How Success Killed Duke Nukem

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/fail_duke_nukem/

Interesting read.

 

I'd always wondered what happened to Duke.

Sounds like the developers pride and perfectionism got the better of them.


The only time i played duke nukem it really changed my perception of what games could be. I'd always had slower computers and used the text on screen for direction. Sound was always from the cheap computer speakers. Then one day i saw this shooter setup at a Comp USA store with headphones and a heavy well calibrated joystick. I put the phones on and started shooting..it was duke and i was a changed man. The frame rate and graphics just made the game flow and the breathing and shooting sounds came through the headphones and almost felt real. For the first time in my video game life my heart started pounding and i could feel sweat on the brow.

Now this is all commonplace but there's nothing like that first high.

 

its pretty sad what happened. Reality is if they had released ANYTHING they would have banked well into 8 figures from hype alone! If it was actually great they would have banked 9 figures ! Crazy what pride/ego will destroy.

I was involved with the development of the Duke Nukem action figures and every so often i would be contacted to start development on the 'Forever' toys but then it would go silent again.

There are a lot of developers that fumble the ball. Capcom mishandled Street Fighter for almost a decade until they finally got their **** together a couple years ago.

 

Is GT5 the next example of this endless tweaking cycle?

 

I have a very soft spot in my heart for the following games: Doom/Doom II, Quake and Duke Nukem. Those were some very impressionable years for me as I would sit for hours upon hours playing these things. I still have the first Duke Nukem game in my closet. My best friend (RIP) and I would spend countless nights playing multiplayer Quake against each other online (circa 1996-1997). What an experience that was at the time. I really wish I could go back and live that part of my life all over again.

In a way, I'm kind of glad DN never made it out of the 90s.

Thanks for posting the article.

 

Not sure what to say. I loved Duke back in the day but always wondered what happened to the series. I think the problem was that they stopped being innovators and started relying on others to come up with the engine to drive the game. Had they concentrated on infrastructure they could probably have duplicated the original success. They got lazy and will have to pay the piper.

On the flip side it was an awesome game and like Remix, the name brought back great memories. Duke/Doom/Doom II and more recently Battlefield 2 were a lot of fun.

 

My buddy and I were the same way with the ID games and Duke Nukem. We would play muiltiplayer Quake all the time with the "FEAR" patch that gave a grappling hook and some other fun things.

Also, Gator, I think BF2 is the game I've played most as far as total amount of time goes. It would be a toss up between that and the Desert Combat mod for 1942.

Sad to see Duke Nukem Forever is gone, but it looks like they have some other things in the works.

http://kotaku.com/5434679/3d-realms-ceo-vows-duke-nukem-resurgence-in-next-few-years

 

Wolfenstein 3D was a take off of the original "Castle Wolfenstein" I used to play in the '80s on my Atari 800. I always thought id Software was the better of the two companies, but I must say I did like Duke Nukem.

Once id released Doom, however, the game to me was over. Doom II was still great, but anything after that became more production than pure gaming (IMHO). Reminds me of the seminal piece written by the great Chris Crawford - The Art of Computer Game Design. in which he forecasts the corresponding increase in graphic capability to the diminishing game play.

But I digress. This is classic feature creep, and why all projects need Program and/or Product Management. Yes, I am biased as I am a professional Product Manager, but this story SCREAMS of the fox running the hen house.

Shame too - they had it all for a time. I wish that were me - I wouldn't have made the same mistake.

 

Word is that the game is still being made; on a somewhat smaller staff. If they can release it within the next 18 months, it could still be successful without a restart.

They eventually realized they were a Niche; and didn't have to re-invent the wheel. Graphics reached a 2d peak; and can only look more like a human controlled cartoon. Good on them; but it will never have the broad success back in SF 1 and 2 days.

 

Capcom made the later games too fast and too complicated.

SF2's brilliance was its playability - you could drop a quarter in and then figure out a few moves, and even a relative beginner could at least do something against an intermediate player. By the later 2d games (ie Marvel vs. Capcom 74) everything moves so fast, the combos got so complicated, and the animation and blasts so overwhelming that it plays like an epileptic acid trip. It's too intimidating for a novice to even start.

 

I remember back in 98 when i still would buy video games magazine seeing a screen shot of the Duke Nukem Forever and thinking they have been delaying it forever, it will never come out.

Cant believe they were working for 10 years on it.

 

True Dat, true dat lol

 

I'm still waiting for Diablo III.... yawn.

 

Keep waiting. 2011 is the latest ETA

 

12.21.2012 give or take...

 

This reminds me of the whole John Romero/Ion Storm fiasco which puts forth the notion that being in the right place at the right time can trump actual ability.

This list cracks me up:
http://duke.a-13.net/

 

I just looked up 3D Realms address, I had no idea they were east of downtown Dallas. Might be worth it to make a trip out there.

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&q=3D+Realms&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&hl=en&hq=3D+Realms&hnear=Fort+Worth,+TX&ll=32.864187,-96.653&spn=0,359.998222&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=32.864189,-96.6531&panoid=Bwd_uBz6FHV8mHDr2-2p1A&cbp=12,12.97,,1,2.46

Notice the orange Gallardo Superleggera parked out front of the office.

 

Nice spotting

 

I heard some hear-say talk about the "DNF acquisition" at Quakecon a couple of weeks ago but I'm not holding my breath. Duke might be coming back thanks to Gearbox Software of Plano TX, I know someone that works over there & Gearbox is planning a big announcement within in a couple of days at PAX.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/gearbox-3drealms-dnf-duke-nukem,11054.html

http://www.paxsite.com/paxprime/index.php

 

Hail to the king, baby.


http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/


http://www.dukenukemforever.com/

 

Q4 2011. Lots can happen in that time

 

Release date set tentatively for 2/1/2011. See Gearbox's DNF forums for more info.

 

They shouldn't be giving us any dates till it's GOLD

 

Amazon & Gamestop are already taking pre-orders. http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?sku=270702&utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=deeplink&affID=77777&sourceID=NPDyPg.EspM-2OTt6jts64pK2S1.ySdMZQ

Also I signed up as a tester for Gearbox in Plano but haven't heard anything back yet.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-97N6jNKb4 a bit of swearing so not work friendly but new footage of the game that might come out next year lol @ ending