Indiscrimi said:
Hmm. I haven't heard the PAX thing before, but I'm pretty sure I heard someone else say "It REALLY is being released this time" about six years ago.
While I understand your concerns about this game never being released, there are underlying factors here that certainly have some sway towards the "it's really happening this time!" vibe.
1) Shoftly after it was announced that Gearbox had picked up the Duke Nukem license (with a month or two) they go on record saying "Duke Nukem Forever is happening!" Considering that 3D Realms said they were working on a Duke Nukem game and only came out with information every two to three years or so, it seems far more likely that Gearbox is telling the truth as it corolates better with actual game release press attention.
2) Gearbox has a recent and still popular successful title. Borderlands is great and I'm not just the only one that thinks so. The game is still going at full steam with GotY Edition coming out and the newly introduced DLC spearheading it. The possibility of them running out of manpower to get this thing done is slim to none. 3D Realms, however, had their last big hit with Duke Nukem 3D. Where I can see that one or two years into development after the announcement is fine and dandy, four to five with relatively no information just looks like it's never going to happen. DNf had a rediculously long estimated development time back in the day where Gearbox is promising it
very soon.
3) It has a demo. There's actual gameplay out there with plenty of press coverage on it. It's hard to deny that this is something in its favour when all 3D Realms could muster are screenshots. No matter how pretty they are, they're still only screenshots.
4) There are a massive amount of Beta Keys out. It's one of the selling points for Borderlands GotY Edition. Everyone on Steam who owns Borderlands has a Beta Key. I'm sure there will be other offers for Beta Keys as well. The backlash of doing something like this would be massive and even 3D Realms knew to play it safe and stick with pidly screenshots to ensure the facade could be kept up.
Overall, there's just way too much in favour of the game coming out compared to when 3D Realms was handling it. This could definately make or break Gearbox on whether it comes out or not and with this much content in the public eye, I
seriously doubt any company would be stupid enough to fake it all. 3D Realms started with a mild roar and ended on a whimper with DNF, where as Gearbox has started with a friggin pride of lions in chorus.
Xenos Eriadin said:
Okay, you people really need to figure out just how long the MW2 campaign was. Is it 3, 5, 6, or 8 hours?
I haven't played the campaign, so I don't know who's over or underestimating it, and don't know how to react to the Duke Nukem side of this story...
For me Modern Warefare 2 took about 8-10 hours of play to beat it and I have a very average FPS skillset. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe 7-8 hours was the average toted by developers Infinity Ward and most reviewers. Saying that Duke Nukem Forever will be three times that size, which would equate to 21-24 hours, is pretty massive! An entire day straight worth of gameplay in a first-person shooter is rarely done, even in ye olde times of games like Doom. Realistically, if they put out a product that long with the quality of which the demo looks like, it'll be a massively huge hit and well worth the price tag most triple A games get now-a-days.
Beryl77 said:
How surprising, a developers says his game is great. Never thought that would happen. I'll keep the final judgement after the game is out but from what I've seen the game is average and it doesn't matter how long it is, quality over quantitiy. I think the only reason why most people think it's great and why it will sell really good, is simply because it has become a legend and now it will finally be released. Like I said, I can't tell yet how good it will be but I won't let myself get hyped and like it simply because of nostalgia.
Realistically, if you look at any shooter coming out these days, they're fairly mediocre as far as innovation goes. To use Modern Warfare 2 as an example, the game was pretty standard for an FPS. The game wasn't too challenging and the shooting mechanics were bread and butter for the serise. The point is that MW2 wrapped everything in an amazing package where each bit
felt epic despite using tried and true methods of gaming. The snow mobile scene isn't any different from other vehicle missions, but the visuals speeding past you, the fact that you will die if you hit terrain or slow down to any degree, that your commanding NPC is shouting at you to go faster about every twenty seconds and the massively large jump right at the end just gets the heart pounding and blows your mind. And that's just one part of one level! This continues for the majority of the game, where every action sequence is just wrapped in that Hollywood Blockbuster package so well that it's hard to put into words the exhilirating feeling that overtakes you as the shooting part starts to fade into mechanical reaction and the scene takes you in so deeply with how it unfolds.
It's not nessesarily the actual gameplay itself that will make Duke Nukem Forever stand the test of time, but rather, much like the BioShock and Modern Warfare serise, the ability to capture an audience within the story and get them to feel some of the experience within themselves. From the looks of the demo, yes, the gameplay looks mediocre, the graphics look great but then there's that amazing vibe that carries along with the name "Duke Nukem" and it's there. Oh, it's there, and it's back to kick ass and chew bubblegum... And it's all out of gum! >=D