Gearbox Green-Lights Duke Nukem 3D Remake

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Gearbox Green-Lights Duke Nukem 3D Remake


A fan-made, Unreal Engine 3-powered remake of Duke Nukem 3D [http://www.amazon.com/Duke-Nukem-3D-pc/dp/B00002S6EL/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287077051&sr=8-1] has received the official green light from Gearbox Studios.

Duke Nukem is probably the most famously unrepentant meathead in the history of the videogame industry, conjuring images of boobs and pee, bad language and worse behavior. His reputation precedes him, perhaps deservedly so, but what's sometimes overlooked amidst all the hullabaloo about the infamous character is the fact that his last game, which dates back to 1996, was an absolutely brilliant FPS.

You may have missed it; after all, it's quite likely that many people who buy the upcoming Gearbox [http://www.amazon.com/Duke-Nukem-Forever-Pc/dp/B002I0JAJ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287077127&sr=8-1].

"A few weeks ago, I played with the idea of a Duke Nukem 3D revision, made on Unreal Engine 3 Tech. Knowing that every other Duke project, not based on 3Drealms [http://www.3drealms.com/] own technology (Build), has been knifed and canceled, I didn't think it was possible to do," project lead Frederik "Fresch" Schreiber wrote.

"But I still went for the idea and made a 'test map' of what it might look like. Afterwards, I took some screenshots, posted them on this board, for everyone to see - And all hell broke loose! Suddenly, the 'news' of a next-gen remake was all over the internet, even though the development wasn't approved by either Gearbox or 3Drealms."

Thus inspired, Schreiber decided to seek the official approval he needed. "Thinking that Gearbox might have a better relationship to Take-Two, than 3Drealms, I contacted AdamF, who passed me through to PJ Putnam, Vice President and General Counsel of Gearbox Software," he continued. "Luckily Gearbox was interested in supporting the project, which resulted in a personal non-commercial license to Duke Nukem."

Fan projects are almost always an iffy proposition. The vast majority of them die on the vine and there's always the risk of having the official approval unapproved [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98739-Activision-Kills-Long-Awaited-Kings-Quest-Fan-Project] at the last minute. Whether this one ever actually sees the light of day is impossible to predict at this point, but Schreiber wrote that Gearbox is "interested in supporting the project," which certainly can't hurt.

There's no word on when the final release will be ready, but the team has set an "internal release date" for the multiplayer demo, which will include "a few maps, weapons, items, etc." and will be ready "sooner than you think." One thing's for sure: It probably won't take as long as Duke Nukem Forever. (Oh yes, I had to slip that in there.) The development team is still trying to plug a few holes, so if you have some talents and want to contribute, or if you just want to keep up with what's going on, you can find out more on the Gearbox forums [http://gbxforums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=112564].


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The DSM

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Apr 18, 2009
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I played the demo on XBLA and am watching a Lets Play of it online.

Could be good, might get it when it comes out.
 

teh_Canape

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May 18, 2010
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Onyx Oblivion said:
Can Gearbox get Jon St. John to go and re-record his old lines?
I think they already did, but I kinda get the feeling they will re-write the old lines, which I hope they dont
 

qbanknight

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Apr 15, 2009
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Sounds like a fun project, happy to see Gearbox is filled with good sports. And hey, for Take-Two, it's practically free marketing on the internet. It'll just give an introduction to people who never played Duke Nukem back in the day but with the graphics of today
 

mjc0961

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Nov 30, 2009
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Duke Nukem 3D was pretty good (hurray for XBLA ports). Well, the last episode SUCKED. Full of bugs and annoyances, but the first three were good.

Also, really cool of Gearbox to let this guy do it rather than slapping a big fat "you stop or we sue you into oblivion" thing on this guy.
 

Adzma

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Sep 20, 2009
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Onyx Oblivion said:
Can Gearbox get Jon St. John to go and re-record his old lines?
Funnily enough, if you pay his rates Jon St. John is more than happy to do voice acting for any regular person.

I think Gearbox is rapidly becoming my next favourite developer. Bringing DNF back from the dead and greenlighting a fan remake of Duke3D? That's tops!
 

LastMondaysHangover

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Oct 4, 2010
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Ironically enough, my last post in another thread was me praising Gearbox for it's initiative in promoting and developing DNF. I'm really glad to see Gearbox has been this involved with it's fanbase :)
 

mParadox

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Sep 19, 2010
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Cooooll....this is so unfair. Black Mesa: Source has been stuck in development and all of a sudden DNF breaks free of the curse and already there is remake mod in the making.. :(
 

Delusibeta

Reachin' out...
Mar 7, 2010
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Straying Bullet said:
Holy shit that looks awesome.

Will this be for free/paid/downloaded somewhere?!
I understand Gearbox granted a non-commercial license. So, worst case scenario is that it's an UT3 mod. (Best case scenario is that it's freeware thanks to the UDK. Assuming it gets released, of course).
 

Delock

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Mar 4, 2009
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Yep, Randy Pitchford does indeed kick ass.

...And those are the magic words! It's time to bring this video back out again.


Forget Duke Nukem, give me a game starring this guy.
 

The Random One

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May 29, 2008
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Duke Nukem 3D is pretty cool. I have it somewhere on my computer. Should give it another go while I wait for this.

Also, it's not the last Duke game to have come out. There have been a couple of stragglers. Duke Nukem: Zero Hour was pretty cool. Though it was so long ago I don't even remember if it's for the N64 or GameCube.
 

dochmbi

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I would have preferred if they hired the guy and gave him a small team to work on an official Gearbox Duke Nukem 3D remake. It would have resulted in a better quality game and it would have made some money for Gearbox / Take-Two.
 

BakaSmurf

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Dec 25, 2008
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The Random One said:
Duke Nukem 3D is pretty cool. I have it somewhere on my computer. Should give it another go while I wait for this.

Also, it's not the last Duke game to have come out. There have been a couple of stragglers. Duke Nukem: Zero Hour was pretty cool. Though it was so long ago I don't even remember if it's for the N64 or GameCube.
N64, my good man, I know this because I dug around and found the original cartrage just to respond to you with the proper answer.

And yeah, Zero Hour was pretty good.