Video Gaming's Oldest Preorder Went Unfulfilled

Blogger Mike Smith of plugged in tells the story of one gamer who placed a $10 preorder for the computer videogame Duke Nukem Forever - back in 2001!

Originally planned for a 1998 release, Duke Nukem Forever was to be the latest shoot em up adventure starring the iconic character Duke Nukem.  Its constant delays had become an industry inside joke, winning Wired magazine's Vaporware award seven years out of eight.

Sadly, 3D Realms ran out of money and all work on the game was canceled yesterday. 

As Guardian games writer Steve Boxer told the BBC, "It would have been nice to see another Duke Nukem game, but given they had more than 12 years it's just incompetence of the highest order...Sadly, Duke Nukem Forever was the most aptly named title in the history of games. Now, it's just Duke Nukem Never."

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.


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The principals will undoubtedly get jobs at other game companies after decrying how they "couldn't get any of their brilliant visions" implemented on DNF and how they were held back by everyone around them. It will truly be a lesson in blamestorming.
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The original was a whole lot of multiplayer fun for me and my friends when we set up computer LANs or just 1 on 1 modem play. Reminds me of one time I was playing a death match against my friend and we had to call it quits, both of us turned to be in buildings opposite to each other with a courtyard in the middle so we both jumped out the window to see ourselves falling in synchronicity... so of course we start firing at each other. Good times.
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Conspiracy theories abound, some posted by former developers on this project, suggest that this game was never meant to be finished... but to increase sales of whatever new engine that they "switched" to at the time. The Unreal engine was updated a few times and released with subsequent Unreal games... and each time before, DNF was announced as switching to it. There has also been comments by devs and designers that the trailers were all faked, meaning that whatever little bit they were working on was done only for that scene in the trailer before it was scrapped. Whatever was going around with DNF, I don't think it's as simple as them taking their time and not managing to get it done before cash ran out.
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Very pleased to see DNF cancelled. Duke is a friggin' reprehensible misogynist, and the portrayal of women in the earlier Duke games was despicable.

Though mainly I'm pleased, because people who believed this game was ever going to see the light of day will hopefully now shut up about it.

Anyone with half a brain could see the game was never coming out. And even if it ever did, it would have been Daikatana levels of garbage.
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