Duke Nukem Forever, the game, actually exists.

I have seen it. Maarten has seen it. We watched actual interactive gameplay being interacted with.

Of course, we are far from the first to make such a claim. During 3D Realms' lengthy development cycle of Duke Nukem Forever here in the Dallas area, I have run in to my fair share of publishers and developers who boast they have gotten a glimpse of the game.

To be honest, I thought the game's supposed existence was a vast conspiracy. More than a couple of times over the last decade I have gotten vague invitations to come see the game "someday," with it never happening. I figured this was probably the same invitation other developers in the area had gotten, and were claiming that vague invitation as having actually seen the game.

Nothing of the game has been made public for years until that Duke Nukem Forever teaser was released last December.

However, that all changed recently. For a good half hour Shacknews ... Read more

In a surprisingly punctual outing for Duke Nukem Forever developer 3D Realms, the studio has delivered its April Fools' prank in the form of a new design for the Duke Nukem pig cop enemy and a revised company logo.

"One thing we weren't happy with in the teaser from December was the pig cop design," 3D Realms webmaster Joe Siegler posted on the company's official site. "We happened upon a really hot new artist by the name of Alex Huenick.

"We're really excited about Alex's work, and had him redo the 3D Realms corporate logo as well," Siegler continued. "Wait till you see this new pig cop design in action. It'll be like nothing you've ever experienced in a game before!"

Update 3: 3D Realms co-founder George Broussard has officially chimed in on the matter, explaining the Dallas Business Journal's erroneous report of a Duke Nukem Forever release date and console versions as a misunderstanding of "off the record" information.

"While we have internal targets, dates and goals, like every developer, we are not ready to share them," Broussard posted on the official 3D Realms forums. "The release date is still 'when it's done', and will be until the appropriate moment. Platforms have not been finalized or announced. "

"You can rest assured that we are moving toward a goal and that the recently released teaser trailer is the start of that process and seeing more of the game, sooner than later," he concluded. "We apologize to gamers and websites everywhere for this series of events. Sometimes, you can be too trusting of people and assume things that come back to bite you."

Update 2: The Dallas Business Journal has made several corrections to its initial report, clarifying that Duke Nukem Forever is internally projected by developer 3D Realms to release this year, with a strong possibility that Xbox 360 ... Read more

Following yesterday's screenshot release, Shacknews is pleased to premiere the first new Duke Nukem Forever teaser trailer in over six years. According to George Broussard of developer 3D Realms, the approximately minute-long video was originally created internally for the purpose of holiday festivities and marks the beginning of further media unveilings surrounding the notoriously long-in-development first- person shooter.

"The release is still 'when it's done,' but you can expect more frequent media releases and we're not changing engines again and we have considerable work behind us," Broussard told Shacknews today when asked about a release date.

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Registered users can also use the HD stream or download the HD trailer.

The trailer features the work of longtime Duke voice actor Jon St. John as well as prolific game composers Jeremy and Julian Soule. Several captures from the video are available below.

Platforms for the game were not confirmed, but when asked today whether Xbox 360 in addition to PC is likely, Broussard's response sounded positive though not definitive. "I don't think we've stated that yet for the record but your observations are probably correct," he conceded.

First announced for PC in 1997 as a followup to the studio's classic Duke Nukem 3D, Duke Nukem Forever is known to have gone through several significant development iterations. Its last major showing was at E3 2001 with its impressive gameplay trailer; the current Duke Nukem Forever is said to share little in common with that game. For more on the history of Duke Nukem Forever, check out Nick Breckon's feature, published today.

"It's basically a restart as the tech changed and we've been on this version of the game since 2004 or so," Broussard said today. "The released media up to this point are not longer relevant other than for curiosity purposes."

It's taken longer to develop than the mapping of the human genome. It's the first Google result for "When it's done." It's birthed the longest running development period in video game history, and the longest running joke in internet history. It's still not out.

Maybe the one thing you can't say about Duke Nukem Forever is that it's been canceled. And now, thanks to that fortune, we may yet be treated to a release of the infamous game. But how did we get here? I was in 7th grade when DNF was announced, and though I've followed its development since, my memory of that time is muddled with the pleasures of late 90s gaming, and the horrors of braces.

So how did this madness begin, again? Follow us through time for a look back.

Update: The teaser trailer has been released. Check it out now!

Prepare to hail to the king, baby. George Broussard of 3D Realms has confirmed on his company's official forums that a teaser trailer for the long (long, long) awaited Duke Nukem Forever will be released tomorrow around noon Central time. (Update: Now released!)

Though the video is just a minute-long teaser, it will contain gameplay footage, and Broussard promised more on Duke Nukem Forever is on the way. Along with the announcement came a single teaser screenshot of Duke.

"Last Saturday we had our annual company Christmas party. It was a lot of fun as usual but it featured one special surprise," explained Broussard. "It turns out that several people had been secretly working late nights and into the wee hours of the morning preparing a special video for those at the party. They created a short teaser for Duke Nukem Forever. After seeing the teaser we thought it was something we should share with all of you and while it's just a teaser, rest assured more is coming."

Broussard confirmed that Duke Nukem 3D voice actor Jon St. John is returning to play his titular role, and credited noted video game music composers Jeremy and Julian Soule. This will mark the first new Duke Nukem Forever video in six years, when 3D Realms released the now-classic E3 2001 trailer.

A new 3D Realms job posting on Gamasutra has revealed another small screenshot from Duke Nukem Forever, the long in development first person shooter sequel. A previous job posting in January also included a teaser picture.

George Broussard of 3D Realms has this to say about the image: "Just to head off any questions. Real-time in game asset, like the last job ad shot. Taken from a game level with a dark background, on purpose, because we wanted to focus attention on the character."

Futuremark's YouGamers website has been updated with a Q&A with Scott Miller of 3D Realms. Miller is asked about his company's history, producing games, and of course the never ending development of Duke Nukem Forever.

In a classic example of bizarre internet recursiveness, it appears that a small picture accompanying a 3D Realms job posting is indeed an in-game image from the fabled and long in development Duke Nukem Forever. In a post yesterday in our comment section, 3D Realms' George Broussard responded to Shackers' speculations regarding the origin of the image with the single phrase, "In game shot."

Soon after, 1UP picked up the story, linking to George's comment and rehosting the screenshot but not noting the context of the job listing from industry site Gamasutra. Meanwhile, of course, the incident broke out over at the 3D Realms official forums, spawning what is at time of writing a 17-page thread. The scene only became more frenzied when Broussard posted to clarify the whole thing and affirm the shot's authenticity, as well as imply that there might be more media coming in the relatively near future:

I guess I'll reconfirm what I said last night. That's an in game, real-time shot of Duke standing in a random hallway. It was really done as a small teaser for a job ad on Gamasutra.com. Nothing more.

I'm glad some of you enjoyed it, and we'll show more later as we start to wake from our slumber and decide how best to show the game off.

Stay tuned...to the internet!

The many delays and long development history of 3D Realms' anticipated Duke Nukem Forever, first announced in April 1997, are well known to gamers, but it appears that at present the game may be undergoing even more troubles. Shacknews has learned from numerous reputable sources close to the game's development that, since approximately the end of 2005, 3D Realms has had something of an employee exodus. Apparently, up to ten major team members have left the company, with multiple departures having occurred as recently as within the past few days.

Developers confirmed to have left 3D Realms since last December include Scott Alden, Will Bate, Brian Cozzens, Kyle Davis, Andy Hanson, Keith Schuler, and Charlie Wiederhold. Some of the former employees headed up crucial game systems such as physics, animation, and rendering. Notably, Schuler is a sixteen year veteran of Apogee and 3D Realms. Our sources indicate that while the game's team has reached a size of about 24-28 developers, recently it has been closer to 18, meaning these current departures may actually comprise a majority of the team. Several sources have indicated that further information regarding these matters is expected next week.

3D Realms' George Broussard, who heads up the Duke Nukem Forever project, is known to hold a perfectionist attitude towards the game, which is in large part responsible for its many delays. The game has been revamped with new engines multiple times, further prolonging development time as game assets and levels have had to be rebuilt. Some sources speculate that, unless major changes are made to the development process, the game may never see the light of day. A Prey-like rebirth under a new developer supervised by 3D Realms may be a potential consideration, but descriptions from those close to Broussard suggest that he would be unlikely to approve such a direction.

3D Realms officials have been contacted for formal comment by Shacknews, but did not respond by press time.

Update: Shacknews has learned that four of the employees named above--Brian Cozzens, Kyle Davis, Keith Schuler, and Charlie Wiederhold--are now working for Brothers in Arms series developer Gearbox Software. Wiederhold's employment at Gearbox was already public knowledge. These four employees were key members of the Duke Nukem Forever team and led various aspects of development.

The 3D Realms job page has been updated, listing an opening for level designer. According to the description, people who have worked on mods are welcome to apply: "You just have to be talented, passionate and have a strong level design portfolio". The company is also still looking for a senior game designer and a programmer.

3D Realms' George Broussard posted this comment last night, mentioning that the Duke Nukem Forever team is once again expanding. According to Broussard pretty much every department needs reinforcements, so if you're looking for work send your resume or portfolio to georgeb@3drealms.com.

Well everyone around here who put more than a moment of thought in to the industry probably realizes that digital delivery is set to become a huge part of the game industry. Half-Life 2 was a huge step and now it looks like 3DRealms is now hopping aboard the digital delivery train. Here is a quote from Scott Miller about Gamesxtream a Steam-like service.

"Games xStream is the first and only online delivery platform that can satisfy a gamer's desire to buy a game on impulse and start playing minutes later, regardless of the size or complexity of the game.  3D Realms is extremely excited by this ground breaking technology, and we plan to use it to sell our future releases"

There seem to be a dozen new game streaming technology companies showing up every time you blink. Try to keep the Duke4 jokes to a minimum and save your comedic skills for the Apollo or something.

Gasp, it's Duke Nukem Forever news. Swedish physics middleware developer Meqon today announced that 3D Realms has licensed their technology for the long in development Duke sequel. Says GeorgeB: "We evaluated several physics SDKs and Meqon was really fast, had the cleanest interface and integrated into our game very quickly". You can find some demos of Meqon's tech here.

Having sat through the torture of a Take2 investor meeting audio file earlier today one of the more interesting things that came up was a Take2 employee having a few things to say about Duke Nukem Forever in development over at 3DRealms. There was this one zinger by Rich Roedel, the CEO of Take2:

"...they are using the DOOM3 technology now which is finished"

This was a simple mistake by Rich that just snowballed a little... So since it seems that this was picked up elsewhere as factual we've got an official statement from 3DRealms to clear things up. Here ya go:

"I guess I need to clear up some confusion. We are not using the Doom 3 engine for Duke Nukem Forever.

That said, I'd also like to take a moment to point out something about the gaming press. Very few people ever even try to contact you for fact checking, like Gamespot did. When they ran the story about the engine change, they ended it with "Attempts to contact 3D Realms for comment were unsuccessful as of press time." The news story was posted 35 minutes after I received an e-mail from them requesting confirmation.

Gamespot, I apologize. Your e-mail came in at 10:04pm and I was working elsewhere in the building. I will try to be more accessible to you in the future."

There you go. George actually confirmed here on Shacknews at the end of May that 3DRealms has their own 100% from scratch rendering engine. Also, here's an mp3 of the call if you're really curious.

Well here is some news I'm sure you guys werent expecting. A recent investor conference call for Take2 has revealed that Duke4 is in fact still not ready to ship, but even more so it looks like it wont show up for this holiday season either! Here's the quote:

"Analyst: Regarding Duke Nukem Forever for the PC, any chance - any possibility under the sun - that we see that this holiday season? Or at what point do you guys just pull the plug on that?

Take Two: I think in terms of possibilities under the sun for this holiday season, the answer to that is 'no.' With regards to next year, we're in a wait and see mode at this point. You know, last quarter we wrote it down substantially, so we generally already pulled the plug. And right now we're just hopeful that the team in Dallas will finish it."

The conference call also mentioned that Take2 would be scaling back their E3 presence next year and they are hoping for a Max Payne2 release around January of 2004. Also the mysterious Manhunt game is coming out by October of this year. Thanks Chris!

note: The pull the plug comment does NOT mean the game is cancelled at all. Also Scott Miller had some insight into the finance side of things when the write-downs were announced a while back.

No that headline is not an April fools joke. 3D Realms has actually released the full source code to Duke Nukem 3D, and you can download it from FileShack. OpenGL, TCP/IP support anyone? The file is a 3.83mb download, and instructions on how to compile it are included. But what about Duke Nukem Forever? Some shocking news here ;)

George Broussard from over at 3D Realms updated his .plan file, as they are looking for a few more "environmental artists" to work on Duke Nukem Forever. "We're looking for artists that can take a basic shell of a level and detail it out with geometry that you will build and texture." More info here.

There is a Q&A with Scott Miller of 3D Realms on InGaming. Expect stuff on Duke Nukem Forever? haha! The interview focuses mostly on business and development issues.

SCS Software has published an editing guide for the Prism3D level editor, used for Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project. Thanks Blues News.