I am surprised 3D Realms lasted this long...

[Ack-Ack]

Looks like Duke Nukem Forever is indeed vaporware after having nothing to show in 13 years of development other than being an example in business school on how not to develop a flagship product.  Just announced that due to lack of $$$ 3D Realms has shut down, terminating employment to all employees of the company and in some reports within Apogee Software as well.

I believe in taking time to release polished titles but 13 years to make one friggin' game and still expect to stay in business when your flagship franchise nothing but vaporware?  I would hate to be one of the poor suckers that invested in 3D Realms.


ack-ack

[soda72]

What were they trying to do that was taking so much time?

[Ack-Ack]

Supposedly they kept changing engines in the middle of development (heard it was like 3 or 4 times) and each time it set them back a year of development time.


ack-ack

[thrila]

"I have come here to chew bubblegum and waste 12 years of developmnent funding.
And I'm all out of development funding...."

There's still a chance someone will pick up the game, if it is near completion as the developers claim.

Where else am i going to be able to shrink piggies and stomp on them, or go to the bathroom and kick-in the urinals, or rescue hot babes from aliens.

[BaDkaRmA158Th]

yes, on the other hand apogee is back.

Duke forever is done,and has been for a good while, they were simply trying to dumb it down by porting it over to other piss poor console systems for the mouse/keybord lacking masses.



But either way, 3d reals had its swan song the day they released prey.



Screwy times ahead.

ON THE OTHER HAND!..They could be uploading videos and a new web page to celebrate the release of duke nukem forever.
hmmms...maby they choose the under the door vs. the atom bomb in the air for release value.




Something is fishy.


"Sorry we closed" -10,000,000 people go "AWW" world wide millions of comments and chats are started, people that havent even hear of duke nukem start to hear about it,then get SLAMED in the face with duke forever"


I dunno guys, i cant see 3d realms just vanishing into the night because they're web page is down.


Trust nothing.

Then again -again- with apogee runing full steam, 3d realms image is SO hurt by a 12 year old game process i do think it would be in 3d realms best interest to fade away, provide the finished product to apogee to be sold, and call it quits.

Correct me if im wrong, but duke I & II are apogee made and ran games, duke3d was made by 3d reals, so perhaps duke forever should go back to apogee aswell.

On the other hand, apogee might start focusing on old classics like blake stone & ROTT!! "AROO!"

"ramble ramble ramble"

[BaDkaRmA158Th]

Yeah sorry guys but with the markets being how they are, automotive companys merging, 3d realms is doomed.

On the other hand, duke nukem is and was always a apogee creation, it is thus in that nature i think 3d realms has "gone back too its roots" The name of 3d Realms being FOREVER tarnished as a viable game producer for the failure of each duke nukem forever remake.

It was 3d realms who brought apogee back online in 08', I think simply put fellas, its time for the boys to come home (apogee) remerge all the duke nukem's, in a huge pack, and re-release all they're older games aswell.


Not to mention the other games they have,that can now be re-done aswell.


I do think now 3drealms is dead, but i also think DNF and all the othe apogee games are about to get a real looking at again by video gamers world wide.

heck,imagine if apogee made every game they had simply work in windows Xp, or vista alone*.


The resale & low prices would be through the roof, 5 bucks a game through steam, raptor, commander ken duke 3d. .ect .ect .ect. Now i have a little more hope for not only duke nukem, but for a remake or more "spot light" for all the games i grew up with know and LOVE.


Sorry for the boldness, but it has to be said.

[thrila]

i would buy duke nukem 3d- i've owned 2 copies but lost them both.

[Ack-Ack]

Then again -again- with apogee runing full steam, 3d realms image is SO hurt by a 12 year old game process i do think it would be in 3d realms best interest to fade away, provide the finished product to apogee to be sold, and call it quits.

Correct me if im wrong, but duke I & II are apogee made and ran games, duke3d was made by 3d reals, so perhaps duke forever should go back to apogee aswell.

Apogee Software changed their name to 3D Realms because that was the focus of their games (3D FPS games) and dropped Apogee as a marketing name.  Sometime last year though, 3D Realms resurrected the Apogee Software name but licensed it to an external company.  So the Apogee Software that is around isn't the same one that was around a decade ago and they do not own the rights to the Duke Nukem IP but will finish of a PSP Duke Nukem game that they were contracted to make.

We still may see Duke Nukem Forever in some form since Take 2 has retained the rights to publish Duke Nukem Forever.  So it is conceivable for them to develop it themselves.


ack-ack

[Ack-Ack]

Just read a blog from one of the developers on DNF and from what he wrote, it definitely was not business as usual and it seems they took their lessons not from any school of business but from watching too many mob films.  The story is so incredible that it really doesn't seem that it can be true, some of the top names in the gaming industry resorting to mob like tactics to force others to sign a contract?   Or the other claim of this same group conspiring to make DNF the longest developed game in history?  Seems way out there to me.


<snippet>

The plan was actually pretty simple… create the longest developed game in history that eventually is one of the greatest games ever made. You have the time to work on it properly (no toejam), so given the intelligence and talent of all the people involved, it was a pretty good bet. All 3DR had to do was make money on other stuff. All Epic had to do was open up a wide channel between the two companies. 3DR would serve as a research house for future Epic engine updates, but also give 3DR everything they did as well. The boots on the ground just had to keep the drum beating and keep the image of business as usual going. The truly hard to swallow part of this was some of us had to eventually leave, but we were guaranteed we’d be ok. All we had to do was let go of the idea of just making DNF in the traditional way… which I’m ashamed to admit was easier to let go of than I thought it would be.

Faster than I can even remember (literally… I don’t remember) I was knocked out of my chair by I *think* of all people Tim Sweeney (it was a wooden kitchen chair) and was pinned on the ground by Mike Wilson and Cliffy B (he’s so much stronger than I ever expected). George walks over to my chair and diddlying stomps the toejam out of it until the legs are broken off. He casually picks up one of the legs that had split into a toejam your pants style point and starts tossing it up and down. Scott and Mark Rein alternate on and off saying that I apparently wasn’t aware how *real* business is done and that if I didn’t want to find out why those two companies had maintained such a strong position in the industry dating back to the shareware days (when it seems people didn’t ask nearly as many questions about why developers appeared, made a game, and then disappeared without a trace)… I had better reconsider my answer.

I do remember the next part very very well though… I will never forget it and I have to admit that I have dreams about it pretty frequently.

Cliffy and Mike pulled me up and shoved my face about 6 inches from the point of the chair leg. I was drenched in sweat (the trailers didn’t have decent AC so it was already hot as hell in there)… and if they had let go of me I would not have been able to stand on my own.

George looked me in the eyes and asked me one more time what I was going to do… so at that point I did what anyone would do…

Full blog post here


ack-ack

[BaDkaRmA158Th]

Ack-Ack, do you ever question WHY 3d realms was *forced* to change engine after engine, as john carmack (God) worked in the background developing just about every single major game enhancement sence quake1? Everytime they would get ahead with a ground breaking engine, john would come out of the wood works and up the stakes, again..and again..and again..and again..and again..and again..and again.

Now im no snob, so cudo's to him,but if any of you had seen the old duke forever videos, im GLAD it was never released, because it would NEVER EVER stand upto such open end games like morrow wind,oblivion or crysis, all those game engines stomp the CRAP out of whatever engine 3d realms was able to "BUY" from some other* game company, but ever sence DOOM was sent out by apogee -shareware- "and ID software vowed to never again release a shareware game under them" (because the shareware version's sold better and more than the full versions of the game, it was a loss.) and that cut 3d realms out of the market for any and ALL ID software tech, don't believe me? look around.


Listen, i love ID software, but johns a greedy so and so, and has never stops at anything when it comes to developing a awesome engine, sufficient to say, 3d realms could never come close when it came to that man, and few can.



Duke forever is to far along now to be stoped by anyone, and if anything it is only a matter of figuring out who's going to get they're name on the duke nukem forever game box.



Look at every single ID software game released save doom3 & quake4, if it ain't a remake, its always been more about the game engine, and what the player community can do WITH that engine with such things as mod's.


Blah blah, i hope everything plays out well, just so we can all play the game,and move the frakk on with our lives.


Im on the 3d realms sight right now, its WAY slow, but..its working,for now i guess.
And ack-ack, if what they say is true, the game industry may just get the shake up they need, mob boss's indeed.


and yes, i always did wonder why game developers came in made game's and went away as if by season.

[moot]

The chair story is fake.

[BaDkaRmA158Th]

Dang it moot, hucome you couldn't wait 1 freggin' day!?


We need our dramma, its keep us from over loading on the lack of HTC updates,but HEY!..at least it aint 12 FREGGING YEARS!

ah,im goin' mental now..kk bye thanx.


AhII's next update quote "at least is didn't take "forever""

[soda72]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8037688.stm

I like this quote

Sadly, Duke Nukem Forever was the most aptly named title in the history of games. Now, it's just Duke Nukem Never."

 

[Ack-Ack]

The chair story is fake.

It's not a joke.  This is honestly what this person is claiming happened to them.


ack-ack