Duke Nukem 3D Remake Put on Indefinite Hold
The non-commercial remake of Duke Nukem 3D has been put on hold indefinitely thanks to a conflict between the developer and Gearbox.
As we've witnessed with Duke Nukem Forever, the term "forever" doesn't always mean forever even though it certainly feels like forever. The Duke Nukem 3D sequel seemed like it was in development for generations -- or rather, forever -- when in fact it was chopped up and tossed around for a measly 14 years. Unfortunately, fans looking forward to the "Reloaded" remake of the original Duke Nukem 3D game may end up actually waiting forever, as the fan-based revision has been put on indefinite hold.
Indefinite. Forever. Seemingly the same thing.
"After careful consideration of the progress and direction of the project, Interceptor Entertainment has decided to finish Duke Nukem: Reloaded at a future date that is yet to be determined," the developer said on Saturday. "Interceptor Entertainment still has the good will and non commercial license provided to us to use the Duke Nukem brand for our creative ambitions. We hope to resume that work again when the time is right."
As reported earlier, this revision is/was a non-commercial, fan-based overhaul of the classic shooter using Epic's Unreal Engine 3. It even received a green light from Gearbox Software itself almost a year ago. But now it seems that Gearbox and Interceptor aren't quite seeing eye-to-eye on the project, so it's been tossed aside indefinitely.
"We are around 90-percent finished with the current Multiplayer version – but you have to remember that we don’t own the game," Reloaded’s project lead clarified in a forum post. "It’s done under a signed license with Gearbox Software, which ultimately means that we cannot do whatever we want with the project.
He goes on to add that there are some conditions which the team can’t live with [in] the license and agreement. "Because of this, we have decided to put the project on hold," he added. "This might change in the future – it all depends on what Gearbox decides to do after the DNF DLC has been released."
"We don't have a problem with a media blackout, but when the license doesn't secure us a release, we can't justify spending so much time with the development, knowing that it might never see the light of the day," he said in a later post. "That decision is not ours - it's Gearbox Software's. And at this given moment, we were unable to come to an agreement concerning a release of the game."
Sounds like another Duke Nukem project in limbo. Boo hiss.
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Not that I was following the remake, do remember seeing this a little while ago.
I am quite sad
Just wonder what the conflicts are and why it has been put in "limbo".
This screen shot alone makes me want a complete remake of DN3D. But now it seems like it will never be a reality. We can only hope.
can someone elaborate on what they couldn't come to terms with?
colossal dick move on gear box if they are holding them back for dnf though.
It's just too painful... Leave duke to rest in piece and stop prodding him with sticks!
There's already a totally free D3D out there, all you need is your original Duke 3d game files.
It aint the greatest, would compare it to quake 2 engine but certainly makes it fun to play again.
Vapourware put on indefinite hold...
Mate, you can't vapourise vapour. You'd have nothing left.
Vague metaphors aside, just stop developing the franchise. After DN3, no one really expects anything from you anymore, and any money spent on it is money wasted. Sure, you have your hardcore fanbase out there, but that's a tiny portion of the fans you ha(d)ve. DN3 had expectations set too high, and we should leave it at that.
Just hope they come to an agreement before the graphics on the remake are out-dated...
Don't care about graphics, gameplay is king, CS:S and UT04 have proved that.
Who cares, tried the Demo of the latest Duke and it was pretty sad. Maybe if they used the new id Software Tech 5 engine and put a good story behind it with a RPG element to it....
DUKE NUKEM: FOREVER is so.... crappy and a waste of money the engine sucked, The game play sucked, the story sucked!
and finally someone using the unreal3 engine to remake the old game is going to remake the original is halted!
Gearbox you company sucks. You're company should close it's doors and the building should be leveled for this!
in another 14 years we'll have Duke Game Fail
stop bashing gearbox, they make borderlands 1/2 and other great games... the duke was a collections of different developers, and gearbox didnt make most of it...
the conflict could be anything, and in the day of patents and CYA, gearbox might be doing that...
Gearbox saw the 90% completed project and didn't want to be even more embarrassed by some random fans releasing a free product 100x more polished than the commercial garbage they recently released.
I'm sure it is over making more money otherwise if it were purely for the fans it would be finished and posted all over the internet. It seems like the concern is coming from selling through downloads or disks.....I'm not following the remake but would like to play it if it were to become available. This article makes it sound like it is over money.
Gearbox saw the 90% completed project and didn't want to be even more embarrassed by some random fans releasing a free product 100x more polished than the commercial garbage they recently released.
that's my thoughts , or perhaps gearbox is deciding on doing a total series reboot soon now that they ahve the ip , and who knows maybe this free game will conflict with thier ideas (ie pockets)
oh so f---ing meh now , i want to kick some one's teeth in ..bade week for me , 1. find out they compeltely redid my online schools classes scheduling, so now i dotn get teh week off i thought i was gonna get this week , and to boot no 3 week holiday breaks now , jsut 8 days off in x-mas season now
2. my copy of Dead island is late getting here in the mail from amazon.
3. my crappy MS HDMI cable for my Xbox broke last night so i got to use the crappy RCA cable for the time cos i'm broke
and now i here this bit of BS news .... was really looking forward to the D3D remake
Here we go again.....
Not that surprised, I played a little of DNF, thank god I didn't buy it. I would love to see the UR3 Engine used to remake DN3D hell re-make the original quake while you're at it boys!!
I'm guessing if they sold the re-make it would out sell DNF, which again was awful!
I guess they are afraid it is going to one up the piece of garbage they released. Pity, it looks rather nice.
Given their current 14 year release cycle it makes sense to put it on hold for ~11 years or so.
What is sad is I bet this remake of the original was much higher quality than DNF. I must say my respect for Gearbox was still pristine even after DNF but seeing how they stepped on the little guy who they even green-lighted for the project in the first place this is not something that sits easy for me.
I am not at all surprised. There was entirely too much foreign influence going on. The game, it's sense of humor and it's character were being misinterpreted and misrepresented due to a culture gap. Duke Nukem is an American, as such it is very difficult for foreign developers to produce a game that would correctly represent the Duke IP.
when will people learn that 3D Realms isnt making the game anymore and therefore the ones responsible for 12-13 year developement cycle have nothing to do with Duke now.
I hope Gearbox takes their heads out their asses and lets them release the game like they want and without much problems. It sounds like its an awesome game.
I am not at all surprised. There was entirely too much foreign influence going on. The game, it's sense of humor and it's character were being misinterpreted and misrepresented due to a culture gap. Duke Nukem is an American, as such it is very difficult for foreign developers to produce a game that would correctly represent the Duke IP.
theyre not really making a game, they are remastering a game. Most likely if gearbox allowed they wouldve used original Dukes voice and lines from the original game or rerecorded the same lines with the same duke. Not much influence from cultures there.
bah
Just to celebrate, I am going to roll out my copy of DN3D Plutonium Pack with the Hi Res texture pack - LETS ROCK!!!!!
Zero Duke is better than Euro-Duke IMO. Get your own action hero! Isn't it bad enough all of our other crap is manufactured in China?! It is time for ze ass to getting kicked undt za chewing of za gum no? NO!!! NO!!! NO!!!
Wait, isn't this project non-commercial? I don't see the problem Gearbox has with all of this.