Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded Put on Hold

This month there’s been a sudden slowdown in progress on the project formerly known as “DN3D: Next-Gen”, that began its life a year ago or so. For you who might have forgotten, it’s a standalone game using Unreal Engine 3, which is supposed to give Duke Nukem Forever a run for its money, not only in the looks department, but gameplay-wise too, hopefully. We all know that DN3D is still a better game than DNF! And to top if off, it has official backing by Gearbox Software – the new owners of the DN IP.

But September brings some bad news, as just over the weekend it was revealed by the team in charge of the project -Interceptor Entertainment, headed by Fresch AKA Frederick Schreiber- that DN3D: Reloaded is being put on hold until further notice. Reasons why this is happening weren’t made entirely clear from looking at the blog post on the official website, or the Facebook wall, but from visiting the thread on the forums it seems as though this ambitious project -which was originally conceived by just one man- has run in to licence issues – big surprise. We all knew it was too good to be true.

The last status update seems to indicate that the team was “around 90% finished with the multiplayer version” and was “in the final phase of the game, slowly starting the Beta phase”. In August they even took the game to Gearbox Software, and have had a “big media package, in-game trailer, and a Behind the Scenes documentary ready for some time but it’s not available for public viewing yet. But if what they say is anything to go by, it’s gonna be good if we ever get to see it, anyway.

It looks like the Duke Nukem curse was passed on from DNF, and is still alive and well.

Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded Put on Hold

NAG October 2011 Issue Out This Week

The new NAG is on the shelf today. But the local 711 (now Friendly 711) near where I live says that it won’t be in on Thursdays from now on – they can only manage Fridays, maybe Saturday.

Maybe I’ve mentioned this before, but I read in the NAG years back that to get the NAG on Monday is impossible; Tuesday is rare; Wednesday is uncommon; Thursday is common; Friday is definite; and Saturday or Sunday means that you should try buying the magazine elsewhere in the future. I didn’t ever think I would fall in to the last category. But I have. I should really consider subscribing after all these years. You think I would have learned by now.

Anyway, this NAG has some special stuff in it. There’s a big Borderlands 2 feature – and if you know NAG, you’ll know they’re massive Borderlands fanboys, the lot of them.

There’s some “impressions” or a preview of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Darksiders II and The Darkness II (try not to get confused). There’s reviews of some worthwhile games for a change. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Resistance 3, F.E.A.R. 3 – some good solid games there.

Unfortunately for the DVD, it seems that NAG has gone back to putting whatever they like on the DVD again, as for the life of me I can’t see a new DVD Suggestion thread on the forum – it used to be a sticky at the top of the “gaming” section. There was a lack of one last month, and this month it’s the same. It was mostly rubbish that was posted there anyway. People were asked to post direct links and they didn’t. Nobody reads anymore.

But I don’t even need the DVD anymore, seeing as I’ve still got a broadband deal for the next few months – and I’m putting it to good use even though the service often sucks. I wonder why I just don’t stop buying the NAG altogether. You think I would have learned by now.

The DVD has the usual trailers, plus some new Pop Fiction videos – which I look forward to. There’s also the some Rage teaser clips and mp3s showing all of those who didn’t go just what they missed out on. Living in Cape Town sucks if you’re a gamer. Barely any LANs; no expos like Rage; full of jocks – this is starting to sound like that column from an issue or two ago. Stop it.
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http://www.nag.co.za/
http://www.nag.co.za/forums/showthread.php?17607-NAG-October-2011-issue

NAG October 2011 Issue Out This Week