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Shadow Warrior takes a swipe at PS4, Xbox One on October 21
Following a short delay, publisher Devolver Digital has revealed that the gory ninja combat of Shadow Warrior will reach the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 21. For those unaware, Shadow Warrior was originally created as an offshoot of the crass humor of the Duke Nukem franchise. The original game, released in 1997, was essentially Duke Nukem 3D in a world of kung fu movie cliches and Asian stereotypes, and was largely overshadowed by other, more notable first-person shooters. More recently, while Duke Nukem was resurrected to resounding anger from fans and critics alike, Shadow Warrior was rebooted as a competent hybrid of first-person shooting and swordplay that maintained the low-brow humor of the original, while ditching its most egregiously dumb aspects and replacing them with copious arterial spray. Not just a remake of the 2013 PC release, this console iteration of Shadow Warrior also introduces a new Arena mode not unlike the fan-favorite Horde mode found in Gears of War, as well as a host of new unlockable content. [Image: Devolver Digital]
3D Realms acquired by Rise of the Triad developer
Interceptor Entertainment, developer of the 2013 Rise of the Triad reboot, has acquired Apogee Software, who in turn owns the 3D Realms brand and formerly owned the Duke Nukem IP. The news was first reported by Danish newspaper Borsen, and confirmed on Twitter by Interceptor CEO Frederik Schreiber. Apogee/3D Realms recently became embroiled in a legal battle with Gearbox Software, the current owners of Duke. It's not clear how the acquisition will impact the ongoing legal battle, but Schreiber noted that Interceptor will have an official statement tomorrow. [Image: Apogee]
Interceptor CEO on Duke Nukem case: We 'acted in good faith'
Interceptor CEO Frederik Schreiber has acknowledged yesterday's surprise lawsuit between Gearbox Software, the current license holder of the Duke Nukem franchise, and 3D Realms and Interceptor, the two studios currently collaborating on top-down shooter Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction. "We are aware of the lawsuit against 3D Realms and Interceptor," Interceptor CEO Frederik Schreiber told Game Informer. "It's an unfortunate situation, but we have acted in good faith and are working towards a resolution." 3D Realms has yet to comment on the situation. The Duke Nukem license was purchased by Gearbox in 2010. Yesterday's filing claims 3D Realms "sought to privately convince others that the sale never happened." This isn't the first time Gearbox and 3D Realms have gotten into a legal kerfuffle. After Gearbox purchased the Duke Nukem license and shipped Duke Nukem: Forever, 3D Realms sued over alleged unpaid royalties. A few months later, 3D Realms offered a public apology and dismissed the lawsuit. [Image: Gearbox]
Gearbox suing 3D Realms, Interceptor for 'unauthorized' Duke Nukem use
Gearbox Software filed a lawsuit against 3D Realms (3DR) and Interceptor Entertainment, accusing the studios of unauthorized use of the Duke Nukem property and alleging violation of trademarks held by Gearbox. The lawsuit points to 3D Realms' recent reveal of Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction, which features a teaser site with a timer counting down to February 25. "Apparently, after selling its Duke Nukem IP rights to Gearbox in 2010, 3DR sought to privately convince others that the sale never happened," the complaint reads. "The result is the unauthorized development effort that reportedly exists between 3DR and Interceptor." Among the documents filed in the suit is a breach statement issued by Gearbox stating that 3D Realms infringed on Gearbox's intellectual property in addition to a statement signed by 3D Realms CEO Scott Miller and Duke Nukem co-creator George Broussard that acknowledged the infringement. In a statement filed to Joystiq, Gearbox Software said, "As the filing shows, 3DR's wrongdoing is both admitted and unfortunate for everyone who cares about Duke Nukem." 3D Realms filed a lawsuit against Gearbox in June 2013 for alleged unpaid royalties for Duke Nukem Forever, and later issued a public apology and withdrawal of the lawsuit in September 2013. Gearbox took over the development of the game in September 2010 in addition to acquiring the rights to the brand from 3D Realms. [Image: Gearbox Software]
3D Realms withdraws lawsuit against Gearbox
3D Realms has withdrawn its lawsuit against Gearbox. Filed in June, the lawsuit alleged that Gearbox blocked an independent audit to document royalties earned from Duke Nukem Forever. The original Duke Nukem developer sought $2 million in the lawsuit, but has now dropped the case entirely. In a statement to the media, 3D Realms CEO Scott Miller said, "After reviewing evidence regarding our business affairs, and without any money exchanging hands, we have satisfactorily resolved any and all differences that we perceived against Gearbox." Miller also offered "genuine apologies" to Gearbox CEO and President Randy Pitchford "for any damage that our lawsuit may have caused to the relationship."
3D Realms sues Gearbox over unpaid Duke Nukem royalties, Gearbox responds
3D Realms has filed suit against Gearbox Software, claiming unpaid royalties for the 2011 multiplatform release of Duke Nukem Forever. Gearbox took over and resumed development of Duke Nukem Forever in 2009, eventually completing the project that 3D Realms had spent nearly 15 years developing. 3D Realms now seeks to recover over $2 million, claiming that Gearbox blocked an independent audit attempting to document the company's royalty earnings from Duke Nukem Forever. The lawsuit filing, discovered by Duke4.net member "Green," notes that Gearbox agreed to pay off a $2.9 million loan that 3D Realms owed to an unnamed company, as part of its purchasing agreement for the rights to Duke Nukem Forever and the follow-up project, Duke Begins. 3D Realms alleges that Gearbox refused to pay out royalties until the cost of this loan is recouped, violating the terms of the agreement. Responding to Joystiq's request for comment, Gearbox VP of Marketing Steve Gibson said, "The reality is that Apogee / 3D Realms (3DR) received the full benefit of its bargain. Gearbox, in its fulfillment of its commitments, enriched 3DR, saved 3DR from its debts and rescued 3DR from its litigation surrounding its failed dozen-plus year attempt to ship Duke Nukem Forever." "Everyone wished that 3DR's game was better received by the market for the benefit of gamers and profit to its creators," Gibson continued. "While 3DR might not wish the reality that the results make clear, 3DR turned out to be the only beneficiary of the deal. Gearbox Software, meanwhile, experienced damage to its credibility and loss of its money. "It's unfortunate that 3DR did not abide by the the objective audit rules outlined in the agreement and even more unfortunate that it chose to blame its failures on Gearbox. Since 3DR seems unable to accept reality and has chosen to become hostile, Gearbox is forced to bring its actual claims of breach of contract against 3DR and is confident Gearbox will prevail. "Perhaps the lesson learned here is to never enter a gaming business deal with a person who has had more lawsuits than shipped games."
The Game Archaeologist: What if World of Warcraft had never happened?
As you know well by now, I do love me some "what ifs?" from time to time. In an industry as volatile and unpredictable as this one, it's not hard to imagine a world where, say, Ultima X did launch or where Bill Roper is coming off his fourth straight successful game or where a different studio secured the rights to a popular IP over another one. Perhaps the king of all MMO "what ifs" deals with the former (yes, former) king of MMOs. What if World of Warcraft never happened? Putting aside our own personal reaction, which may range from heartfelt relief to severe heartburn, we should look at this question without bias or emotion. Today I'm going to step way, way out on a limb and talk about an alternate universe where one of the biggest MMOs of all time simply did not happen. In that universe, how did the MMO industry unfold from 2004 on, and what would we be looking at playing today? Maybe it's an impossible mind exercise, but I've been mulling it over for a while, so here are six outcomes that I think are quite likely.
Tech's biggest misfires of 2011
The past 12 months have been a boon of technological innovation, particularly in the world of mobile devices, where top companies have been waging an arms race for the top of the smartphone and tablet hills. Not everything has been smooth sailing, however -- 2011 has also been dotted by delays, false starts, security breeches and straight up technological turf outs. Check out some of the lowlights from the year that was after the break.
PSN Tuesday: Duke Nukem Forever DLC, Holiday Collection 2011
It may have taken awhile for Duke Nukem Forever to launch, but mere months later the first single-player DLC for the game has been released. On top of that, PSN also kicks off its Holiday Collection today, a promotion that discounts select game bundles and content from the top PSN performers this year. This week's free game for PlayStation Plus subscribers is Marvel Pinball, and there's a KOF XIII demo available for download. The full list of what's available this week can be found over on the PlayStation Blog.
Duke Nukem Forever DLC introduces The Doctor Who Cloned Me this Tuesday
To be honest, we thought Duke's DNA was too invincible to be cloned, but here we are. A new set of DLC for Duke Nukem Forever drops on Tuesday, adding new single-player and multiplayer content. Dr. Proton has cloned Duke in Area 51 and now Duke's gotta eradicate 'em all. Sounds like par for the course. On the multiplayer side, The Doctor Who Cloned Me also adds four new multiplayer maps to the game: Sky High, Command, Drop Zone and Biohazard. You can see some images of the DLC in our gallery below. %Gallery-141517%
Cheap Portal 2, Orcs Must Die! in Steam's 'Autumn Sale'
Starting today and continuing through November 27, Valve will offer daily discounts and deals on many, many titles in honor of the holiday. Such is the plight of the Steam user. Kicking off the sale today are a myriad of games including recent releases Orcs Must Die!, Portal 2 and, uh, Duke Nukem Forever. There are even a few games under $4, and one is actually a bunch of games together: The Oddboxx. Yet another highlight is the Sam & Max Collection, a bundle of the first three seasons ending with the The Devil's Playhouse, for $12.49. Valve will be switching up what's on sale every day, so ... be careful.
Spooky Savings: Amazon's 'Un-BOO-lievable' Halloween sale
Autumnal consumerism is usually linked with holidays based around turkeys and/or trees, but that hasn't stopped Amazon from conjuring up some scary-good deals to celebrate All Hallow's Eve. The available gambit of creepy-eepy savings is fairly all-inclusive, ranging from Halloweenish gore-fests like Dead Island, Rise of Nightmares and Left 4 Dead, to the more subtle, yet still emotionally horrifying Catherine. There are a few odd-balls in there like Dead or Alive Dimensions and Duke Nukem Forever, although we suppose Duke is terrifying in a more abstract sense of the word.
Hail to the Duke Nukem Forever DLC next week
Want more Duke Nukem Forever? We're not judging, and neither is Gearbox, who will offer the "Hail to the Icons" Parody Pack next week -- October 11, to be specific. The DLC adds three new multiplayer modes: Freeze Tag, Hail to the King, and Hot Potato ("See who can hold on to the babe the longest," the description reads, testing our ability to withhold judgement). It also offers four new maps, parodying popular FPS games. If you're in the "First Access Club," this is all free. If you're in the much less exclusive club of "everyone else," it's $10 or 800 Microsoft Points, plus the cost of bubblegum.
Duke Nukem Forever out now on Mac
True to its word, Aspyr Media put Duke Nukem Forever on the Mac in the month of August, a short while after the game's release on PC. You can pick up the title at GameAgent through Aspyr's website, or on Steam (where you get it, thanks to SteamPlay, for both Windows and Mac), but if you want to go cheap, MacUpdate is running a promotion where the game is $5 off the standard price, and you'll get Jets'n'Guns Gold for absolutely free as well. That's about the best deal I've seen, if you're planning on buying the game and don't mind where it comes from. Be warned, of course, that the critics didn't really enjoy the long-awaited title all that much, claiming that the design showed its age and depended a little too much on the game's reputation rather than actual innovation. But that hasn't stopped the game from being a financial success anyway, and odds are that if you're a Duke fan and just want to play the game, you're not that worried about how it stands up to the test of time. Hopefully you're low on your supply of gum, because Duke is ready to get back into action.
'Duke Nukem Forever was profitable for Take-Two," CEO says
"Despite its disappointing reviews, Duke Nukem Forever was profitable for Take-Two," company CEO Strauss Zelnick told investors during a conference call this evening. While disappointing might be a nice way of describing most of the game's reviews (here's ours!), it's no surprise that the title is selling well. After fourteen-years of waiting, audience interest in the title was massive and, poor reviews be damned, Duke earned a #2 spot on the month's NPD charts. While Take-Two didn't bankroll those fourteen years of development, the publisher did sue Apogee over the unfinished game in 2009 claiming that it paid $12 million for the publishing rights to the title. The two settled in 2010 and then, just a few months later, Texas-based Gearbox Software announced it had purchased the game, the character, et al and resumed the publishing relationship with Take-Two.
Upcoming patch to expand Duke Nukem Forever's weapon limit [update: 'unlikely' for consoles]
Say what you will about how well Duke Nukem Forever treated the Duke Nukem 3D legacy, but one mechanic in particular is very un-Duke. Specifically, it's very strange that Duke Nukem Forever limits our brash hero's arsenal to a paltry two guns at a time. An upcoming patch aims to fix that. Community manager Chris Faylor stated on the Gearbox forums that updates based on user feedback are "in the works for all three platforms." Along with some other fixes and additions, the PC update will raise Duke's weapon limit from two to four. Faylor didn't confirm whether or not the weapon limit would be raised on the Xbox or PS3 versions, saying that details on the console updates should be announced "as they're finalized." Update: Sadly, it doesn't appear that the weapon expansion update will be coming to Xbox or PS3. In a new forum post, as reported by Shacknews, Faylor cited technical issues and noted that it is "unlikely that the expanded inventory can be enabled on consoles."
Duke Nukem Forever getting fanciful hats (and new multiplayer modes/maps) this fall
We may not have liked Duke Nukem when we last hung out back in early June, but hey, now he's got a variety of thoroughly enjoyable hats -- we're easily swayed! And he'll be showing off that variety of hats in a handful of new Duke Nukem Forever multiplayer maps and modes this fall, in the "Hail to the Icons" Parody Pack. As its name implies, the DLC parodies several games, which we'll allow you to decipher for yourself in the descriptions after the break (take a wild guess at which game those hats are poking fun at). Gearbox and 2K have yet to name a price or firm release date for the content, only giving it a "fall" window. But if you're really into checking the new stuff out as soon as you can, 2K Games is also holding a multiplayer event at its Novato, CA offices in early August -- the main site has details on how to get involved. And finally, we'd be remiss if we didn't remind you that if you joined the developer's "First Access Club" before DNF dropped back in June, the pack will be free when it eventually launches. We believe Duke would say, "Hell yeah." (But you know, it'd be all gravelly, because that's how he speaks.)%Gallery-129221%
June NPD: Duke Nukem Forever is #2
Yes, it's true. A startling (and vaguely insulting) number of American consumers ignored our review and purchased Duke Nukem Forever, rocketing it to the #2 position on the NPD sales charts for the month of June. Perhaps they just didn't want to ask for refunds on those 14-year-old pre-orders. The Duke occupies a position on the charts just under its equally retro (in a different way) Take-Two contemporary, L.A. Noire. Also notable on the sales charts is the debut of another time-lost title, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. At #5, it is the first 3DS exclusive to chart in the NPD top ten. Find the top ten best-selling games listed after the break. It's definitely a triumphant month for the past, as total game sales were down from $1.15 billion in June of 2010 to $1.03 billion in June of this year. Once again, however, Microsoft is happy, declaring its Xbox 360 the only console in the US to show year-over-year growth. The Xbox was the top-selling console with 507,000 units which Microsoft claims is "nearly twice as many units as other current-generation platforms" this month.
Duke Nukem Forever becomes a big Mac game in August
"With sales data, it seems like *customers* love Duke. I guess sometimes we want greasy hamburgers instead of caviar..." - Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford If Pitchford is right, the upcoming Mac version of Duke Nukem Forever, being readied for August by Aspyr Media, may require a marketing strategy for different tastes. A Hunch survey published a few months ago suggested that Mac users are 80 percent more likely than PC owners to be vegetarian. Before you spit out your San Pellegrino Limonata at the mere thought of playing Duke's repeatedly reheated entree on your Mac, let Aspyr President Michael Rogers remind you of the game's pedigree ingredients. "Duke Nukem Forever represents many of the best aspects of gaming: shooting aliens, saving ladies in distress, and great tag-lines," he says. "We think Mac gamers will love taking a bite of Duke's special pain cake." Well, if pain cake is anything like garrote cake, it's as vegi-friendly as it is deadly.
Duke Nukem Forever coming to the Mac
Aspyr Media has posted on its blog that it will be bringing the long-awaited Duke Nukem sequel, titled Duke Nukem Forever, to the Mac. Known for its legendary development period, the game finally arrived on PC and consoles recently, and unfortunately, it didn't turn out very well, earning generally mediocre reviews across the board (not too surprising for a game with far too many cooks in a pot that's been sitting out for years). Still, this is basically a museum piece for how not to do game development, so it's only right that we see it get ported to the Mac after the fact, right? Aspyr's version will be out in August, and it's offering a 10% discount on pre-orders right now. I can't promise it'll be any good, but if you want to at least see what the final version of Duke Nukem Forever looks like running on your Mac, there you go. There's still no word of any version of the game coming to iOS -- we had spotted the App Store mentioned in that legal agreement a while back, but for all we know, that could just have been for the soundboard, which was released recently. After the reviews on DNF, it's hard to think the Duke franchise will recover, but you never know -- if some enterprising developer wants to make a top-down dual-stick Duke shooter for Apple's mobile devices, we can't say we'd be adverse to the prospect.
