Duke Nukem Forever has become something of a joke in geeky cliques. The game was to be a sequel to 1997s much loved Duke Nukem 3D, which was built on the Build Engine by 3D Realms. Development of the game started in April that year and has been on-going ever since.
Since 1997, the game has changed drastically. It has switched from the Quake II engine to the Unreal engine, to Unreal II engine to a new engine which has been essentially rewritten. The current version still has parts of the Unreal II engine in it, but has been modified to support HDR, pixel shading and a load of other swanky bits and bobs. The physics engine also changed, from a Karma Engine to one designed by Mequon.
It was rumoured that the game had moved to the Doom 3 engine, but that turned out to be false. Very few bits of confirmed in-game footage have been released for the current build.
The constant engine switches have meant the game has been completely re-designed several times and that old footage of the game is no longer reliable. The game has been labelled as vapourware by pretty much everyone, having been in development for more than ten years now officially, and even longer unofficially.
Still, sources inside 3D Realms have suggested that the game will finally see a release on the modified Unreal II engine in Q3 next year, putting it in the same quarter as game-revivals like Fallout 3.
The Inquirer has got some comments from Voodoo Extreme, which says that enormous progress has been made on the game and that a load of the early levels have been put back into the gameplay. Apparently, a console version is in the pipe, a sequel is planned and there'll be more information next year.
Industry insider and rumour-monger extraordinaire, Surf Girl has also got a bit of a scoop, narrowing the release date down to Fall 2008 and indicating that the new king of vapourware after Duke sees a release will be Max Payne 3, which has been pushed back to 2009.
Skeptical or excited? Let us know what you think in the forums.
Since 1997, the game has changed drastically. It has switched from the Quake II engine to the Unreal engine, to Unreal II engine to a new engine which has been essentially rewritten. The current version still has parts of the Unreal II engine in it, but has been modified to support HDR, pixel shading and a load of other swanky bits and bobs. The physics engine also changed, from a Karma Engine to one designed by Mequon.
It was rumoured that the game had moved to the Doom 3 engine, but that turned out to be false. Very few bits of confirmed in-game footage have been released for the current build.
The constant engine switches have meant the game has been completely re-designed several times and that old footage of the game is no longer reliable. The game has been labelled as vapourware by pretty much everyone, having been in development for more than ten years now officially, and even longer unofficially.
Still, sources inside 3D Realms have suggested that the game will finally see a release on the modified Unreal II engine in Q3 next year, putting it in the same quarter as game-revivals like Fallout 3.
The Inquirer has got some comments from Voodoo Extreme, which says that enormous progress has been made on the game and that a load of the early levels have been put back into the gameplay. Apparently, a console version is in the pipe, a sequel is planned and there'll be more information next year.
Industry insider and rumour-monger extraordinaire, Surf Girl has also got a bit of a scoop, narrowing the release date down to Fall 2008 and indicating that the new king of vapourware after Duke sees a release will be Max Payne 3, which has been pushed back to 2009.
Skeptical or excited? Let us know what you think in the forums.
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