Duke
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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]
PS3 not all that upscale after all
I hated to have to break this disappointing news to the shivering PS3 fanboys camped out in the cold and wet at my local Best Buy, but somebody had to do it:As it turns out, gamers who own older HD sets that feature only 480i, 480p, and 1080i resolution input capabilities will have to settle for the display quality being downsized as the game boots in its 480p mode rather than upscaling the image from its more desirable 720p mode to the TV's 1080i. We tested this development on older HDTV sets with games designed for 720p but not 1080i -- Resistance: Fall of Man, NHL 2K7, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, and Need for Speed Carbon. Sure enough, the system downshifted all four titles to 480p rather than moving up to 1080i. The PlayStation 3's competitor, Microsoft's Xbox 360, does upscale 720p games to 1080i if the HD set supports the latter resolution but not the in-between and commonly-employed 720p resolution. One guy countered (illogically) that he didn't care because 360 controllers are too big for Japanese hands. Apparently he still thinks we're wrasslin' with the Duke, although it might have been the hypothermia talking.[Thanks Nathan]
Duke no longer giving students iPods
You may remember that last year Duke gave every incoming Freshman an iPod on which to listen to course podcasts and the like. Duke soon changed the program to give the iPods only to students who were taking 'iPod approved' classes. This has worked well since the number of 'iPod Approved' classes has gone from 19 to 47 in recent months, and that means Duke needs to give out an increasing number of iPods with the same old budget.Something had to give, and now the program is no longer giving the iPods away. Instead students have two options: they can borrow the iPod for free for the entire semester, or buy it out right for $99.
Clio NXT unleashed on Duke University... kind of
It's been almost a year since the Clio NXT was supposed to ship -- so long ago in fact, that we sense the dull fog of disinterest descending upon you. See, the Clio NXT was (is?) the successor to the cult 1998-released WinCE laptop/tablet which is said to feature Windows CE.NET 5.0 (yes, CE), a 10.4-inch, 800 x 600 touchscreen LCD with 180-degree pivot, WiFi, 64MB SDRAM and 64MB Flash memory, a near full-size QWERTY keyboard, and a smattering of connectivity and expansion options including SD card slots, PCMCIA, USB, a headphone jack, mic, and video out. Well, out of the blue this morning we received a press release stating that Duke University's Fuqua School of Business will serve as "beta site" for the NXT and Data Evolution's other CE computing device, the Cathena ultra-light laptop. That's it -- no price (although we last heard $999 for the NXT), no expected start date for this beta program, let alone a revised ship date... nothin'. In a market now flooded with reasonably priced tablets, UMPCs, and dirt cheap laptops, we're feeling, well, a bit jaded ourselves.
HOWTO: make your own Duke/360 hybrid controller
Intrigued by our post on the Xbox 360 gamepad with the original (aka The Duke) parts sewn into it? Thinking you'd like to duplicate it yourself? Unafraid of the moral and ethical implications of such an act? Alright, don't say we didn't warn you ...... but here it is: a HOW-TO guide on how to build your own Frankenstein's monster, putting the analog sticks from one into the other and then (gasp!) sewing it back up and making it work again! Really, it's too horrible for us to continue. Do it if you must, but leave us out of it. It's unnatural.[Thanks, Stewart]
Shane Battier won't travel without his games
Former Dukie and current Memphis Grizzlies Forward Shane Battier takes his games on the road. According to the March 13th edition of Sports Illustrated, his travel bag is stuffed with all sorts of gaming paraphernalia, including:
