by that amount of money, after all this time, and getting the game right is what matters. I would never ship a game early (even a couple of months), for 500k.'"
[+] Duke in Trouble? 114 comments
1up reports on rumours of trouble at 3D Realms, the long-term developers of the Duke Nukem Forever project. The duke project is apparently in jeopardy, according to the buzz, as several key developers have left the company for greener pastures. 3D Realms webmaster Joe Siegler has responded to these rumours, saying on the message boards "It's internal business - all employee departures and comings have always been that way. This is nothing new. People have left before, IT IS THE NATURE OF THIS BUSINESS. It's the way it goes ... There's honestly nothing to be concerned about. People leave. People come. There's staff on the project you don't know about."
[+] Duke Nukem Forever 'Confirmed' For Late 2008 344 comments
An anonymous reader writes "A Dallas newspaper is claiming that the long-in-development title Duke Nukem Forever is headed for retail release in late 2008. Unfortunately, game creator 3D Realms says that's not exactly what they meant. 'What the modest Texas newspaper actually seems to suggest is that 3D Realms is "on target" to release the mythical sequel sometime this year, though company president Scott Miller adds, "we may miss the mark by a month or two" (wink, wink). Miller also hinted that "hitting the big three" (in this case, PC, Xbox 360 and PS3) is the obvious development strategy, but he continued to stress that 3D Realms has not "formally announced any platforms for DNF."'"
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  • Who saw that pig go by? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Red Samurai (893134) on Saturday June 10 2006, @05:23AM (#15508290)
    Sorry folks, this is over 2 months late.

  • Windows Vista (Score:5, Funny)

    by fph il quozientatore (971015) on Saturday June 10 2006, @05:23AM (#15508293) Homepage
    So you /do/ confirm that DNF will ship before Windows Vista?

  • quite the paycut (Score:5, Insightful)

    by _Shorty-dammit (555739) on Saturday June 10 2006, @05:24AM (#15508294)
    haha, $4,250 for it. Freakin' hilarious! I'm sure I'm not alone in the "like I even give a rat's ass about this supposed game anymore" club.

    • Re:quite the paycut (Score:5, Insightful)

      by joe 155 (937621) on Saturday June 10 2006, @06:07AM (#15508374) Journal
      I bet it could be quite popular. There will be loads of people from places like this where it has become a standard joke who will want to see if it can ever live up to the years of hype... I'm predicting a success

  • Basically (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Umbral Blot (737704) on Saturday June 10 2006, @05:28AM (#15508298) Homepage
    There are basically three positions you can have with respect to Duke Nukem
    1: It will never be released, in which case no, not this year.
    2: It is honestly being worked on, in which case maybe.
    3: It's about to be done, any day now, in which case yes.
    Obviously these positions are rather broad, and one might even say baseless, but that is just the point. We don't have any way to distinguish between them, we can only guess. All we know is that they keep saying that they are working on it and making progress, but honestly that is compatible with all three positions. Personally I hope Duke Nukem will never come out, for if it does I will have to re-write all my vaporware jokes.

  • I Believe It (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Enderandrew (866215) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [werdnaredne]> on Saturday June 10 2006, @05:28AM (#15508300) Homepage Journal
    Prey went from vaporware to a title that people loved at E3. It is actually going to ship. 3DRealms has to make money to stick around.

    DNF will ship. Who knows how good it will be, or what condition it will be in. They can make money after the fact with expansions.

    The only thing that surprises me is that 3DRealms is making any money at all after how they have handled this. If I was the publisher, I would have canceled the project and taken it to another development house long ago.
    • Im going to be so sad when it ships... I mean, this is like an end to a chapter, who will we turn to for making jokes at in the gaming world? Phantom? Well I guess thatll do!
    • From what I remember, 3DRealms made so much money off of Duke Nukem 3d, they were paying their own way. Using their prior profits to fund the game, so that they could release it whenever they durn well pleased.
        • Actually 3DR has been doing quite well. Not only did they liscense Duke for a variety of other games for just about every platform out there (Even a cart racing game!), they are also behind Max Payne which raked in a ton of money.

    • Re:I Believe It (Score:5, Funny)

      by Jim Hall (2985) on Saturday June 10 2006, @12:36PM (#15509714) Homepage

      DNF will ship. Who knows how good it will be, or what condition it will be in. They can make money after the fact with expansions.

      But will you have the system to handle DNF? I have a pre-market copy of the DNF box right here ... let's see .... MS-DOS 6.22 (Windows 3.11 users will need to exit to DOS), 32MB XMS memory (HIMEM), 100MB free space on hard drive.

  • $4250 ? (Score:5, Funny)

    by GroeFaZ (850443) on Saturday June 10 2006, @05:31AM (#15508304)
    $1 for each day of development?

  • Good Idea? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fdiskne1 (219834) on Saturday June 10 2006, @05:32AM (#15508308)
    Is it really a good idea to give a company this kind of an incentive? I mean, if they don't release it by the end of the year, they basically get nothing. If they release it by the end of the year they get a decent amount. Maybe not as much as the original deal but $500,000 compared to less than $5000 is a pretty decent incentive. Are there stipulations as to the quality of the software? I mean, they could just crank out some crappy version or one with way too many bugs, but they released it before the end of the year so they get their money. I'm hoping the contract specifies a few things like this.

    • Re:Good Idea? (Score:5, Funny)

      by jamesh (87723) on Saturday June 10 2006, @06:01AM (#15508360)

      C:\> dnf.exe

      Welcome to Duke Nukem Forever! Would you like instructions?

      You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully to the south.

      > _


      I'll have my $500,000 now thankyou.

        • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventu re [wikipedia.org]

          there's a link to a flash version of the game down the bottom.

        • Re:Good Idea? (Score:5, Informative)

          by RichardX (457979) on Saturday June 10 2006, @07:15AM (#15508536) Homepage
          There are more text adventures out there than you could probably play in a lifetime!
          The really nice thing is, the vast majority of them are developed on either of two system - TADS, the Text Adventure Development System [tads.org] or Inform [inform-fiction.org], Infocom's system. Both are free for anyone to develop their own games with, and there are interpreters for these systems (especially Inform) on just about any platform you care to use.

          A good central 'hub' to start from is the IF archive [ifarchive.org] with some beginners guides on how to get started, and a massive collection of games to download and play. and googling for 'interactive fiction' will turn up lots more sites.
          Have fun :)

        • Re:Good Idea? (Score:4, Informative)

          by Bambi Dee (611786) on Saturday June 10 2006, @08:53AM (#15508843)
          Hmm. I may be missing something, but I think you're confusing Choose Your Own Adventure type multiple choice games with the more simulationist, finer-grained parser-based text adventures; the grand-parent post quoted the very first of the latter - the venerable (if primitive) Adventure/Colossal Cave from 1975 (or one of its various, er, mods.)

          Popular companies were Infocom, Magnetic Scrolls and Level 9, among others; these days, the form is kept alive by enthusiasts and frequently taken into directions more experimental and/or literary than throw the axe at the dwarf then pick up the gold.

          Baf's Guide to the IF-Archive [wurb.com] is a good place to start searching; as is the IF Review Conspiracy [plover.net]. Poke around and you'll notice most good games require either a "Z-Code" or "TADS" interpreter (VM); refer to the Inform [inform-fiction.org] homepage for a list of UNIX Z-Code interpreters [inform-fiction.org] or just go with Zoom [demon.co.uk] right away (link has pretty picture). As for TADS [tads.org] games, here're the Linux TADS 2/3 Playkit [tads.org] and, alternatively, a QT-based TADS 2/3 interpreter [sourceforge.net].

          TADS and Inform, incidentally, are the two most widely used Interactive Fiction programming languages. And although that's not their intended purpose, both have also been used for multiple choice games on occasion.

          If you're interested, Brass Lantern [brasslantern.org] has a collection of articles for beginners. If you're not, oh well ;)

    • Re:Good Idea? (Score:5, Informative)

      by raehl (609729) <raehl311&yahoo,com> on Saturday June 10 2006, @06:13AM (#15508383) Homepage
      compared to less than $5000 is a pretty decent incentive

      You're forgetting one of the main slashdot rules - never ascribe to malace what can be explained by bad editing.

      (The new amount isn't $4,250, it's 4.25 million.)

      • Re:Good Idea? (Score:4, Informative)

        by jdgeorge (18767) on Saturday June 10 2006, @01:47PM (#15509980)
        There appears to be some confusion, because the linked article doesn't quote the correct number.
        There's a similar, but more accurate, version of the story here [next-gen.biz]. This article describes the potential dollars thus:
        The new terms had Take-Two pay 3D Realms $4.25 million up front along with the aforementioned $500,000 promissory note
      • Has nothing to do with slashdot rules or bad editing. It says, in the Gamespot article, "$4,250". Which to me reads as four thousand, two hundred and fifty dollars.
  • I am working on an amazing response to this article. Trust me, it'll be great--not just funny, but incredibly insightful. It will take your breath away. It is destined to be the most talked-about Slashdot posting of 2006. Unfortunately, it's not ready to post yet, but it will be ready within about 10 minutes. I just wanted to give everybody a heads up. Look for it here!

  • More than $4,250 (Score:5, Informative)

    by NsinR8R (689661) * on Saturday June 10 2006, @06:00AM (#15508358)
    It's more than just $4,250: on the 10-Q, all dollar figures (with the exception of per-share amounts) are listed in thousands. Quoting the financial statement notes, the "In March 2005, the Company renegotiated a $6,000 contingent obligation due upon delivery of the final PC version of Duke Nukem Forever through the payment of $4,250 and issuance of a promissory note in the principal amount of $500." That would actually, then, be four-and-a-quarter million dollars rather than a paltry 4K.

  • About time then (Score:3, Interesting)

    by The_Dougster (308194) on Saturday June 10 2006, @06:06AM (#15508371)

    Having to boot into Linux just to play some Duke3D has gotten really old. I gotta say though that its worth it. There's a lot of seriously neat and fun gameplay packed into that game.

    The amount of Linux play I get out of the Duke3D Platinum Pack that I picked up for $10 is phenomenal. For a "DOOMish" type game, it is just superb.The http://www.icculus.org/duke3d [icculus.org] Linux engine is really good.

    Hail to the King baby!

  • Duke Nukem Forever Due This Year. (Score:4, Funny)

    by jkrise (535370) on Saturday June 10 2006, @06:22AM (#15508398) Journal
    2006: Duke Nukem Forever Due This Year.
    2007: Duke Nukem Forever Due This Year.
    2008: Duke Nukem Forever Due This Year.
    2009: Duke Nukem Forever Due This Year. .. .. ..
    2020: Duke Nukem Forever Due This Year.

    Unlike Microsoft, the DNF folks have been consistent. They haven't changed their stance over several years....

  • Stop holding your breath, it won't be worth it (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Opportunist (166417) on Saturday June 10 2006, @06:26AM (#15508408)
    I doubt that DNF will be any good. For a very simple reason.

    The game has been "under development" for ... 5 years? Longer? Don't remember. But what I remember is the way software development works. Think back 5 years, and the way games were back then. Forget graphics for a moment and just think of gameplay. Would you play a game with 5 year old gameplay?

    Because that's what DNF will have. The idea, the plan, the layout, it's 5 years old. Yes, of course they will "add" stuff to make it "current", but it will be plugged into it and feel attached rather than a core part of the game.

    Graphics will probably be current. It's not a big deal to adjust an engine, even though you have to rewrite some parts of the code over and over.

    And, finally, they already sunk a ton of dough into it. In other words, it has to be finished cheaply, so it can at least come close to breaking even. Whoever is in the unhappy position to finish this game is very short on funds. And probably also quite frustrated, and as odd as it may sound (for a game that's been delayed forever, hence the name, I guess) under heavy time pressure. If it's announced that "it's being worked on", people do expect it SOON, simply because "hell, they already worked SO long on it, it's gotta be almost done".

    My guess is that they want to get that albatross off the ramp, no matter whether it flies or not.

    • Re:Stop holding your breath, it won't be worth it (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ichigo 2.0 (900288) on Saturday June 10 2006, @06:46AM (#15508444)
      What are you talking about? Gameplay (sadly) hasn't changed a bit in 5 years!
    • Would you play a game with 5 year old gameplay?

      Actually, gameplay has been getting progressively worse - it often seems to have an inverse relationship with graphics capabilities. Taito could create far more entertainment with a 6Mhz processor than software companies today with processor speeds of several GHz and dedicated 3D graphics cards ...
      • Tetris and SMBs are timeless classics. That ain't something I could say of any shooter. Shooters live by their graphics and their "new gadgets". Would you PAY full price for a game with the engine, graphics, options and gadgets of the original "Doom"?

        Look at the NintendoDS and the game "Meteos". Pretty much a Tetris-line game (blocks fall from above and you gotta get rid of them). No really flashy graphics, not really that "new", but it's fun.

        Shooters, on the other hand, rely heavily on their state-of-the-a

  • Don't you know why? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Gli7ch (954537) on Saturday June 10 2006, @06:39AM (#15508424)

    Guys! Don't you know? The only reason they took so long developing it is because they had to recode the whole thing for its exclusive release for the Infinium Labs Phantom! [phantom.net]

    Duh!

  • of when or why or how it ships. The gamers self-produced hype is just too much. There is no way that whoever is developing it now can live up to the expectations of peoples own imaginations. It doesn't matter how awesome the graphics or sound is, or how amazing the gameplay is. There is no way that they can live up to the expectations of pretty much anyone on planet Earth.

    Had they managed to squeeze this one out a few years ago, then maybe. It would've been like Doom3, lots of talk and generally a fun game but nothing to lose sleep over. However, since DN3DF has been in development for like a decade it's gone from being a game and becoming some kind of mythic beast instead.

    Sure, it might sell a few units, but it will be on novelty value alone.

  • In related news.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by cyriustek (851451) on Saturday June 10 2006, @07:37AM (#15508602)
    In related news...

    Windows Vista is to ship this year.

    We will no longer have to wait for Godot.

    The second coming of Christ will come this year.

    The US will pull out of Iraq this year.

    The US will find Osama.

  • the truth is in the punctuation (Score:5, Funny)

    by elmarkitse (816597) on Saturday June 10 2006, @08:52AM (#15508837)
    Duke Nukem, Forever Due 'This Year'...

    • Re:$4,250.00 ? (Score:4, Informative)

      by jchawk (127686) on Saturday June 10 2006, @08:32AM (#15508770) Homepage Journal
      I hate to be the buzz kill but all stock filings are posted in a short hand notation where you always divide all dollar amounts by 1,000. So $10,000,000 becomes - $10,000. So your post should read something like this -


      In November 2005, the Company acquired all of the outstanding capital stock of Firaxis Games, Inc. ("Firaxis"), a developer of PC and strategy titles, including the Civilization franchise. The purchase price of approximately $15,442,000 consisted of $12,500,000 of unregistered common stock and $4,085,000 of development advances previously paid to Firaxis reduced by net cash acquired of $1,143,000.

      In June 2005, the Company acquired all of the outstanding capital stock of Gaia Capital Group and its wholly-owned subsidiaries ("Gaia"), the developers of certain of the Company's titles for console and handheld platforms. The purchase price consisted of $5,748,000 in cash, $4,055,000 of development advances previously paid to Gaia and deferred consideration of $1,597,000.

      In January 2005, the Company acquired from SEGA all of the outstanding capital stock of Visual Concepts Entertainment and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Kush Games, the developers of certain of the Company's sports titles, and certain intellectual property rights associated with these products. The purchase price consisted of $27,794,000 in cash, $1,866,000 of prepaid royalties previously advanced to SEGA and contingent consideration of $2,593,000 based on the release of certain titles.

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