November 30, 1999: Duke Nukem is released on Game Boy Color.

December 1999: Infogrames buys a majority stake in GT Interactive, eventually buying the company outright. DNF is slotted for a 2000 release.

March 10, 2000: Shacknews interviews Broussard, who speaks of a robust multiplayer component and innovative interactivity. "I'm not sure many people (other than the die hards) will play the game from beginning to end multiple times, but I do expect almost everyone to re-load maps and look at specific cool things they saw or did," says Broussard. "Strippers come to mind."

April 14, 2000: Daikatana is released.

September 19, 2000: Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes is released on PlayStation.

December 5, 2000: Publisher Infogrames sells the Duke Nukem rights to Take-Two Interactive. Take-Two subsidiary publisher Gathering of Developers is now lined up to publish DNF.

March 28, 2001: A Gathering of Developers calendar reveals inklings of a plot: Duke is forced out of a Las Vegas retirement when Dr. Proton blows up the city. Shooting commences. (News)

May 17, 2001: The second DNF trailer debuts on the first day of E3 2001, comprised mainly of in-game footage. It is epic.

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August 2001: Gathering of Developers closes its doors, and Take-Two takes over the duties of DNF publisher. During a Take-Two conference call, the company notes that DNF won't see a release until 2002 at the earliest. (News)

2002: The Dark Age of Duke. Work on the current version of DNF is halted. The vast majority of level design work is scrapped in transition to a new, mostly home-grown engine. Unstable Unreal code is blamed for the previous delays. New talent is brought on to continue development, bringing the team size to over 30.

May 14, 2002: Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project is released on PC.

August 12, 2002: Duke Nukem Advance is released on Game Boy Advance.

May 29, 2003: Take-Two CEO Jeffrey Lupin informs reporters that Duke Nukem Forever will not be out by the end of 2003. Broussard fires back shortly after, reminding readers that DNF remains self-funded, while also issuing a famously stiff rebuttal to its publisher: "Take Two needs to STFU imo." Later he adds: "Either we're absolutely stupid and clueless, or we believe in what we are working on. In the end, you guys will judge the final results." The spate makes national news, including a story on CNN. (Broussard's comments)

January 20, 2004: After winning the Wired.com Vaporware Award for two years in a row, Duke Nukem Forever is given an honorary Lifetime Achievement award.

September 9, 2004: New Take-Two CEO Rich Roedel claims the game is using Doom 3 technology. Broussard denies it. (News)

September 14, 2004: 3D Realms announces that the Karma physics engine will be replaced with technology from Meqon Research, a company that will later be acquired by AGEIA in 2005.

February 16, 2005: Scott Miller announces that all future 3D Realms releases will be delivered digitally by the Game xStream service, later renamed Triton. (News)

March, 2005: Take-Two and 3D Realms renegotiate the Duke Nukem Forever publishing agreement. The publisher will pay 3DR a $500,000 bonus should the game be released by December 31, 2006. (News)

September 30, 2005: Broussard flashes Shacknews regular mr. sleepy with a handful of DNF screenshots, which the user characterizes as "awesome." (Comment)

January 31, 2006: Interviewed by 1UP, Broussard is asked of DNF's progress, responding: "We're basically just pulling all the pieces together and making the game out of it. There's a lot that's finished. All the guns are finished. Most of the creatures are finished."

April 12, 2006: Computer Games Magazine visits 3D Realms and reports on the game's current state. They are shown "mainly just pieces of the game in progress and tech demos", such as "an early level, a vehicle sequence, a few test rooms."

August 30, 2006: Shacknews reports that 3D Realms has seen several employee departures over the previous year. 3D Realms downplays the impact of the losses, asserting that work on DNF is still progressing. "Physics and animation systems are virtually finished and shippable," Broussard replies. "It's simply maintenance and polish from here on out." (News)

Maintenance and polish continue on the next page.