Duke Nukem Forever Demo Released

uslinux.net writes "Gearbox Software released the demo for Duke Nukem Forever today, though it's only available to preorders and other promotions for the time being. After more than a decade, it looks like this game will actually hit stores this month. After 12 years in development, will it live up to the hype?" Included with the linked article is DNF's launch trailer. This should go without saying, but just in case: NSFW. Seriously.

Comments

Re:Links

[MrEricSir]

The summary -- did you read it?

Re:Links

[Dyinobal]

well damn, I'll be honest I mostly just started looking for download links. Who the hell only releases demo's to pre orders, maybe if they let me play the game I might pre order it but I'm not going to pre order so I can play the freaking demo. Honestly what marketing idiot thought that up. Anyone got a torrent for the demo?

Re:Links

[jwilcox154]

According to the fine article "Duke Nukem Forever Demo Released, Access To First Access Club Only" In other words everyone should be able to download it soon. Right now only those who are in the club can download it and AFAIK those who have reserved a copy will have access to the demo.

Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Skarecrow77]

Oh wait, it was garbage compared to other games out at the time, and this one has been in development hell 3x as long.

It'll be lucky to garner a solid 70% average. While this has been in development, we got half-life 1 and 2, gears of war, several halos, freakin mass effect, Modern warfare. Hell even borderlands.

It won't be hard for this thing to exceed my expectations, because I expect it to be crap.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Anonymous Coward]

Rumour has it that it's been in development so long that the chosen 3D engine is no longer quite as impressive as it once was. (^_^)

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Anonymous Coward]

But Duke Nukem was fun.
Seems this is lost on todays generation.

All those games besides Borderlands and the HLs are the definition of why these past couple generations have sucked.
You want a fun game? TOO BAD, HAVE SOME RESTRICTIVE NOFUN GAMES INSTEAD.
GTA IV. What the hell happened there? Where is my fun GTA? Where is my GTA with Elvis impersonators walking around in groups? Where is my SCORE?
I'm fine with serious stories in games, but if they are laborious and require grinding, it is an automatic failure for me. (count in almost every MMO out there too)
There is too much bullshit like spawning infinite enemies for time period X. Too much infinite ammo for NPCs.
L4D, for example. God damn it, that bored the hell out of me. Half the classes are terrible and ruin the game for the most part. Witches? Hell no, what a terrible waste of bytes. (looks like the same might happen to Dead Island too...)

I'm tired of this super serious generation of games. I hope they die off quickly, they suck so hard.
I hope to god a new Timesplitters game is announced next week. It was one of the last few remaining great FPS game series that was purely designed for fun from the ground up.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Skarecrow77]

Thats higher res than when I used to play Might & Magic 1 on a orange monochrome compaq 286! more fluid engine too. very impressive!

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Osgeld]

duke nukem was fun for us male teenagers in the 90's, this is out of touch and honestly does not amount much more than mowfest in boring ... look tits!... settings

and lets be real, its fucking 2011 if your that hard up to see some bad model boobs out of polygons you might want to consider upgrading your Internet service

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Anonymous Coward]

wait, halo/cod/mass effect/borderlands/gears are all shit, you seemed to be saying they are good games?

Of course duke wont be able to compete with hl1/2, but it will shit all over those terribad games you listed.

That said i wont be buying it because of the arbitrary reversal in who gets it first between US and EU since the last delay, us was getting it first, then it gets delayed and all of a sudden europe gets DUKE first?

Ill buy it in a year or two when its5$ in a steam sale.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[uofitorn]

Surely you're not advocating that more games is a worse thing? And even considering that, did you consider that some folk do not consider your aforementioned games to have been any fun?

ME was great, I grant you that. Modern Warfare? I thought I played my last rail shooter at the mall arcade many years ago. No thanks. Borderlands was a bit shitty as well, even with my mates on multiplayer. And I know I buck the crowd when I say I am not a huge fan of the HL series. Listen to the developer commentary for HL and you get a sense of how overly produced, homogenized, and bland the HL experience was meant to be. I recognized this during my play though. Every aspect was over-analyzed such that the player never got stuck and was always guided along by the right clue conveniently painted on the wall in the right space.

Will DNF be better? Who knows. But more choice certainly can not hurt.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[mobby_6kl]

The only way in which Duke 3d compares poorly is its technical execution, the Build engine just wasn't as advanced as Quake and especially Quake 2 of course. You're free to dislike it certainly, but just declaring that it wasn't fun isn't really fair either. There are, simply, some things that make it more fun than other contemporary games, such as the highly interactive environments which, variety in weapons, enemies, and level design, and even the cheesy one liners.

I don't think it's rose colored glasses, I played the game back when it was reasonably new, and I liked it at the time, not just in my memories. I also played it very recently again, and it was a blast. And I'm talking original textures and models, none of the new HD textures and 3D models. Despite of this, the outdated graphics definitely didn't distract from the actual enjoyment

Regarding Mass Effect, never played it, but the recent CoD games just shit over everything that was good about shooters. Sadly, early reports are even that Duke was affected by its influence - there's the ridiculous regenerating health, much more linear levels, and, most bizarrely, a limit on how many weapons you can carry. It makes no sense in an unrealistic aracdy game like this, but apparently since CoD does that now, Duke has to follow the convention.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[zegota]

You realize this is being made by the same people who made the "bit shitty" Borderlands, right? And I find it very interesting that the fact the HL series guides the player instead of leaving them utterly confused makes it a *worse* game in your eyes.

Anyway, it's not really correct for the OP to say this has been in Development Hell for that long. Gearbox basically bought the name and built a new game using it.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[cheekyjohnson]

People are looking at duke 3d through the rose colored glasses

Or maybe they truly like it, since that's just an opinion anyway.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[bonch]

One game with a long development time was bad, so all will be bad. Love your logic.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[bonch]

Duke 3d wasn't fun. Duke 3d was a polished doom-esque experience with some quirky weapons and completely forced humor. It was an interesting alternative to doom/quake until Quake 2 came out, at which point Duke's failure to actually be a -good game- in and of itself was completely evident.

You're definitely projecting your own opinions here, because Duke 3D was a smash-hit that a lot of people still cite as a game with innovative ideas yet to be matched in today's games, especially in multiplayer. The tongue-in-cheek attitude was also unique, and especially in today's environment when so many games try hard to be serious and cinematic, a politically incorrect game that doesn't give a shit about offending people will stand out even more.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[bonch]

Yeah, games today definitely don't have big-breasted women or other sexual imagery oh wait

DNF will be a hit. That the usual politically correct types will hold their noses up at is is all the more reason it should exist in all its offensive glory. This society has become so incredibly stuck-up and wimpy that it can't take a joke anymore.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[uofitorn]

Certainly I realize that. But there are many instances where developers have made fine games after not so fine games. Anyway, regarding HL, I suppose I should have added "IMHO" although I thought that bit was assumed. Because that was my honest regard from the game after having played it. I understand many, many, people feel otherwise including my family and friends!

"And I find it very interesting that the fact the HL series guides the player instead of leaving them utterly confused makes it a *worse* game in your eyes. "

Well, in my opinion it makes for a very linear and homogenized experience as I originally posted. While I don't advocate "utter confusion" I think a little mystery in a game tends to make the experience more enjoyable. Back in the Ultima days I remember making hand drawn maps. Should we return to those days? Certainly not. But a FPS that has been play-tested by focus groups for 6 months ad nauseam such that it felt like navigating through a Denny's placemate puzzle is not my idea of fun. Well, that's the other opposite of the extreme. It resulted in a game that was boring, bland and tasted like skim milk (IMHO).

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Anonymous Coward]

My roommate and I used to have massive amounts of fun playing Duke Nukem 3D multiplayer. It was the only game that had the kind of interactivity with the environment which has yet to be replicated to this day. In fact, all of the gamers who knew their stuff back then chose DN3D over Quake and Quake 2 because, although it was less technically advanced, it was waaay more fun.

I won't discount DNF just because of its long development time. Just look at how long it took for Prey to finally be released and that turned out to be well worth the wait.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Skarecrow77]

If you think that those are bad games, I'm really curious what you think is a good shooter. Have you basically been sitting around for 12 years waiting for another duke game?

I'm wondering if you're even truly a gamer, since you seem to be shunning the cream of the crop of products released in the past few years. If you like shooters -or- RPGs, mass effect 1 & 2 are great games, and if you're a fan of both genres it is damn near a masterpiece. I can't think of a better duo of games released in a long long time.

Say what you want about the lack of realism or the shortness of the campaign, the modern warfare series has among the best cinematic insertion elements in gaming history, and can still produce emotional responses in today's jaded gamers.

What are you playing that's better, I'm honestly curious.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Skarecrow77]

or, if you've been following the development of the game, on and off, for the past decade, as I have, with comparisons to other developers who have lost focus in feature bloat hell, with rotating programmers, artists, and designers trying to polish up the same product, you'd understand why an extremely long development time is almost always bad for a game unless very specific criteria are met, of which duke forever is laughably far away from.

sorry I didn't spell it out for you. I can elaborate more if you really wish.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Khyber]

"What are you playing that's better, I'm honestly curious."

Shadow Warrior.

"cinematic insertion elements"

No thanks. I don't want to watch movies. I'd much prefer to be fragging things, in the bloodiest and most gory methods possible.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Anonymous Coward]

That's only because we are no longer a male teenager in the 90s. Now we're old farts.

But I can guarantee the male teenagers of the 2011s are going to get a kick from this.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Kitkoan]

Sadly, early reports are even that Duke was affected by its influence - there's the ridiculous regenerating health, much more linear levels, and, most bizarrely, a limit on how many weapons you can carry.

Having just finished the demo I can let you know, yes you have regenerating health (its called "Ego") which I really hate in these new FPS games. And you can only hold 2 weapons. The demo mentions that your "Ego" gets a permanent boost with killing a boss, maybe you can also hold more weapons. But doubt it.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Skarecrow77]

Shadow Warrior.

you haven't beaten it yet?

I honestly found it more fun than duke, but that's a relative scale there.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Osgeld]

Im not a PC type, I am just not a boy any more and the "joke" is old and tired

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[WuphonsReach]

Having played Duke Nukem 3D within the past few years - it was a very good game for the time it was released. Basically DOOM plus the ability to aim up/down and a modest amount of 3D'ness to the level design. Watching the Javascript version of DOOM reminds me why I found Duke Nukem 3D to be more enjoyable.

It also had a number of good one liners and some very memorable level designs. And the quirky weapons were a lot of fun. The freeze ray + kicking your opponent. The shrink ray + stomping on the wee little piggies. Throwing pipe bombs and using the detonator, or setting up laser tripwires to take out opponents.

(If you have the original CDs, there are updated texture packs that you can get along with an open source engine to run the game.)

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Dahamma]

Quake and Quake 2 (and everything id has done since, really) had some fun multiplayer, but the single player was a joke, mostly a way to advertise the engine for others (Half-Life) to make a real single player experience with it. If you are going to call it "DOOM-esque" you might as well try to call every 3DFPS "DOOM-esque" because it's... (sort of) 3D, and it's... a shooter!

Duke Nukem was IMO the first "3D" FPS where you *were* the character, not just some random anonymous soldier or "space marine".

And besides having a single player shooter experience that *was* beyond many of the others at the time, the multiplayer was just plain *fun*. It was less about the ridiculous run around frantically shooting, kill or die, respawn, repeat, and more about sneaking around, setting traps (the laser trip mines were awesome), humiliating your opponents (shrink ray!), etc.

Basically, different interests for different people. You don't have to like it, I think a lot of people really did *at the time* and it has nothing to do with hindsight...

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Anonymous Coward]

Your "cream of the crop" is shit, just like most of the mainstream games that have come out in the past decade, but I suppose you wouldn't know any better since that's all you've been exposed to in your short, pre-chewed existence.

If you can muster the required attention span (I know that's difficult for you kids these days), go play some Ultima 1/2/3/4/5/6/7, Elite 1/2, Starflight 1/2, Dune 2, Wing Commander 1/2/3/Privateer, Monkey Island 1/2, Star Control II, Syndicate, Day of the Tentacle, System Shock 1/2, Descent 1/2/3, Mechwarrior 2, Thief 1/2, Unreal Tournament, The Longest Journey, Fallout 1/2, Baldur's Gate 1/2 or Deus Ex if you want to know what a truly good game is like.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Anonymous Coward]

The only way in which Duke 3d compares poorly is its technical execution, the Build engine just wasn't as advanced as Quake and especially Quake 2 of course. You're free to dislike it certainly, but just declaring that it wasn't fun isn't really fair either. There are, simply, some things that make it more fun than other contemporary games, such as the highly interactive environments which, variety in weapons, enemies, and level design, and even the cheesy one liners.

I don't think it's rose colored glasses, I played the game back when it was reasonably new, and I liked it at the time, not just in my memories. I also played it very recently again, and it was a blast. And I'm talking original textures and models, none of the new HD textures and 3D models. Despite of this, the outdated graphics definitely didn't distract from the actual enjoyment

Regarding Mass Effect, never played it, but the recent CoD games just shit over everything that was good about shooters. Sadly, early reports are even that Duke was affected by its influence - there's the ridiculous regenerating health, much more linear levels, and, most bizarrely, a limit on how many weapons you can carry. It makes no sense in an unrealistic aracdy game like this, but apparently since CoD does that now, Duke has to follow the convention.

Weapon limits aren't done for realism. They're done for console playability.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Skarecrow77]

I probably shouldn't bother since you're hiding behind AC, but...

"short pre-chewed existance"? I'm probably older than you are. I started gaming in 1981. How about you? I had pong. I was there for the great crash of 83 (I even owned a copy of ET, the game that did it). I wore multiple NES and and SNES consoles. I gamed in glorious 12" orange CGA monochrome. I had boot disks. how much of the above stuff have you ever played outside of an emulator?

I've played at least half the games or more on your list, and there are some good ones on there, and some incredibly overrated ones. Not to mention that you're missing a lot. Where are your gold box SSI games? Where is Tie Fighter? Where is Wizardry? Where is Might and Magic? Where is Civilization and Master of Orion and Master of Magic? Warcraft 2? C&C1/Red Alert?

Sir, I know good gaming.

The funny thing is, you pretty much came up with a list of the most highly rated at-the-time list of games from 1980(ish) to 1999, while I listed some of the more highly rated games in the decade hence. There is no difference between your list and my list except the decades we are considering, which was the -entire point of my post-, how many good games have come out in the past 10 years in duke's genre that have one-upped what duke forever is trying to do (aside from showing pixelated boobies of course).

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[PwnzerDragoon]

But please, don't do it from his lawn. He has strong feelings about young people there.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Whiteox]

Hey! Maybe they can postpone the release just long enough so they can re-write the engine!

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[mobby_6kl]

Yes, probably, I wasn't claiming otherwise. Just when we're talking about a realistic game, like Rainbow Six (pre-Vegas), it
a) makes perfect sense: you can't carry more than a few weapons without them getting in the way IRL
b) doesn't detract from the gameplay - I rarely needed to reload my smg/rifle, let alone use my sidearm in anything but the OH SHIT situations

Most games nowadays don't have these excuses, like for example Bulletstorm. It's a fun and completely ridiculous game, but for some reason you can't carry more than 2 (or 3?) weapons at once and that sucks a lot. Not only it prevents you from mixing up your kills and selecting the most appropriate gun for the situation, but I also ended up completing the whole game without using some of the weapons for more than a few minutes. So yeah, consoles ruin everything.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, you're so mature that you only argue about video games and why everybody should think like you these days.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but they didn't have hookers

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Patch86]

Different games appeal in different ways. I like "realistic" games; Operation Flashpoint was excellent back in the day, and STALKER (while not exactly strict realism, being sci-fi) has all the usual realistic feature (weight limits on equipment, bleeding wounds, etc.), and so forth. But I also really like "arcade" style games; the Quake's and Unreal's of this world. Sam goes for other genres- Europa Universalis and Total War are both great series; Mario Cart and Gran Turismo both have spots on my shelf. Sometimes you're in the mood for some zany high-pace action, other times you really want to put your geek-hat on and pretend you're a Medieval economic administrator or commercial airline pilot.

The problem is when developers muck with their own formulae. If the Gran Turismo had cars with heat-seeking rockets, you'd be pissed. That's why things like GTA are so irritating- GTA4 is trying to be something that GTA1-3 wasn't. It's better now that Rock Star are feeling more free to make similar-but-different games (like LA Noire) to get the experimenting out of their system, but it's a shame that they had to mess with GTA before that.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Isaac Remuant]

Dude, Nico's character both likable and funny. I didn't play past a few first missions and random actions because I never bought nor had much time to get addicted to it (I remember GTA: San Andreas).

But GTA is my definition of a fun game whatever you do. You can just explore the city and interact with it. Watch them react to your violent experiments. When you do want to play the story, you find it''s well thought, funny and sufficiently varied to avoid being bored.

You must be growing old and ranty :P

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Killjoy_NL]

I liked them both and I am looking forward to the new Duke :)

I wonder how long it will take before Fox News or another News Network will make a big deal about how it's corrupting the youth by showing boobies?
Have they done anything on The Witcher 2 yet? There are some really nice naked ladies in there.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[mattack2]

I don't play these games.. but do you need to keep all of the different weapons for different situations? That is, is there a good reason to keep all of them?

One thing that the PS2 "Bard's Tale" (read the Wikipedia article, it's largely a spoof of D&D type games, but is one itself too) did well is that when you got a new weapon, it automagically sells your old inferior one one, right away, for gold. It's not realistic either, but streamlines the process.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[kalirion]

You want a fun game? TOO BAD, HAVE SOME RESTRICTIVE NOFUN GAMES INSTEAD.

So why does Duke try so hard to be as restrictive as the modern shooters? 2 weapons at a time? Checkpoints where you only have access to your most recent checkpoint save? Not too crazy about health regeneration either.

The only thing that's Duke about DNF is the humour and interactive environments.

Re:Daikatana was worth the wait too

[Anonymous Coward]

duke was fun. this political correct NPR stuff is crap. it,s fun to be that 15 year old kid again looking at "boobies" and enjoing the potty mouth stuff in a game . theres nothing out there like it . if you expected a masterpiece in teck or gamplay you missed the poi
nt. just have fun with it or dont.

Re:Links

[Anonymous Coward]

if you'd spent 12 years on an underwhelming game like that, you wouldn't want anyone finding out before paying, would you?

Re:Links

[KiloByte]

In other words: we're waiting for one of kind souls who preordered DNF to get off his butt and upload a torrent with the demo.

Re:Links

[TempySmurf]

If you've purchased borderlands on steam, you should have a code for it.

Love the Warning...

[RdeCourtney]

Mature 17+ - AWESOME
Blood and Gore - AWESOME
Intense Violence - AWESOME
Strong Language - AWESOME
Mature Humour - AWESOME
Strong Sexual Content - AWESOME
Use of Drugs and Alcohol - AWESOME

The legal warning at the beginning negates any intro!

Re:Love the Warning...

[Have Brain Will Rent]

And the 2nd trailer warning "Please remember to wash your hands after playing."

Re:Links

[creat3d]

I'd be very surprised if it wasn't already available from a plethora of unofficial sources.

Wow

[Anonymous Coward]

They are going to make SO MUCH MONEY! Everybody knows that everybody has been waiting for this game for too long, and this trailer is impressive enough that I and likely most people I know will preorder it whether they admit it or not. If they did a good job and made a sequel, any sequel at all, they will earn lots of money on that one. Etc.

they don't want the sever to blow up taking the ga

[Joe_Dragon]

they don't want the sever to blow up taking the game code with it or the game sucks so bad that they want to lock in the pre buy funds and not have a demo for free.

I fail to understand

[Haedrian]

The point in giving demos to people who already bought it.

Doesn't it negate the entire point of the demo? They're sold already, show it to people who aren't sure yet instead.

I realise part of this preordering thing is making people feel they've got an extra good deal, but really, you've waited 12 years already.

Re:I fail to understand

[Anonymous Coward]

if you had game of the year edition of borderlands you also got a key. (If on steam it supplied you with another key with any purchase of borderlands)

Re:I fail to understand

[gorgonymus gorgward]

The demo is given to those with a First Access Club code.

Originally, the code was given when you bought Boderlands GOTY (That's the way I obtained it).

Then, much later, when the game was available to pre-order, Gearbox threw in the First Access Codes as an extra.

That should explain the situation.

Re:I fail to understand

[Anonymous Coward]

I fail to understand the point in giving demos to people who already bought it.

I would have thought it was obvious. It's purely a marketing ploy to get people to pre-order.

Re:I fail to understand

[foma84]

you've waited 12 years already.

The game is rated 17+.
You just realized you could have been five years old when they started it and play it when it comes out.

Re:I fail to understand

[infurnus]

I was gifted Borderlands a while back and still got access to the DNF demo. I didn't pay a cent to get it.
All the people who got their keys from people who bought Borderlands and gave away their demo keys probably paid nothing as well.

Re:I fail to understand

[Anonymous Coward]

Create hype, get the true believers (who already bought it) feeling really good about their purchase, and get the *talking*, which is by far the best and most effective form of marketing.

Just a theory.

Re:I fail to understand

[elrous0]

The point in giving demos to people who already bought it. Doesn't it negate the entire point of the demo?

Not if the demo sucks and the only people you want seeing it are people who are already stuck with the game.

Re:I fail to understand

[Haedrian]

But then they'll tell other potential buyers, and they'll be in a REALLY bad mood because they paid money for it.

I've played it...

[CmdrEdem]

in the 360 and it's not a awesome game. This release will be important for the team that worked so long on this game, but like other said: there are some awesome shooters out there nowadays and DNF is not one of them. I just fear that reviews can get rough because of the development time and so little accomplishment in all game aspects. Gameplay is typical but a little irresponsive, graphics look good but have no personality. Duke needs more steroids, because he jumps 1 feet high and can't push a mining cart full of barrels, meaning that he's all talk. I respect the dev team but this game will not get good reviews or good talk from players.

Re:I've played it...

[Osgeld]

the team that actually did something with it has only been working on it for a normal period of time, so if you think this is someone's grand masterpiece, its not, it got bought and vomited out faster than serious sam

Re:I've played it...

[shutdown -p now]

graphics look good

It might be that I'm just spoiled by PC gaming, (and I've played the demo on PC as well) but that hasn't been my experience - frankly, the graphics sucks in the demo. Even more than it usually does for quick console ports.

Main focus of the game developers

[sega_sai]

The demo left me with the feeling that the developers spend more time on textures of naked women than on anything else.

Played it.

[bertoelcon]

I played it earlier today (Thanks Borderlands GOTY), it"s exactly what I expected from Duke Nukem game. Good or bad it's very much a "boy's game" with toilet humor, aliens, a buff dude fucking the aliens up, and chicks. When you start the game off taking a piss you kind of set the bar for expectations low.

Re:Played it.

[Skarecrow77]

That's exactly what the 1st game was, and I still to this day do not understand why people thought it was so great.

"it has a shrink ray and a freeze gun!"
so? I don't know about you, but there's nothing I love more than when I'm about to kill somebody and they use a cheap gimmick on me.

"it has a jetpack!"
ever play starsiege: tribes? That's how you make a shooter with jetpacks.

"but it's funny!"
no. Go watch some beavis and butthead or early south park for that brand of humor if you really want funny, or hell go re-watch evil dead 2 and army of darkness for the funny that duke obviously really wishes he could be.

Re:Played it.

[Seumas]

Calling it a "boys game" because of the Duke character and his sense of self and humor is like calling Idiocracy a movie for idiots, because the movie itself is filled with idiots. Duke Nukem is a parody of its time (though it hardly really fits into the pop-culture of this century). The Duke Nukem humor itself has never particularly done anything for me, though it occasionally gets a slight chuckle. In 2011, it's only really relevant in the sense of "oh man, remember when all the action movies and stars were really like this back in the 80s?".

The problem is that this game could have done something with itself using the same style of humor and retarded juvenile style, if the mechanics and look (and performance) of the game matched other modern games. Instead, it feels like an XBLA title that someone would release for $15. It feels every bit like a game that would have been made and released in 1999, but with a graphical update (that makes it look perhaps around 2005-ish).

It's really unfortunate that Gearbox's good intentions didn't pan out, here. I guess there's only so much you could have expected from their attempt to rescue the title. I hope that Pritchford's spending of good karma (built up from the success of Borderlands) wasn't entirely wasted on convincing the company to let him at DNF. There are a lot of better ways, in retrospect, that he could have burned that karma.

Re:Played it.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's exactly what the 1st game was, and I still to this day do not understand why people thought it was so great.

"it has a shrink ray and a freeze gun!"
so? I don't know about you, but there's nothing I love more than when I'm about to kill somebody and they use a cheap gimmick on me.

Cheap gimmick? It's a powerful weapon in the right hands so the reason why you consider it a gimmick, is for me a reason why it's a weapon that requires a little more skill by the player to use well. Variety is always nicer than just guns with various reload times and damage. Besides, when you kill someone with either one, it's extra fun so as long as you get to do it yourself sometimes too, you like it :b

"but it's funny!"
no. Go watch some beavis and butthead or early south park for that brand of humor if you really want funny, or hell go re-watch evil dead 2 and army of darkness for the funny that duke obviously really wishes he could be.

What's wrong with incorporating that kind of humor into a game? Especially when done well. Besides, Duke 3D came long before South Park.

Re:Played it.

[Anonymous Coward]

but it didn't come before Army of Darkness.

Hail to the real king, baby.

Re:Played it.

[berashith]

good idea, i am going to go watch evil dead

Re:Played it.

[bonch]

That's exactly what the 1st game was, and I still to this day do not understand why people thought it was so great.

Because they can take a joke. You already ranted about the game earlier and obviously never took to its politically incorrect humor because you feel the need to remind us of how you're too mature for it. You probably didn't like the Grand Theft Auto games either, or Mortal Kombat, or any other controversial game that walks the edges of social acceptability--something I consider important for entertainment to do or else it becomes stale whitebread.

so? I don't know about you, but there's nothing I love more than when I'm about to kill somebody and they use a cheap gimmick on me.

That cheap gimmick is fun as hell, the same reason Mario Kart is fun. For crying out loud, there is no other shooter in which you can fire a shrink ray at a mirror, have the projectile reflect off of the mirror, hit someone in the next room, and then step on them. That's really not fun to you? Were you born wearing a suit and tie?

Re:Played it.

[frozencesium]

While all this is true...it's Duke. I for one expected exactly what the demo showed.

Cutting edge graphics? No...It's Duke.
Juvenile and campy? Yes...again, it's Duke.

Hard core gamers need to break out of their mother's basements and take Duke for what it is...A guilty pleasure with nudity, toilet humor, and an ass kicking good time. It's the leisure suit larry of our generation. For those who expect Duke to push the technical limits or be some revolution in game play, get over yourselves...those are NOT the reasons we play Duke.

Re:Played it.

[Skarecrow77]

Because they can take a joke. You already ranted about the game earlier and obviously never took to its politically incorrect humor because you feel the need to remind us of how you're too mature for it.

Where did you get that from? The part where I suggested truly funny alternatives in B&B, SP, or army of darkness? I love politically incorrect humor. it just has to be, you know, funny. duke interacting with pixelated strippers? not funny. not even really pushing boundaries. It's just like "hey, 13 year olds, wouldn't this be cool?" you wanna push some politically correctness that is actually funny? go watch some reruns of drawn together.

You probably didn't like the Grand Theft Auto games either, or Mortal Kombat, or any other controversial game that walks the edges of social acceptability--something I consider important for entertainment to do or else it becomes stale whitebread.

As a matter of fact, GT1 was an amusing concept but not a particularly good game for more than a few minutes. I never tried GT2 as it looked like more of the same. I played GT3 a bit at a friend's place and thought it was a pretty decent improvement on the concept. Never played vice city or san andreas. I bought GT4 for two different consoles so it's up to you whether I thought it was a quality product or not.

MK 1 wasn't a much of a fighting game in my opinion, relying on "omg real people" and "omg blood" more than being a well balanced yet varied fighter. MK2 was much improvement in this area. MK3 suffered from character bloat, but was still a fairly polished version of the concept.

What I'm trying to say is that a game can't -rely- on being controversial in order to take its stab at being considered a classic. It has to still be a good game. Witness BMXXX. Sure it was a very controversial game, yet it was also a horrible game, so nobody cared.

Re:Played it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Because they can take a joke. You already ranted about the game earlier and obviously never took to its politically incorrect humor because you feel the need to remind us of how you're too mature for it. You probably didn't like the Grand Theft Auto games either, or Mortal Kombat, or any other controversial game that walks the edges of social acceptability--something I consider important for entertainment to do or else it becomes stale whitebread.

What about those of us who enjoyed GTA, MK and similar games, yet still can't stand the redneck-appealing stupidity of Duke Nukem?

That cheap gimmick is fun as hell, the same reason Mario Kart is fun. For crying out loud, there is no other shooter in which you can fire a shrink ray at a mirror, have the projectile reflect off of the mirror, hit someone in the next room, and then step on them. That's really not fun to you? Were you born wearing a suit and tie?

Yeah, Mario Kart is still a hell of fun after all those years. Your second example I couldn't give a shit about. I've never worn a suit and tie, sorry.

Re:Played it.

[Anonymous Coward]

It had oh... gameplay, level design, enemies, weapons, and other design aspects that were well ahead of its time and still not matched in some aspects.

It made Doom look like the old Wolf 3d game and made Quake look overrated.

Re:Played it.

[SuperKendall]

so? I don't know about you, but there's nothing I love more than when I'm about to kill somebody and they use a cheap gimmick on me.

Couldn't escape eh?

You must hate fighting games with reverses then. How dare someone actually alter the internal narrative you had built up! And the fact you never could figure out how to escape when small probably didn't help.

Mind you, that's one of the most rewarding feelings in an FPS...

ever play starsiege: tribes? That's how you make a shooter with jetpacks.

And you can thank Duke for 'em kindly.

no. Go watch some beavis and butthead or early south park for that brand of humor

Neither of which are in the same context, if I wanted something mindless instead of interactive I'd go watch paint dry. I like South Park but Bevis & Butthead never did much for me.

Duke was an amazing game not because of the toilet humor or any one unique weapon... it was amazing because of the endless variety of play, of ways you could be killed or have fortunes reversed at a moments notice because of some diabolical plan. In fact, I dare to say that anyone who didn't enjoy the game lacked the imagination to come up with said diabolical plans, and therefore the inherent subtly of Duke was lost on you.

To this day, Duke 3D is by far still the most fun I ever had in a multi-player game, matched only by Carmageddon (which happy days, is also making a come back soon).

Re:Played it.

[BloodAngel_Au]

Seconded man *high fives*

Re:Played it.

[shutdown -p now]

Cutting edge graphics? No...It's Duke.

Actually, when Duke 3D just came out, it had cutting edge graphics, and, generally speaking, quite advanced engine. Sure, it was sprite-based, but Quake was still half a year away, and existing "real 3D" games either looked like crap (Ultima Underworld) or deliberately used the environment where low-poly count was not noticeable (Descent). Meanwhile, Duke had mirrors, and plenty of interactivity on the maps themselves.

Re:Played it.

[Anonymous Coward]

How about System Shock ? (not its overhyped and frankly crap sequel) it had true 3D (save the sprites), atmosphere and it didn't look crap as you say about Ultima Underworld.

Re:Played it.

[WuphonsReach]

I like South Park but Bevis & Butthead never did much for me.

B&B struck me as something that I'd probably only find funny while baked out of my head, on an acid trip, or after a lobotomy. Or maybe really really drunk.

SP, while often offensive, was generally more of a thinking comedy. It wasn't just a series of T&A or fart jokes. Between the cultural references, the double meanings, and attempting to address social issues in whacked out ways. If they targeted something that was personal to you, you had to stop and ask yourself why you were specifically offended.

Re:Played it.

[WuphonsReach]

GTA3:SA takes a lot of what was in GTA3, improves it, expands upon the concept, and then blows the doors out. There's a lot more sandbox play in San Andreas then there was in the original GTA.

I played GTA3:SA a year or two ago, and finally played GTA3 this year. GTA3 was only so-so in comparison to San Andreas. (And I hope to get a chance to play GTA3:VC next month if I have time. That is rumored to be pretty good.)

GTA4, in comparison, went for the "realistic" side and isn't as fun as the GTA3 series was.

Re:Played it.

[Killjoy_NL]

The psychic monkeys from System Shock 2 still freak me out :(

Re:Played it.

[ElKry]

Sometimes, when it's quiet, I can still hear the monkeys.

Re:Played it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Cutting edge graphics? No...It's Duke.

Actually, when Duke 3D just came out, it had cutting edge graphics, and, generally speaking, quite advanced engine. Sure, it was sprite-based, but Quake was still half a year away, and existing "real 3D" games either looked like crap (Ultima Underworld) or deliberately used the environment where low-poly count was not noticeable (Descent). Meanwhile, Duke had mirrors, and plenty of interactivity on the maps themselves.

Agreed, it looked quite good at the time, and honestly better than Quake, which was a dull brown world of non-specific architecture. Whereas Duke 3d let you play in a real city, with stores and burger joints and shopping malls. There were pinball machines and a (badly!) working pool table. You got to sink a sub, cause an earthquake, all sorts of cool stuff. It just felt like one of the most interactive and "real world" games out there at the time. Maybe some other game was doing this, but if so, I didn't play it.

That was really the hidden awesome of Duke 3d. Not just strippers, but the whole strip club, the whole red light district, all that. It was awesome.

I played the demo, and the gameplay felt wonky to me, and I didn't get that sense of fun and interactivity I still do when playing original Duke. I'll have to play more, though, hoping I'm wrong...

Re:Played it.

[VickiM]

I, for one, generally enjoy GTA games but have zero interest in Duke Nukem, South Park or Beavis and Butthead. GTA isn't my favorite game, but it doesn't make me run from the room like Beavis or that talking poop would. Not liking crude humor doesn't mean a person fears controversy.

Just my opinion; not trying to tell others what to think. By all means, play whatever you want to.

Re:Played it.

[FreeGamer]

Meh, Ultima Underworld did not look like crap. It also used sprites.

Re:Links

[Seumas]

You must not do much gaming, recently. I believe I have actually seen demos that required you to *PAY* for the demos. Demos are no longer just a tool to get people to buy the game. *sigh*

It's what I expected.

[damnbunni]

I've played through the demo on the PC, and it's about what I thought it would be. It's neither amazingly good nor bad gameplay wise; it's typical shooter gameplay with some goofy weapons and a sophmoric sense of humor.

Which is what I expected from a Duke Nukem game.

ive played it

[Anonymous Coward]

to be honest its not much better than doom3. maybe faster since the hardware i have is a radeon 6K and renders pretty fast.

Incredibly Mediocre

[ZackSchil]

The demo is very mediocre. It feels like a fan project that was given some time at a major studio. Which I guess is kind of what it is. The production values are uneven, the graphics are uneven, and the pacing is odd. The flow of the environments in the demo were not up to modern standards. The AI is rudimentary at best, the animations look all funky.

Unless a lot has changed since this demo was put together, I imagine the game will be a very bland, linear FPS with small, barren environments and stale gameplay.

Re:Incredibly Mediocre

[Anonymous Coward]

The production values are uneven, the graphics are uneven, and the pacing is odd.

Uneven ?= Odd

Re:Incredibly Mediocre

[ZackSchil]

Well, pacing in a game is supposed to be a little stop and go, so most action games have uneven pacing by design. The DNF demo had pacing that was more... strange I guess. Odd. It would have strange buildups with no payoff, or big bursts of action out of nowhere.

People can't wait for the release

[Anonymous Coward]

Even Lucifier has become such a fan he's bought a pair ice skates to celebrate the final release with.

Review

[JohnyDog]

Here's a review showing the whole run through PC demo, including intro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6MjzgTZriw

Re:Review

[creat3d]

I stopped watching at Mary and Kate Holsom... I'm sure I would find this all amusing if I was still a child, maybe a teenager. I didn't expect anything else from a Duke Nukem game, I guess I just forgot how worthless it is. The bottom of the barrel humor mixed with shitty gameplay makes this seem just like I imagined it would be: not worth the hype, the price and the development time. Release it already so it can finally be forgotten. Forever.

Re:Review

[bonch]

"Jeeves, I'm way too intelligent and mature for this rubbish. Please remove it so I don't have to sully my pastry fingers with this guttertrash. At once!"

Re:Review

[creat3d]

You're right, I'm a pretentious, stuck-up intellectual for not finding any enjoyment in Duke fucking Nukem.

Re:Review

[WuphonsReach]

Looks decent, if average. At least they shipped something.

I'll probably pick it up off of Steam if it ever goes on sale for say $20 or so.

Re:Review

[thetoadwarrior]

Sounds like they cocked it up a bit with the lack of boot, 2 gun limit and it sounds like it may end up having too many driving sequences. I'll still buy it but certainly not a full price. I'll wait.

Re:Review

[elrous0]

Yes, sir. And may I remind sir that the gentlemen is coming today for sir's weekly rectal bleaching.

Re:Review

[tehcyder]

Yes, sir. And may I remind sir that the gentlemen is coming today for sir's weekly rectal bleaching.

Wow, thanks to you and Goolge I now know that people bleach their arseholes. Doesn't it sting?

One of the worst demos, ever.

[Seumas]

I pre-ordered Duke Nukem Forever quite awhile ago. I hoped for a lot, but didn't expect it. I mostly just wanted to buy a copy so I could play through it and have it on my shelf for purposes of nostalgia. The hope was just that maybe after all that time, Gearbox's intervention to save the title last year might have done some amazing magic on it. After all, they do have a good record and a lot of love for the franchise (Randy Pitchford originally worked on Duke back in the day).

Some of the videos out there promoting the game made it look like a very competent modern shooter. Lots of stuff going on, nice graphics, big destroyed cities with enormous monsters and all that. Pretty much everything you'd expect, in 2011.

The demo? It's like they made it with the intention of making you cancel your pre-order (which I did -- I'll buy it again for the shelf when it's $20 or less).

First, the loading times are awful. They're about 75 seconds and you have to sit through a load screen even if all you did was die.

Second, the framerate is bad. It is sometimes smooth and looks fine, but then it'll suddenly hitch for half a second. And more times than not, you hitch again when you are hit (melee or a bullet) by an enemy. Sometimes it's enough that you'll die before you can respond to what's going on. Or even be knocked off a cliff and die before you can react to being hit.

Third, the graphics. The best of the demo is in the beginning, when it looks competent. Not setting new standards, but not a turn off. Unfortunately, everything after that is flat and fairly simple. The interface is pretty boring and uninspired, too.

Fourth, the audio. Man, the audio is a disappointment. The sounds of the weapons. The repetitive sayings of Duke. The grunt every time he jumps. It sounds like they haven't recorded anything new since 1999.

Fifth, it is SHORT. And BORING. Like I said above, the videos make it look like you'll be engaged in these huge fights with massive monsters in big bustling destroyed cities with all sorts of things going on in the sky and the background. But what was the demo? The following is the demo:

The game opens on you pissing in a urinal (press RT to piss). Then you leave the urinal and find you're in a locker room at a stadium. You go out to the playing field and fight a giant monster. After killing him, the camera pulls out and you find out that you are actually Duke playing Duke in one of Duke's games on a console. Two chicks are blowing you and sit back to converse with you. Then, you're in a shitty looking 4x4 driving through a bland canyon dodging rocks for about 90 seconds. Then you shoot your way through a bland canyon for about two minutes, until you reach a cave that you walk around fir about two minutes to find some gas for your truck. You fight a ship by shooting it about 20 times with a weapon handily placed nearby. Then you run back to your truck and fill it up with the gas that you found. Then the demo is over.

Re:One of the worst demos, ever.

[Retron]

First, the loading times are awful. They're about 75 seconds and you have to sit through a load screen even if all you did was die.

Takes less than 10 seconds on a decent PC. 75 seconds? Ouch!
That said, I wish the demo had been longer. An hour's play (out of the 16 to 18 that the full game offers) would have made for a better experience I feel.

Re:One of the worst demos, ever.

[PixelJaded]

First, the loading times are awful. They're about 75 seconds and you have to sit through a load screen even if all you did was die.

OK, I understand its cool to bag the game on here before anyone's played the full thing. But seriously, the LOADING TIMES were a problem??? Did you pre-order your computer in 1998? My LAPTOP never took more than 7 seconds to load anything, and I timed my desktop at 4 seconds off the old spinning disk (never thought to try the SSD because it was so fast anyway). The loading times were similar to Borderlands (a 2007 game) on both machines. Seriously if your computer is too slow to run 2007 games please don't bother posting your experience of a 2011 game.

Similarly with the frame-rate. My 1 year old laptop was fairly consistent ~30fps throughout the demo at 1920x1080 high detail (Radeon 5730m) and that gfx card is less than half the performance of a low end $100 desktop card (1/3 the performance of a desktop Radeon 5770 for example). Even my 4 year old laptop can run the game smoothly at 1024x768.

Honestly my only gripe with the demo was the lack of enemies and how ridiculously easy it was on hard. To be fair though, this is probably the very start of the game and I'm hoping it gets better later. I for one will not be cancelling my pre-order.

Re:One of the worst demos, ever.

[Seumas]

It was the console version, which is what most of the sales will be on, hence the version I registered for a demo code for.

Re:One of the worst demos, ever.

[Seumas]

Yeah, in my PC, it probably would have been instantaneous as their porting to consoles seems to be an obscene fucking failure. Dragon Age II and Witcher 2 have around five second load times, primarily thanks to the SSD. Of course, most people are going to buy this on the console, so that's the impression that they'll get. And, really, I use my PC for strategy, RTS, and MMO and console for everything else. I'm too old to spend all of my free time hunched over a desk in front of giant monitors and a keyboard anymore. :/

Re:One of the worst demos, ever.

[PixelJaded]

It was the console version, which is what most of the sales will be on, hence the version I registered for a demo code for.

I stand by my statement, if your old Microsoft / Sony locked down PC is too slow to run 2007 games at a decent resolution, then its not appropriate to comment on Duke without a disclaimer that you used some terribly out of date hardware. Nobody posted comments about the choppiness if Duke3D on the Genesis and blamed it on the game itself.

I very much doubt most of the sales will be on the consoles because they are out of date now. Your typical office PC now is more powerful than an xbox360 / PS3. I own a PS3 and Wii personally and the last game I bought for either of them was Donkey Kong Country Returns which I only play in the Dolphin emulator on a PC because it looks so much better at Full HD with AA. The game looks awful on the real Wii, but its one of the best looking platformers of the PS3 / xbox360 generation as long as you run it on some modern hardware befitting of the game's 2010 release date.

Re:One of the worst demos, ever.

[Anonymous Coward]

If a game is coded for a console, then all consoles are the same. An XBox 360 is an Xbox 360, no matter where you are. If the developers weren't able to make it any better than that, it's their fault. The target system IS A CONSTANT SETUP AND DOES NOT CHANGE, they're idiots for not being able to tune down the game so that it would run correctly.

Re:One of the worst demos, ever.

[Dainsanefh]

It is your fault not to install DNF on a SSD. Takes me 7 seconds to load.

Re:One of the worst demos, ever.

[Anonymous Coward]

No thanks. Enough PC games have had to be held back both graphics and gameplay wise due to development considerations for those underpowered console systems. Duke Nukem games were PC games first and foremost, so get over it.

Re:One of the worst demos, ever.

[Seumas]

Yes, I'll get right on the SSD XBOX modification, stat.

Of course, the PC version still has horrible framerate drops with DNF.

Re:One of the worst demos, ever.

[tehcyder]

The game opens on you pissing in a urinal (press RT to piss). Then you leave the urinal and find you're in a locker room at a stadium. You go out to the playing field and fight a giant monster. After killing him, the camera pulls out and you find out that you are actually Duke playing Duke in one of Duke's games on a console. Two chicks are blowing you and sit back to converse with you. Then, you're in a shitty looking 4x4 driving through a bland canyon dodging rocks for about 90 seconds. Then you shoot your way through a bland canyon for about two minutes, until you reach a cave that you walk around fir about two minutes to find some gas for your truck. You fight a ship by shooting it about 20 times with a weapon handily placed nearby. Then you run back to your truck and fill it up with the gas that you found. Then the demo is over.

I think that is enough for a solid 9.5/10 without even seeing the game.

Re:Main focus of the game developers

[Anonymous Coward]

Awesome!

Re:Links

[CTU]

Not true, I did not pre-order DNF, but I got access because I bought borderlands on steam.

I thought

[mooseronovich]

it was getting a little chillier down here. Osama Bin Laden

Re:Links

[Kitkoan]

Its not just to pre-orders. Its also for people who bought Borderlands Game of the Year edition. I haven't pre-ordered Duke Nukem but since I did buy Borderlands Game of the Year edition I do have access to the demo. Oddly, its only available on Steam, they give you a Steam code to activate, no other options.

Make a Wii version

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't have an xbox or ps3. Should port this to the wii.

Re:Make a Wii version

[tehcyder]

I don't have an xbox or ps3. Should port this to the wii.

Oh, just fuck off.

Can you say... project research?

[Lead Butthead]

... developers spend more time on textures of naked women than on anything else.

And I am sure the expense reports submitted to the accounting against the development budget thoroughly demonstrated that R&D staffs spared no expense in researching this particular subject in great detail.

Re:Links

[node 3]

Who the hell only releases demo's to pre orders, maybe if they let me play the game I might pre order it but I'm not going to pre order so I can play the freaking demo. Honestly what marketing idiot thought that up. Anyone got a torrent for the demo?

Pre-ordering gives you early access to the demo. I'm sure it will be generally available after launch.

Also, limiting the demo to pre-orders means people who pre-ordered can begin to play the game before everyone else, providing additional value in pre-ordering.

Not at all surprising

[Sycraft-fu]

I mean there is no way the game would be "worth the wait" or "live up to the hype" because there is nothing useful you can do in 12 years of development. Also this is, of course, a different developer's version who's job was to salvage whatever crap was there and get something on the market.

I cannot see it being anymore than a normal shooter. Nothing wrong with that. The only reason people would diss it for that is the stigma of the lengthy cycle and all the hype from 3DR and their fans.

Anyone expecting anything amazing is pretty much an idiot. However I would expect it to be reasonable, they never would have bothered to fund another developer to do it if they didn't think they could get a profitable product out of it.

Vector W2

[Anonymous Coward]

I 'm going to jump in my Vector W2 car and get a copy

Dodged a bullet

[anomaly256]

Damn. So glad I didn't pay for a pre-order. I wouldn't even take this game if they offered it for free. A man can only take so many puns-per-minute and the video someone posted of walking through the demo makes me want to vomit from exposure to excessive lame.

Re:Dodged a bullet

[creat3d]

Surely, you must be a snob that can't take a joke! Apparently not liking Duke Nukem means you can't stand politically incorrect humor... I'm not sure what's "politically incorrect" about titties and crude humor in today's society, but it seems you either get it (ie. "get" the piss and cock jokes) or you don't.

Re:Dodged a bullet

[anomaly256]

I love politically incorrect humor. That's not what this is. This is pre-school fart jokes made adult's only so that neither preschoolers nor adults can enjoy them, wrapped up with long over-used stereotypes and misogyny. I'd only accept the artistic merit.. or ANY merit for that matter.. of this game if it proclaimed to be /it's own/ piss-take. That is, an intentional mockery of what Duke3d was originally instead of the actual intention of being a direct successor to it.

Re:Dodged a bullet

[creat3d]

Nah, you just don't "get it". More evolved adults can have a healthy laugh at... Duke getting blown by the Olsen twins... or phallus shaped easter eggs... and... pissing, IN A VIDEO GAME! Edgy as fuck!

Re:Dodged a bullet

[creat3d]

Seriously though, I'm not familiar with Gearbox but if all their games are of this quality...

Re:Dodged a bullet

[anomaly256]

I don't know how much Gearbox changed the content and dialog when they obtained this game. Maybe they're not to blame for it. I suppose they can be blamed for /not/ changing it though if that is the case ;)

Call of Dukey: Combat Evolved

[Anonymous Coward]

Gee, thanks for making me wait 13 years for console bullcrap.

Re:Call of Dukey: Combat Evolved

[Truekaiser]

I have to say i agree with you. other then the name, shape, of the monsters etc. it looks like it plays like halo or similar..

Re:Links

[rhook]

They'll be releasing the demo to everyone at launch. The pre-orders just get it first.

Re:Main focus of the game developers

[edxwelch]

> The demo left me with the feeling that the developers spend more time on textures of naked women than on anything else.
Time well spent, in other words

TV Commercial

[bradgoodman]

Just saw a TV commercial for it while watching South Park!

But I still won't believe it until it's in my hands!

Demo for those that paid ?

[meerling]

So basically, if you've already paid (preordered) your copy, you get a demo, something that's used to promote the game and entice you to buy it.
That's kind of like the drunk asking the bar owner if he'd like a drink...

Re:Links

[bonch]

Total Biscuit's playthrough of the demo made it look fun, with a few complaints. The graphics looked pretty good, too, much better than the naysayers in these comments were suggesting.

Re:Links

[bluemonq]

Early demo = early multiplayer. Valve effectively did the same for Left 4 Dead, allowing play on one map.

Re:they don't want the sever to blow up taking the

[bluemonq]

Option C: Pre-order folks who love multiplayer can get their game on earlier.

Demos and Endless game patches.

[Anonymous Coward]

Obviously it's the legacy of Apogee Software coupled with developers that like an Alpha platform-mentality that resolves to a COMPLETE boxed retail product that stands on it's own without updates to gameplay or code stability. They are all guilty of this: 3D Realms, ID Softare, Blizzard, Gearbox, Interplay, and even Maxis or Bioware if you will, because they can't leave the gameplay alone without the code patches.

It wouldn't doubt me if they all browsed in /r9k/ or even followed the move to 4Chon /r9k1/.

I think is sequel to Halloween Harry, Blake Stone, or even XEvil would be more worth the wait.

Duke Nukem was nothing but trash-talk added to Roudy Roddy Piper of THEY LIVE and WWF fame, and it never sat well with me that 3DRealms or even GT Interactive would ever allow anyone to ruin such awesome moral dialogue by ripping everyone off into a white man that behaves like he was raised in Compton LOS ANGELES or Brooklyn NEW YORK.

Love it or hate it, this is truly a sad day and a happy day in the record books of gaming because no progress was made and everyone is happy to waste their time on another edition of this next vile FIRST Person Shhhhitttter.

Re:Main focus of the game developers

[Anonymous Coward]

Sold! It's Duke Nukem, man.

BRAINFART Froodian Slip.

[Anonymous Coward]

baw

with developers that like*lack an Alpha platform-mentality

/baw

Zigmund Frood may have twisted that one away from the Printingpress Flames of victoly, but I have PATCHED it like a true software deveroper.

TITS follows http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaONQAJAQs8

Having finished the demo...

[Kitkoan]

I can say this: Duke might not come early but he finishes quick...

Re:Having finished the demo...

[creat3d]

Whatever, I just hope you get sent to a grammar labor camp.

Possibly the old PAX demo

[Anonymous Coward]

After looking around the dnf forums for a bit, the general consensus there is that this is the old PAX demo.

Re:Possibly the old PAX demo

[rhook]

That's what it looks like to me too, people need to remember that the game wasn't complete when the demo was made.

Re:Links

[2fuf]

Are there really people who *preordered* DNF??? With inflation that should give them a pretty neat deal, if it's released...

And in other news...

[hoboroadie]

After I finished LMAO, I realized that Hell had, in fact, frozen over.

Doesn't really feel like a Duke game to me.

[flimflammer]

No Mighty Boot (plain weapon melee), 2 weapon equip limit, (realistically) very inaccurate weapons unless you aim down the sight.

I wasn't expecting a miracle with this game, and to be quite honest I expected it to be a let down, but I'm downright puzzled that they took the tried and true gameplay of the old Duke games and threw it away in favor of the modern like-every-other-game fare we have now. It really feels a lot more like Call of Duty: Halo than Duke Nukem in terms of gameplay. It might look like Duke but it certainly doesn't feel like it.

Re:Links

[JWSmythe]

    You know, I half-way considered it, but ... I'm fairly confident that they're really on track to release as promised. Despite that, I'm not confident enough to lay down even a few bucks. A playable demo *may* make me want to part with my hard earned dollars. An excellent demo experience would make that even more likely.

    But, as someone not willing to part with $45 to be one of the first people to find out if it sucks or not.

But... but...

[Cant use a slash wtf]

But I already waited an hour and a half in line at Supanova to play the demo.

Hail to the king baby!

[mojos]

Totally worth every penny. I have been looking forward to this forever and I just finished the demo and loved it. Ya not the best looking game ever but i love the Duke Nukem humor and im really happy i finally got to play even the demo. Thank you for finishing the game and giving the world Duke. Hail to the king baby and in two weeks, come get some!

Agreed; it's a port...

[Grog6]

Everyone writes games for the xbox these days, so it sucks on pc.

The two weapons thing is ridiculous; that was one of the games strong points.

Reality based games need these things; IRL you can't carry a rocket launcher, 20 rounds of ammo, 4 other guns, each with ammo...

Duke never tried to be real, it was completely over the top from the start.

I bought the borderlands goty edition, to get the demo early(last year, lol), then the delay, and the rest...

Man do I feel ripped off; $50 for a 20 minute ride... Local hookers aren't that much. :)

Hopefully, the game will come thru the poor port. (rofl)

The demo is very clunky with a keyboard; I bet it plays great with a xbox or ps2 controller, tho.

Re:Agreed; it's a port...

[Kitkoan]

Yeah, just another console port. If the clunky controls don't show it, its having to turn the auto-aim off in the options menu show it.

Re:Agreed; it's a port...

[Retron]

Having limited weapons in a "fun" shooter is nothing new - Rise of the Triad (another Apogee game, a year before Duke3D) had the same system.

Re:Agreed; it's a port...

[Anonymous Coward]

The auto aim is only for 360 gamepads

Re:Agreed; it's a port...

[The Archon V2.0]

Duke never tried to be real, it was completely over the top from the start.

Reminds me of Yahtzee's rant on Doom being "so unrealistic" in his Bulletstorm review.

Yeah, pretty much.

[Grog6]

nt.

nt?

[creat3d]

You could've at least added a dick joke or something...

Re:nt?

[Killjoy_NL]

If you don't have one, why should he make a joke about it?
that would just be cruel

Re:nt?

[Anonymous Coward]

To be perfectly serious, I suspect he didn't out of respect for the one already beaten and lying down. Kicking someone in the face in that state is just not ok. You should be grateful.

Re:nt?

[creat3d]

You forgot to log in, bonch.

Fun!

[Retron]

The demo was fun but by gum it was short - an interactive intro (as seen in the various trailers) and a single level littered with weapons and scripted set-pieces. It's a far cry from Duke Nukem 3D, which gave a third of the game away as its demo. Games such as Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and Quake also gave a third away, but of course it's not the mid 90s any more and the old rules no longer seem to apply.

The game is unmistakably Duke Nukem, however and yes - it keeps a health bar unlike some of the more modern FPS games. Unfortunately it's succumbed to the easy mode "automatically heal if not being hit" thing, the days of frantically running down a corridor with 3% health trying to find a medkit while avoiding monsters are in the past...

I'm looking forward to next week now. The demo was like getting a single chocolate from a box box!

Re:Fun!

[kalirion]

It's a far cry from Duke Nukem 3D, which gave a third of the game away as its demo. Games such as Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and Quake also gave a third away, but of course it's not the mid 90s any more and the old rules no longer seem to apply.

Yeah, the Shareware episode model is dead, long live Demos.

Though to be fair, every single game you mentioned had a direct sequel which had demo levels instead of shareware episode. Doom 2, Spear of Destiny, Quake 2. Also Hexen as a sequel to Heretic.

Re:Fun!

[tehcyder]

the days of frantically running down a corridor with 3% health trying to find a medkit while avoiding monsters are in the past...

good

The kids of today should protect themselves,

[brainproxy]

against the 90s. Its not reality. Just someone else's sentimentality. It won't work for you.

What is it

[ledow]

What is it with this modern fad of having to join some exclusive, pay-for, preorder list for something that you have NO idea what it will play like, before you get to see (for example) a bloody demo!

The point of a demo is that people can see what they're buying BEFORE they lay down money and to generate hype. Why do people lay down money to join these elitest little clubs in order to get access to stuff they should already have been given? Does it make you feel big and clever that you can throw money away on something that you don't know what it is?

It seriously sounds like some Scientology-style club - "Hey! Pay me some money and in a few years, I'll let you into a secret before everyone else! The more you pay, the more secrets I'll tell you!"

Now that's off my chest - I really don't care. The most-hyped game in the world isn't out yet and I *still* can't even play a demo. I enjoyed the first Duke3D (though it was the only 3D game I've ever played that induced motion sickness in myself), when I was about 17, and while games still took themselves a bit too seriously. I saw nothing there that, brought forward onto a new engine, would actually be new or original or quirky when this game comes out (and now I'm 32!).

How about this, people - instead of hyping up a game, for free, on someone else's behalf, at zero benefit to yourself, just wait a couple of weeks and see what the damn game is actually LIKE. Then, if it's good, you can buy it. If it's not, you can let it rot in the annals of gaming history with all the other over-hyped crap (Daikatana.... I still have NEVER played that game, even for a minute).

Re:What is it

[asdf7890]

What is it with this modern fad of having to join some exclusive, pay-for, preorder list for something that you have NO idea what it will play like, before you get to see (for example) a bloody demo!

This, and the comments from people who have played the demo thus far, makes my decision final. Rather than saving 20% by pre-ordering via Steam's offer, I'm going to wait it out and see what happens when the real reviews come in. Then, only if it doesn't turn out to be awful, I'll wait six months and buy it for 50% or less of the release day price. Heck, HMV had DeadSapce 2 for PC at a little less than half price no more than three months after release.

Also regarding pre-order offers (and DLC, another often irritating facet of modern games), this is relevant: the sad state of modern gaming.

Re:Main focus of the game developers

[chrismcb]

Its funny, from the trailer I was thinking how realistic everything BUT the naked women looked.

Eh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Demo available only for preorders and other promotions (for now)?

It's like shitting on all these people (for now) who have waited for the next Duke Nukem for 14 years...

Great

[Anonymous Coward]

Another game limited to systems made by the big two screw-up companies: Microsoft and Sony. Fook Yu Duke!

Re:Links

[Killjoy_NL]

I checked a few, nothing online yet.
Is it illegal to download a demo? :D

Re:Links

[mattack2]

Are there really people who *preordered* DNF??? With inflation that should give them a pretty neat deal, if it's released...

This was a Slashdot story too IIRC. This is the first hit from googling "duke nukem forever preorder receipt"

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/05/still-got-your-duke-nukem-receipt-from-1997/

Re:Links

[jimmydevice]

Much like the late night TV ads where you can try a product ( usually exercise equipment ) for only $19.95. Of course, if you keep it, expect your credit card to rack up some large charges.

Public Demo?

[antdude]

Is there one to download or do we have to pirate it? :P

Duke demo under Wine

[jdb2]

I've tried to run the game under wine 1.3.21. It installs perfectly ( as does Steam ) but crashes when you click "PLAY".

This might not be entirely Wine related though as a lot of other people ( see the Gearbox forums ) have been getting crashes upon start-up that look almost exactly like the one I'm getting under wine and furthermore the demo is *extremely* buggy.

See the wine AppDB page for it :

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=23644

jdb2

Re:Duke demo under Wine

[tehcyder]

I've tried to run the game under wine 1.3.21. It installs perfectly ( as does Steam ) but crashes when you click "PLAY".

The operation was a complete success, unfortunately the patient died.

Please confirm

[Anonymous Coward]

Is the date 1st April?

Re:Links

[creat3d]

It's all over the place, really. Just have to find one that's legit (good luck I guess).

The idea behind the demo

[neolithicau87]

...Was clearly to give the pre-order players the validation they need. That the game exists, and that they are among the first to play SOME incarnation of the title.

I can't wait for Friday. Fuck the naysayers.

Re:Links

[Killjoy_NL]

Thx for the advice, I watched the online review of the demo.
I'll wait for the game now :)

Re:Links

[Thing 1]

I don't want "early value" for being separated with my cash, thanks.

Re:Links

[jwilcox154]

Thank you for the correction as I did not know about purchasing other games on steam.

Re:Links

[brkello]

It's a perk for those who pre-order. I am sure after it is released they will let the general public at it. I don't see the big problem.

Israel, we bless thee

[Dainsanefh]

Today, while driving through town, I wound up behind a minivan that had a big sticker on the back. The sticker had an Israeli flag in the middle of it, and under it the quotation from the book of Genesis that reads “I will bless those who bless thee.”

I would like to take this time to list my own reasons for thanking and blessing Israel, our lone ally in the Middle East, for everything she has done for us, since I am quite sure most Americans are unaware of just what kind of friend she has been to us.

For extorting from me and my fellow Americans $4,000,000,000.00 a year for the last 4 decades, we bless thee.

For taking our most sophisticated weapons technology and stealing it for yourself without paying the American patent holders, we bless thee.

For taking that high-tech military technology and selling it to our enemies, such as the Russians and Chinese, thus further endangering us, we bless thee.

For using that weaponry in a sustained attack against a United States ship, the USS Liberty, in an attempt to sink her, thus preventing US servicemen from revealing to the rest of the world information concerning the war crimes they witnessed you commit against Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai Desert during the Six Day War, as well as for the purposes of dragging the US into yet another one of your murderous adventures, we bless thee.

For killing 35 and wounding 170 American sailors aboard the USS Liberty, we bless thee.

For bribing the United States government into covering it up, preventing any justice from being done for the benefit of the families of the lost sailors – as well as the American People, we bless thee.

For sending your agents into Egypt and blowing up American buildings for the purpose of blaming the Arabs in an event known as the Lavon Affair, we bless thee.

For sending your agents into Libya during the Reagan administration, and broadcasting radio messages in Arabic that were designed to sound like “terrorist cell planning” so that the US would initiate military strikes against Khadafi in an event known as Operation Trojan Horse, we bless thee.

For withholding information from us concerning the planned attacks against the US Marine barracks in Lebanon, attacks you knew about through your moles in the Islamic world and about which you deliberately refused to warn us in order to further your interests against the Arabs, we bless thee.

For employing Jonathon Pollard, an American serviceman paid to spy for Israel in order to steal even more of our National Security secrets for your parasitic purposes, we bless thee.

For blackmailing President Clinton through one of your sayanim, Monica Lewinsky, in order to prevent a coherent peace program from being pushed forward between yourself and the Palestinian people whom you have brutalized and murdered for the last 50 years, we bless thee.

For breaking every agreement you have made with your Arab neighbors, stealing their land, displacing, murdering, and treating them like the animals you see them as, we bless thee.

For using your agents within the first Bush administration to involve us in the first Gulf War, causing the deaths of American men and women, and exposing our servicemen to whatever bioweapons were and are responsible which have led to Gulf War Syndrome, we bless thee.

For your role in the September 11 attacks in this country, and for blackmailing and bribing the US government into deporting back to Israel the 100 or more intelligence agents that were arrested after the attacks, we bless thee.

For suppressing the information from the American people of your involvement in the September 11 attacks and sending us in the wrong direction in search of answers, we bless thee.

For using one of your agents in the US Army Weapons Lab to steal anthrax and distribute it into our mail system, terrorizing US citizens and killing several in order to blame the Arabs, we bless thee.

For using your agents in the US Government, namely, R

Re:Israel, we bless thee

[tehcyder]

I think you forgot to blame Israel for JFK's assassination, although obviously I didn't read every single word.