Apogee Software LLC has apparently made the promised Duke-related announcement, and the big news is that Apogee's expanding its search for a live-action Duke.

Making no mention of 3D Realms's closure or the doomed Duke Nukem Forever, Apogee announced that budding Dukes can now submit their auditions reels online.

The winning Duke will market Apogee's upcoming Duke Nukem Trilogy for the Nintendo DS and PSP, which sees Duke in a variety of genres and time periods, including WW2. Developed by Frontline Studios, the first installment 'Critical Mass' is due out this fall.

The men--and women--who would be Duke can size up the competition at the Duke Is Back website before uploading a video of their best grimace, flexing and one-liners.

Apogee Software today announced that Critical Mass, the first entry in the new Duke Nukem Trilogy, will arrive on Nintendo DS and PSP come September.

Now in development at Frontline Studios, the action game takes place in the future. The latter two entries are respectively set in the modern day and during World War II.

The company also announced that it's kicking off a talent search for "the next live-action Duke Nukem actor," noting that "aspiring Dukes will be judged on how well they personify the character's take-no-prisoners attitude."

Auditions will be held in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, with submissions also being accepted in DVD, tape or QuickTime form. For more info, hit dukeisback.com.

Scott Faye, producer of the upcoming Max Payne film adaptation, is working on a Duke Nukem movie with Scott Miller, CEO of game series creator 3D Realms.

"As is the case with all of my game adaptations, I'd rather not make the movie than make a poor adaptation," Faye told Kotaku. He added, "I'm working at establishing a Duke film scenario that will compel a studio to finance a feature version. Certainly, there's a large audience that knows and loves this character."

According to the report, Miller's Radar Group will be involved in every step of the film's production. "Why go out of your way to acquire an [intellectual property] if you're not going to use as much of it as you can in the adaptation process?" Faye asked.

Details on the film were scant, but Faye promised to stay faithful to the series: "We're expanding Duke's 'storyverse' in a very significant major way without abandoning or negating any element that's being used to introduce Duke to the next gen platforms."

Faye also told Kotaku about Max Payne star Mark Wahlberg's interest in making a sequel as well as his method for video game adaptation, saying, "If I'm going to play a videogame based on a feature film, the last thing I want to do is play through the film narrative."

The Shacknews editorial staff humbly reminds readers that a Duke Nukem film is actually old news.

The conclusion of Apogee's recently-announced Duke Nukem Trilogy for Nintendo DS and PSP will see the beloved game icon thrust into World War II--in a game that will, at long last, explain the origins of the Duke Nukem namesake.

"We plan on making Duke the Forest Gump of World War II," Apogee COO Terry Nagy revealed to Shacknews, referring to the fictional insertion of the Tom Hanks-played film character into major historical events.

"It was really Duke that sunk the Bismarck," he explained. "It wasn't the British." The Battle of Iwo Jima marks another historical Duke victory. "[Founder] Scott [Miller] absolutely loved the storyline, claiming that it was 'absolutely Duke.'"

Though the Nintendo DS and PSP releases will both use 3D graphics and share a common storyline, each version will deliver different gameplay... Read more