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Duke Nukem Forever Tops Vaporware List
Wired has an annual list of high-profile vaporware projects and the number of games on there is just depressing. Numbers 7, 6, 5, 2, and 1 are all videogame projects. When the Phantom is only #2, you know what has to be number 1. From the article: "Announced in 1997 and promised every year since, this game takes vaporware to new heights. Think about it, in just 13 months this game will have been in one form of development or another for a decade. This project started with a game based on the Quake 2 engine, then in 1999 it moved to the Unreal engine and has been stalled ever since."
Duke Nukem is in production?
Say it ain't so.
liqbase
Don't worry, it's painfully obvious that DNF will run on Vista running on a Phantom. In fact, these have the same launch day...
Robert Bindler
A Computer Science student's views on technology.
Can't wait to get home so I can play Duke Nukem Forever on my 8-core Phantom while talking to my mates using a VOIP phone and recording HDTV over IPTV on my Media Center machine with a super-fast fiber-to-the-home connection.
"Oh boy"
It ain't so.
Water is wet!
Although I think calling the new Legend of Zelda "vaporware" is off as its only late by... ooh...3 months.
When it comes out.
Regular Meta Moderators are not more likely to get mod points.
I love how it's not all on one page, so I can't just skim through the list.
Gamertag: WyleType
I think DNF has finally passed The Rapture as the ultimate in non-deliverables. It has achieved such a mythical level of nothingness it has gone from nonbeing to actually existing in the minds of each and every geek. Long live DNF! Well, long enough until it is actually delivered, in which case it can only be a disappointment and will cease to exist.
You guys should follow the most excellent 3D Realms forums! George Broussard has provided us .. um.. "a lot" of info about DNF
;)
It will come soon (as in 10 years), I'm sure!
-- dbg
I disagree with the author having the Google beta products in the list. Simply because a product doesn't change from beta to actual release for a while doesn't necessarily make it vaporware. Gmail has been implementing new features and improving ever since it was initially released as a 'beta'. I think I would file it under vaporware, if we kept reading slashdot posts about an upcoming mail service by Google only to never see anything. Also Google tends to use the term 'beta' quite loosely.
nothing
I just noticed this on the DNF FAQ:
1.8 - Will DNF be available on DVD?
This still has not been decided yet, however the chances of this happenning are slim. It is important to note that DVD's are not mainstream yet, at least not in the software industry.
Now, I almost never do any gaming on my computer, but I definitely think that any machine that is going to run DNF is going to have a DVD drive.
Amazing that this product has been in development so long that means of distribution have even changed.
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
The list: 10. High-def TiVo and TiVoToGo for Mac 9. AlphaGrip ergonomic keyboard/trackball 8. Blu-ray or HD-DVD discs 7. Team Fortress 2: Brotherhood of Arms 6. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 5. StarCraft Ghost 4. Microsoft's Vista and Internet Explorer 7 3. Google -- betas galore 2. Phantom Game Service 1. Duke Nukem Forever
DNF is only a long standing joke because its of interest to us.
I'm sure our anticipation of that will be similar to how movie buffs react to news.
Its taken 18 years to a get a sequel for Indiana Jones.
DNF has loads of time yet.
liqbase
Do Not Resuscitate.
Duke Nukem had its chance, blew it (multiple times) and has been dragged along like a piece of toilet paper stuck to the button of a shoe.
Congratulations to the DNF team. Now we know what they mean by "Forever".
When did the creators of duke nukem ever claim it was coming out that year? Never. Their stance, for at least 6 years now, has been "when it's done." The publishers may have given dates, but they are marketer not game creators.
> Think about it, in just 13 months this game will have been in one form of
> development or another for a decade.
I can't believe there are still people who seriously think this is what's happened. Obviously they've not been working on it for 10 years. They must have decided at some point to work on other things and simply give the impression they were working on it, and have finally (perhaps) decided to release something. Not many companies get to pay nothing to have one of their major project ranges mentioned on a regular basis - good luck to 'em. I've bought several of their games on PSX and PC but I'm hardly hanging on for new games from them (or any other company for that matter). I'm happy to wait for reviews and screenshots of the finished product.
Could there be a little similarity here?
If products that have been in Beta for forever are classified as vaporware, WINE deserves at least an honorable mention. How long has it been in Alpha now? ;)
(yes, I know it's often useful nonethess, but...)
--
... Amazing that your post has been in development so long that it was copyrighted over a month before it was posted.
- (c) 2005 Hank Zimmerman
is Desktop Linux. Sheesh, it is not the year of the Desktop Linux. It never will be. It will slowly grow, but just 'be' there. Yes, Martin Fink, I'm talking to you.
DYWYPI?
Don't get me wrong, I love all of Silicon Knights' games, but Too Human has been in development since before The Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen (meaning over 10 years, probably more) and has switched consoles twice. Now, I have no doubt it'll eventually come out and most likely be excellent, but why is Twilight Princess or even DNF on the list and not Too Human?
For that matter, why is Zelda on the list but not Mario 128? Mario 128 has been promised to us since, what was it, Spaceworld 2000? I could be mistaken, but regardless, it's been a while and we have seen no demoes, videos, or even screenshots, and it's switched development from the Gamecube to the Revolution. How is Twilight Princess being delayed 4 or 5 months but still having videos, screens, and demoes galore count as vaporware, but Mario 128 not? Odd...
-Moses
..you'll probably never see an Apple product on the list.
;)
[ducks]
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." -- Voltaire
The original team fortress (not the original, original quake one, but halflife one) was my first serious team based game and i have many great memories playing it.
but this whole hl2, but no tf2 experience has left me pretty raw towards valve. heck I was even willing to go along with their steam delivery, hoping that they'd deliver tf2 one of these days, but they've been dragging their feet too long..
in the mean time we've had the wonderful and free Wolfenstein: ET released, and the upcoming quake wars: ET, which should be the best game ever made...
i'm glad someone has the courage to tell valve that they've dropped the ball on this one.
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
That is all.
From the article:(The cable-card) high-definition TiVo (was) announced at CES 2005, probably will be re-announced at CES 2006.
Actually, it was announced at CES 2004 for release in the first half of 2006. It's not even late yet.
There's never going to be a Duke Nuk'em Forever. It's a joke. They'll keep that up forever until people get tired of it and realize that they've been had.
The studio has other products that they focus on and they're going to be the ones forever. DKF is dead, really it is, but every time someone says it's dead, someone goes to the site and checks the forums where George Broussard has posted "It's not dead" for the nth time.
Give it up people, laugh at George Broussard's joke and move on with life....
DNF vaporware of the year?
I thought they would stop nominating it after a life time award... I mean, dead horse and all that
and ever and ever and ever...
(Sorry, couldn't resist.)
from the faq: "* 1.3 - Who is publishing DNF?
Take 2 Interactive Software is publishing DNF. Prior to this, it was announced in a press release that the Gathering of Developers has acquired publishing rights to Duke Nukem Forever. Prior to that, their publisher was Infogrames (now known as Atari), who bought out GT Interactive as well as the DNF rights. Even before that, GT Interactive had bought the rights from FormGen."
Take 2 interactive... Finiancial woes... DNF Release date
2048 (they've made a NEW unix like time() system, they just need to wait for the old one to run out...)
Speaking of TiVo, I'm thinking about buying one but I don't know what to get. Some of my buddies were able to do some neat things hacking into their TiVos, and I'd like the ability to save off selected shows or movies without building a MythTV box (too much effort). Which TiVo should I buy, and what Windows/Linux/FreeBSD apps should I grab? Are there non-TiVo firmware images I should download and install on my TiVo? Can I just go out and buy a TiVo brand new and use it without having to mod it? Or, even better, is there a web site out there that explains everything? I googled for "tivo recommendations" and "which tivo to buy", but they didn't turn up anything interesting. It looks like the Series 2 DVR does everything I want except for burning stuff to DVD, but if I can just FTP the files off or something that'd be good enough for me.
I'm proud of my Northern Tibetian Heritage
Personally, I don't consider something vapourware that's delayed from the end of the year in question to first quarter of the following. Maybe I'm picky, but I prefer my vapourware to be talking in years, not months. But every year, they pick at least one or two. Zelda being delayed 3 months does not, I think, get it the 'vapourware' sticker.
And c'mon, Google? That's a real strech. All the things they mention you can use just fine. By other people's definition, they're finished, but Google's fussy. That's not 'vapourware'. Geez, they must have been seriously hard up for ideas or something.
Starcraft: Ghost is more on the nose, though not in Duke Nuke Em's league. The Phantom is aptly named. Complaining about Blu-Ray or HD-DVD seems a touch premature I think, given how long it takes hardware standards to formalize, but at least there's a little substance there. TF2 has been in the works forever.
Vista, well, it's been delayed a couple of years so I guess it qualifies, even if it's one of those things that's guranteed to come out, in a way like nothing else on that list, even if does take another three years.
Wood Shavings!
- Godai
When he's underwater does he get wet? Or does the water get him instead?
Now, wasn't Duke Nukem released in 1991? So, it can't be forever top vaporware unless you can't find it in your local 7-11 anymore.
Duke Nukem plays you... forever.
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
If it's been this long and they haven't cancelled it yet, they might just see it through to release. In which case I will be there to link to my post and say "I told you so," and all those people who claimed that it would never be released are going to turn over in their graves (as most of them will be dead by then).
Betas are not vaporware.... nor are any products that DO exist. (IE> IE 7)
/vay'pr-weir/ (UK "vapourware") Products announced
vaporware ( P ) Pronunciation Key (vpr-wâr)
n.
New software that has been announced or marketed but has not been produced.
vaporware
far in advance of any release (which may or may not actually
take place). The term came from Atari users and was later
applied by Infoworld to Microsoft's continuous lying about
Microsoft Windows.
See also brochureware.
Once the product IS released, it is no longer vaporware. Get a damn clue!
The people that bitch about the "linux desktop" haven't normally ever tried Linux
Or they have tried Linux and have had hardware whose driver successfully installed on Windows fail to install on Linux. I tried Mandrakelinux 9.1 when it came out and it found my ATI Radeon 9000 video card (but failed to start X), found my Canon S520 inkjet printer (but printed everything at 60% size because it misdetected my 600 dpi printer as a 360 dpi printer), and completely failed to find my Microtek Scanmaker 4850 flatbed scanner (which is still listed as unsupported in SANE).
"You should have consulted the hardware compatibility list before you bought the hardware." Even before I knew that I wanted to switch to Linux? Even for hardware received as a gift?
I installed linux (ubuntu), and after 1 hour of trying to get my wireless trying to work (unsucessfully), and two hours of trying to figure things out and arrange things to my liking (unsucessfully) I am going to say linux is NOT ready for the desktop.
s upport
Ie, for anything in windows, you either right click or go to the control panel, and if you can't figure it out from there you have a really odd problem. I've only used a mac a few times, but whenever I try out my friends OS X laptop, everything seems intuitive and I never really have a problem getting things the way I like them. Linux is the exact opposite of this. I shouldn't have to search forums or read a dummy manual just to basic things for a desktop. I shouldn't have to spend hours searching for things or configuring things. The only distro I've heard that is nearly ready is linspire, but it's nearly the same freaking price as windows.
And if you look for the support contracts for any of the major distros, it is in the 100s of $s just for granny to make a phone call. IIRC, on windows basic support is free (at least, it was the last time I called). Source: $250 for a phone call for Ubuntu support. And no, grandma isn't going to use IRC.
http://www.ubuntu.com/support/supportoptions/paid
It would make a great episode in Futurama. Think of it, the idea that DNF is not released by the year 3k is very plausible...
At least people are still waiting for this to come out after all these years.
It broke my heart when the next gen Amiga stopped making the list...
they put DNF at #1 but dont even mention Fallout 3?!
bah!
they are both 'in production' I guess....oh well - some day =/
Oh, that's so sweet. Wish I had mod-points.
-FL
How could there ever be a mention of the word "vaporware" without mentioning Project Xanadu . For some people that is the ultimate vaporware: How about being delayed since the 1960's?
My top vapourware vote goes to Elite IV. I doubt that it will ever see the light of day, despite how many rumours and articles I read about it.
"Proudly Posting Without Reading The Article"
I still waiting for Leisure Suit Larry 4
The next realease of enlightenment deserves a spot of honor somewhere on the list. It seems to share DNF's release date of "when it's ready", though it has only been 3 years, not nearly 9.
Boys from the City. Not yet caught by the Whirlwind of Progress. Feed soda pop to the thirsty pigs.
Looks like someone who works for Wired had some mod points...
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Ubuntu is here, and is desktop ready, with all free software!
It isn't coming and why does anybody still care?
I am giving away 2000 premium accounts on my new dating website myfantasyromance.com check it out!
Another vapourware product, probably not well-known to the crew at Wired, but important for us slashdotters:
Ogg Vorbis bitrate peeling.
Remember how it was going to revolutionise portable audio? Download/rip your music once and peel bits for whatever your application - keep the original for your home theatre and peel lots of bits for your iRiver.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife