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3DR Team in 1995
Back Row L-R: Lee Jackson, David Demaret, Steve Hornback, Mark Dochtermann, Jim Dose Front Row L-R: Chuck Jones, Doug Wood, Tom Hall, William Scarboro (RIP)
The Team during the Duke 3D credits.
Notice Duke Nukem.
3DR/Prey Team in 1998
Back Row L-R: George Broussard, Allen Dilling, Loyal Bassett, William Scarboro (RIP), Scott McCabe, Tom Pytel
Front Row L-R: Doug Wood, Steve Hornback, Paul Schuytema
Humanhead/Prey Team 2006
Tramell Isaac's blog was updated today with the post: 3DR= Awesome.
In addition, he's linked to more former 3D Realms employees project pages, namely Bryan Brewer and Pat Jones.
3d Artist Pat Jones
Joe Siegler left this message, "Thanks for being fans and for all your support".
No big story or send off, no drama or whining- that's it.
There's also the staff bio page that's been made public. The caption is hilarious!
"For Internal Use Only!
Give out this URL, and you will have to sit in the bathroom with George when he takes a shit every day for a month."
You've been warned...
Cheers 3D Realms!
Sources:
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58559
http://www.3drealms.com/
http://www.3drealms.com/bio/staff/index.html
http://www.3drealms.com/news/2009/05/goodbye.html
The one is Tramell Isaac and the other Layne Johnson, and they are currently looking for jobs, and judging by their work displayed, I don't think it will be a problem.
Another former employee is Chris Smith, whose artwork was online but was taken down, but Joystiq managed to get the lot and has it on their site.
http://talkinrealatyou.blogspot.com/
http://squidcakes.blogspot.com/
http://www.joystiq.com/photos/duke-nukem-forever-chris-smith-unreleased-concept-art/
Sources:
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58551
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/08/laid-off-3d-realms-staff-show-off-duke-nukem-forever-concept-art/
During Amazon Magazines Spring Promotion, over 150 magazines have extra discounts, some as much as $10 off at Checkout. These great prices are available to all customers, whether they’re starting a new subscription or renewing an existing one. There are no codes required- the discounts are automatically applied when you check out. Some examples of great deals are Time magazine for $15 after instant discount and Vanity Fair for $10 after instant discount.All magazines with extra discounts are available here and expire June 30, 2009:
It’s certainly an eye opener, and it seems so detailed that it’s hard to ignore. If it’s true, then one might say that 3D Realms got what they deserved- at least the upper management. If it’s untrue, then it at least makes for a believable good piece of fiction, or conspiracy theory. The 3D Realms that I loved was the one that existed back in the nineties, when it was known as Apogee, but this one seemed like a different animal altogether.
It makes sense when you think about it. Duke Nukem Forever did, after all, use at least three different iterations of the Unreal engine during its “development”. And perhaps this is why there was such a tight-fisted approach to revealing the game in its entirety- just little tidbits every now and again, although Jace Hall got the footage of the game last year- something that 3D Realms might have wished hadn’t got out. Proof of this might be the fact that George Broussard was quick to mention that the video contained outdated combat and particle effects, and that the game had changed again- once again to keep us hooked and reel us in once more.
Note: By the way, if you’ve read this far, it is just a story. Charlie Wiederhold admitted it was fiction a long time ago. Charlie Wiederhold is a liar! Don't know about the other guy, though...
Sources:
http://web.archive.org/web/20071229182551/www.gamingisstupid.com/?p=43
You all now know that 3D Realms is gone, unfortunately. Well, here is a small tribute I put together for them.This is a list of all the posts I've made that refer to Duke Nukem in some form:
http://apocalypso-atomic-arcade.blogspot.com/2009/05/duke-nukem-never-game-over-for-3d.html
http://apocalypso-atomic-arcade.blogspot.com/2009/04/duke-nukem-forever-possibly-coming-soon.html
http://apocalypso-atomic-arcade.blogspot.com/2009/04/okay-put-guns-down.html
http://apocalypso-atomic-arcade.blogspot.com/2009/04/3d-realms-shocker-duke-nukem-forever.html
http://apocalypso-atomic-arcade.blogspot.com/2009/02/games-i-want-this-year-duke-nukem.html
http://apocalypso-atomic-arcade.blogspot.com/2009/01/when-its-dumb-duke-nukem-forever.html
http://apocalypso-atomic-arcade.blogspot.com/2009/01/on-this-day-duke-nukem-3d.html
This is a list of all the games that 3D Realms has been involved with:
As Apogee Software
Developer
1986 – Beyond the Titanic
1986 – Block Five
1986 – Diamond Digger (aka Raiders of the Forbidden Mine and Gold Miner)
1986 – Maze Machine
1986 – Maze Runner (aka Rogue Runner)
1987 – Kroz series
1987 – Supernova
1988 – Night Bomber
1988 – The Thing
1988 – Trek Trivia
1988 – Word Whiz
1989 – Meteors (aka Asteroid Rescue)
1990 – Phrase Master
1991 – Arctic Adventure
1991 – Crystal Caves
1991 – Duke Nukem
1992 – Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure
1992 – Secret Agent
1993 – Bio Menace
1993 – Duke Nukem II
1993 – Major Stryker
1993 – Monster Bash
1994 – Rise of the Triad
1995 – Realms of Chaos
1996 – Stargunner
Publisher/producer
1988 – Trivia Whiz – Micro F/X Software
1988 – Star Trek: The Next Generation Trivia – Micro F/X Software
1989 – The Thor Trilogy – Scenario Software
1990 – Pharaoh's Tomb – Micro F/X Software
1990 – Monuments of Mars – Scenario Software
1990 – Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons – id Software
1991 – Dark Ages – Scenario Software
1991 – Commander Keen: Goodbye Galaxy! – id Software
1991 – Paganitzu – Trilobyte
1991 – Jumpman Lives! – Shamusoft Designs
1992 – Wolfenstein 3D – id Software
1992 – Word Rescue – Redwood Games
1992 – Math Rescue – Redwood Games
1993 – Alien Carnage (aka Halloween Harry) – SubZero Software
1993 – Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold – JAM Productions
1994 – Blake Stone: Planet Strike – JAM Productions
1994 – Boppin' – Accursed Toys
1994 – Hocus Pocus – Moonlite Software
1994 – Mystic Towers – Animation F/X
1994 – Raptor: Call of the Shadows – Mountain King Studios
1994 – Wacky Wheels – Beavis Soft
1995 – Xenophage: Alien Bloodsport – Argo Games
1996 – Death Rally – Remedy Entertainment
Cancelled projects
The Underground Empire of Kroz
Dino Days
Gateworld
Commander Keen: The Universe Is Toast
Fantasy 3D
Cybertank 3D
Tubes
BoulderDash 5000
Nuclear Nightmare
Angels Five
The Second Sword
Wards of Wandaal
Doom – Was supposed to be published by Apogee, but a discussion with id Software (developer of Doom) finished with the conclusion that Apogee would no longer publish any games of id.
Megaloman
Tom, Dick, and Harry– Was written by Chris Nurse and produced by Andrew Amess of Transend Ltd which was a British shareware company that sold all Apogee games and was the U.K. distributor of DOOM. Tom, Dick and Harry was offered to Apogee but never reached the market, as Transend Ltd closed down.
Violent Vengeance
Descent
Monster Bash VGA
Crazy Baby
Fumes
Crystal Carnage
Pitfall (PC version)
Ravager
Cyberpunk Kid
Duke Nukem Forever (scroll game) – Was a side scroll game Apogee intended to do but later cancelled (not related to Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project).
As Pinball Wizards
Publisher/producer
1997 – Balls of Steel – Wildfire Studios
As 3D Realms
Developer
1996 – Duke Nukem 3D
1997 – Shadow Warrior
Publisher/producer
1995 – Terminal Velocity – Terminal Reality
1997 – Duke Nukem 64 – Eurocom
1997 – Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown – Aardvark Software
1998 – Duke Nukem: Time to Kill – N-Space
1999 – Duke Nukem: Zero Hour – Eurocom
1999 – Duke Nukem (Game Boy Color) – Torus Games
2000 – Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes – N-Space
2001 – Max Payne – Remedy Entertainment
2002 – Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project – ARUSH Entertainment/Sunstorm Interactive
2003 – Duke Nukem Advance – Torus Games
2003 – Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne – Remedy Entertainment
2004 – Duke Nukem Mobile – Machine Works Northwest/Tapwave
2005 – Duke Nukem Mobile II: Bikini Project – Machine Works Northwest
2005 – Duke Nukem Mobile 3D – Machine Works Northwest
2006 – Prey – Human Head Studios
2008 – Duke Nukem 3D (Xbox Live Arcade)
Announced projects
TBA – Duke Nukem Forever (DNF)
Cancelled projects
Ruins: Return of the Gods – A 3D game using the Build engine, it was sold to Playmates Interactive and retitled "Exhumed" (PowerSlave in the US).
Blood – The game was supposed to be developed and/or produced by 3D Realms, but the rights were sold to Monolith Productions, who finished the game, which was published by GT Interactive.
Descent: FreeSpace — The Great War
Duke Nukem: D-Day – Was to be developed by N-Space.
Earth No More – Transferred over to Radar Group.
Prey 2 – Transferred over to Radar Group.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_Realms
"It's not a marketing thing. It's true. I have nothing further to say at this time."- Joe Siegler
Yes, it's happened- 3D Realms is gone; in the blink of an eye, and just when we thought we might get Duke Nukem Forever this year. So close!
Fan reaction has been annoyingly callous, but then again, making people wait a dozen years for a game is asking for trouble, and not just with fans, but with publishers, too.
This is some very sad, frustrating news, but it was bound to happen eventually. Don't believe me? Check out this post I made last month about 3D Realms going under. The funny thing is, it was meant to be an April Fool's Day joke! While you're reading it though, put on a serious face and ignore the fact that it says April 1st. And rest assured- this time it isn't an April Fool's Day Joke. May 6th, 2009 will always from now on be remembered as the day 3D Realms closed down.
On some slightly better news, Apogee will still be around, and Duke Nukem Trilogy will still come out sometime, while Take-Two, the b@stards who reportedly cut off 3D Realms' funding and shut them down, still own the publishing rights to Duke Nukem Forever. So, we might still get it sometime in the next 12 or 13 years, albeit a little tainted.
Sources:
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58519
Rumours have now been going around about a new branch in the franchise, and instead of World War II or Modern Warfare, it’s going to be in Vietnam or something.As I’ve said before, Call of Duty’s WW II exploits are getting a little stale, with mainly just the same stuff (the Russian campaigns have been more or less the same since the first one), but with prettier graphics. I liked the American campaign of World at War, with the Pacific Front being explored more, and it gave a little taste of what might come in the form of this Call of Duty: Vietnam, if it is real. And why not? It’s just a natural progression, and could, and should happen sometime. Even Medal of Honor did a Vietnam game, Men of Valor, which was okay.
Vietnam is both a rose and a thorn in the side of American culture, and perhaps the culture of others nations. Yes, the Americans withdrew, and they lost over 58 000 men, and it was reportedly one of the most terrifying wars ever fought, according to survivors. But on the other hand, think of how many people treated veterans when they came back home. There was that line from the trailer of ShellShock 2: Blood Trails, a game based in Vietnam, which came out recently (and sucked apparently): “A country that doesn’t want me.” That stuck in my head.
Sources:
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The other day I wrote a piece on "Apocalypse Then: Wolfenstein 3D", which was in respect to "the grandaddy of them all". I checked, and 3D Realms also had something to say about Wolf 3D, seeing as they published the game when it first came out, under Apogee Software, and were also due to make an addon for it, which eventually became a separate project- Rise of The Triad: Dark War.http://www.3drealms.com/news/2009/05/wolf3d_turns_17.html
Since Square Enix has bought Eidos, the Thief fans are now pleading with Yoichi Wada to release the source code for the original games in the series, namely Thief: The Dark Project and Thief II: The Metal Age, which both use the Dark engine, the same as Thief Gold and System Shock 2.
"To: Mr. Yoichi Wada, Square Enix' President and Representative Director
Dear Mr. Yoichi Wada!
We are the Thief-community and are inspired by the fact that your company, Square Enix, has bought Eidos. Your corporate slogan, «It is the mission of the SQUARE ENIX Group to spread happiness across the globe by providing unforgettable experiences», has brought hope to us, who are pained for ten years by the futile, but at the same time ineradicable, dream. Let us share it with You.
The games Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age, which were released in 1998 and 2000, opened for PC players a door to the mysterious and mythical world based on Medieval Europe. The world that is tissued from steam and magic, made by the geniuses of Looking Glass Studios, became so attractive to Thief players that they began to create their own missions by themselves, and these missions enlarge and fill up the original games (now there is more than 800 of them). Not few among them are better in quality than the original games (see, for example, rating at http://www.keepofmetalandgold.com/fmarchive.htm).
The world of Thief still lives over a decade after its initial release through the efforts of its fans – isn't it proof of the fact that the game is a work of genius? However, time passes by, and the technology, made for the base of Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age, can no longer provide enough freedom for the activities of those who want to enlarge and improve the original games. We, as the Thief-community, dream of receiving in our hands the original source code of Thief: The Dark Project and/or Thief 2: The Metal Age in order to make changes and improvements to it. By releasing the source code to us fans, it would give more scope to those who continue to create the world of Thief.
We are by no means calling on Square Enix to release the games Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age as freeware. We are only requesting the original source code for the graphics engine to these games, not anything more. More than ten years has passed since the release of Thief: The Dark Project and more than nine years since the release of Thief 2: The Metal Age. Because of this, we realize that these two titles are likely to be of little technological and/or commercial value for publisher. That's why we charitably ask you, the new owner of the "Thief" brand, to make the Thief-community happy and publish the original graphics source code of the games Thief: The Dark Project and/or Thief 2: The Metal Age, thus confirming Your corporative slogan.
Publishing the original source code of an old game is a widespread demonstration of good will to players - it is done by known of PC game developers: id Software (Wolfenstein 3D, Doom 1&2, Quake 1-3), Raven Software (Heretic 1&2, Hexen 1&2), 3D Realms (Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior), Volition (Freespace) and others. We cherish hopes that Square Enix will do the same with Thief: The Dark Project and/or Thief 2: The Metal Age as well.
We understand that it has been nine years since the closing of Looking Glass Studios, and that it is possible that the original source code of Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age does not exist integrally and ready for compilation. If this is true, we understand this but then, please, publish everything that is left, and we will try, like archeologists, to rise the great past from the ashes!
Sincerely,
The Undersigned"
This has been provided as is, and there are bits and pieces that look as though it wasn't proofread,
but the message is clear. I agree that it's about time that the source code is released and those enthusiastic about it can get to work with giving Thief a bit of a face lift.
If you're interested, and want to know more, and sign the petition (I all ready have), then head on over to http://www.petitiononline.com/ThiefSrc/.
Amazon Kindle DX is available for pre-order todayKindle DX Features
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After the events of F.E.A.R. 2, Alma became pregnant with Michael Becket’s child, hinting at the probability of F.E.A.R. 3, with the baby being the third prototype.
Basically it would be as if the events of F.E.A.R. hadn’t happened, and maybe in this game, the player would assume the role of one of the psychic commanders controlling a squad or a platoon of clone soldiers.
A possible future SWAT team replacement?
Or
A military force to be reckoned with?
Or
http://www.n4g.com/News-320974.aspx
There have been quite a few new screenshots for Assassin’s Creed 2, depicting the protagonist, Ezio, being able to fly, and not just by jumping off of buildings, but by using some flying contraption resembling a pair of bird’s or dragon’s wings. Another few have him diving into or swimming in the canals of Venice- at least he doesn’t drown like that wimp, Altair. Perhaps after scaling viewpoints to get more info on the map, he can dive into the canals instead of having to look for those straw piles- and missing when he falls.
There was this piece of concept art suggesting a more modern setting for Thief 4, allegedly created by Ion Storm in about 2004/2005:
And for those of you worried about the prospect of Thief being modernized, the latest rumours say that idea has been scrapped, thankfully- although it wouldn’t be a bad idea for a spin-off or another game entirely.
We all know about the clue a time ago where Eidos advertised a job offer on their site with the letter “T”, supposedly referring to Thief being their next project (quite obvious, really):
Then there was the clue this year that looked like this, with people claiming that the font was very “Thief”:
Then recently in a magazine, according to thereticule.com, there was this:
As we can clearly see in the ad, the mystery game belongs to a series that has earned a place in GameSpot’s “Greatest Games of All Time” and “Ten Best Heroes in Gaming,” as well as Gamespy’s “Hall of Fame.” Thief is the only Eidos-developed series to have earned these accolades. And when you think about it, it’s rightfully deserved- at least for the first two games.
In a thread on the TTLG forums very recently, someone did a search for www.thief4.com and, yes, found it to be a domain registered by Eidos last year:
“Just did a whois look up for www.thief4.com and got these tantalizing results.
Quote:http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126419
http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/2009/05/04/thief-4-is-the-worst-kept-secret-in-the-world/
Now Available for Preorder
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B.J. Blazkowicz is the protagonist from Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and is under contract to star in Wolfenstein, the sequel to RTCW.B.J. now has orders to star in yet another id game, Wolfenstein, which is the sequel to RTCW.
May Day (holiday)Wolf 3D is often called the granddad of FPS games, even though Doom helped carry the genre even further. The term “Doom Clone” was used throughout 1993-1997, and was replaced by the current first-person shooter term we use today. Shouldn’t it have been “Wolf Clone”?
May 4, 2009 Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper
May 5, 2009 Crysis: Maximum Edition (Crysis, Crysis Warhead, Crysis Wars)
May 5, 2009 Left 4 Dead (Game of the Year Edition)
May 5, 2009 Plants vs. Zombies
May 5, 2009 Fallout 3: Broken Steel
Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses!
Sherlock Holmes Chronicles (Trilogy)- (The Awakened, The Secret of the Silver Earring, and The Mystery of the Mummy)
Sources:
http://pc.ign.com/index/release.html
It's been confirmed that three of the biggest games this year are making their way to the PC soon- Resident Evil 5, Bionic Commando and Street Fighter 4.
Sources:
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewstory&threadid=97986
