Our Long National Nightmare Is Over? Duke Nukem Has A Release Date?

from the i'll-believe-it-when-i'm-playing-it dept

The video game Duke Nukem Forever has been a perpetual joke in video game circles. A decade ago it was already being mocked as Vaporware. At some point, Wired had to "retire" it from its annual vaporware list, giving it a "lifetime achievement award." But that was back in 2003, and after strong demand, it was added back to the list later. Finally, in 2009, we thought it had gone into permanent vaporware mode, after the developer, 3D Realms, shut down. There was a fascinating post mortem of the effort, which talked about the rather perfectionist views of 3D Realms boss, George Broussard, who kept having the team effectively start over to avoid being "behind" the state of the art.

However, Take Two got into a bit of a legal fight with what was left of 3D Realms, and finally cleared the way for Take Two to release a game called Duke Nukem Forever, though I imagine many won't feel it's the "real" Duke Nukem Forever (because that game is a myth). Either way, Peter Suderman noticed that Duke Nukem Forever actually appears to have a release date on Amazon of May 31st of this year. I'm not sure I really believe it, but considering it's not the old team involved any more, perhaps it can actually happen. Either way, in my head, Duke Nukem Forever will always be vaporware.

Filed Under: duke nukem forever, vaporware

Behind The Scenes Of The Duke Nukem Vaporware Party And Demise

from the gotta-launch dept

Back in May the "lifetime achievement" award winner (many times over) in vaporware, Duke Nukem Forever, officially went onto the permanent vaporware list as developer 3D Realms shut down. So what happened? How could one video game be under development for a dozen years, and despite promos from over a decade ago, still never come out? Clive Thompson, over at Wired, tried to piece together an autopsy of Duke Nukem Forever.

As with just about anything Thompson writes, it's a great read, with some interesting lessons. While the crux of the story is that 3D Realms boss, George Broussard, had the earlier success stuck on his brain, it seems like there are a few other things to be learned. There is definitely this undercurrent of "this game must be perfect before it can be released" that runs through the whole story. And, in fact, that probably only got worse with time. Every year the game wasn't released, the more it would have to "prove" to eventually live up to its reputation. But even more interesting is the constant changing of game engines. Basically (according to the story) Broussard kept focusing on why the game had to be the absolute best, and so every time a new (better) gaming engine came out, he wanted to use that, and dump all the development done on earlier engines. In some ways it's a story that shows why just copying what other people do isn't enough. By the time 3D Realms "caught up" with others (often by licensing their technology), someone else had already jumped ahead and gone further -- leading 3D Realms to pull back and jump on board the next platform... leading to the same situation yet again.

The simple fact was that no one was ever going to be that far ahead of the game any more, and so there are times where you just release what you have and iterate. But 3D Realms put itself in the impossible position of both needing to be leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else, while at the same time relying on the technology of others they hoped to leapfrog. That's a recipe for disaster. You can use others' technologies if you want to be incrementally better, and to then continue to improve. But you're simply not going to be so far ahead of the game that no one is ever going to catch you. And it appears that 3D Realms never got past that contradiction.

Filed Under: duke nukem forever, perfection, vaporware
Companies: 3d realms

Duke Nukem Forever Wins The True Lifetime Achievement Award For Vaporware: Coming Out Never

from the duke-nukem-for-never dept

As plenty of folks know, the video game Duke Nukem Forever has long topped Wired's annual vaporware list. It's been promised for over a decade, and has always been a work in progress. Wired actually got so sick of having it at the top of the vaporware awards that it tried to push it off the list by giving it a "lifetime achievement award." But that was way back in 2003... and the fact that it stayed vaporware for a while meant that it came back on the list. However, it appears the game has now transcended all vaporware and officially become permanent vaporware as the developer working on it has shut down. At this point, it's hardly a surprise, but it does sorta make you wonder what they were working on for the past twelve years...

Filed Under: duke nukem forever, vapor ware
Companies: 3d realms