Comments on: This Is The End: 3D Realms Closure Confirmed

By: Rath

Rath — Fri, 08 May 2009 19:42:41 +0000

Last night I dug out my copy of Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, and got a lot further in it than I ever had before. An extremely good Duke game, even if it does later descend into “several screens worth of identi-kit tunnel mazes”. With the 3D Realms logo on the cover.

By: sfury

sfury — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:07:54 +0000

Goodnight sweet duke.

By: LionsPhil

LionsPhil — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:23:33 +0000

@Martin: I am reasonably sure that the only people funding DNF were 3DR themselves. This is presumably how they managed to go bankrupt despite past glories, and the presumably lucrative recent porting of said past glories onto every mobile device under the sun.

By: The Fanciest of Pants

The Fanciest of Pants — Fri, 08 May 2009 04:26:10 +0000

RIP 3dr. They deserve a better legacy then to be remembered for what they didn’t do.

Best to forget about DNF and remember the classics. At least until it’s back in development.

By: Martin K

Martin K — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:12:19 +0000

At one point, my take on DNF was: “I like to believe the whole thing was and is, by and large, a fraud and a massive, world-endingly colossal con-job based on the ‘we just need more time, and yet another influx of venture capital’ principle of proliferating and keeping afloat your fraud of choice (most fraudulent R&D scams seem to function in a similar manner). I have completely unfounded doubts as to how long the assets on show took to create, and at what point they actually took a break from playing epic-length foosball matches to start work on the last-demonstrated (that is to say, current) iteration of the game.”

The problem with that viewpoint is that the evidence doesn’t necessarily stack up in my favour, and more’s the pity, too. There were at least two, possibly three builds of the game, and people saw them and played them, and it seemed, for a brief moment, as if this current iteration of the game might even see the light of day.

There is, still, however, no way I can even begin to comprehend what took them so long. Not even the oft-used ‘multiple engine changes’ excuse gets them completely off the hook.

I still don’t understand why anybody continued to give them money. If and when the budget for DNF is totalled, I feel fairly certain it’ll equate to some significant fraction of the GDP of a small African republic, and could easily have, for instance, improved the lives of any number of world citizens instead of being spent on this ridiculous, mind-numbing farce.

That the people at 3DR were by and large, so far as I could tell from interviews and their interactions on their forums, fine guys and gals who are now potentially out of a job, is a travesty, but it still doesn’t explain where the money went or what in the name of all that is good and sanctified it bought them.

By: LionsPhil

LionsPhil — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:31:59 +0000

Duke Nukem Forever has DRM so stringent that I’m currently in witness protection for thinking about possibly installing it on more than one of my computers. If George Broussard ever determines my true identity, his eldrich powers will seep across the world and annihilate my very soul.

Oh God, I can hear Cultists of Apogee outside. I may not have much ti-

By: Schott

Schott — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:10:26 +0000

YESSS!
Finally.

EDIT:
Of course, I didn’t have anything invested in this emotionally, so I’m biased.

By: Serondal

Serondal — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:55:27 +0000

Duke Nukem Forever has DRM so stringent you can’t even buy it at all, the DVD doesn’t even exist ! Try and pirate it now assholes! MWUAHAHAHA

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:35:51 +0000

@ LionsPhil: Au contraire, Duke Nukem Forever had DRM so stringent you weren’t even allowed to BUY the same thing in case you lent it to a friend.

By: Angel Dust

Angel Dust — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:19:19 +0000

If Take 2 decide to and are in a position to finish DNF I think the best team for the job would be Rockstar North. Of course they most likely have their hands full with the next GTA so maybe one of the others like Toronoto or Vancouver.

By: Serondal

Serondal — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:39:53 +0000

This is kind of sad. I think they should have just let the dang game go and develop something else. I can’t understand why it took so long but at a certain point you’ve got to cut things loose if they’re not going ever make you any money. I guess they never learned that lesson, kept wasting money on DNF, and then finally just ran out of time/money. What publisher in their right mind when ever get behind a project like this O.o Valve can do stuff like this because valve is dev/publisher, they can take forever to make half life 2 and still make money on it cause they a dev and publisher both and they know there is no hype like 10 year hype :P

By: Vexor

Vexor — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:20:46 +0000

Who knows how well DNF would be in today’s market. Firstly, as was pointed out, it would likely never meet our expectations. Secondly, most of todays teens probably don’t even remember, or have never played the original Duke games.

Best of luck to all the 3DR peoples.