Apocalypso's Atomic Arcade: 5/10/09

2009/05/16

New All-Time Low Prices for PC Games

The Sims 2 University Expansion Pack - $18.99 - Save $1.00
Crysis Maxium Edition - $36.49 - Save $0.50

Apocalypse Then: We Are Motörhead

On this day, in 2000, the metal album by Motörhead, We Are Motörhead, was released.

Track Listing:

1. "See Me Burning"
2. "Slow Dance"
3. "Stay Out of Jail"
4. "God Save the Queen"
5. "Out to Lunch"
6. "Wake the Dead"
7. "One More Fucking Time"
8. "Stagefright/Crash & Burn"
9. "(Wearing Your) Heart on Your Sleeve"
10. "We Are Motörhead"

"God Save the Queen" is a cover of the song by The Sex Pistols.

3D Realms "Conflict" with Take-Two Started Years ago

This is the Time-Line of the Conflict with Take-Two

• Take-Two, the publisher, initially invested $ 12 000 000 into DNF in 2000.

• On May 20, 2003, Jeffrey Lapin, then CEO of Take-Two, told reporters that the game would not be out by the end of 2003.

• In response, George Broussard commented on Shacknews, saying that "Take-Two needs to STFU imo."

• Later in the year, on December 18, 2003, Jeffrey Lapin said that 3D Realms had told him that Duke Nukem Forever was expected to be finished by the end of 2004, or the beginning of 2005.

• In June, in a filing with the SEC, Take-Two revealed that they had renegotiated the deal and would receive $4.25 million instead of $6 million upon the release of the game. The filing also revealed that Take-Two was offering a $ 500,000 bonus if DNF was commercially released by December 31, 2006.

• Broussard denied the rumors that DNF would be released, saying that 3D Realms never cared for or asked for the bonus. He stated that he would "never ship a game early."

• In 2007, the two companies entered into a second agreement.

• May 6, 2009- 3D Realms closes.

• Duke Nukem Forever publisher Take-Two has confirms that it was not funding ongoing development of the 3D Realms project.

"We can confirm that our relationship with 3D Realms for Duke Nukem Forever was a publishing arrangement, which did not include ongoing funds for development of the title," said Take-Two VP of communications Alan Lewis in a prepared statement.
"In addition, Take-Two continues to retain the publishing rights to Duke Nukem Forever,"

• May 7, 2009- Asset leak begins with screenshots, artwork and demo reel.

• May 14, 2009- Take-Two files a lawsuit against 3D Realms, demands a copy of the DNF source code and wants to restrict leakage of assets.

Kick Him When He’s Down: Take-Two Sues 3D Realms

It looks as though the whole 3D Realms Closure Conspiracy is just that, because Take-Two has confirmed the closure and the fact that former employees are looking for work elsewhere. Another reason is that Take-Two is suing 3D Realms partly because of this.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc is suing Apogee Software Ltd. (3D Realms) for breach of contract, as we all know that 3D Realms closed down less than two weeks ago, and failed to release Duke Nukem Forever, which it had continuously promised to deliver.

Take-Two, the publisher, initially invested $ 12 000 000 into DNF in 2000, but Scott Miller claims: "No. We didn't get a penny of that money. This, along with so much else, is 100% spin, being eaten up by those who have no clue whatsoever."

At one point, in a filing with the SEC, Take-Two revealed that they had renegotiated the deal and would receive $4.25 million instead of $6 million upon the release of the game. The filing also revealed that Take-Two was offering a $ 500,000 bonus if DNF was commercially released by December 31, 2006.

In 2007, the two companies entered into a second agreement.

It’s also been rumoured that George Broussard went to Take-Two to show DNF off and secure more funding, seeing as they were obviously in financial trouble. Take-Two made an offer, that instead of giving them $ 5 000 000, they would give them $ 30 000 000 if they gave them the Duke Nukem IP (Intellectual Property). Take-Two currently only have the publishing rights.

This rumour was denied by Scott Miller however, who stated that they "would have taken this offer without hesitation".

3D Realms closed down on the 6th of May 2009.

Now Take-Two is determined to get a hold of DNF one way or another, and not to mention get their money back.

Apogee Software Ltd. Is the legal name of 3D Realms, while Apogee Software LLC. is the name of the company which was resurrected last year and is responsible for Duke Nukem Trilogy along with Deep Silver. So, it looks as though neither Apogee Software LLC. nor Duke Nukem Trilogy will be affected by this move, hopefully.

Take-Two is looking to secure a copy of the Duke Nukem Forever source code, and also wishes to ensure that 3D Realms doesn’t let any assets loose. This is kind if bad news, seeing as there have recently been a lots of leaks on the net of demo reels, and concept art as well as screenshots, which Take-Two apparently doesn’t want happening. That’s why on most of the original sites which had them up, like the blogs belonging to former artists at 3D Realms, they’ve been taken down. But it’s too late, seeing as many other sites have them now in their galleries, and not to mention I have pretty much all of them too, and so do others.

Sources:

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58651
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58642
http://forums.duke4.net/index.php?s=&showtopic=932&view=findpost&p=16747
http://www.duke4.net/news.php?item.277.4

2009/05/15

New All-Time Low Prices for PC Games

Unreal Tournament III - $17.97
Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena - $32.65
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization - $17.99 - Save $1.50
Neverwinter Nights 2 Expansion Pack: Mask of the Betrayer - $17.99 - Save $0.50

Apocalypse Then: The World Needs a Hero

On this day, in 2001, the metal album by Megadeth, The World Needs a Hero, was released.

The Track listing is as follows:

1. Disconnect
2. The World Needs A Hero
3. Coming Home- bonus track
4. Moto Psycho
5. 1000 Times Goodbye
6. Burning Bridges
7. Promises
8. Recipe For Hate... Warhorse
9. Losing My Senses
10. Dread And The Fugitive Mind
11. Silent Scorn
12. Return To Hangar
13. When

Dread And The Fugitive Mind made it onto the Greatest Hits Album of both 2000 and 2005, titled Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years and Greatest Hits: Back to the Start, respectively.

Return to Hangar is the continuation of the epic "Hangar 18" off of Rust in Peace.

Some Old Duke Nukem Forever Artwork

Instead of the leaks containing artwork of the more recent build of Duke Nukem Forever, now there’s something from Joe Wampole Jing, who worked at 3D Realms between 2003 and 2006.
There are pictures of three of DNF’s enemies, and all of them look quite “out there”- especially the boss hog, or “super mutated pigcop”. These models weren’t being used in the latest version as far as I can tell. Another one is the enforcer.

The Battlelord looks pretty good, especially with the skulls. He looks more in line with the model from Duke Nukem 3D. Here’s a comparison of all the models:

Battlelord- DN 3D 1996

Battlelord- DN 3D HRP 2007

Battlelord- DNF 2003-2006

Battlelord- DNF 2007-2009

When I tried to access the post on duke4.net, I couldn’t, but the links to the pics work, so here they are just in case:

http://www.duke4.net/images/newspost_images/Char_DNF_BossHog01.jpg
http://www.duke4.net/images/newspost_images/Char_DNF_BossHog02.jpg
http://www.duke4.net/images/newspost_images/Char_DNF_BossHog03.jpg
http://www.duke4.net/images/newspost_images/Char_DNF_BatLord01.jpg
http://www.duke4.net/images/newspost_images/Char_DNF_BatLord04.jpg
http://www.duke4.net/images/newspost_images/Char_DNF_Enforcer03.jpg

Sources:

http://joewamp.cgsociety.org/gallery/
http://www.duke4.net/news.php?item.276.2

Thi4f: The Eidos Montreal Store

Among all the other Eidos Montreal stuff, there’s quite a bit of Deus Ex 3 merchandise, and also some new Thief 4 things- well, only two T-shirts which contain the logo that everyone is hating on at the moment, “ Thi4f”, claiming that it spells Thiaf and not Thief. 4nyb0dy wh0 r3gul4rly t4k35 5h0rtcut5 w1th t3xt m3554g35 0r r3fu535 t0 5p34k pr0p3r 3ngl15h kn0w5 th4t!

They should have gone with Thief 4 or Thief IV. You didn’t see Th1ef, ThIIef, or Thi3f: Deadly Shadows did you? Thief: Deadly Shadows didn’t even have a number…

In fact, even though it’s the fourth in the series, Thi4f is only the second to feature a number of any kind, and the first to not use a roman numeral, like Thief II. It’s also the first not to have a subtitle, like The Dark Project, The Metal Age, or Deadly Shadows, although this might change later. Imagine Thief 5- ThieV!

Apparently Eidos Montreal is very proud of their logo and so we have been urged not to make fun of it.

Sources:

http://twitter.com/eidosmontreal/statuses/1789108148
http://www.eidosmontreal.com/en/shop.html#thief4

2009/05/14

AAA Update: Over 3 months and over 300 posts

Well, the blog has been active for over 3 months, since January 24th to be exact, and I'm now standing at about 310 posts including this one.

How time flies...

If you've visited the blog before, you'll notice that the banner at the top is a new one, with some Duke Nukem 3D inspired art, and even the font too. I thought it was fitting seeing as we're all going through this depression because of DNF. We might as well refocus on it's older brother, Duke Nukem 3D.

I thought I would quicjly share some random madness with you, as I saw this pic on the 3DR forums:

That's so damn funny for some reason! It reminds me of Forest Gump. In this case, Forest G-man...

Overlord II Available for Pre-Order

Overlord II - PC - Xbox 360 - PS3

This game will release on June 23, 2009.

The Darker Side of Duke Nukem Forever: 3D Realms Closure Conspiracy

There's been a lot of talk lately that the whole 3D Realms closing and DNF being cancelled, or at least lost to the abyss, is just a viral marketing ploy- a publicity stunt, and that Duke Nukem Forever may even make an appearance at E3 2009.

The reason for this is mainly because of the website, savedukenukem.com, which according to whois, was registered either on the same day, or the day before 3D Realms closure. Of course Jeff Shenk, the owner of the website denies this, but it doesn't help that people have figured out that he's with a small-time PR firm, and there's a theory that he's in cahoots with 3D Realms. All this and the fact that artwork and the demo reel have flooded all over the net in the last week, and forums are ablaze with talk about the whole issue.

It sounds all figured out, and I'm not claiming that I believe it or anything, but that's just how conspiracy theories are- people always try to connect dots and look for clues and patterns. It's in their nature.

It's funny that the 3D Realms website and forums are still running though...

Sources:

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/8jp0v/were_being_played_savedukenukemcom_was_registered/

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/47009/Saved-Duke-Nukem-Dot-Com

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/695479/Is-The-Duke-Nukem-Forever-Cancellation-A-Huge-Publicity-Stunt.html

http://www.jeffshenk.com/ (temporarily down)

http://www.savedukenukem.com/

http://whois.domaintools.com/savedukenukem.com

2009/05/13

Duke Nukem 3D Blasts on

Duke4.net wishes to make you feel better if you've been down about the latest news on DNF by reminding, or telling you for the first time if you haven't heard before, of the Polymer Project- the Polymer renderer for EDuke 32 which might one day look just as good as Doom 3 or even Duke Nukem Forever, as seen in the recent screenshots and demo reel. This project is also being called the "Fan Community's DNF".

Judging by the snaps, it all ready looks better than Quake, Quake II, and Quake III; Quake IV? Like they say, maybe one day. The character detail and animations would have to be improved more before you can say that, although the detail on the surroundings and the lighting is epic. And I thought that EDuke32 was all ready impressive...

In related news, you can also see a couple of videos that were made last year by YouTube EDF founder, Dave Nukem, who wants to make a game called Duke Nukem Forever 3D, possibly using the same tools available here. It would be a good idea, seeing as probably many other fans have thought of doing the same thing- making a replacement for DNF, or even finishing off the real DNF if they got their hands on it. If they could all pool together and make something...

Sources and Resources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z44n6Vf2EDY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8URnY3wiiH0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZJE9paygY0
http://www.duke4.net/news.php
http://www.duke4.net/comment.php?comment.news.258
http://hrpupdate.duke4.net/
http://www.eduke32.com/
http://img4.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=duke0044.jpg

Save Duke Nukem!

There's a site on the internet which is trying to accomplish something huge by the sound of it- to try and acquire the Duke Nukem IP and raise enough money to see through the remaining development and release of Duke Nukem Forever. Quite a bold move.

The site is still under construction, but in the future, the people there will be accepting donations, and all ad revenue will go towards funding this ambitious project.

If you think this is something completely new, then you're wrong, because there have been plenty of other attempts on http://www.petitiononline.com/, although these occurred mainly when 3D Realms was still around. Do a search for Duke Nukem Forever, and you'll find nearly 40 results.

However, I think this might be just the biggest attempt yet, seeing as the site's traffic, according to Jeff, the guy running the show by the looks of it, has been overwhelming, with over 24,500 visitors from 110 countries in the last 2 1/2 days.

Sources:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/91676-SaveDukeNukem-com-Is-the-Saga-Really-Over

http://www.savedukenukem.com

http://www.petitiononline.com/

The Twittinator- Terminator on Twitter

With the arrival of the Terminator: Salvation film and video game on the horizon, Terminator has come to Twitter. Twitter users (or is it tweeps?) can join John Connor and the resistance in the struggle against the machines.

There’s a Twitter Terminator game where members communicate and try to decode intercepted Skynet transmissions. Tweeps will earn points for decoding messages and rise in rank in the resistance.

A blog will chalk up all the results and host a leader board for the game. The blog also has some other stuff like skins for you Twitter page.

The Terminator Salvation Twitter game will end on May 22nd.

The movie is due for a release on May 27th.

The videogame, Terminator: Salvation, is available for pre-order and will be released on May 19th:

Terminator: Salvation - PC- Xbox 360 - PS3

Sources:

Techno Times

www.resistance2018.com

http://twitter.com/resistance2018

http://pc.ign.com/index/release.html

Apocalypse Then: Shadow Warrior

On this day in gaming, in 1997, Shadow Warrior was released.

It used the same Build engine as Duke Nukem 3D, and gameplay wise was basically an Asian themed Duke Nukem 3D with many Asian stereotypes.

There were three expansion packs planned for Shadow Warrior, and were started before its release, but disappointing sales compared to Duke Nukem 3D led the publishers to drop the projects. Twin Dragon and Wanton Destruction are available as freeware, and Deadly Kiss remains unreleased.

It was the last game developed by the now defunct 3D Realms to be commercially released before they ventured into the pitfall that is Duke Nukem Forever, which eventually led to the developer’s downfall.

2009/05/12

The Wish Granter: A Top Gear Video Game

Usually I’m skeptical when it comes to licence games - there are very few that are actually any good, and this also goes for ones based on TV shows. This may be the case, but even though I wouldn’t classify myself as a “petrolhead”, I am a big fan of the TV Show, Top Gear, with Richard “Hamster” Hammond, James “Captain Slow” May, the mysterious Stig, and of course, the incomparable Jeremy Clarkson. Clarkson is a funny man.

I was watching through endless repeats of Top Gear over the last week, and I thought, “They should make a game based on this or something. It would most probably have to be a racing game of sorts, and of course, it wouldn’t be Top Gear without the commentary or a lot of the funny things that the guys get up to. What I was thinking was it would be like Gran Turismo meets Stunts meets GTA meets Tony Hawk's Underground or Jackass, except with a bit more class, chipped in by James May, of course, amongst the arguing that usually goes on between the other two.

In real life nowadays, some are calling for shows like Top Gear, with male hosts, primarily male staff, mostly male guest stars, and a male audience, to get more feminine- as if James May wasn’t enough. No, they want women to get into the show more, and this could be some sort of theme for the game. You can choose your gender when you start, and customize it to your tastes, and then apply for a job at Top Gear. From then on, you would receive tasks or tests just like the ones that are handed out to the terrible trio on the real-life show. There might be tasks like beating a certain driver in a race, getting the fastest time on a track, accomplishing certain goals, running an errand for Hammond (probably getting his teeth whitening kit), and perhaps finding out the identity of The Stig (recently some have said it’s Ben Collins, since the The Stig’s signature white suit and helmet were seen at his house, allegedly).

It would have to be as hilarious as the show, although I’m not convinced yet that that could ever happen, and it would probably just be some joke of a game, ending up in a bargain bin sale or attached to a motoring magazine- still, the idea is cool, but could it ever work?

Eidos Gets Busy With Sequels

A Hitman 5, Kane& Lynch 2, a new Tomb Raider, Deus Ex 3, and of course the recently announced Thief 4 are all new games that Eidos has planned for the future.

The only other dev with this much going on is probably Bethesda.

http://www.gamingindians.com/2009/05/eidos-president-talks-arkham-thief-hitman-etc/

Games Releasing Soon - Preorder Now

05-20-2009 - Delta Force: Xtreme 2 - $27.99

Games Available for Preorder: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Collector's Edition

11-10-2009 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Collector's Edition - $79.99

2009/05/11

Games Now Available for Preorder

06-30-2009 - Street Fighter IV MadCatz Bundle - $59.99

03-30-2010 - Highlander - PC - Xbox 360 - PS3 - all $59.99

New All-Time Low Prices for PC Games

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Game of the Year Edition - $49.99
Dungeon Siege 2: Broken World Expansion Pack - $8.69
Backyard Baseball 2009 - $12.99 - Save $2.00

Duke Nukem Forever: The Dissident Developers

Just over the last week, we’ve been absolutely spoiled with plenty of art from the former artists from 3D Realms. Previously unreleased work has now seen the light of day, and as some have put it, it must be liberating to finally get it out into the open. For years we didn’t really know if DNF was really real and how far along it was as far as completion was concerned, but now we have more of an idea. It unfortunately meant the closure of 3D Realms, and the loss of their jobs, but I imagine that sooner or later they’ll be snapped up by someone else- perhaps even a future team who decide to work on and finish off DNF.

This is from the page of staff that was at 3D Realms. It’s a list of names in the Art Department. This is sort of a directory of their blogs and project pages. Beware, because some of them have a nasty habit of locking their blogs and not making them accessible to the general public, or taking down their images. It's weird, because I went onto Chris DeSimone's blog, and had a look at his pictures, but then went back later and they weren't there. There was a message on Ben Eoff's blog today that stated, "Sorry, lawyers and such."

It seems that even though 3D Realms is gone, there's still some sort of contractual bind.

Art Director

Trammell Isaac- http://talkinrealatyou.blogspot.com/ and http://www.barakastudios.com/isaac.htm

Artists

Chris DeSimone- http://3dprofessional.blogspot.com/; http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/426/33a
Chris Smith- http://news1213models.blogspot.com/ (closed); http://www.joystiq.com/photos/duke-nukem-forever-chris-smith-unreleased-concept-art/
James Houska- http://www.linkedin.com/pub/3/958/936
Ben Eoff- http://www.linkedin.com/pub/6/765/72b; http://beneoff.blogspot.com/
Randy Forsyth- http://www.randyforsyth.blogspot.com/
Bryan Brewer- http://www.liquidmesh3d.com/
Mark Skelton- http://madmanmarkskelton.blogspot.com/
Jay Brushwood- ?
Pat Jones- http://www.patjones.org/
Andrew Kerschner- http://www.andrewkerschner.com/
Layne Johnson- http://squidcakes.blogspot.com/

Yes, it is Thief 4 (Big Surprise)

Today, Thief 4 was officially announced.

We've been speculating about it for some time- years even. There's isn't much to say about it at the moment, and Eidos Montreal say they're getting a team together at the moment, so it doesn't look like we'll see it on the shelves for some time.

Sources:

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58567

http://www.thief4.com/

http://twitter.com/eidosmontreal

http://www.eidosmontreal.com/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=81350002691&ref=nf

New DNF Artwork

There are three new artists who have gone online, two with blogs on blogger. The one is Chris DeSimone and the other is Ben Eoff.

In related news, Tramell Isaac seems to have closed his blog off to public viewing, and Andrew Kerschner is in the process off starting his own site- I think he's still busy designing it at the moment.

http://3dprofessional.blogspot.com/

http://beneoff.blogspot.com/

http://www.andrewkerschner.com/

New Article: Duke Nukem Forever Demo Reel

I’ve published a new article on HubPages, which goes into details about the latest Duke Nukem Forever demo reel that’s been going around the internet lately. It includes my thoughts on it as well as other things which you might like to check out. It's also got a streaming version of the video.

http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Duke-Nukem-Forever-Demo-Reel

Duke Nukem Forever Demo Reel

There's a new DNF video showing off some gameplay footage, which was on http://www.liquidmesh3d.com/, but was taken down. Check out http://www.duke4.net/news.php for more.

Source:

http://www.duke4.net/news.php

New Duke Nukem Forever Art

There's more killer DNF art available on blogspot, as two new team members, Mark Skelton, and Randy Forsyth have both posted some artwork. Some of these shots are explicit, so you've been warned!

http://madmanmarkskelton.blogspot.com/

http://www.randyforsyth.blogspot.com/

Source:

http://www.duke4.net/news.php

2009/05/10

New All-Time Low Prices for PC Games

Risk II [Game Download] - $6.99 - Save $3.00
X-Men Origins: Wolverine - $36.99 - Save $3.00
Mirror's Edge - $17.99 - Save $1.99
Neverwinter Nights 2 Expansion Pack: Mask of the Betrayer - $17.99 - Save $3.00
Dead Space - $29.99
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars - $6.99 - Save $1.00
MotoGP 08 - $15.49 - Save $0.50
Damnation - $36.99 - Save $3.00
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization - $19.49 - Save $0.50

Fight Night: The HubPages Challenge

Recently Ryan Hupfer from HubPages.com picked a fight with Courtney Tuttle from The Keyword Academy. He discovered a blog post written by Courtney titled New Make Money Experiment- 100 Hubs In 30 Days, and he said he was going to write 100 hubs in 30 days to see how much money he could earn.

Ryan challenged him to see who could earn more and now it’s come down to this- Ryan “the communicator of awesomeness” Hupfer from HubPages.com in the blue, red and green trunks versus Courtney Tuttle from The Keyword Academy in the black and blue trunks; all in good fun, of course. Anyone else who wants to join in can.

I’ve been on HubPages for about nine months, and I have about sixty something hubs in total on two profiles, so it just goes to show how hard it will be- you truly are crazy if you want to take on this challenge. I’ll likely just spectate and laugh as the would-be winners get knocked out!

There are two challenges and titles on the line:

The 30 hubs in 30 days challenge- the welterweight division,

And the 100 hubs in 30 days challenge- the heavyweight division.

Referee’s Instructions:

If you’d like to join Hub Challenge, head on over here for more details.

To see what HubPages is all about, head here:

To get an idea of what to write about, check out my profiles:

http://hubpages.com/_3tzb0unem02ru/profile/Anti-Valentine
http://hubpages.com/_3tzb0unem02ru/profile/ANDR01D

To join Hubpages, head here:

FIGHT!

Resources:

http://hubpages.com/_3tzb0unem02ru/HubChallenge

http://hubpages.com/_3tzb0unem02ru

http://hubpages.com/_3tzb0unem02ru/user/new/

http://thekeywordacademy.com/

http://thekeywordacademy.com/new-make-money-experiment-100-hubs-in-30-days/

http://hubpages.com/_3tzb0unem02ru/profile/Ryan+Hupfer

Apocalypse Then- SiN Episodes: Emergence

May 10 Mother's Day (holiday)

On this day in gaming, in 2006, SiN Episodes: Emergence was released.

It was the first (and only to date) of a planned nine episodes of episodic released games to continue the story of the original game, SiN. SiN Episodes: Emergence was the first computer game by a major developer to both be produced episodically and delivered over the Internet without the intervention of a publisher, by using Steam.

There will likely be no continuation of the series due to the sale of Ritual, the developer, to MumboJumbo, and the departure of several key employees, including the lead programmer, which all took place years ago.