Voice actor Jon St. John set the universe straight during the Music and Video Game Festival by not commenting on his role as Duke Nukem in 3D Realms’ Duke Nukem Forever. The key here is what the blank space implies.

“I’m not allowed to speak on that subject, sir,” St. John replied when asked about DNF. He added, “Let me go ahead and tell you right now: I’m not allowed to speak about Duke Nukem Forever.” The crowd in the stuffy room booed. “No, no, don’t be disappointed. Read between the lines.

“Why am I not allowed to talk about it [DNF]?”

The need for silence on the subject might have more to do with the ongoing legal brouhaha surrounding the studio and the game rather than its ongoing development, but this world is a place of infinite and surprising possibilities. Example: Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. No-one saw that coming.

Duke Nukem Himself All But Confirms Duke Nukem Forever [Pixel Enemy, via Screw Attack]

Finnish independent film studio HMCIndie released the above video yesterday. It is a trailer for their upcoming fan film based on Duke Nukem and bears the name of the legendary vaporware installment for that series. Apart from the awkward use of samples from Duke 3D, it's not half bad. Then again, anything that spends half its time showing an woman in a catholic schoolgirl uniform run from a man in a pig mask would have to be.

I remember the last time I saw a trailer for something called "Duke Nukem Forever." I remember the thrill, fear, hope and doubt that washed over me and the gradual heartbreak as we all came to realize that the game will never come. Those were painful, dark days.

Of course, the best way to pay tribute to the game's legacy would be to just release trailer after trailer with no plan to ever actually have a completed project. I certainly wouldn't begrudge HMCIndie if that were their idea.

Duke Nukem Trailer - live action [Youtube, via Shauntron]

3D Realms -- the studio I'm convinced is nothing but an extravagant practical joke -- has teased "numerous" upcoming Duke Nukem projects over the coming years, with a "resurgence" planned for the notorious FPS hero. Apparently, the man with balls of steel could be going the way of the "casual" game as well. 

"There are numerous other Duke games in various stages of development, several due out this year," says 3D Realms CEO Scott Miller. "We are definitely looking to bring Duke into casual gaming spaces, plus there are other major Duke games in production. Almost all of these are unannounced."

Miller has also denied that the notorious Duke Nukem Forever is dead, and also claims that the Duke movie is "making steady progress." Furthermore, the CEO adds that 3D Realms will "continue to license and co-create games based upon the Duke Nukem franchise," and that the new focus on external development is something he should have made years ago. 

In any case, 3D Realms is hopeful that Duke is making his big comeback. I guess we'll have to believe it when we see it.

3D Realms Teases 'Numerous' Duke Nukem Games, 'Looking to Bring Duke into Casual Gaming' [Shacknews]

Duke Nukem doesn't stay down for long. That's the somewhat ironic message from a new Facebook account that is teasing something called D-Day, which appears to be some sort of fresh game starring the gum-chewing king of first-person stupidity. Whatever D-Day is, it has a screenshot, as you can see.

Whether or not this has anything to do with the fabled Duke Nukem Forever remains to be seen. It's looking like it will be a brand new entity, perhaps a total replacement for Forever. Either way, it looks suitably current-gen, so perhaps we might actually see this game within the span of ten years.

What do you think? Reckon Duke may finally make his big comeback, or is this yet another cruel joke?

Duke Nukem will never die. His spirit dwells in our hearts and is a part of all the world’s creation. He’s like an atom, except cooler -- you know, the kind of atom that rips off other atoms’ heads and spits down their neck holes. On the flip side he’s now, essentially, a defunct videogame character. Well … perhaps not.

There’s a small chance the Duke could be resurrected via Xbox LIVE Arcade. Gamer Bytes has discovered a notable Nukem-related mention in the Linked In profile of a previous Interplay programmer and now software engineer at Microsoft, Rebecca Heineman. According to her profile, at one point, she’s worked on an XBLA version of Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, a side-scroller originally released in 2002.

And, well, that's it.

We’re not pumping our fists in celebration quite yet. It’s an interesting listing for sure, but there’s nothing else to go on here in terms of details. Plus, Duke Nukem projects have a terrible tendency to not rear their heads in consumable capacities. So, instead of being hopeful, we're waiting to hear that its been canned.

In an interview with Gamasutra, Apogee Software founder Scott Miller said that the software publisher -- best known for the Duke Nukem games -- is being revived. 

"There's actually another company now goin by the game of Apogee," Miller explained in the interview, speaking of a new company which includes a former member of the original Apogee staff. 

According to the Miller, the label and the brand are being revived, with its first title the Duke Nukem Trilogy games for Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable.

Miller also reveals that the Rise of the Triad franchise is also getting a reboot. Rise of the Triad: Dark War was a first-person shooter released for PCs in 1997, which let players choose from various characters, each with his or her own abilities. 

 

More Duke Nukem Forever images have surfaced. For whatever reason, two more screenshots take from the cancelled game were uploaded to the official Duke Nukem Facebook page, both featuring some huge pig monster thing reminiscent of the Goliath in Insomniac’s Resistance 2.

While the sudden appearance of more images tickles the brain, it’s best not to dwell on motivation: If anything can be learned from the Duke Nukem Forever decade-long ordeal, it’s that 3D Realms does whatever it wants, when it wants. Posting material from a game that is going to be the subject of a lawsuit not excluded.

[via Shacknews]

The ongoing saga that is Duke Nukem continues with fresh developments today, as it has been revealed that 2K Games is working, or at least was working, on an all-new game known as Duke Begins. Apogee and Take Two are currently embroiled in a legal battle, and it is from deep within the court documents that the revelation has been made.

According to Apogee's court filing; "Apogee, Take-Two, and 2K Games entered into an agreement in which Apogee granted 2K Games the exclusive right to develop and publish a new videogame based upon Apogee's Duke Nukem franchise... The new game was given the working title of "Duke Begins" and is not the same game as the DNF game ..."

The various parties agreed that Duke Begins would be completed and released by mid-2010, but Apogee claims that the game was canceled by Take Two and 2K without any consultation, something that has apparently been denied by both the developer and publisher. Now Apogee claims it is being pressured into selling all Duke properties to Take Two for "less than their true value."

As with all things Duke-related, there is now no clue as to what the status of this new game is. Does it exist, will it be made, and what will happen to it in the future? We just don't know. Yet another Duke Nukem game confimed to the realm of mystery.

At least one person at id Software wasn’t buying the news that 3D Realms’ fabled Duke Nukem Forever project was canned. Speaking with VideoGamer, id’s director of business Steve Nix said he initially thought the announcement of the cancellation was a joke -- as did many familiar with 3D Realms -- before expressing sadness.

“For me it was personally sad,” Nix said. I know a lot of people at the studio (id) were really surprised and saddened for sure. We had originally moved to Dallas because Apogee, who morphed into 3D Realms, was our original publisher. So id might not even be in Dallas and a lot of us wouldn’t even be working in the games industry if it wasn’t for Apogee and 3D Realms.”

“So I know for me personally,” he continued, “I thought it was a joke when I heard the other day. So definitely, extremely saddened and surprising that those guys aren’t there and we may never see the game we were all looking forward to.”

Before a branding switch in 1994, 3D Realms was known as Apogee Software, Ltd. Apogee published three of id Software’s titles: Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons, Commander Keen: Goodbye Galaxy!, and Wolfenstein 3D.

Work on Duke Nukem Forever began in October 1948. Development on the title was stopped in May 2009 by 3D Realms due to “funding issues” and not by Thor's hammer as previously reported.

Jon St. John, the voice actor who portrays Duke Nukem, works on the cheap. How cheap is cheap? The actor has agreed to record "most" of Zoey's dialogue from Left 4 Dead for a fan-made mod for the princely sum of $300. The designer of the mod is soliciting donations in order to make it happen. If he exceeds the amount required for those lines, they'll continue on with some of Francis' witty remarks.

I really want to joke about how destitute St. John must be, how desperately he needs work, but I can't do it. According to the forum post where the designer announced the idea, the actor really only charges his fee of $50 per 30 seconds of audio because he doesn't want to have to read every bit of written language on Earth in the voice of the bubblegum chewing badass. Seems only fair -- he no doubt has other things he'd rather be doing -- and it's really cool that he's willing to give something to the gamers who have already enjoyed his work so far.

Of course, if he's willing to do stuff like this for such an affordable rate, I can't help but think there are some other games that could benefit from having ol' Duke in them. If we aren't going to get Duke Nukem Forever, we might as well get some of him somewhere.

It makes no sense that we're getting more news on Duke Nukem Forever after the game has finally been canceled then we ever got when the game was in development, but that's the way it is. The latest information about a game that will never be coming out is the platforms it was destined for. It looks like 3D Realms was pushing the game towards the 360 and PC.

Jay Brushwood's LinkedIn profile gives us the answer that doesn't really matter since we'll never be playing it on either platform. This does spark a little hope that Microsoft could pick the game up as it was an exclusive on their system, but that's a really, really small hope. Even if it does come out, the game would have to be the greatest thing ever to live up to the development, cancelations and hype.

George Broussard of 3D Realms issued a statement to clear up some misunderstandings in light of all the Duke Nukem Forever troubles.

First, 3D Realms isn't dead! They're still alive, but they did have to let go the Duke Nukem Forever development team on May 6 due to lack of funding. 3D Realms still owns the rights to the Duke Nukem franchise and Take-Two retains publishing rights for Duke Nukem Forever.

George then goes on to talk about Take-Two's lawsuit against them:

Take-Two never paid 3DR advances or any signing bonus or any other funds related to DNF, up until July 2008, at which time they paid $2.5m in connection with another agreement for an unannounced game.  This is the sum total Take-Two has paid 3DR in connection with DNF.  Take-Two claims that they paid $12m to GT Interactive/Infogrames to acquire the publishing rights for the DNF game. To be clear, 3DR was not a party to that transaction and did not receive any money from it.  When the DNF game was originally signed with GT Interactive in 1998, GT paid 3DR a $400,000 signing bonus. Up until July 2008, this was the only publisher money we received for the DNF game.  Meanwhile, 3DR put over $20m into the production of DNF.

It's amazing how George Broussard is so candid about the whole failed negotiation dealings amidst the lawsuit. Take-Two seemingly tried to bully 3D Realms into taking a really horrible deal. It's definitely worth your time to read the entire statement over on GameSlice. 

Take-Two is dropping the lawsuit nuke on 3D Realms for failure to develop the sequel they both wanted, Duke Nukem Forever. 3D Realms closed up shop, never finishing the game, thus breaking an agreement they had with publishing rights owner Take-Two.

Take-Two has been pretty patient. I mean, the game had been in development for a decade or so now, right? 

“Apogee continually delayed the completion date for the Duke Nukem Forever,” Take-Two said in the complaint. “Apogee repeatedly assured Take-Two and the video-gaming community that it was diligently working toward competing development of the PC Version of the Duke Nukem Forever.” 

With 3D Realms' closing, the project was terminated and so were the people working on the game. Not finishing the title counts as breach of contract, so things go from bad to worse for 3D Realms.

 

3D Realms may have died a sputtering death, but Apogee Software is still alive and kicking, and keeping the Duke Nukem candle alight. In anticipation of the handheld Duke Nukem Trilogy, which is still in development, a "massive online audition" is being planned in order to find the next live-action Duke Nukem.

That's right, anybody in the US reading this now could, if they really wanted to, have a chance to step into the boots of Duke. You can do whatever you want in an effort to impress the judges, and the winner will travel around the world as a representative of Deep Silver and Apogee.

"They will be the new face of the the Duke Nukem Trilogy and get to interact with the world like no other iconic videogame character ever has," promises Apogee. Don't you want a piece of that? We know you do!

For some reason, I can't see this ending very well, at least without major humiliation and/or injury. With that in mind, I wholeheartedly encourage everybody reading this to audition. The worst that could happen is that you could, y'know, actually win. 

Full details after the jump.

view full story + comments