The classic PC game developer 3D Realms closed May 7, 2009(just days ago) because it couldn't get funding for further development of Duke Nukem Forever.Take-Two owns the rights to Duke Nukem Forever, but it still may never release, sadly.
I just learned of this about an hour ago, and I say this is awful. I didn't play many of their games, but I can see that their games are classic, and that they influenced the early PC gaming market significantly.
The day they went down they released(in what may be their last post) an image of the whole team on their website, along with the message: "Thanks for being fans and for all your support."
To see it, go here: http://www.3drealms.com/
To read the Good Old Games article on 3D Realms' demise, go here: http://www.gog.com/en/editorial/in_the_memory_of_3d_realms/
12 years of DNF vaporware, I am supprised they didn't close earlier. Thier last game PREY wasn't even finished by them, they handed it off to some 3rd party developer to finish.
I know I'd sure like to have a job for 12 years and produce nothing. What were they doing all that time? How could Take2 keep giving them money and have NO real world results to show for it?
They said that DNF would be very innovative, that it would change the way the market works in terms of interactivity with the environment. I expected it to be like Half-Life 2, only more badass(this is Duke Nukem we are talking about). I'm just bothered they'll never release it. :<
Come on, let's blame piracy !
Prey by 3D Realms ? What ? Prey was made by Human Head Studios, which consists mostly of people who left Raven Software after developing Heretic and Hexen (some of my favourites of all time). Since their departure, Raven hasn't made a single original game, they just milk old cliches like Star Wars, Star Trek etc. And they completely abandoned fantasy games.
Human Head also made a great game Rune (highly recommended).
Anyway, back to topic. I think Duke Nukem 3D was somewhat overrated. Once the novelty of shooting clocks on the walls wore off, it was a pretty average game. It didn't have the polished visuals of Doom (I'm talking mostly about boring style and monsters of DN3D. Pigs in police uniforms. UFO guys. Facehuggers or flying octopi. Nothing interesting or original). I think what set DooM apart is that it really had good visuals and sound, and I'm talking about quality of textures, art direction etc. It really shows when you run early alphas and press demos of DooM 1. Textures suck compared to what you remember from original DooM or DooM II.
I like Hexen 1 much more than DN3D. The two games had in common that they were doom-like games with extra gimmicks, (Hexen used, in fact, a modified DooM engine). But art direction and style of Hexen was much better in my opinion, and it had very dark atmoshpere. Hexen had all the gimmicks DN3D had (looking up and down, jumping, summoning allies instead of holoduke, freezing enemies to solid ice, setting them on fire, earthquakes, special effects, slick ice floor, water currents, submering enemies) but better style. And DooM engine being open-source it enabled Hexen to look very well even by today's standards. A screenshot from a modern Hexen source port...
http://archive.doomsdayhq.com/images/intro_jhexen.jpg
Unfortunately Hexen had some bad design decisions, most notably hunting hidden switches that would open something somewhere without telling you where. Hexen levels, while pretty and interesting, were also confusing to navigate and had lower replay value, unlike those of DooM (which are usually winnable even if you start without any weapons on Ultra-Violence skill ! DooM II levels were great for competitions with friends - who can win this level first, etc)
In short, I think Duke had a pretty small window of opportunity between DooM and Quake, and it wasn't unique in gimmick department either.
Prey is awesome. I really enjoyed that one! =D I also agree with you that Hexen rules. I own all of the Hexen games on Steam, and I go back and play those occasionally. They seriously rock.
I actually watched a friend play Duke Nukem 3D on his 360(he got the game off the XBOX Live Marketplace), and I wasn't too impressed, either. That still doesn't affect me too much, though. I still feel bad about their demise.
I was pretty sure the game was FINALLY going to be released. I'm very unimpressed by 3D Realms. At least there will be no more vapourwave !
Hopefully WiReD will rename their annual vapourwave awards to 'Dukes'.
edit
I've found a leaked gameplay video. For anyone who's wondering how it might have looked like.
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/316675.html
Not bad.
. . . so it's really true. Sigh.
What will happen now to their older products?
I saw the gameplay trailer earlier, and I'm VERY impressed. Err, now that I think on it, I'm really not. It was badass and exciting to think about, but after ten years of work they should have completed something that would top Valve's work with HL2, big-time. They said it would be like that, but it obviously won't be.
Cheer up guys, there's always Elite IV to look foward to............................................
/can't believe I said that with a straight face.
I wish I knew about that one. :/
Either way, I can appreciate the joke. That was still funny.
Apparently most of the IP rights are going to Apogee software.
Impressed compared to what? You weren't impressed by a PC game released in 1996 compared to modern games and graphics? I'm not a huge FPS fan, but rest assured that Duke Nukem was one impressive game when released in comparison to other games of the period. While the basic gameplay may not have been much better (but no worse) than Doom, the graphics were a huge step forward at the time and the irreverent nature of the game was also unusual when released.
I would like to see iD software pick DNF up and finish it ... They have the skill
and man power to do it ....
Maybe Duke Nukem wouldn't die ... only time will tell ...
Actually I don't think Take2 ever gave them money. DNF was self-financed via having other developers making their games for them. Also I think they were still making a bit of money on DukeNukem ports to other systems. Obviously, not enough money.
Don't lose hope.. the Duke is too appealing to let fade into oblivion, somebody will snatch it up and make a game out of the IP.
Duke Nukem 3D is the first FPS game I've ever played, and it's going to be the next purchase I make(on Good Old Games). I know all about the game, it's just that that experience with it wasn't very exciting. In fact, it was a bit lame. I'm gonna blame my friend's boring style of play and reliance on cheats there...
Again, I know just why it was the cultural phenomenon it was; I asked my mother yesterday if she knew about Duke Nukem and she said yes. MY MOTHER. The last game she played was Wii Sports, and the one before that was probably Ms. Pacman. -.-
In fact, I'm not even sure why I originally typed that. Hail to the king, baby! :}
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