Duke Nukem Forever Hands-on Preview

LOL guys when they say "2 weapon system" they mean "2 weapon system". They're trying to be safe and go the Halo route so plenty of bros can buy the game and give virtual dollars to virtual hookers.

I've gotta say, I'm pretty disappointed with this preview. I always held on hope that the sequel would live up to the original, but it seems almost like another unfinished game being shoved out the door. I have no doubt that Gearbox are very talented developers and whatnot, but the two weapons thing, the evident lack of polish, the regenerating health and whatnot, do not feel in line with the Duke Nukem subgenre as I know it.

I have to say, the two gun limit addresses one of my long-standing gripes about shooters. Simply put, most games are built on an underlying set of rules, call them laws of reality, physical limitations, whatever. Most good games adhere by and large to these rules.

An example of a violation of this rule or law is the space taken by weapons. A player can have 10 different weapons and 10 diffrent kinds of ammo in his pocket and never misses a step.

I've heard the arguments about this before, about how it's just a game and it isn't reality. About how people play games to escape reality and don't want to be limited by it and so forth. I find it interesting that it took the controller compromise to finally address this issue, for an AAA title no less, and shifted the difficulty imbalance it created to the strategic placement of varied weapons throught the game instead of having the player become a walking armory. The laws of physics in gaming are there and to ignore them is silly. Maintaining a suspension of disbelief to explain how the laws get bent is the job of the developers.

A great example of adhering to the laws of reality is encumberance. 1500 bullets or 25 missiles still consume space and have weight. When a player is damages, his vision can become obscured and movement can become erratic. That's reality. When a player is realistically damaged by a fictional weapon that has no mass, no weight, and never breaks, that's a violation of those rules. A good excample in the leap forward in the depiction of what can be done with the physical laws of reality were the 13 "Gore Zones" (I believe it was via their GHOUL rendering solution) in Raven's Soldier of Fortune franchise, where individual body parts could be targeted and sustain damage. Unfortunately, Raven broke another law by limiting the player with a mission weapon loadout - that became irrelevant because the player could pick up additional weapons during the mission.

Destructable environments are another area addresses the modeling of reality. Volition's Red Faction franchise tackled that subject in what could arguably be the most aggressive example of destructable environments thus far using their Geo-Mod engine, which is in continued development and use. More and more we are seeing games where the player faces the correct implementaion of these physical laws. Weapons need to be repaired, ammo now takes up weight. Things break. Inventories are more restricteed. The player is limited (or liberated) in realistic and believable ways.

Developers have said the state of games has matured and I am glad for that. Games may very well take place in fictional, other world settings, but the player is still bound to those basic underlying laws. Its the job of the developer to tie the player to that world in a believable way and still remain faithful to the physical laws of reality that they include in the game. Even if it was the result of a standarized controller compromise.

Gotta say, I've been looking forward to DNF for a looooong time. What other game gives you the freedom to ridiculously crazy (and fun) stuff w/o taking itself too seriously?

Duke Nukem Forever is too good to be relying on 3rd party software.

I'll definitely check it out. I loved the fuck out of the original. ten.net and DN3D FTW!

Makes me think what the wifes of 3DRealms employees going to for them when DNF releases :D

You say "the engine looks dated"; I hear "the game might run on my current PC"

I have never liked this 2 weapon at a time bullshit. There is no reason to have it unless you are going for a realistic shooter, and I haven't seen one of those since Rainbow 6. Who the fuck decided this was ever a good idea?

Can we expect the same awesome controls that Gearbox did for Borderland's on the PC ? If so FUCK YEAH !

So take out the hype and its a game that should have come out 2 years ago....
Improved graphics and a new engine in todays financial climate aren't going happen.

So another words its a dud, a nostalgic dud, but a dud and can we should all move along to
COD of medal of honor, that have up to date graphics and engines and perhaps justified media hype.

Leave Duke to the bargin bins where it sounds as if it belongs

Truth about Gearbox / DNF PC VERSION :

http://talkinrealatyou.blogspot.com/2010/09/dnf-wtf-wake-freak.html
http://talkinrealatyou.blogspot.com/2010/09/ride-continues.html

Randy Pitchford seemd quite weird right from the start with his unnecessary selfish swearing attitude


QUOTE from one of the links::::
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Ride Continues!!

Ok, I think everyone and their parents NOW know that Duke is not dead and is very much alive. If you didn't know,...well... Duke is not dead and is very much alive. You have now been informed.

Ok, so before I start this, I'd like to say this. Duke Nukem Forever is alive and well BECAUSE of what the EX-3dr Soldiers of "Triptych Games" did. Ok, just in case you didn't hear me. ...HEAR THIS,.... a hand ful of guys that were on the team when internal development shut down at 3dr, took the game and finish it (PC version). These are the guys that truly made DNF happen. Triptych Games. (had to say it again for the search engines out there). That is the level of dedication I was talking about earlier. Just when I thought people would start to understand that the DNF team was the truth. Straight up true heroic shit.., I see this ... (insert screeching tire sound)

(www.gamasutra.com)

"After 3D Realms shut down last year, the game seemed doomed, but Gearbox quietly picked up the slack in late 2009, according to the report. "Clearly the game hadn’t been finished at 3D Realms but a lot of content had been created,” said Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford in comments to the WSJ.

"The approach and investment and process at 3D Realms didn’t quite make it and it cracked at the end. With Gearbox Software we brought all those pieces together," he added. "It’s the game it was meant to be." The game is debuting today -- in playable form, no less -- at the Penny Arcade Expo consumer game convention in Seattle, WA."

...ok, WHAT?....um Double-U Tee Eff?

Really, is that the deal? Ok, now, you read that statement. I'd like to know what you think that means. Because I could be reading into this, being the emotional beotch that I am. This says to me that Gearbox took a steaming sack-o-crap and made a diamond out of it. Additionally, it reads to me that we (3dr) had no clue how to finish or complete the game.

Let me break this down for you. 85% of the work you see coming out of PAX is from our group at 3dr. 10% Triptych (the last 10% is the hardest ask any game developer) Which leaves 5% for the guys at Gearbox (with help from Triptych). To be perfectly honest, that Gearbox percentage could be plus or minus a few points. Bottomline, DNF was damn near completion if not completed when Gearbox got it (PC version). I'm not trying to discount anyones efforts as I have nothing to gain at this point. I just want to the truth out there in some form or fashion.

So heres the truth... Gearbox was handed a game that was pretty close to finish (pc version), polished it, ported it to the Ps3 and x360 then goes to PAX and says crap like that.

In my honest opinion, Randy could have made his company look just as good, if not better, if he would have told the true story of how the game was completed. The true story alone is worth the price of admission. I've seen movies made from less. http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/07/01/universal-to-make-asteroids-movie/ <--exactly

In summary

* 3dr made a great game, couldn't finish it due to lack of funding
* x3dr guys formed Triptych to finish DNF
* finished the pc version
* Gearbox helped polish the PC, ported to ps3 and 360
* Randy P goes to PAX and tells the world GearBox saved the worlds most delayed game from extinction
* T.Ray Talks real at ya' and tells the world the truth from where he sits,

....and the saga cntinues

Who remembers all the posts from Cultureshock on the 3dr forums back in the days biting 3dr in the ass, I am wondering what he is thinking now.

George, before it got to this point, had you ever consider releasing DNF in an episodic format?

I dont care dated graphics or not ,after all theese years of wait its finally coming out ,and this game never was any crysis wannabe clone anyways but fun action gameplay.

People can say what they like about 3d Realms and George Broussard, but this would NOT have been possible without their hard labor, dedication, and brilliant vision. Kudos to 3DR and George, and thank-you for a wonderful game.

Should I be expecting something like Press X to shoot in the Pc version version?

Someone will make a mod to make up for the 2 weapon problem. Just like they made a flashlight mod for Doom 3!

I find it disconcerting that people are complaining about the two weapon system...

Would you prefer the no weapon, no gameplay, no game at all version from the last 13 years?

"Engine looks dated": I'm glad, this means it's not a retarded Crysis like game that requires a PC of less than a year old to even run.

Duke was about fun not the highest end graphics, a tad outdated graphics means it'll run on my PC (I hope). If not, I might buy an XBox for this (which I was thinking about anyway). Duke3D wasn't the most spectacular back then, Quake was, but Quake was boring and Duke was fun.

George, unfortunately I can't complement you on the development process, but I'm sure glad there's finally a light at the end of the tunnel and I can't wait to try the game.

Even though everyone else has said it a million times, also registering my disgust at the two-weapon bullshit. There is absolutely, literally no reason for it. Console gamers can deal with an inventory, and have done so before (Resident Evil, Bioshock, Metal Gear, Dead Space, etc etc) and realism doesn't mean a shit in Dukes universe.

Let us have our gigantic armory of weapons, and if you can't do that, at LEAST let us hold more thank fucking two weapons. Two is the absolute bare minimum of weapons you could deal with in a level, one for short and one for long range. That means I'll never pick up a more interesting weapon because either a) There isn't enough ammunition around or b) It isn't as general as the standard rifle-and-shotgun combo. At least let us go with 4 for fucks sake, that way I can keep the requisite heavy munitions and a sniping weapon.

I really hope Gearbox wise up about this, because even though I've been waiting (Patiently!) for almost 13 years for this game, this may actually be enough to put me off buying it. They're going to piss off the older, die-hard crowd to satiate a younger generation that'll probably blow the game off for being antiquated anyway.

Yawn. Am I really the only person on earth that doesn't give a damn about this game? The first (3D) was decent, but over-rated. The engine and the humor were the strongest points. The engine was a selling point only until I finally had a machine that could run Quake. The humor... well, I was a teenage boy at the time so I don't hold it against myself.

Frankly, it was more interesting as perpetual vapor-ware.

I was sort of hoping that DNF would be a visit back to the older FPS style. Some feel that game design has progressed past it, but I disagree. I really miss have tons of unique and wacky weapons to use along with searching for secret areas and getting crazy power-ups. It's what made games feel like games. Rather making a "game" it seems like many developers head towards the simulation route where more realistic is better.

And don't give me this "consolized" argument. Warhawk is a recent console game that is an absolute blast to play because it kept the power-ups and the large weapon arsenal. It even had a jet-pack added later via DLC.

Even though DNF was "really dead" last year, now it's finally gone to rest.

Duke, it's been a good run.


( Yeah, we all waited 13 years for this game to be turned into a CoD knockoff. What a waste. )

I'm curious. I played Duke3D from front to back, no cheats, beat every level, found (almost) every secret. I even played all of the expansions. Did a lot of other people do that too?

Okay, this deserves its own root post. At the beginning of Yahtzee's review of Bad Company 2:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1546-Battlefield-Bad-Company-2

Duke Nukem, all is forgiven. The one-liners, the average running speed of 60 miles per hour, even all the stripper business that meant I had to play with one hand hovering over the reset button whenever my mum was around. I'll wait as long as you want me to; just please let me play another shooter where I can have more weapons than eyeballs! Where if I get bored, I can clear out a room with a transfunctionating cyber-blasty-bollocks-cannon I was saving for the next boss fight! Where I can run out into the open with the tactics of a suicide bomber and suffer no damage that can't be fixed by Sellotaping a first aid kit to my chest! I'll be glad when the modern warfare bubble blows over and we can end the tyranny of "realism"!

Well, now that Duke Nukem Forever has a maximum of 2 weapons, AND regenerating health, I can't wait to see the inevitable reaction play itself out on a future ZP or an article.

Why not simply inventory all the weapons in Duke's invisible backpack and EQUIP 2 at a time for quick and easy use?

This looks like console garbage; what a waste of 13 years

Does this mean that HL2: Episode 3 is the new DNF?

I just hope that Gearbox allows PC users to use the full arsenal rather then restricting Duke to only 2 weapons at a time. The damage can still be fixed before the retail release I guess ?!

Thought the game might actually turn out to be good until seeing that Gearbox was finishing it. Brace yourselves for a shitty PC port.

Any of you fuckers think that maybe the two weapons thing was just for this press release demo and nothing more?

Gearbox is about to make you his bitch... ?

I am SO looking forward to a good post mortem/ development history article after the release...
Heck, there's probably enough of a good story there to fill a small book.. Here's a nice goodie idea for the Collector Edition.

I think we all anticipated the fact that the graphics were going to look somewhat dated given the brief glimpse we had from Jason Halls show. If the graphics are on par with games like "Prey" or even Doom 3, I can deal with it. Right now, I'm more concerned with decisions such as limiting the number of weapons you can carry and whether the game will sustain ones interest given the fact that whatever unique gameplay 3DR had planned will stand up to 12 years of game design progress.