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Wired News: 2006 vaporware awards
Wired News racks up its annual list of the top 10 vaporware products -- items that have been promised but haven't shipped -- with almost half of them being long-delayed games. Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, Gran Turismo 4 Mobile, and Spore earn spots nine, seven, and four, while Duke Nukem Forever clocks in at number one. Again. Duke's nearly 10-year development time have earned it six mentions in the nine-year history of the list, including this year.We've lost track of DNF and are holding our interest until its launch, but we did want Spore. Which games have you missed this year?
Duke Nukem ... Finally?
Although the title should be Duke Nukem Forever (in the Making), is it finally coming out? It was announced way back in 1997, meaning that there are tons of young gamers out there who have never even seen a Duke Nukem title, so they have no idea what all this about anyhow. Best Buy is listing it for sale now on January 2nd, 2007 for $59.99. They also claim that, "Duke Nukem is an action hero for the ages, with his big muscles, big guns and an even bigger sense of humor." For the ages. Yep, they sure would have appreciated this guy back in 1300 AD. He could've teamed up with Ash, ftw.The listing is probably pure crap, especially since both the Take 2 and 3D Realms sites say nothing about a final release date. But, it sure makes us wonder. Is this thing ever going to see the light of day? Several key members of the Duke development team left 3D Realms in August, which surely hurt the work on this title. Your guess is as good as any if this listing is real or not. But for the adventurous readers out there, pre-order and cross your fingers.Of course, if it doesn't come out, we're pretty much used to waiting at this point, as evidenced by a similar situation last year. However, if a miracle happens and it hits the shelves, where will we point to as the longest game in development from now on? Does anyone still care about Duke at this point? [Thanks, Kurt & Tim]
Duke Nukem on XBLA has "already been discussed"
"Mr. Broussard, do you have a minute?""Make it quick, I'm in the middle of a WoW raid.""I'm sorry ... quick?""You know, the opposite of slow?""Right! Well, Doom was released on Xbox Live Arcade just recently.""Oh, I know, I was playing it all day yesterday. Good stuff.""That's the general consensus, yes. Which is probably why every gamer ever now wants a port of Duke Nukem 3D as well.""Hmm, I like that idea. Provided Microsoft wants it too, I'm sure we could make that happen ... right after I level up some more."At least, that's how we imagine such a discussion to go down within the finely decorated offices of 3D Realms. Following Doom's successful outing on Xbox Live Arcade, fans have already begun a clamorfest (not an actual word) for an Xbox 360 port of that other FPS classic, Duke Nukem 3D. Commenting on the official 3D Realms forums, staff member Joe Siegler assured visitors that the idea had been favorably considered, but that getting a game onto Microsoft's service wasn't as easy as e-mailing them the original code. "I talked about this yesterday with George, he's all up for the idea, but we don't have the time to do the port ourselves, plus there's the issue of whetther [sic] Microsoft would really want it. Don't just assume they would, there's a big submissions procedure to go through. Plus their release schedule is booked solid for quite awhile now, even if we delivered it to them today, I would imagine it wouldnt' [sic] come out for awhile anyway."Imagine that. Still, if Microsoft were to eventually give the game their stamp of approval and a developer like Nerve were tasked with porting the game, it would probably be well worth the wait. [Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
With some effort, CNET compiles vaporware all-stars
CNET defines vaporware thus: "Vaporware n: Any piece of technology with equal and excessive numbers of promises and delays. It might be awesome, but you probably won't actually see it."The all-star angle precludes many of the criticisms we'd be prone to throw at their selections, but some still need to be addressed, namely the PS3. Hey, we were just as frustrated as the next blog over Sony's obvious equivocation and the steadfast Spring 2006 website, but you can hardly say it's vaporware. It was only delayed once and, even then, the only people that (purportedly) believed the original date were Sony themselves! Now the Phantom ... that's some primo, grade-A vaporware. 11. Earthbound64 / Mother 310. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.9. Fallout 38. Team Fortress 27. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess6. Playstation 35. Sam & Max: Freelanc Police4. Starcraft Ghost3. Prey2. Phantom Gaming System1. Duke Nukem ForeverOf course vaporware bullies like Duke Nukem Forever and the Phantom dominate the top spots, while the recently released Prey makes a strong showing, encouraging all those titles that are still in development that they too can see a retail shelf someday. It's glorious!
DNF: what's happened these nine long years?
We all know what George Broussard and his team at 3D Realms have been up to since they officially announced development of Duke Nukem Forever: they've been switching engines, winning awards, and remaining mum on when (though always insisting that it is coming) we'll get to see something -- anything -- about their increasingly long-in-the-tooth FPS. Now that another E3 has come and gone with nary a Bruce Campbell-cribbed peep from our favorite (at least he used to be ... I think) video game protagonist, one dedicated gamer decided to update "The List" of things that have happened since DNF was announced. Included in "The List":"When Duke Nukem Forever was announced, the fastest processor available to consumers was a 233Mhz Pentium. Since then the clock speed of consumer processors has increased over 16 times (32 times counting dual cores), and the fabrication process has decreased from 250nm to 65nm."But that's not all folks! Just to pour salt into that open wound, they've added a list of things that have taken less time than DNF has been in production, like: "The Beatles formed, released every single one of their albums and broke up. During this time they also toured the world several times."No pressure, guys. I'm sure these past ten years have been well spent, right? Right?![Thanks, Eli]
XBLM seeks its Prey (demo) [update 1]
Hey, remember that game, Prey, that 3D Realms has been working on for like 10 years? The one with the reluctant anti-hero/Native American guy? Well, 3D Realms insists that this game is actually coming out this year. What's more, they claim a demo is going hit marketplace on June 21st 22nd. That's a mere two days away for those who are keeping score. Frankly, I'll believes it when I sees it. Seriously though, this game looks pretty fun and the demo is supposed to be 5(!) levels long. And, unlike some games, I have faith that it will release this year. [Via QJ] Update 1: It looks like my source had it wrong, and the demo is actually coming out on June 22nd, not June 21st. Joe Siegler of 3D Realms was kind enough to inform me of the mistake. Thanks, Joe!
$500,000 offered to finish Duke Nukem Forever this year [update 3]
In an SEC filing, Take-Two brought up a rather sore (yet infamous) subject: Duke Nukem Forever. The uber-delayed project, in development since 1997 (remember 1997? Titanic won an Oscar) has been given some incentive to complete and release the game by December 31, 2006 -- $500,000 worth of incentive. While it may not seem like much (most commercial video games have multimillion dollar budgets), 3D Realms is currently being offered $4.25 million from Take-Two for the title's eventual release, down from the $6 million promised in their original -- apparently lapsed -- deal. See update 3 for the skinny on this mess.Does this mean we'll see Duke before 2007? Doubtful, but we could be wrong ...[update 1: where there was confusion, there is now clarity][update 2: silly Gamespot, the actual SEC filing says dollar amounts are listed in thousands, so their figure of $4,250 is off by a factor of, you guessed it, one thousand. With the $500,000 promissory, that means 3D Realms can still collect nearly 80% of their original contract ... if they manage to finish this thing. Thanks, nonpareil.)[update 3: newish games blog Metafuture has gotten to the bottom of this little mess. It wasn't just the figure that we had wrong, it was the payee as well. Indeed, Gamasutra reported on this over two months ago writing:"One other notable payment was the renegotiation of a $6 million charge due [to former publisher GT Interactive, now owned by Atari] upon delivery of the final PC version of Duke Nukem Forever back in March 2005. The epic delay of 3D Realms' shooter has meant that $4.25 million of the final milestone payment has already been paid, alongside the promise of a final $500,000 upon the commercial release of Duke Nukem Forever prior to December 31, 2006."So the $4.25 million has already been paid to Atari and the $500,000 is being offered to Atari and not 3D Realms. Got it? I think we do now. Apologies for the confusion.]
Duke Nukem Forever "in full production"
Yes, folks, it's still alive and kicking - everyone's favorite vaporware is "in full production" according to George Broussard, co-founder of 3D Realms. In an interview with 1up, towards the end, Broussard chats about the status of Duke Nukem Forever, the unfortunately-apt title to the game over a decade in development. Hail to the King, baby! According to Broussard, "there's a lot that's finished. All the guns are finished. Most of the creatures are finished...we're just basically pulling it all together and trying to make it fun." So, there you have it, an actual status update on Duke Nukem Forever. If they get their act together, 2006 may be the year pigs fly - then again, we predicted that Duke Nukem Forever still would not come out in 2006, and whose to argue with us?[via Voodoo Extreme; image taken from the 2001 trailer]
