Duke Nukem Forever Physics Impress 89
rauper wrote in to alert us to a GameIndustry.biz story. The quote says it all: "Swedish company Meqon, the firm behind the physics for 3D Realms' Duke Nukem Forever, has rekindled interest in the long-delayed game with a stunning demonstration of its latest physics technology."
Hey, next time, read it critically (Score:3, Insightful)
Especially for this type of hyped-up claim, I'd really like the opportunity to judge, or at least see it for myself. If you say you're going to change the world, I'd prefer you bring some evidence to the table rather than have closed-door accounts spinning your PR for you.
Re:Ole, ole ole ole (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:7 years and counting (Score:5, Insightful)
IIRC, Duke came out at approximately the same time as Quake. Its interactivity and humor (juvenile though it was) are unparalleled in any game since.
I remember walking over dead guys and leaving bloody footprints, flushing a toilet which overflowed and left watery footprints, seeing myself in a mirror, tossing remote-detonated bombs and blasting them from a block away, shrinking my opponents and stepping on them.
There's a lot of hype about the wonderful immerson of Half Life's story, but what happened in HL2? Awesome atmosphere, but where's the story? It had a plot like a movie tie-in theme park ride.
Duke innovated, and if there is even some tiny vestige of its original spirit left in the company, with today's technology, it will be a favorite of the next generation of gamers, as it was with my generation.
Re:Ole, ole ole ole (Score:2, Insightful)
Proper physics engines make it possible to model reality, and that's the goal of every game from fantasy to sports: to render a consistent world.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Why "When It's Done" is a Betrayal (Score:5, Insightful)
So why he has so f-ed up the marketing on DNF is beyond me. Frankly, I think he's betrayed the relationship between developer and fan more than nearly any other gaming single company. The problem is not that they've taken so long. If they had never released any information at all about DNF but simply announced the game and released it a year later after a PR blitz, it wouldn't have been a big deal. People might've wondered why it took so long, but they'd probably be too busy playing the game to care.
Instead, Miller and 3dr has arrogantly strung their fans along by surfacing every 2-3 years with a carrot of information or screenshots or an E3 preview. Then, when the enthusiasm level is just enough to maintain a slight knowledge of the game, they dive back into the murky depths of "when it's done."
"When it's done" does not inherently violate the relationship between developer and fan. But as soon as companies like 3drealms start relying on fan enthusiasm and fan network news distribution, they owe more to them than to snub their nose at the fans, say in a British Lord accent, "When it's done," and then walk away backs turned. DNF is a perfect example of this elitism.
There was a sociological study done a few years back that showed that the time people wait for things demonstrates the level in society of the two groups of people. This study was talking specifically about people waiting in doctor's offices or at a government institution. The longer people waited in these offices, the more important the person was they were waiting for - either a doctor or an institution. The longer we sit in a waiting room, the more we need to be in the waiting room. Doctors and buerocrats can get away with that because of their level of importance in society. Simply, we need them more than they need us, and that's why we wait.
But there's a discrepency in this when we apply this same theory to gaming. We don't need a DNF as much as Scott Miller and gang need us. We've been getting along fine without them. And perhaps Miller and 3drealms have enough money that they don't need to work quickly on the game, but if they have other aspirations for DNF - for it to become a benchmark, or just known as a really fun game - they're going to have to drop this elitist "when it's done" attitude and do one of two things: a) shut up about the game and stop releasing any kind of information like this, or b) set a date for the game and stick to it as best as they can.
Some of the more succesfull studios get away with "when it's done," namely id and Blizzard to name a few. This is just the validity of the sociological study; that we actually do "need" a game from id and Blizzard and are willing to wait long enough. Why this works for id and Blizzard and not 3drealms is that the first two companies have never betrayed the trust. While utilizing the fan network and and fan ethusiasm, they have never taken advantage of fans to maintain momentum while they diddle-dally on a game. 3drealms has violated that relationship - time again and time again. Gamers are a very forgiving bunch - throw a great screenshot their way and usually all is forgiven - but I think that DNF has broken a cardinal rule, and "fans" may relegated it to special level of gamer hell.
Re:Ole, ole ole ole (Score:3, Insightful)