Gearbox CEO: Duke Nukem Forever Is "Exactly Like Half-Life 2"

[ritchards]

Let's see... I enjoy playing HL2, and often want to go back to replay different bits of it again.

DNF I regret paying money for, and hated playing it while playing it, and only forced myself to continue because I spent money on it...

So, yeah, exactly the same.

Damn you for making me think of DNF again!

 

[Kevin Love]

Hahaha... that's so sad. I said the same thing when I played DNF. DNF and HL2 do have the same kind of pacing, in that intense action scenes are punctuated with exploration and puzzles.

But, love DNF or hate it, one cannot understand why Pitchford keeps bringing it up. It will always get beaten down by a multitude of haters. Mr. Pitchford, do you really think you're going to change peoples' minds at this point? Just admit you threw a handful of pearls to swine and move on.

 

[1337mokro]

I disagree. For one Duke never shuts up and Gordon never says a thing. You see totally different.

Except for the genre, it's like saying a shiny piece of broken glass is a diamond.

Though here's the sunny side. At least he actually allegedly PLAYED his own games. At the very least we can say he is a man who loves what he makes, unlike a certain Activision guy.

 

[Ritchian]

I'm not sure where to start. Seriously? He's comparing Duke Nukem Forever to Half-Life 2?

Look, Mr. Pitchford, I get it. I really do. Your company helped finish one of the most infamous titles in the history of video games and hoped to god that after 15 years of development that some good could come out of it. But instead, the game got almost universally decried by both critics and players. I'm sorry, but it's not a good game. It doesn't even compare favorably to it's own prequel, let alone one of the most lauded video games in the history of the medium. No amount of corporate spin is going to change how badly the game was received.

 

[Ldude893]

This is the only appropriate response to this:

As well as this.

 

[Doom972]

First of all, if you make a game exactly like somebody else's game, then you haven't done anything new and you are guilty of copyright infringement. Lucky for Gearbox, this is not the case.
While I must admit that it did, during some parts, felt like a shooter from HL2's time (not HL2 itself), they used modern elements as well such as a 2-weapon limit (later changed to 4) and regenerating health.

A statement like this shows the ignorance of their CEO and might explain how they got to where they are today.

 

[Futzpah]

...finally reached gaming platforms after 15 years of development...[/quote]

Heh. If anyone is under the impression that DNF had 15 dedicated years of active development, then it's time I started to re-think the whole Mayan thing this year. But a good article with the exception of that part of "15 years of development."

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I've never played DNF properly, but having played the demo I'd say the pacing during the gunfights was sometimes overwhelming, then when that was over, I never felt scared that something might just attack me again, I just wanted to rush through it. It was always stop start, it never seemed to flow very well.

With Half Life 2, the gunfights were well spread out, and I fully expected to have an enemy or two pop out at any moment, whether I was doing a puzzle bit or not, and I wanted to actually take my time with it.

If I start to rush through a game to get it done as quickly as possible, it's because it's not very good. So I'd say HL2 was still in 2011 better than DNF.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

Maybe he spends his nights in some flea-ridden motel and convinces himself "It's exactly like staying at the four seasons!"

 

[Futzpah]

My God. Coke must be prevalent again. I love the fact that Randy's team picked up DNF and at least released it because I was one of a few that just wanted to at least see the game, warts and all. So yay, I paid full price for a game that I had very few expectations, other than; yay I finally saw/played the game.

That game was so bad, I went back to playing World of Warcraft. That's bad. Yep, pretty much shocked to read Randy say something like that. Wow. But I still think that if Gearbox drives the next Duke game they'll do it justice.

 

[Dfskelleton]

The problem I had with DNF is that the world was a little too Duke-centric, the entire planet basically being a cult of personality to him to this extent didn't work that well. Duke, and his exagerrated personality, works best when the rest of the world is his straight man. It's hard to laugh because something is "just plain wrong" when it's not wrong for a world that has a "Duke Dome" it's just expected at that point. Done correctly Duke should be exactly like he is, and have everything coming up aces, but the rest of the world should see more or less normal, with the humor in part coming from how everything falls into line for Duke, making him seem even more awesome by association.

Well put. Duke Nukem is a fun character, but like a lot of other things, you can't just throw it at someone and say "IT'S FUN, LIKE IT!"
Duke's jokes and actions are nowhere near as funny when everyone in the game world praises how awesome he is for doing them. In DN3D, there really wasn't anyone around to listen to Duke's lowbrow ramblings and persistent self praises, and it made his ego seem even larger. In DNF, it's almost as if the entire world is fit to Duke's ego; everyone loves him, there are buildings and statues devoted to him, etc. It's not as funny to see someone who everyone thinks is cool as it is to see some guy who thinks he's extremely cool.

However, another thing; the writers seemed to be a little off on Duke's character. In DN3D, he was a douchebag, but the loveable kind of douchebag. He was hypermasculine, but not to the point of being a meathead.
In fact, in DN3D, Duke's one liners weren't center stange, just a really fun bonus. Hell, you could turn his voice completely off in the options. In DNF, it's constantly shoved down our throats, demanding that we find it funny.

The series (and character) still have plenty of potential, but we can all agree that DNF was crap. A lot of excellent franchises have some really crappy titles *coughInvisibleWarcough*.

OT: As for what he's saying:

That's like saying that Deadfall was a lot like Seven because some of the camera angles were similar.

 

[Metalrocks]

This is the only appropriate response to this:

thats what i wanted to post as well.

what a joke. DNF is not even close to HL2. DNF sucks like hell. havent touched it since i finished it. i just deleted it and never looked at it again. duke 3d, now this is awesome and fun to play.

 

[EHKOS]

This does not bode well for Borderlands 2. Which is STILL OUT of the Ultimate Loot Chest Edition

 

[JWAN]

DNF was a DN game.
For that I respected it.
For 15 years of development? They could have made it way better

 

[TheSYLOH]

Makes you wonder if they released the right version of Duke...
Maybe they released a pre-beta version.
Because he obviously didn't play the same game the rest of us did.

 

[Xan Krieger]

Having only played the demo of DNF and having played HL2 all the way through I'd say DNF is like HL2 except good. They played somewhat alike except DNF actually entertained me, something Half-life 2 failed to do.

 

[Laser Priest]

O, Randy Pitchford, your constant inability to grasp reality is hilarious.

Also, no. It's not. At all.

 

[subtlefuge]

Open letter.

Dear Gearbox:

You don't need to defend Duke Nukem Forever. It's not your fault that it turned out horrible, and nobody actually believes that you are responsible for it. You tried your best to salvage what you could, and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

Sincerely,

Everyone who bought the game that shares two letters and a release platform with Half-Life 2 and nothing more.

PS: You are the Borderlands guys, and the guys behind one of the greatest video game expansions of all time (Half-Life:Opposing Force). Try to forget you put the final stamp on this, because we all want to get back to frothing over Borderlands 2.

That would be just great.

 

[Vigormortis]

This does not bode well for Borderlands 2. Which is STILL OUT of the Ultimate Loot Chest Edition

My thoughts exactly. As much as I ended up enjoying the first game (only after patching the broken PC port with community patches, because Gearbox was too lazy to do it themselves), the fact that large portions of it was so poorly thought-out, poorly optimized, and poorly-written (that ending) I still don't have high hopes for the sequel.

I want to like it. I hope like hell it's as good as promised. I'd love to re-experience those co-op gaming moments I loved so much in the first game. But seeing as one of the biggest selling points for the PC version is that it now has both mouse sensitivity and POV sliders in the options menu...

Yeah. I'm not sold just yet. At least, not for sixty bucks. And, the more people at Gearbox that speak out in interviews, and the more I see them trying to exploit popular trends (bro-step trailer music anyone?), the more confidence I lose in them.

[sub]Also, it seems they're STILL butt-hurt about the whole Valve/Half-Life/Sierra thing in the past. Seriously Gearbox, it's petty at this point.[/sub]