Duke Nukem Forever is somewhat of a running joke among fans of the series. The game has literally been in development for 12 years. It looks like the game is actually coming to fruition though, thanks to a partnership with Gearbox Software, the developer behind Borderlands. According to IGN, the game is playable today at the Penny Arcade Expo for the Xbox 360.
Duke Nukem Forever was originally supposed to be a sequel to Duke Nukem 3D which came out in 1996, and has since become one of the longest awaited video game sequels of all time. The original development team from 3D Realms worked on DNF until they were laid of in May 2009. Why it took so long is somewhat of a mystery but it may have to do with a lack of funding for development. To make matters worse, Take-Two Interactive sued Realms for not coming through with the game. In a weird shift of events, Realms later counter-sued Take-Two for attempting to get 2K Games to develop a Duke game of their own without Realm’s approval.
In a 3D Realms press release from May 2009, chief George Broussard commented:
“We believe Take-Two’s lawsuit is without merit and merely a bully tactic to obtain ownership of the Duke Nukem franchise. We will vigorously defend ourselves against this publisher.”
In June the lawsuit was settled quietly. Neither Take-Two or 3D Realms would comment on the terms of agreement at that time. With that settled, Gearbox Software have since taken over the rest of the development of the game. If the game is playable one can only assume that a release date is imminent. According to this article, Take Two is indicating a 2010/2011 release date but you can take that with a grain of salt.
Wow, I had given this game up as lost to the ravages of time; to see it spring back from the jaws of defeat is nothing short of a miracle!
I know right. I hope the game is actually good. There were a lot of screenshots on IGN with vehicular travel that had me thinking WTF, but the featured image I posted looks pretty rad to me.