3DRealms comments on closure, lawsuit

3DRealms issued a statement this week addressing it’s closure and offering a rebuttal to Take-Two Interactive’s lawsuit alleging breach of contract related to Duke Nukem Forever. The statement, at face value, sheds some light on just what rights the creators of Duke Nukem Forever hold. The first thing worth noting is that 3DRealms claims that the company has not closed, despite notes on the company’s official web site, insider information and multiple news reports.

“Despite rumors and statements to the contrary, 3D Realms (3DR) has not closed and is not closing,” the company said in a statement. “3DR retains ownership of the Duke Nukem franchise. Due to lack of funding, however, we are saddened to confirm that we let the Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) development team go on May 6th, while we regroup as a company. While 3DR is a much smaller studio now, we will continue to operate as a company and continue to license and co-create games based upon the Duke Nukem franchise.”

What the company will be able to accomplish without any funding, developers, a less-than-stellar public image and a pending lawsuit seeking $20 million in damages for “breach of contract,” is in serious doubt.

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Farewell: 3DRealms closing, says multiple sources

So here we are. According to multiple published reports, citing sources close to the company, 3DRealms has closed its doors. The company best known for the Duke Nukem franchise, the controversial Shadow Warrior and the eternally in-development Duke Nukem Forever, is closing its doors due to a lack of funding. Our requests for comments to 3DRealms and its publishing partner Take-Two remain unanswered as of this writing.

Deep Silver and Apogee Software have told Gamasutra that the Duke Nukem Trilogy for Nintendo DS and PSP compilation remains unaffected by today’s news. The Duke Nukem Trilogy features Duke Nukem: Chain Reaction, Duke Nukem: Critical Mass and Duke Nukem: Proving Grounds.

3D Realms was founded in 1987 by Scott Miller and George Broussard and is best known for Duke Nukem 3D and other Duke Nukem series of games for various platforms. The company is best known for the never ending development of its Duke Nukem 3D sequel Duke Nukem Forever. Thirteen years later, we have no idea how far along that game is - and now we may never know.

The company also produced Max Payne and Max Payne 2 with Remedy Entertainment - later selling the rights to the franchise to Take-Two for millions. The company’s other achievements include the recently released Xbox Live Arcade remakeof Duke Nukem 3D. The company also developed Shadow Warrior , published Human Head Studios’ Prey, a game that it began developing in the 90’s before it was cancelled by 3Drealms.

A visit to the official 3DRealms web site also reveals that the forum and all of its topics have been locked down. Today’s news is a bit shocking if you are a regular visitor to that web site, considering that the last update was on May 5th.

Source

Duke Nukem 3D This Week

3DRealms may not be delivering Duke Nukem Forever anytime soon (if ever) but at least you can enjoy the classic shooter Duke Nukem 3D on Xbox Live. The revamped and reworked version of the classic feature the politically incorrect action hero gives you all the power-ups one liners lifted from Army of Darkness, and single-player action of the original.

The game also features 8 player cooperative and DukeMatch multiplayer, Play ranked matches, single and multiplayer Achievements, unlockables, bilinear filtering, motion blur, Xbox LIVE Vision camera support for DukeMatch, multiplayer, and more.

Look for it to hit Xbox Live Marketplace on Wednesday, Sept. 24. Find out more about this reimaging of the classic game by visiting www.xbox.com.

Duke Nukem Forever in 2008

Scott Miller has confirmed that Duke Nukem Forever may see the light of day in 2008. In an exchange with the Dallas Business Journal, Miller gave long-time DNF fans some hope:

We haven”t formally announced any platforms for DNF, wrote 3D Realms President Scott Miller said in an e-mail exchange with the Dallas Business Journal. But, of course hitting the big three makes the most sense (PC, PS3, 360).

But in the same breath he warned that the company might be off its target by a few months:

We may miss the mark by a month or two, but I feel very confident that we”re on target this time.

Miller also confirmed that a downloadable Xbox Live Arcade version of Duke Nukem 3D, the classic first-person shooter that made Duke a household name, is in the works. Duke Nukem 3D on XBLA will feature online multiplayer support, Xbox Live achievements, online score boards and a co-op mode.

We”re really excited about bringing classic Duke to the 360, said Miller during an interview. We”re talking to Microsoft about getting a release slot sometime this year.

Well there may yet be light at the end of the tunnel for DNF, and having Duke Nukem 3D to play around with is certainly good news for many. Although fans and the media enjoy picking on the game for being in development for almost 12 years, it looks like the joking may be put to rest in 2008. Now the only question that remains is, When in 2008?