Duke Nukem Forever Prequel: Duke Begins

Drexion

Drexion

Well-known member
I noticed the old DNF thread was locked. Anyhow more legal fighting has brought into light that Gearbox was working on a separate game simultaneously, the sequel/prequel to DNF, Duke Begins.

Legal Battle Over Locally Not-Produced Duke Nukem Forever Now Names Plano's GearBox
90589107.jpg

"But the latest revelation's an interesting one that also concerns a major local game creator -- Gearbox Software, so happens, straight outta Plano. ShackNews, which has been keeping tabs on the story,....., reveals that in court docs filed by Take-Two, the company happened to mention that Gearbox is also working on a Duke Nukem sequel -- Duke Begins, ironic. But, see Apogee insists the game's been canceled, and that Take-Two couldn't nuke the game, the result of a deal between Take-Two and Apogee dating back to '07, without its permission. To which Take-Two replies: Unh-unh and no way, respectively."

'Duke Begins' Developer Outed in DNF Docs
24207886.jpg

"The mysterious "well-known videogame developer" behind new Duke Nukem series entry "Duke Begins" is Gearbox Software (Brothers in Arms, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Borderlands), Take-Two has revealed in court filings uncovered by Shacknews.... Duke Begins emerged from a 2007 Agreement between 3D Realms and Take-Two, with development taking place at an external third party studio now known to be Gearbox. As part of the deal, 3D Realms received a $2.5 million advance to help fund DNF. "

As someone on digg said, "what a total clusterf.ck"
 
Isnt Duke Nukem 3d the prequal to Duke Nukem 4ever?

And yes this whole duke nukem legacy has become a total clusterf*ck.
Started off relatively well, went beyond awesome with Duke3D and then plumetted to earth in a catastrophic downfall the likes we have never seen with Duke (not coming out) 4ever. Now its just one big joke with all these other duke nukems that dont fit anywhere.
 
Update: Duke Begins is 'on hold', new Duke games possible in near future, with a focus on casual gaming.
Note: These announcements also do not mention the PC, but do mention the iPhone, DS, PSP, XboxLiveArcade etc etc. Naturally many fans are extremely pissed off, for many reasons. Say goodbye to Duke as a PC Franchise as you have known it.

3D Realms Teases 'Numerous' Duke Nukem Games, 'Looking to Bring Duke into Casual Gaming'
97666771.jpg

"While it's been a rather tumultuous year for Duke Nukem series handler 3D Realms--the company laid off its internal development team in May, leading to a messy legal feud with publisher Take-Two over Duke Nukem Forever--CEO Scott Miller still envisions a bright future for the ass-kicking, gum-lacking action hero.
....
"The next few years should see a strong resurgence in Duke," Miller states in the first printed issue of Gamesauce. "There are numerous other Duke games in various stages of development, several due out this year. We are definitely looking to bring Duke into casual gaming spaces, plus there are other major Duke games in production."" (full article)
 
I dont believe those assclowns scott miller and george broussard, they conned their entire fanbase for over a decade and for nothing but some kicks and some tweeter updates. 3dr plain sucks now, it has sucked for a long time now, actually. :down:
 
Conned is a bit of a strong word, I'm sure they did very much intend to release the game during the majority of their development. For anyone that missed it, last week Wired magazine released an excellent article on the demise of Duke Nukem Forever. It's a very interesting piece, with great insight into the causes behind the epic failure that is DNF. Read it if you haven't.

Learn to Let Go: How Success Killed Duke Nukem
faildukenukem11f.jpg


"It was never completed. Screenshots and video snippets would leak out every few years, each time whipping fans into a lather — and each time, the game would recede from view. Normally, videogames take two to four years to build; five years is considered worryingly long. But the Duke Nukem Forever team worked for 12 years straight. As one patient fan pointed out, when development on Duke Nukem Forever started, most computers were still using Windows 95, Pixar had made only one movie — Toy Story — and Xbox did not yet exist." (full article)
 
The game was in development for so long, any PC gamer that started to play PC games less then 12 years ago, probably have no idea who Duke is.
 
Eisberg said:
The game was in development for so long, any PC gamer that started to play PC games less then 12 years ago, probably have no idea who Duke is.
Click to expand...

Probably so, unfortunately. :( Duke was just so long ago, we're in a totally different "generation" of gamers. I'm not even so sure Duke would be as successful today as it was back then.
 
Drexion said:
Conned is a bit of a strong word, I'm sure they did very much intend to release the game during the majority of their development. For anyone that missed it, last week Wired magazine released an excellent article on the demise of Duke Nukem Forever. It's a very interesting piece, with great insight into the causes behind the epic failure that is DNF. Read it if you haven't.

Learn to Let Go: How Success Killed Duke Nukem
Click to expand...

Great article. :up:

I've never been caught up in the whole Duke Nukem Forever fever, so it's nice to see some inside info on why things have gone trainwreck when they could have had so much success.

It goes to show that bad management can happen anywhere.
 
These guys never deserve to make another game. I have no sympathy for them whatsoever. People need to be realistic when they are working on a project, and understand that there are limits to the time and money which can be spent on it. They went off track right from the start when they decided to switch engines. They could have finished the game up, and then worked on another one. But they simply had no care for how much time and money they wasted because they thought it would never run out. If they'd been under any sort of pressure they could have gotten the game out way back in 2001.

I think George Broussard is pretty much an idiot. He's not so talented like everyone was making out. He made one game and then failed to even finish a second one. His ideas might have been great, but they didn't amount to jack **** in the end. If someone had provided him with a reality check instead of just kissing his ass, it might have done him some good.

It's really a shame to see people flush money like this down the drain, when there are other developers who do so much with so little. In the right hands the DNF money could have made up to 10 solid games (depending what budget we're talking about). If someone had provided him with a reality check instead of just kissing his ass, it might have done him some good.

I also think 3DR could have worked something out to get the game done. Whether that means giving control over to the publisher or whatever. Instead after all of their **** ups they still were not willing to accept blame for their stupidity or give anything up. I am hoping that Take Two does get awarded the Duke Nukem IP, although I am frankly not convinced the IP is really worth that much. It's been too long since Duke Nukem came out, so most current gamers don't even know about it.
 
Last edited:
Yceman said:
It goes to show that bad management can happen anywhere.
Click to expand...

I think it shows more than anything else that unlimited money and no sense of pressure can actually be huge negatives. "When it's done" is supposed to mean that the game won't be rushed, but too often it means that people re just slacking off and not making efficient use of their time.
 
Nagorak said:
I think it shows more than anything else that unlimited money and no sense of pressure can actually be huge negatives. "When it's done" is supposed to mean that the game won't be rushed, but too often it means that people re just slacking off and not making efficient use of their time.
Click to expand...

I supposed that's true. A timetable is very important.
 
5 hours of gameplay in 2006? They could have just shoved that out the door for $20 and made enough money to do it again.
 
Nagorak said:
I think it shows more than anything else that unlimited money and no sense of pressure can actually be huge negatives. "When it's done" is supposed to mean that the game won't be rushed, but too often it means that people re just slacking off and not making efficient use of their time.
Click to expand...

javiermq said:
I supposed that's true. A timetable is very important.
Click to expand...


no, i think it works well, but like anything else it is based on the people. just take that blog that went around from when this started. they had artists/programmers really in it with enthusiasm and going forward. but if the people on top don't take care of it then this is what happens.

there are plenty of devs that do well to be left alone and have earned that right, ie Blizzard or Id
 
BTW, a thread about this on the official 3dr boards received a similar replies so much that george himself replied. Hmm, would he register and post here too...:o
 
Nagorak said:
I think it shows more than anything else that unlimited money and no sense of pressure can actually be huge negatives. "When it's done" is supposed to mean that the game won't be rushed, but too often it means that people re just slacking off and not making efficient use of their time.
Click to expand...

This seems to be a variant of the "resource curse" in developmental economics. I.e. resource poor Hong Kong has extraordinary economic growth where as many extraordinarily resource rich African nations have had poor or negative growth.
 
night said:
no, i think it works well, but like anything else it is based on the people. just take that blog that went around from when this started. they had artists/programmers really in it with enthusiasm and going forward. but if the people on top don't take care of it then this is what happens.

there are plenty of devs that do well to be left alone and have earned that right, ie Blizzard or Id
Click to expand...

The ones that set their own schedule are a minority. Most are controlled by publishers that make it so they have to get their stuff out in time. And id got rid of John Romero, who went on to slack off similarly to the guys at 3DR. I'm not saying that it never can be done, but it definitely should not be taken for granted. You have to have someone at the top imposing discipline and making sure actual headway is being made.

I've also seen other situations where people come in throwing a bunch of money at projects without care of controlling costs, and then run short of money. Usually this happens when the person funding came into money easily, and thus doesn't really understand the value of a dollar, or that even a big pile of money is not infinite. I think that is a part of what happened with 3DR, they made a lot of money pretty easily with Duke Nukem, and frankly had no project management experience whatsoever, and apparently little aptitude either.
 
Theyre probably better suited as a producer and not an actual developer. They produced max payne and prey, which were somewhat good titles, whereas they were semi-developing dnf for over 12 years. :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top