Duke Nukem Forever Gameplay Footage

Following up on my previous post about 3D Realms going bust after being unable to finish a game in 12 years time, it seems a disgruntled 3D Realms employee posted some gameplay footage on his site that has never been seen before. The video has been quick to spread around and here it is, check it out!




Looks like it had great potential if you ask me. The graphics are better than I though, I assumed they'd be behind on graphics tech due to the long development time, but it looks like it would be right at home on PS3 and Xbox 360. You might also notice that animation is pretty good on the enemies and when Duke picks himself up off the ground. The game also seems to feel and play similarly to Duke Nukem 3D and the weapons and boss battles both looked cool.

As cool as this gameplay video was and it proves the game was no joke, it still feels embarassingly little for 12 years of development. I don't think anyone is going to hire the employees from 3D realms with such a bad track record.

Hopefully, publisher Take 2 will reconsider and put some new funding into the game and maybe hand it to a new developer or something. Wouldn't it be nice to finally play the damn game?

3D Realms Goes Bust

Some sad news has come out lately in the gaming industry. Famous developer 3D Realms has been shut down on May 6 due to lack of funding, just like that. You may recall them as the creators of Duke Nukem 3D, one of the most iconic first person shooters in recent history. It was a great game too. Be sure to buy it on Xbox Live, it even includes four player co-op.

You may recall they were working on a certain game known as Duke Nukem Forever (AKA Duke Nukem 4), the proper sequel to Duke Nukem 3D (not those crappy third person imitations on PSone). It's been a popular game to joke about, due to the game being in development for the last 12 years! In that time, only a few screenshots have been released. Makes you wonder what they were doing all those years...

I remember seeing posters advertising the game in stores years ago, only to disappear soon thereafter. Yet through it all, I still naively believed the game would be released and I thought 2009 would be the year. Instead, it turned out to be the death of the game, with publisher Take 2 stating they still hold the publishing rights for Duke Nukem Forever, but are not funding the game.

A victim of the Global Financial Crisis? Possibly, although I think the lack of any progress in 12 years was the real corporate. A massive shame. Goodbye Duke, I'll miss your cheesy lines and cool weapons.