In a rather amazing development in the video gaming world, Gearbox Software has announced that they are going to finish the long-awaited video game Duke Nukem Forever.
I think Duke Nukem was the first big modern 3D shooter avatar. Up until the release of Duke Nukem 3D, you mostly played first-person shooters as your silent self. But Duke Nukem had lines. Funny lines, with pop-culture references. Duke was violent, sarcastic, and politically incorrect. Everybody does that nowadays, but the Duke did it way back then, and it was amazing.
There were several expansion packs and upgrades in the Duke Nukem franchise, but right after the original Duke Nukem 3D came out, the makers announced that the next major release would have some groundbreaking new features, and it would be called Duke Nukem Forever. After several missed release dates, 3D Realms announced that them game would be released “when it’s done.”
That was in 2001. Since the original announcement of Duke Nukem Forever, it’s been thirteen years.
Now Gearbox has the rights, and they say they’ll release it next year. We’ve heard that before. They say it’s almost done and just needs some polishing. We’ve heard that before too.
Granted, this is Gearbox, and they’ve done some impressive work — parts of the Half-Life, Brothers in Arms, Borderland — but I think I speak for Duke fans everywhere when I say I won’t really believe it until I kill my first alien invader…
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