Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Just as the grass grows and the ocean gently laps against the shore, triads will rise. It is simply nature’s way. For eons, however, top scientists have pondered what role rhythmic triad undulations play in the greater order of our universe. Do they hold up the planet in much the same fashion as long-dead Greek titans before them? Are they responsible for the complex set of physics interactions that make ice cream flavors that don’t taste like ice cream possible? Do they allow jokes that should’ve ended a long time ago to just keep going and going? We may never know. But I just had a crazy thought: maybe Rise of the Triad‘s purpose is shooting dudes really, really fast. Sometimes with a baseball bat that’s also the devil. No, that’s impossible. It’s probably the ice cream thing. See for yourself in the form of an appreciably meaty video after the break.

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I defy anyone to wake up on a Monday morning, bleary-eyed and unsure as to the state of reality, and plunge their face directly into a developer diary for the Rise of the Triad remake. It starts with an Apogee logo, which made me think I’d journeyed back through the decades as I slept, and contains men talking about ‘immersion’, ‘level design’ and the ‘adventure feel’ provided by ‘spinning blades which can chop you into pieces’. Four bewildering minutes, which is precisely what I’d hope for from the resurrection of ROTT. Brace yourself for a video where everything, from designing an environment to discovering a secret, happens at the speed of the past.

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Rise of the Triad is one of the last games anyone expected to spring back into the spotlight via what will go down in history as the year everyone finally decided necromancy was kind of cool, but it’s actually not doing half-bad for itself. Sure, it’s another retro revival shooter, but the immaculately coifed folks at Interceptor seem to understand exactly what powered the original: total lunacy. There were dog modes and magical baseball bats and castles and jump pads and flame walls. Modern shooters pretend to make sense – even when they really, really don’t. Not so with ROTT. Watch the Interceptor gang explain the method to their madness – with words and not guttural howling noises, somewhat surprisingly – after the break.

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So let’s have a look at this, Internet. I am a nerd for development process, so watching the time-lapsed video (below) of Interceptor CEO Frederik Schreiber building part of a Rise Of The Triad level is an early-morning delight. The remake, which was announced at QuakeCon, is due by the end of the year. You can have a read of Nathan’s interview with said CEO just here. It’s quite entertaining.

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Jim? John? Adam? Are you guys OK? Are you there? Are you conscious? Are you… are you still alive? Oh God. Oh God.

There’s no other reason I can think of for why they didn’t post about the Rise of the Triad remake/sequel, which we had been forewarned would be unveiled at QuakeCon today. If it wasn’t that then, well, they WON’T BE ALIVE FOR LONG WILL THEY. Anyway, while I go sharpen my best machete, let me break from what’s supposed to be my day off by sharing with you that, yes, olden hyper-gory Apogee FPS Rise of the Triad is indeed to return.
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It’s time for a new twist in the tale of Duke Nukem Forever. Shacknews are reporting that Take-Two are now filing a lawsuit against the remnants of Apogee and 3D Realms, suing them for failing to deliver the promised game, and demanding a copy of the source code. Cor blimey. In a round-up of who’s suing who today, business news site Bloomberg mentions the case, stating that Take-Two are making the case because “Apogee breached an agreement to design the latest installment of Duke Nukem.” And in recently discovered papers, it’s been revealed that the publisher are demanding a copy of the source code, and assurance that none of the game be leaked or destroyed.

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Mere minutes after we received a whispered tip from a hooded figure soothsaying the news, Shacknews are reporting that 3D Realms has closed shop. The twenty-two year old developer apparently suffered funding issues, according to Shacknews’ similarly anonymous source, and staff from the company have been let go.

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It’s always fun to hear about what new retro sweetmeat has found its way to Good Old Games‘ DRM-free servers – to sigh and think of times gone by, to think of how silly our hair was in 1995 and to wonder whether the Manic Street Preachers would be any good today if Richie hadn’t gone missing.

Today, it’s the turn of Duke Nukem 3D, along with a host of other old Apogee stuff. It’s almost odd to think of people paying hard cash for Duke 3D these days – so many FPSes of that era simply haven’t aged as well as their less graphics-reliant strategy, RPG and adventure contemporaries. Of course, Duke earned some 21st century stripes last year, with the well-received XBLA port, so it’s nice to see him back on his original home too.
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It’s Wolfenstein 3D’s 16th birthday. Happy birthday Wolfenstein 3D! Now you can have sex with the other games.

Despite being an id game, it was published by Apogee, now 3D Realms, and they’ve taken it upon themselves to celebrate this momentous age.

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