When They Called It Duke Nukem Forever, Who Knew They Meant That's How Long It Would Take To Release?
from the another-year,-more-vapor dept
For years, Wired has offered up an annual “vaporware” list — and there have been a few products that always seem to make the list. There was the oh-so-aptly-named “Phantom” gaming console, but that company finally just disappeared completely. However, the granddaddy of all vaporware, which has dominated the list over and over and over again for years has been the video game Duke Nukem Forever… and it comes as no surprise that it takes the top spot, once again. The game, of course, was supposed to have been released in early 1998, so we’re pushing 10 years late here. At one point, Wired even gave it a “Lifetime Achievement Award” in order to get it off the list. That was for 2003. Since then, the game’s stature as Vaporware extraordinaire has only grown, forcing Wired to put it back on the list — in its rightful spot at the top. Of course, expecting this, the company behind the game has actually released a trailer for the game… which doesn’t mean much. Either way, i’m betting that there are a lot of folks who’d prefer that this game remain in perpetual vaporware. It seems a lot more fun that way.
Filed Under: duke nukem, vaporware
Comments on “When They Called It Duke Nukem Forever, Who Knew They Meant That's How Long It Would Take To Release?”
I'll pass...
At this point, DNF would end up being pretty lame even if it WAS released. It’s more fun as an end-of-year bashing point.
DNF
Hahaha I just noticed that the games title can stand for Did Not Finish as used in racing… Maybe still it will live up to both its names.
DNF ruined my life
i played the old duke 3d until my eyes bled, and i was going to build a new computer, only i wanted to wait until DNF was released so i could buy all the best stuff.
that was in 1999.
i waited until 2001 and i have since built two gaming machines, and thanks to duke nukem forever, i will never again be excited about a new game, not even when i made it into the closed beta for lord of the rings online. that’s supposed to be a great honor, but i was pessimistic, thinking to myself “what if they delay release indefinitely?”
i fear that i will never be able to love again 🙁
Waiting patiently
I’m a big fan of first person shooters. I enjoyed not only Duke3D but also the original Duke Nukem I and II side-scrollers. I remember way back when my brother and I would fight over who got to play the game on the family’s new top of the line 386 because it wouldn’t run as well on the old XT.
I’m looking forward to playing this game when it’s finally released, but in spite of the long development time (or, perhaps, because of) I don’t have very high expectations. I get the feeling 3DRealms has this vision for the game to be something great, and they don’t want to disappoint the fans with the final product. I think that’s entirely the wrong tactic here. Part of the Duke Nukem charm is how cheesy the whole thing is, and if you try to build an artsy, directed game with an overly impressive graphics engine you’ve missed the point.
They need to focus on fixing the bugs with whatever they have, cut a few corners with models and graphic design for the pieces they have in place, and build in a system releasing adding episodic content a la Half-Life 2: Episodes 1-3. This will give fans the promise of this not happening again, it will give shareholders and executives something with promise to point to (“This isn’t just a game: it’s a long-term platform and franchise investment.”), and most importantly it will let them get the game out the door relatively quickly, even if it’s not entirely finished.
That said, I expect to see the game on next year’s list, too. Here’s to hoping for an actual product in 2009.
Of course, expecting this, the company behind the
Just to clarify a small point, the video was made for George Broussard by the game developers during a company party. George liked it enough to release it into the wild; it is a teaser trailer and not meant as a full blown media campaign. Its meant to be watched with lowered expectations because it was done on a lark (or so the original posting goes).
Personally Id rather have a game come out with what the developer had in mind, not because of some deadline imposed by the marketing dept or because the shareholders/investors are getting tired of waiting. Im glad 3D Realms has enough guts to take their time and get it right instead of get it rushed. History is forever.
Haven't we all moved on yet?
Duke Nukem? Really? People still care? I spent 5 minutes playing DN3D before uninstalling and selling it to a friend. Doom/Quake was 3x the game at the time. I’m half expecting the next duke nukem to eventually come out and have PIII 128mb ram 16mb vram as the system requirements… meh.
Re: Haven't we all moved on yet?
If you like Army Of Darkness then you gotta love DN3D. The humor is the same and the game play was fun. Oh I see. You are Anonymous Coward. This must be why you didn’t understand the game. Duke Nukem and Ash must be related by blood.
Did Not Finish
Look at the game Pray by 3D realms (same people who made DN). The in game artwork was available on the DN3D game CD. It finally came out for the 360 mid 2006.
I will only play Duke if the he still rips the boss’s head off and craps in it’s neck.
Maybe while they are at it they can release an updated Wolfenstein [gleefully showing my age].
Re: Re:
Did you never play Return to Castle Wolfenstein? It was spectacular. Ruined my Calc 3 grade and gpa forever…
Re: Re:Neck Crapping!
Indeed! When he did that to the Boss in DN3D I busted a gut!
Wolfenstein...
…is amazing. I agree with the idea that they should wait as long as it takes, but at the same time they should be careful. No one should have found out about this game until no more than a year until its ACTUAL release, avoiding all of this halabaloo.
HEY! that ac posted my system stats.
really!
DNF!
Oh Ye of little faith … for shame! Duke is going to come and kick much ass! I never doubted the return of the Mighty Duke!
“Come get some!”
I bet this game will be a horrific failure to the classic legends we all have come to know and love so much. They did the same shit with doom and it was the most disappointing kick in the face I’ve ever seen in gaming. I’ll stick with the classics with the shitty resolution rather then play the snot nosed kids version of the building blocks of FPS gaming.
Phantom didn’t fall off the face of the earth. In fact that long awaited lapboard is now on sale:
http://www.phantom.net/content/products/index.html
What merit does that give the company? None.
?
Anyone else thinks this Duke looks like a blonde Bruce Willis?
Its scaring me.
Re: ?
yeh, i don’t like that. i liked it when he was a mix of arnold swartnegger and elvis. 🙁
and he was simple and to the point.. not all this as we see before us now. i think the real duke died… now this is a duke impersonator. i think the aliens won. they got OUR duke! this isn’t our duke, no way!
that isn't even duke anymore.
doesn’t look like duke, been too long waiting and it will probably suck total ass baby. been keeping tabs, willingly with no passion the last 10 years. seems the more we wait the lesser duke it becomes. that’s not duke.. no way man.. not our duke.