The guys at Blues News received this press release which states that the Gathering of Developers/Take Two have acquired the publishing rights to Duke Nukem Forever (previously with Infogrames) as well as the complete catalog of already-released Duke Nukem products and "certain rights to future products".

"As we have been committed to publishing cutting-edge games, it's obvious that Duke Nukem Forever belongs on the g.o.d. label," said Mike Wilson, CEO of Gathering. "Between this game and Max Payne, 3D Realms will be regarded as the undisputed king of both first-and third-person shooters by the end of next year. To be part of that has been a dream of Gathering's since our inception."

Taking place in and around Las Vegas, Duke Nukem Forever is the latest game in the incredibly popular Duke Nukem series and will feature Duke's infamous off-the-wall wisecracks. Using Epic Games' Unreal engine, Duke Nukem Forever strongly pushes the limits of gaming and gameplay for the first-person action genre, establishing new standards in interactivity, variety and pure fun. In keeping with the cinematic aspirations of 3D Realms, the game will be one of the first to support wide screen format and Dolby Digital surround sound.

The press release states a second half of 2001 release date for Duke Forever by the way.