Pitchford: People Love Duke; St. John: Clueless Critics

By Kevin Parrish
published

While Jon St John defends Duke Nukem Forever against the negative "clueless" reviewers, Randy Pitchford claims that consumers are wanting greasy hamburgers instead of caviar.

Now that Duke Nukem is out and about and strutting his stuff on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC, the drama surrounding the iconic hero and his fourteen-year journey through developmental hell just won't quit, and for good reason. A lot was riding on the release of Duke Nukem Forever: a lot of time, a lot of money, and a ton of emotions. For some, the harsh criticism against the game is something personal.

“I have no comments regarding bad reviews by clueless critics," said the voice behind Duke Nukem, Jon St John. "They seem to want to compare Duke Nukem Forever to Call Of Duty and other FPS’s and they are missing the point. My thoughts about Duke Nukem Forever: It freakin ROCKS! Lots of action, lots of fun, sexy, funny, irreverent… It’s everything I hoped it would be.”

Reviewers disagree. Duke Nukem Forever's Metacritic score for the PC version is an underwhelming 57 out of 100, followed by the PlayStation 3 version at 55 out of 100 and the Xbox 360 version at 49 out of 100. "The shooting is bland, the level design is uninspired, the jokes and ideas are old and tired, and the synthesis between old-school PC shooter and modern console shooter has resulted in a hideous chimera that rarely works as either," said IncGamers who gave the PC version a 42 out of 100.

But despite all the negativity Duke Nukem Forever is generating, the game is apparently also generating some hard cash for Gearbox and 2K Games. Gearbox Bossman Randy Pitchford, who became the game's sole promotional voice from the time it was brought out of limbo until the game hit the streets, has remained surprisingly quiet until now.

"With sales data, it seems like *customers* love Duke," he said on Twitter. "I guess sometimes we want greasy hamburgers instead of caviar..."

Analysts predict that Duke Nukem Forever will sell around 1.5 to 2 million units worldwide although first day sales of the game in the U.S. were "mediocre." Even more, Take Two shares took a beating on Tuesday as the negative reviews began to roll out, plunging more than 4-percent to $14.80. Doug Creutz of Cowen & Co. believes the possibility of the company achieving its full-year earnings target "has been significantly reduced."

Kevin Parrish
54 Comments Comment from the forums
  • PCGOD
    i am sure jon st. john is an expert on pc gaming and what makes a good game.
    Reply
  • Silly Randy, you don't have to defend this game. Thanks be to unto Mr. Pitchford for actually bringing this out, but this is that fat moron's fault, not yours.

    EFF YOU GEORGE BROUSSARD!
    Reply
  • It was OK.... but for a such a long development.... what where they doing? the pre release videos showed the only fun/funny bits. the rest just fizzled plently of action. but way to little interaction and unique ideas, if you where in it for they character like me and his zinger qoutes i was dissapoint... despite the fact i missed most as they came during heavy sound moments so you couldnt hear them anyway.

    Please Release a revamp pack/patch, i'll even pay more the idea of the game is good. need more gore, bullet damage specific to body part with random ragdol deaths or half deaths with more then a couple execution techniques. YES i love the idea of executing the injured.... but not the same way a thousand times!
    Reply
  • senkasaw
    My buddy has been playing it and...meh.

    I don't think people who were disappointed were expecting MW2 or anything, but they were expecting something more than "meh." Look at where 10+ years of development got Starcraft 2... 2k Games could have done better than "meh." Of course I am sure all of the hype and expectation isn't helping. If it didn't completely blow people away it was bound to disappoint (kinda like U.S. presidents).
    Reply
  • It's just a bunch of reviewers who have to be politically correct and sensitive to the feelings of a bunch of pussys. They can't take a joke anymore. Duke was fun because of its crude humor and shooting stuff, DNF delivers on that.

    If you don't like the humor then its obviously not for you and the critics can go back to watching the paint dry in LA Noire.

    Reply
  • misry
    As I think Duke himself would put it, "If you don't like it kiss my ass. Let's see what *you* got."
    Reply
  • unclealek2659
    "I guess sometimes we want greasy hamburgers instead of caviar..."
    reference to the duke burger?
    Reply
  • mlopinto2k1
    How could you screw this game up? Just doesn't make sense. Someone TOOK the game and looked at it like cash cow. Get it out they said! Get it out as fast as possible! This thing will be a monster! Yeah, ok.
    Reply
  • malphas
    It was obvious it was going to be mediocre at best, and that's exactly what it is really. The development time doesn't mean much since it was started from scratch several times during then. Gearbox basically took an unfinished game from the mid 2000's, polished it up into something presentable and let people finally play a game that's become near mythological during it's prolonged development, if you go in with that in mind and realistic expecations then it's worth a playthrough.

    It's a shame they didn't just finish up the version they were making with id Tech 2 back in 2001 or whenever, rather than switching to the Unreal engine. From the trailers and footage it looks like it would have been pretty good for its time.
    Reply
  • philologos
    Did anybody else think NCAA basketball when they clicked on this?
    Reply