Duke Nukem 3D Remake Using Unreal Engine 3 In Early Stages

There’s an interesting mod that I read about on Bluesnews the other day. Someone over at the new Gearbox Duke Nukem forums (which are now the official ones instead of over at 3D Realms), has undertaken a project to create an unofficial remake Duke Nukem 3D, using Unreal Engine 3 technology – the engine of choice nowadays for most mods.

It’s been said that it basically uses the same core features as seen in Duke Nukem Forever.

There are several screenshots up showing off the work done so far by one guy. And apparently he’s all ready contacted the likes of Scott Miller of 3D Realms to secure permission to carry on with the project. Scott says he would like to see the work done so far and so would George Broussard.

                    A screenshot of early work on the project, with comparison.

The man behind this project, known as Fresch, previously worked on a Daikatana remake, which was abandoned due to lack of interest, despite some fanfare from none other than John Romero. Then a SiN remake, which was cancelled after a Cease and Desist was issued – not to the guy working on it directly, but to the ModDB people, who subsequently deleted the mod’s pages.

There are of course worries over whether the mod will allowed to carry on in development. Seeing as Scott says he’s interested and hasn’t outright denied permission, that’s a start. Upon contacting Gearbox reps, they said that even though they have the rights to the Duke Nukem IP (acquired from 3DR last year), and are working on Duke Nukem Forever, and possibly Duke Begins, they do not have any say based on earlier Duke Nukem titles - such as DN3D, DN 2, and the original Duke Nukem.

But in an update, Scott did get back to Fresch, and said that it would have to go through Take-Two, the former publisher of DNF. That’s the publisher that caused 3DR all the legal woes in the past. This has aroused some debate seeing as 2K now owns the publishing rights to DNF, and had nothing to do with Duke Nukem 3D. But if it is true, then hopes of getting a green light for a remake of “Red Light District” are slim.

Still, like most of the pessimistic posters on the forums say: these projects are very rarely followed through until completion, and there’s not much one guy can do, although the maker claims he will assemble a team if given the go ahead from 3DR or whoever has the final say.

The screens do look amazing though. And if you thought that the Polymer renderer for EDuke32 and the HRP looked shiny, then you’ll have to wear sunglasses, just like the Dukester, when taking a look at these.

Sources:

http://www.bluesnews.com/s/114567/duke-3d-mod
http://gbxforums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=111335

Duke Nukem 3D Remake Using Unreal Engine 3 In Early Stages

AAA - Now Playing: Dark Forces

I think it was earlier this year when I decided I wanted to go ahead and get Star Wars: Dark Forces working.

So I got the game out of my collection and tried to run it with DosBox, but failed. So it laid there dormant for several months. I was kind of bummed that I couldn’t get it to work.

Then the other day I downloaded DarkXL – a source port for Dark Forces. With a bit of tinkering around, I was able to get it running. It was only the demo level though, and I was a little disappointed at this, seeing as I have the full version of the game. You see, the DarkXL source port is only in its Alpha stages of development, and it has been for years now.

So I went online and found out that there was in fact a later version of the program. I downloaded that ASAP and tried it again. The result was much better. The UI was vastly improved and I was able to at least play three levels this time before getting stuck.

Needless to say, much more work has to be done on the source port. But I eagerly anticipate the next build which should be out hopefully in the next few months. There’s been a pickup in activity as regards the project recently.

Still, it’s amazing that I’ve even been able run it, seeing as it’s been probably about 14 years or so since I’ve seen let alone played this classic. I usually have a habit of taking out a game every few years and playing it. So this one marks the longest amount of time that has elapsed since I last played it.

And this game was released in 1995, meaning it’s fifteen years old. But I’m still quite amazed at its technological advancements for that time.

AAA - Now Playing: Dark Forces

Megadeth Month: Guitar Hero and Rust in Peace – 20 Years on

Heritage Day [24 Sep – SA]

September is Megadeth Month. I came up with this idea last year after I noticed several of Megadeth’s studio albums and compilations have come out in this month in past years. Lead singer Dave Mustaine’s birthday is also this month.

This week however marks two important events to occur this month. The one is the release of the game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, said to be the ultimate release in the series of popular music games. The tracklist for the game looks to be awesome, with most of the legendary heavy metal, thrash metal, and hard rock acts you’d expect, appearing in the game with some of their best songs.

This includes one of the big four thrash metal bands ever – Megadeth – who will bring tracks like “This Day We Fight” off of their latest album from yesteryear, Endgame, as well as one of their most renowned tracks: “Holy Wars…The Punishment Due”.

This song is often listed in the top 3 thrash metal songs of all time, usually behind other greats like “Master of Puppets” by Metallica and “Raining Blood” by Slayer. And it appeared on no doubt one of their best albums, if not the best to date, Rust in Peace.

This week, on the 24th of September (today), marks the 20th anniversary of this “thrashterpiece”, which was originally released on this date in 1990 – during the last gasps of the thrash metal era which ruled the scene from the early 80’s until the early 90’s.

And perhaps by no coincidence, the aforementioned game, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, will come out in the UK on the same date, followed by a US release a few days later.

Megadeth will also have the spotlight in this new offering, seeing as they are going to debut a completely new song, named “Sudden Death” which has been named a “finger buster” all ready by those who have listened to it or played it themselves by getting ripped versions of the song from previews on the web as well as charts. It’s set to be the last song on the tracklist.

Happy Megadeth Month!

Megadeth Month: Guitar Hero and Rust in Peace – 20 Years on

Scott Miller: ROTT and Shadow Warrior Sequels Possibly Planned

The other day, Duke4.net had an exclusive interview with Scott Miller, the CEO of 3D Realms. Something interesting in amongst the usual questions one would expect (met with rather abrupt answers for most of them), is this:

“Q10. Any plans for sequels for older titles such as Shadow Warrior and Rise of the Triads?
A: Absolutely.”

I guess now that Duke Nukem Forever, which one must admit was an amazingly huge time sink that’s lasted for thirteen years or so, has been handed over to Gearbox, along with the IP, 3D Realms actually has time for other projects now.

The last game that 3D Realms actually developed and released was Shadow Warrior… in 1997. That was the year after Duke Nukem 3D came out. The company has however been involved in a publishing capacity like with Max Payne since then, and overseen the release of several console-only Duke Nukem titles, but not much else.
So, while Randy Pitchford is polishing Duke Nukem’s rocket, and Gearbox is working on the last bit of Duke Nukem Forever, perhaps 3D Realms can get back to some of the other great games like Rise of the Triad and Shadow Warrior, from the 90’s.
And we want a proper game too – not some iPhone port of ROTT like was seen earlier this year.

3D Realms is a significantly smaller studio now though, since the DNF dev team was let go last year, so I don’t know how long it would take before development could actually begin, or whether the studio will actually do it themselves. They could probably just outsource it to another studio and publish the titles. Apogee Software was a big name in publishing years ago…
They won’t be able to really work on Duke Nukem titles any longer either seeing as the IP was sold to Gearbox. In the above mentioned interview, Scott Miller also replied to a question about whether the company would ever try to re-acquire the Duke Nukem IP. He said it’s “unlikely.” He also mentioned that he looks “forward to several decades worth of Duke console games released in a timely way”.

Timely = good. Console = meh.
----
Source: Our Exclusive Duke Nukem Forever Interview with Scott Miller [Duke4.net]

Scott Miller: ROTT and Shadow Warrior Sequels Possibly Planned

Video Game Character Lookalikes: Matt Horner [StarCraft II]

We’re back with another instalment in the Video Game Character lookalikes series.

As you know, StarCraft II was released to much critical acclaim in July, and I couldn’t help but notice while playing the game that one character in particular reminded me of an A-list actor.

You know Matt Horner? That generic-named, goody two shoes captain of the Hyperion starship which was “borrowed” from the Dominion? He’s a dead ringer for Christian Bale, don’t you think?
Come on, they’ve got the same face basically, the same hair colour more or less, and Horner even shares the same hairline as Christian.

             
                           Christian Bale                             Matt Horner

                              “Little Matt Horner sh@t in a corner.”

Video Game Character Lookalikes: Matt Horner [StarCraft II]

Looking Glass Studios Classics Dreamcast Beta Builds Discovered

        

                                 System Shock 2 and Thief II: The Metal Age

Looking Glass Studios is known for having done two series that inspired their respective genres of FPS/RPG hybrid and the first-person sneaker: System Shock and Thief.

Up until now, those series have both been PC exclusives. This is no different with the sequels in those series, System Shock 2 and Thief II: The Metal Age – both great games, both of which I regard as even better than their predecessors. System Shock 2 is sometimes mentioned as one of the greatest PC games of all time, usually miles behind Deus Ex – a game it inspired.

But I read something interesting the other day. It was the Sega Dreamcast’s 11th anniversary this past week, and to coincide with this event, a collector happened upon what he claims are beta builds for Dreamcast versions of not only System Shock 2, but Thief II as well. He found them in a discarded development kit which apparently once belonged to Eidos. To date, I’d only really ever been aware of a Dreamcast port of SS2 which was eventually cancelled.

This person over at Dreamcast-Talk decided to share the files by uploading them to the PSO archive online. These beta versions of the game aren’t playable, but with enough work, it’s thought that at some time in the future, though doubtfully, you could be playing these classics on your old Dreamcast. Why you’d want to is another matter. But then I hear that it was quite the popular little console years ago, albeit short-lived seeing as the Playstation 2 and Xbox eclipsed it when they were released soon after.

In addition to the Dreamcast turning 11, System Shock 2 turned 11 last month, and Thief II had its tenth birthday earlier on this year. I also read that this week, the first PlayStation celebrated 15 years since it was brought to the US. So good news and reason to celebrate all round.

----

Source:

Download Unreleased Thief 2, System Shock 2 Dreamcast Beta Builds [GameSetWatch]

Looking Glass Studios Classics Dreamcast Beta Builds Discovered

Ex-3DR Employee: Gearbox Taking all the Credit

Tramell Isaac, formerly the Art Director for the DNF team at 3D Realms, and now at Sony Online, has been posting again on his blog, Talkin’ Real at Ya’. He does every once and a while and after PAX recently, he has something he wants to get off his chest.

At PAX, even though Randy Pitchford performed like a fan boy with his T-shirt of Duke that he’s had since 1996 and all, Tramell feels that Gearbox is claiming too much credit for Duke Nukem Forever.

Tramell reveals that DNF was further along in development than most people gave 3DR credit for, and not only this, they pretty much did most of the stuff you saw at PAX. After the DNF team was let go by 3DR last year, ex 3DR employees formed Triptych Games and pretty much went back and finished off the PC version of the game. So he argues that Gearbox has swept in and claimed the credit for finally finishing the game and getting it out, when it isn’t exactly true. All Gearbox has really done besides “polishing” the title, is the job of porting it to consoles (Xbox 360 and PS3).

In fact he is quite pissed off about the whole ordeal it seems.

Randy Pitchford said the following about DNF at PAX to WSJ:

"Clearly the game hadn’t been finished at 3D Realms but a lot of content had been created.”

"The approach and investment and process at 3D Realms didn’t quite make it and it cracked at the end. With Gearbox Software we brought all those pieces together. It’s the game it was meant to be."

Tramell:

“Ok, so before I start this, I'd like to say this. Duke Nukem Forever is alive and well BECAUSE of what the EX-3dr Soldiers of "Triptych Games" did. Ok, just in case you didn't hear me. ...HEAR THIS,.... a hand ful of guys that were on the team when internal development shut down at 3dr, took the game and finish it (PC version). These are the guys that truly made DNF happen.”

“Let me break this down for you. 85% of the work you see coming out of PAX is from our group at 3dr. 10% Triptych (the last 10% is the hardest ask any game developer) Which leaves 5% for the guys at Gearbox (with help from Triptych). To be perfectly honest, that Gearbox percentage could be plus or minus a few points. Bottomline, DNF was damn near completion if not completed when Gearbox got it (PC version).”

So that’s the truth according to someone who used to work at 3D Realms. Tyrell basically says don’t believe everything Randy Pitchford says. We all ready know that he has a habit of shooting his mouth off in public – particularly when he made some remarks about Valve last year which many found disrespectful. He claims however they were taken out of context.

I think most of Tramell’s anger is aimed at Randy for the comments he made, and not Gearbox.

Okay so I will say it. I’m quite sure Tramell will read this somewhere down the line, or I might just be paranoid. I read his blog every time he posts something.

I’m impressed with Triptych for actually doing what they did and going back to a project and finishing it. It shows commitment, and at least now they can put on their resumes that yes, they FINISHED DNF. That should be enough for any potential employer to sit up and take note.

I didn’t doubt that 3DR, despite all the delays over the years, had put in a lot of work in to DNF. Like I said before, looking at the screenshots and videos, you can tell.

Right now, prejudices aside, I would like to focus on getting in some more DNF screenshots and videos, and then hopefully get to play the game next year.

I was still in Primary School when DNF was first announced. In fact I didn’t even know it existed until a few years after that. Hard to believe.

Source: The Ride Continues!! - DNF WTF! (wake the freak) [Talkin’ Real at Ya’]

Ex-3DR Employee: Gearbox Taking all the Credit