Duke Nukem Forever?!?

[Surlyboi]

Aaaaand Redner Group is gone.

[Azazel]

lolcats

[jakonovski]

Hahahaha, DNF keeps delivering. Eurogamer has been blacklisted by 2K. Ergo, all that Redner dude did wrong was saying it out loud.

http://twitter.com/#!/tombramwell/status/81302961376071680

[tgr]

I read somewhere (probably here, or some article linked to from here) about someone who were lamenting the state games reviewing was in now, where you either gave the game 80%+, or you didn't get any future review copies ahead of time. This means that your website got less pageviews, and thus less income, because you were always going to be a few days late. And with the state of gaming as it is today, the first few days are pretty fucking vital, as that's where the majority of sales are made.

I'm glad I'm not a games reviewer.

[UnSub]

I think one reason that 2K is likely very annoyed is the amount of promotion money they sunk into DNF. Randy Pitchford and a few other guys from Gearbox were flown around the world (they landed here in Australia for a promotional event), strippers were hired, DNF had a major E3 presence / party, etc. It's doubtful that Gearbox paid for that themselves.

The problem with such negative reviews is that I think Gearbox / 2K were expecting a lot of people to pick up DNF just to see what the fuss was about, but that such big complaints are stopping people from doing that. Back in February Randy Pitchford said that reviews didn't matter, that the fans would be there for the game regardless:

He also said that he'd be surprised to see the game earn a review score down in the 7s. "Fortunately the game's good, I've played it, it's a great game," he said. "You're going to see a range of scores; I'd be surprised to see anything get down into the '7' range, maybe a couple 10s - you're going to get the range there. It really doesn't matter. Anywhere in that range - it's not going to change the results for what we're actually talking about."

The thing is, those fans don't really exist who will buy just to play the Duke - preorder numbers look okay (but I think they'd probably be down on where 2K would want them to be) at about 270k on consoles and are probably a good start, but those sales are going to tank in the following weeks.

[01101010]

I agree that if this game comes out 10 years ago, it does well because it feels like it would have fit in better. Hate to say it, but Duke:Forever was really better as vaporware than a working game. Closest thing I could equate it to is that this is a George Clooney Batman effort rather than a Bale's Dark Knight version.

[Lakov_Sanite]

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/video-game-article/duke-nukem-feminism.php

SE article is lulz.

[Tarami]

[LK]

It's either they live in such a bubble as to have no concept of what things look outside in the real world, or they have to maintain the illusion of success and awesomeness for the PR game and that behind closed doors and in private they hire the strippers and booze to wash away the pain and tears.

[Roentgen]

I bought this game for the multiplayer.  It does not disappoint. 

As for this worship of D3D...  I enjoyed it very much but I just don't get why people think DNF should be a rehash of the same concepts from D3D with a high-res skin.  Shit, I have D3D for the xbox live arcade... I could just play that.  I mean why not go really oldschool and make it a 2D platformer like the first two games in the series?

[tgr]

but I just don't get why people think DNF should be a rehash of the same concepts from D3D with a high-res skin

Because it would've made the SP game a fuckton better?

I mean why not go really oldschool and make it a 2D platformer like the first two games in the series?

If only I had been looking for a platform game, then this would make sense. I wasn't.

[Malakili]

I bought this game for the multiplayer.  It does not disappoint.  

As for this worship of D3D...  I enjoyed it very much but I just don't get why people think DNF should be a rehash of the same concepts from D3D with a high-res skin.  Shit, I have D3D for the xbox live arcade... I could just play that.  I mean why not go really oldschool and make it a 2D platformer like the first two games in the series?

Because D3D level design was superior, more fun, and the game didn't rely on cheap "lulz I'm DukeNukem" references to be actually entertaining.  You could'vet taken the Duke out of Duke 3d and it still would've been a solid shooter. Take the Duke out of DNF and no one would've ever bothered mentioning this game.

[Roentgen]

I understand and I do see the game's shortcomings.  However, before the gameplay was revealed there was already the expectation that it shoulld be identical to D3D.  I don't mind what they were going for with cutscenes, interactive minigames, and all the non-shooting stuff.  I just think it is not as good as it could have been.  I don't really care for two weapons at a time.  I much prefer the holoduke from D3D.  Linear maps are definately a let down, too.  All that said, I'm stll enjoying it.  Multiplayer is most definately classic Duke goodness.

Sorry if this seems a bit abstract.  Sleep deprived, waiting at a tire shop, and on a cell phone.

[tgr]

I understand and I do see the game's shortcomings.  However, before the gameplay was revealed there was already the expectation that it shoulld be identical to D3D.  I don't mind what they were going for with cutscenes, interactive minigames, and all the non-shooting stuff.  I just think it is not as good as it could have been.  I don't really care for two weapons at a time.  I much prefer the holoduke from D3D.  Linear maps are definately a let down, too.

I was hoping the gameplay would be more or less the same as Duke3D, i.e. in the good old formula of tons of weapons and ammo, and lots of enemies to shoot, more or less all the way. In short, I was hoping they would take Serious Sam, maybe update the graphics a little bit, completely replace the setting with something Duke-y, add tons of low-brow humour (I honestly don't see the outrage over "oh dear god feces"; I had to chuckle at "what am I, a chimpanzee?"), job fucking done.

Minigames are fine if they can be ignored, cutscenes can be used well, non-shooting stuff depends on what it's being used for. The driving bit, in the incarnation it came out in in DNF, didn't strike me as a good fit, whereas the same thing was much better in Halo. vOv

Like I said earlier (and malakili also basically said), it's a shit SP game, and its only saving grace is that it contains "the duke".

[Moosehands]

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/video-game-article/duke-nukem-feminism.php

SE article is lulz.

Worth noting that SA mods have disappeared the DNF thread from games, changed all avatars referencing DNF to reference Serious Sam, and have pages and pages of locked threads and bans from people calling them out on defending all the dumb hateful crap in that game.

The culmination of decades of game design theory comes in a tooltip that reads "press X to slap boob".

[Daeven]

IMO what made DN3D interesting was that it was parody of Action Movies and the Shooters of the time.

They didn't do that this time around. So 9.99 sale on steam. maybe.

*shrug*

[Kail]

IMO what made DN3D interesting was that it was parody of Action Movies and the Shooters of the time.

They didn't do that this time around. So 9.99 sale on steam. maybe.

How do you figure?  I thought the Duke "attitude" was one of the things they got mostly right, personally.

Where they really stumbled, to me, was in the level design.  I remember the original D3D amazed me because it had actual realistic locations; the first level was a theatre and it actually LOOKED like a theatre.  Compared to something like Rise of the Triad or Dark Forces or Doom, where the level says "entering Barracks..." and you get a nonsensical maze filled with monsters and radioactive lava, it was mind blowing. 

DNF is less interesting because the locations feel less like real locations.  The levels are all so linear that you never get the feeling that the stage is really a casino or really a burger joint or whatever.  The only level that escapes this is the strip club, which felt more like a weird diversion than an actual level (you could beat it in maybe two minutes if you didn't get distracted by boobs).

[Merusk]

IMO what made DN3D interesting was that it was parody of Action Movies and the Shooters of the time.

They didn't do that this time around. So 9.99 sale on steam. maybe.

How do you figure?  I thought the Duke "attitude" was one of the things they got mostly right, personally.

I don't think he meant recapturing the Old Duke personna, but updating it to parody modern shooters & action heroes.

A game riffing on 80's/ early 90's stereotypes in any serious manner is going to feel really dated.  A game doing so while keeping a shitty mysoginistic bent towards women is going to be lambasted.  A game that does both AND has shitty gameplay is taking the express route to the bargin bin and obscurity.

[KallDrexx]

So the real reason 2k bought DNF?  Not for the game itself, but so they could make more Duke games

[Ingmar]

So the real reason 2k bought DNF?  Not for the game itself, but so they could make more Duke games

Too bad the current one may have poisoned the well on the license.

[tgr]

If only they'd reskinned and rethemed serious sam, we'd be more happy.

[Malakili]

If only they'd reskinned and rethemed serious sam, we'd be more happy.

Good news, SS3 is coming out this summer!

[tgr]

Yup. It's one of a few FPS games I'm actually looking forward to.

[Margalis]

So the real reason 2k bought DNF?  Not for the game itself, but so they could make more Duke games

Apparently a lot of people at Gearbox worked on Duke at some point, including Randy Pitchford. (Their main bigwig)

Seems like a case of heart blinding the mind.

[Sky]

I find it comforting to know that there is a game like DNF out there. I don't want to sully the Dude with a comparison, though, because it's kind of the opposite.

I think there needs to be a reference to the game being dookie.

[ghost]

So if I buy this on Steam does that mean it's no longer vaporware?

[Der Helm]

So if I buy this on Steam does that mean it's no longer vaporware?

Oh god...

[KallDrexx]

So as shitty as the game was, it was still #2 in June selling 376,000 units

[Azazel]

The promotion was pretty well done, and the pre-release hype train seemed to have the entirety of the gaming media loudly onside. At least until they played it.


The guy at my local EB games was dressed like Duke when I went in there one day during their "Hero" sale. I asked the girl working there who was dressed in a Britney Spears schoolgirl outfit if she was some kind of sailor-schoolgirl from a Street Fighter or fighting game and she told me that "I'm one of his whores."  

[UnSub]

So as shitty as the game was, it was still #2 in June selling 376,000 units

That's across 3 platforms though. PC might be underreported due to digital sales.

The hype indicated that it would be a multi-million unit shifter but that's since been heavily downgraded. Pitchford coming out and saying:

With sales data, It seems like *customers* love Duke. I guess sometimes we want greasy hamburgers instead of caviar...

really glosses over how badly DNF did compared to expectations.

[Lakov_Sanite]

The promotion was pretty well done, and the pre-release hype train seemed to have the entirety of the gaming media loudly onside. At least until they played it.


The guy at my local EB games was dressed like Duke when I went in there one day during their "Hero" sale. I asked the girl working there who was dressed in a Britney Spears schoolgirl outfit if she was some kind of sailor-schoolgirl from a Street Fighter or fighting game and she told me that "I'm one of his whores."  

 

[Sheepherder]

When faced with that sort of circumstance the most socially appropriate response is a sucker punch to the both of them.

[Nerf]

Riiiiiiiiiise from the grave!

Best buy has this for $4.99 today, with free shipping or in store pickup.

I've almost bought this at least a dozen times at $10-15, but this was too good to pass up.

PS3 and Xbox360 both available as of right now, and all the stores in my area were showing plenty of stock.  Backordered for delivery.

PS3:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Duke+Nukem+Forever+-+PlayStation+3/1443608.p;jsessionid=F7BA06DDED9E0516F7C6DC0331C94B44.bbolsp-app02-06?id=1218259333361&skuId=1443608

Xbox360:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Duke+Nukem+Forever+-+Xbox+360/2051131.p?id=1218307634264&skuId=2051131&st=duke%20nukem&lp=1&cp=1

[lamaros]

If it was free it wouldn't be too good to pass up.

[Nerf]

If it was free it wouldn't be too good to pass up.

I've got lots of fond memories of playing DN3D from my early teens, so it was worth it for the nostalgia.  Overall though, the game was a massive disappointment.  The driving levels on PS3 were fucking awful and waaaay too fucking long, gun/ammo management took away a lot of fun, and the dpad items (roids, beer, holoduke) felt like they should have been acquire-use-regen items, or at least let you collect more than 1 of each.  The difficult was just wonky as fuck the whole way through, where you would go from destroying everything to getting instagibbed without warning, and the loading screens on PS3 were brutal.  Like 1min+ per loading screen, even if you just loaded and died 10 seconds later.  Every death was another minute of loading - this made the whole instagib bullshit a lot more annoying, and left me terrified to use my special items in case I *really* needed them.

Certain mobs being more or less immune to certain weapons with the 2 gun+shit ammo restriction really sucked too.  Only having a rocket launcher and a shrink ray really sucked when you found yourself up against 3-4 octobrains that raped your face unless there was another weapon lying around.

No rescuing babes, the whole tentacle rape/alien pregnant bitches/etc thing was just disturbing, I have no idea what the fuck they were thinking there.

The really sad thing is this game was so incredibly close to actually being an incredibly fun fucking game and resurrecting the duke franchise, but I'd be shocked if we ever see another duke game after this.

Overall though, I'm still glad I spent $5 on it, and it *was* fun when it wasn't being all cockstabby.  I'd buy another duke game on release day if it was able to fix these problems.