Duke Nukem Forever: Behind the Laughter

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Exce

Limp Gawd
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I found a good article on wired.com today explaining why Duke Nukem took 12 years to fail. I was never a Duke Nukem follower so I didnt know what all the rave was about, this article does a good job at explaining.

Take-Two CEO Jeffrey Lapin complained to analysts that Duke Nukem Forever was so late he had begun writing it off as a loss, and he predicted it wouldn’t be out anytime soon. Broussard (Creator of Duke Nukem) erupted. “Take-Two needs to STFU,” he hissed in a dicussion-board posting, using the well-known shorthand for “shut the fuck up.” “We don’t want Take-Two saying stupid-ass things in public for the sole purposes of helping their stock,” Broussard continued.
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It turns out that Broussard, creator of Duke Nuken, kept upgrading his game engine everytime one came out and never completed the game because of this. Towards the end they hired someone to tell Broussard "STOP IT!" and they almost finished the game but ran out of money and are now being sued by Take-Two for not finishing the game.

Source: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/fail_duke_nukem/1
 
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The whole ordeal is truly hilarious and pathetic.

What a dumb ass.
 
Its too bad they couldn't finish the game, but I don't blame Take-Two for saying no to fronting them 6 million dollars after 12 years of development. Sure they might have taken that 6 million and finished the game, but they might also have taken it and blown it on something stupid and have to ask for more. 3DR should have taken the 2.5 million and done what they could with it. They probably could have convinced Take-Two to provide a large advertising campaign for the game as well and help push it into the minds of people who haven't been waiting over a decade for this. After the third engine change someone should have stood up and told Broussard to shut the hell up and let the game be finished.
 
Great article. They should have hired Brian Hook a long time ago, the game probably would have been released if so. Seems the big issue was George's constant nitpicking and arrogant money in the bank attitude. No real surprise there.
 
Interesting read.

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." --Douglas Adams
 
I just received my copy of this month's Wired yesterday and it had this article. Good read last night. Broussard really messed things up. He came out of nowhere to be on top and he HAD to have that again. He just didn't know when to say no and stop waiting for new technology.
 
can't blame them for wanting new technology but the guy obviously had no idea what he was doing with it.

If he really wanted it to be the best. He should have just shelved the product a long time ago, did some other projects and came back to it when the innovations slowed down some. I think if they had started like a year ago they could have finished it and it would have held up greatly against games that have come out in the last 18 months.

I still like Duke...he is the type of character that is has gone missing from games.
 
There was a time when that title would have sold millions of copies just because of the name "Duke Nukem". Howevever, when you wait so long that your fan base grows up, has kids, and now the kids are like "Huh? Who's that? Meh, lame" you sir, have missed your money bus.

Do not pass go, do not collect $200M. Instead, fade from memory as you sail away in your FAILBOAT.
 
toddw said:
There was a time when that title would have sold millions of copies just because of the name "Duke Nukem". Howevever, when you wait so long that your fan base grows up, has kids, and now the kids are like "Huh? Who's that? Meh, lame" you sir, have missed your money bus.

Do not pass go, do not collect $200M. Instead, fade from memory as you sail away in your FAILBOAT.
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What are yout alkign about? The majority of gamers are adults, not kids. Their fanbase is still around from then and many still play games.
 
This is exactly the tale of DaiKatana all over again except the end product never came out to be ridiculed.
 
Good article, very easy to digest. On the other hand, it makes me unhappy that the developer fucked up such a promising and relatively untapped series...
 
Broussard and Miller have got to be the biggest clowns to ever run a game studio. When it is all said and done they will have lost millions of dollars and produced nothing. To top it off Take 2 is probably going to take Duke from them and make money on it. Serves the idiots right.
 
As the owner of a small game development studio I can honestly say that I'd consider me and my co-founder to be geniuses after reading that article. How hard do you have to try to screw up that badly? Almost seems impossible to do so without realizing it, yet it's human nature, I guess.
 
The duke nukem forever fiasco is a prime example of outright incompetence of the highest order.
 
Life would be less entertaining without Broussard, hes like a real life Duke Nukem (though he doesn't win the game).
 
Does this mean I won't ever find out if my entry for the "Name the Duke Nukem 5 game!" contest won or lost? ;)
 
Ender1183 said:
It takes a lot to make Valve's development times look short.
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Great point. Since Duke 3D was released back in 1997, that was before Valve or Half Life ever existed. In that time, we have had the whole Half Life 1 and 2 games released, Team Fortress 1 + 2, plus all the Counter Strikes, all those made by Valve between 1998 and 2009, and Valve are known to be uber slow game developers, taking their time.

3D Realms could not get one fucking sequel made in that time in D4N ? :rolleyes: King douche bags


Think about that. Valve are known to really take awhile between game releases, and never rush anything. Well they didn't just release Half Life 1 since Duke 3D, they released every fucking game they ever made since Duke 3D, un fucking real.
 
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Zorachus said:
Great point. Since Duke 3D was released back in 1997, that was before Valve or Half Life ever existed. In that time, we have had the whole Half Life 1 and 2 games released, Team Fortress 1 + 2, plus all the Counter Strikes, all those made by Valve between 1998 and 2009, and Valve are known to be uber slow game developers, taking their time.

3D Realms could not get one fucking sequel made in that time in D4N ? :rolleyes: King douche bags
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Blizzard has even released a few games in that time.
 
Derangel said:
Blizzard has even released a few games in that time.
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Holy sh!t :eek: excellent point. Could it be fucking possible the whole StarCraft series could have been release after Duke 3D, and before the unfinished DN4 ?

StarCraft 1 came out in 1998, a year after DN3D...and StarCraft2 is due soon next year, for sure before any release of DN4 :eek:

wow, just wow
 
The following things have been accomplished between Duke Nukem Forever's announcement on April 28th, 1997 and its death on May 6th, 2009...

http://duke.a-13.net/

My favorite quote: "Things that have taken less time than Duke Nukem Forever's Development: World War II and the entire Manhattan Project. Yes, even the complete development of the atomic bomb took less time."
 
I don't see why people get out right angry about this. I can totally understand looking forward to something and being dissapointed, but to feel that you are entitled to this game and hating the devloper just seems childish. I just imagine people throwing a tantrum on the floor and flailing their arms and legs about because they didn't get their game...Why so mad?
 
Exce said:
I don't see why people get out right angry about this. I can totally understand looking forward to something and being dissapointed, but to feel that you are entitled to this game and hating the devloper just seems childish. I just imagine people throwing a tantrum on the floor and flailing their arms and legs about because they didn't get their game...Why so mad?
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I agree. I just wish the people at 3DR would have just kept quiet about it, but they seemed to be compelled to say "it's still coming" every few years, which I never understood.

If nothing else, the failure of 3D Realms should serve as a warning to other game developers to not overhype their products. Even if DNF ever did come out, there is no way in hell that anything they produced could ever have lived up to the unearthly hype.
 
Exce said:
I don't see why people get out right angry about this. I can totally understand looking forward to something and being dissapointed, but to feel that you are entitled to this game and hating the devloper just seems childish. I just imagine people throwing a tantrum on the floor and flailing their arms and legs about because they didn't get their game...Why so mad?
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I'm not sure everyone is angry, I think its hilarious.
 
I want to play dnf too. I bet they kept all their developments. Even if they just bundle all the tech stuff as a game I would play it.

The thing i wonder is how max payne and prey got made?
 
All broussards fault, that guy must be the biggest traitor off all time to set fot in the gaming industry..
 
This is just what happens when someone with no skills in management runs a business, unforunately its just one stupid decision after another, very much like the last few businesses I've worked for.

But hey ho, it provided jobs for a group of people and no one lost a lot of money, most of it was financed by the owners. I just hope whatever happens to the Duke IP it lands in the hands of someone who can make a reasonable sequel, it doesn't need to be ground breaking to be good, it just needs to take a popular IP and make a well made game, people will still love it.
 
They lost a fan. I totally don't give a shit. I did read the article just for insight. Good read.
 
So, ultimately, the whole fiasco was literally epic resource mismanagement. Damn, why didn't they get a couple of Korean StarCraft players to run interference for George? We'd have gotten the thing back in '99.



(Only half kidding. :) )
 
The article pretty much confirms what I thought,it should be required reading for game developers.It's obvious Broussard wasn't fit to be in charge,he'd been spoiled by success and had no idea why Duke 3D
was so popular.He was so obsessed with being ahead of other games technically,when it was the humor and attitude that won people over.DNF didn't have to be a Crysis killer to be successful,we just wanted another chance to laugh in between blowing away alien pigs and tipping strippers.
 
I have many fond memories of DN3D, and I patiently awaited the arrival of DNF. I am indifferent to its demise at this point. The only disappointment is that DNF couldn't outlast the Chinese Democracy timetable.
 
I was over it years ago, still love Duke 3D and regard it highly. I did post at 3Drealms trying to give support to push the game forward and everything, I feel that time was pretty much wasted but the community there cares a great deal about the game, it's pretty sad how these people stuck with 3DR only to be shafted countless times by the people in charge who couldn't let go.

For all their publicity stunts and false promises I'd still like to play the final build of DNF, if only they could've released it... Even if it was on preys level it would have been one long chapter finaly brought to a close.
 
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