Gearbox soliciting Duke Nukem Forever feedback

Gearbox has opened a survey to solicit feedback on Duke Nukem Forever. You can respond with your thoughts whether you played the game or not.

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Duke Nukem Forever had a less-than-stellar critical reception, but who cares what critics think? Gearbox wants to know what you, the teeming masses of the Internet, thought of the game. A new survey is gauging feedback, most likely to make notes for future Duke games.

"Gearbox prides itself in listening to the community, and this is your chance to tell us how you feel about Duke Nukem Forever," the survey states. "You may participate in this survey if you have played or have not played Duke Nukem Forever." The survey itself lets you rank whether you liked individual aspects, like the sense of humor, puzzles, two-weapon inventory, and level design. If you didn't play DNF, the questions shift to your perception of the character and game.

Gearbox seems to have already rethought the two-weapon inventory, at least, since it issued a PC patch to expand the weapon slots shortly after release. Despite the reviews, Duke Nukem hit #2 on the NPD charts. Gearbox head Randy Pitchford recently said we'll hear about the company's own Duke game "soon," so feedback from this survey will probably be used when designing the next iteration of Duke Nukem. Giving your name and e-mail address will also enter you into a drawing for Gearbox swag.

Web denizens aren't exactly known for their thoughtful critiques, so Gearbox had the foresight to make the survey a simple checklist with numerical ratings. You won't find any blank spaces to write freely, which given the internet's taste for trolling, is probably wise.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 20, 2011 11:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Gearbox soliciting Duke Nukem Forever feedback.

    Gearbox has opened a survey to solicit feedback on Duke Nukem Forever. You can respond with your thoughts whether you played the game or not.

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      September 20, 2011 11:03 AM

      I gave my nickles worth of free advice.

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      September 20, 2011 11:04 AM

      They seem to care at least.

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      September 20, 2011 11:05 AM

      All the many years of waiting for this game and I still haven't played it

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      September 20, 2011 11:13 AM

      If they really cared what the community thought, then they would not have released such a crap-tacular game to begin with. Not at the full price point at the least.

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        September 20, 2011 11:21 AM

        You'd have rather it had never saw the light of day? Or that they delayed it for another 5 years and essentially re-wrote the entire thing again from the ground up again?

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          September 20, 2011 1:03 PM

          The first one. Never should have released that shit.

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            September 20, 2011 1:26 PM

            If it isn't worth it to you then don't buy it. I'm pretty sure they had a demo out so you have no real reason to complain.

            Let the people who want it buy it.

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        September 20, 2011 11:24 AM

        If they really cared what [kurtfan] thought

        ftfy, you solipsistic child. "the community" bought up nearly a million retail copies and, by 2k's estimate, that many again in digital sales on PC.

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          September 20, 2011 12:02 PM

          I had to look it up.... and then I luld, so true

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          September 20, 2011 12:15 PM

          I bought one, unfortunately that didn't make the game suck any less.

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        September 20, 2011 1:01 PM

        I quite enjoyed it

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          September 20, 2011 5:11 PM

          But don't you think it really should have been far more than what we got? Christ, I would have been thinking :

          You were the first guy I thought of when I realized that the game wasn't going to live up to a fraction of what we expected. If I had the time I would've taken you out for beers and hookers just to cheer you up ;P

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            September 20, 2011 5:32 PM

            My expectations were: Shoot at PigCops and blow shit up, and that's what I got! I was happy.

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              September 20, 2011 8:39 PM

              I'm with dognose on this one.

              Didn't like the regen health or the weapon limit, but it's still Duke and I quite enjoyed it.

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      September 20, 2011 11:19 AM

      Well they've obviously listened considering the options given (linear gaming, regen health, 2 weapon system, driving etc) - at least they're making the effort.

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      September 20, 2011 11:57 AM

      "Gearbox prides itself in listening to the community"

      I can't really agree after Borderlands PC...

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        September 20, 2011 12:03 PM

        That's cause they mean console community.

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        September 20, 2011 12:04 PM

        [deleted]

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        September 20, 2011 12:06 PM

        What? They listen. Did they say anything about acting on that?

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          September 20, 2011 12:09 PM

          Borderlands 2 will determine if they're trying to get with us or if they're already in a relationship with us and are just going "uh huh, uh huh"

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            September 20, 2011 12:28 PM

            Maybe they'll have another community day, then we can poke at Faylor if the fail with borderlands 2.

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              September 20, 2011 1:18 PM

              I'd like to have gone to the last one, but it was at the same time as Akon, plus I imagined that it was just a bunch of Xboxes running the game and I really can't stand FPSs with thumbsticks.

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        September 20, 2011 12:51 PM

        Supposedly BL2 is going to be more PC friendly. I'm still buying it on 360, but it should give you a smidge of hope.

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          September 20, 2011 12:56 PM

          You mean like Borderlands 1 was supposed to be PC-friendly?

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          September 20, 2011 1:10 PM

          I don't comprehend how anyone can believe a single goddamned thing Gearbox says about any of their products ever.

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            September 20, 2011 1:48 PM

            i've been saying this for years

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      September 20, 2011 12:06 PM

      A very interesting path to take, seeing as how they inherited the bulk of the work from a developer who for the longest time wouldn't even hire testers.

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      September 20, 2011 12:09 PM

      An open beta / public demo prior to release might have helped you gather feedback.

      • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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        September 20, 2011 12:11 PM

        "Open Beta" is an annoying trend. Public demo pre-release, though, I totally support.

    • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      September 20, 2011 12:10 PM

      That's actually a decent survey. They asked the questions they should have.

      Unfortunately, the answering method limits the usefulness of the data in some cases.

      Still, I'm glad to see them at least trying. It was a fun, if flawed, game, and it deserves the 6.5 I'd give it if I could do fractionals, but it's not quite a 7.

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      September 20, 2011 12:21 PM

      The problem is it required you to get in a position that, if you were low on health, would get you killed just by trying. The better move was to hide behind cover, which broke the game out of the self-established character.

      So I'm low on health and need to do something awesome. There should be ego boots for using the envoirnment to kill a baddie, kill streaks, and other "setups" that game design can provide to give you an incentive to run in guns blazing. (Hell, it could be so obvious as having the game highlight an enemy to kill, and if you do, you get a boost.) The EGO bit is a great idea, the problem is it just works like Halo.

      The same can be said for 2 Weapon Inventory -- it CAN work. But you have to go whole hog. And personally, I think that works against Duke's weapon inventory. I want to have my shotty, RPG, and then bust the shrink ray out of no where for giggles. I don't want to ignore a goofy gun because I'd probably die if I didn't bring the more useufl one. Duke is about excess. Why try and fit the mold of 2 weps?

      Linear levels? This is a survey thing. Are they really asking if we want Duke GTA or Duke 3D? Shouldn't a game desinger decide that?

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        September 20, 2011 12:46 PM

        Sweet lord the first half of my post is missing. I was basically trying to say the survey wasn't worded well (it's tilting the responses). The second half was talking about Ego. It was a great idea, but executed poorly.

        The survey just says "health regeneration." The issue isn't if gamers "like" health regeneration. It's whether or not you made it fun. EGO was a cool idea. I want to play a game where I'm always thinking "Man, I better do something cool so I don't die here."

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          September 20, 2011 5:23 PM

          I want to play a game where I'm always thinking "Man, I better do something cool so I don't die here."

          Have you played Space Marine?

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        September 20, 2011 12:48 PM

        "2 Weapon Inventory -- it CAN work."

        In Raven Shield. Don't want to see it elsewhere.

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        September 20, 2011 1:05 PM

        [deleted]

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        September 20, 2011 6:10 PM

        I agree with all of your points. Especially the question about linear game play... that shouldn't be on the survey. That's like asking a kid what his favorite soda is, and then mixing all the soft drinks together with the intention of creating The Best Drink Evar. Design is about a continual process of elimination from possibility to final product. Coke is Coke because they also didn't try to be Sprite and Mtn. Dew.

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        September 20, 2011 8:44 PM

        So basically, Duke's ego system needs to be Bulletstorm's skillshots combined with the Space Marine health system.


        actually, yes, that would rock SO FUCKING HARD

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      September 20, 2011 12:55 PM

      It 0wns

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      September 20, 2011 1:35 PM

      I wanted a "I like mature humor but it has to actually be funny and not grossly sexist" button.

      Same for "base" or "tongue-in-cheek" humor. The whole way they have worded that survey makes me think someone decided that not being a fan of ridiculous sexism = not having a sense of humor.

      BUT I GUESS I'M BEING A NEUROTIC SHREW

      asshats.

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        September 20, 2011 4:04 PM

        The jokes and one-liners are on par with those in the DN3D. If they had done it anyway else everybody and the pope would have been all up in arms.

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          September 20, 2011 4:38 PM

          Uuuhhhhh no, that's precisely what they are not. Have you played through DN3D? The attitude in that game is different. It's almost pure 80's action, with little sex outside the stripper stage in episode 1 and domme scene in episode 4. The rest was fighting and comments about fighting.

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      September 20, 2011 3:02 PM

      I liked that it was an expansive and varied single player experience, that was one of the best parts of the game. The humor was pretty lame in the end, they shouldn't have put so much time into it as it was pretty painfully bad at parts. It had good pacing. The concessions to newer trends such as regenerating health and a two weapon system did the game no favors. The platforming and puzzles were great and really brought back an element missing from single player FPS nowadays.

      The game should have made you feel like a badass, I think it failed at pulling that off with the general gameplay. They could have done more with the full body awareness in that respect also. Speaking of that, the context sensitive combat related actions are not as good as being able to do these things of your own accord. I don't want to perform the action when the game wants me to, I want to perform it any time.

      Also I hate to say it but the explosions were disappointing. Duke 3D had explosions out the ass where the screen would shake, and the effects were stunning and big. They were weak as hell in this game and most games.

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      September 20, 2011 4:07 PM

      Just finished the survey and it seems that they are asking people on the most discussed dislike/like topics, which is good.

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      September 20, 2011 4:31 PM

      Forget this crap and concentrate on Borderlands 2. You know, the game that people like.

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      September 20, 2011 5:06 PM

      I'm a bit confused as to why Mr. Pitchford is even asking this. He KNOWS full well what the game was and what peoples expectations were.

      Now I seriously doubt said expectations could have ever been met but what we got was little more than a banal, by-the-numbers FPS that I couldn't even bring myself to finish.

      C'mon Randy, you know better than to even ask this.

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        September 21, 2011 12:55 PM

        The suggestion is a new CEO that doesn't shoot his mouth off.

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        September 21, 2011 5:51 PM

        Results from a survey can be grained down and cross referenced. Random hate or love posts in forums not. "It 0wns" or "Sucks donkey ass" does not give any empirical informaiton.

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      September 20, 2011 6:07 PM

      Can't take the survey since my hopes to buy DNF were dashed after trying the demo. Boooooriiiinnng. And from my experience with the demo the interactive environments were little more than specific set peices for certain segments of the game and not something that lent itself to true organic, sandbox gameplay as in HL2, Far Cry, or , of course, DN3D. Very disappointing yet not surprised the outcome considering DNF's history.

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      September 20, 2011 9:17 PM

      i think it's cool that they're doing this. i filled it out honestly.

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      September 21, 2011 9:03 PM

      Really wish there was an option to let them know that I strongly disliked how the gameplay was constantly interrupted by story elements.

      I love a good story in my games, but it shouldn't ever require pinning the player down for long stretches in order to tell it. Also, of course, it should be a story worth telling. If you're just gonna pen a shitty story on a napkin overnight, then I'd prefer gameplay over story.

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        September 21, 2011 9:04 PM

        But on that note, props to Gearbox for getting feedback on the more controversial elements (Linear levels, 2 weapons, regenerating health)

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