Hell hath frozen over. Duke Nukem Forever has gone gold

Brian Ambrozy 24 May, 2011 at 2:16pm ET Article published in Gaming

First, the press release:

2K Games and Gearbox Software are proud to announce that Duke Nukem Forever®, one of the most anticipated entertainment properties of all time, has “gone gold” and will be available at retailers on June 10, 2011 internationally and on June 14, 2011 in North America. The road to gold was paved over the course of 15 years and its legendary path climaxes on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC.

Duke Nukem Forever… well, it doesn’t really need to be said. Let’s just call it “legendary”, and that’s a bit of an understatement. Amongst gamers, it has become the go-to symbol of vaporware—the Cursed, the Unshippable, the Thing That Will Not Be.

That, of course, provides what may be considered the most gold-encrusted marketing opportunity in gaming history. The company that could bring Duke back to gamers’ screens is assured of fame.

The game doesn’t even have to be good, honestly. It just has to be, and it will sell. If it’s good, that will be a bonus, but I have a feeling that there are people out there who will buy this for novelty alone.

The hype train is large with this one, but that’s kind of Duke’s thing. Randy Pitchford of Gearbox says, “‘I’ve played the final game and it is an incredible experience—a once-in-a-lifetime opus of interactive entertainment that reminds me once again why Duke Nukem is our King.”

We shall see, Pitchford. We shall see.

Comments

24 May 2011 ~ 2:19pm Thrax MY DESTINY AWAITS.
24 May 2011 ~ 2:19pm BobbyDigi I've never played Duke Nukem but I will most likely buy this because of the hype/novelty.
24 May 2011 ~ 2:21pm CrazyJoe I wonder if the game stores will honor the people that still have their pre-order tickets from 20 years ago... Hell, if you still have the ticket from that long ago, they should GIVE you the game...
24 May 2011 ~ 2:34pm BobbyDigi This came up on reddit, a guy even produced a picture of his receipt from X years ago. I believe the general understanding is that you are not setting the price in stone when you preorder, you are simply putting $5-$10 down on the game. The retailers will indeed need to keep good on them as they were the ones who did the preorders. It has also come to light that some retailers will not get enough initial shipment to meet all the preorders. In essence the ones who preorders have a coupon for that amount off the retail price when it drops. Priority/Policy on when they will get it is on a store-to-store basis.

I would suggest anyone who has a preorder, from any amount of time ago, to revisit the store it was acquired from and speak to a manager about your options. I would request they "renew" the preorder so that you are in the current system for when the game comes out.
24 May 2011 ~ 2:37pm UPSLynx

BobbyDigi wrote:

I've never played Duke Nukem but I will most likely buy this because of the hype/novelty.

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
24 May 2011 ~ 4:30pm Shorty Having had an oppurtunity to play a late build pre-gold.. I can tell you, what I saw was awesome!
24 May 2011 ~ 5:00pm doozer I'm all out of gum...
24 May 2011 ~ 5:16pm GHoosdum Holy crap. I just figured it out. THIS is what's causing all the floods, earthquakes, and tornadoes this year. DNF has upset the earth's natural balance.
24 May 2011 ~ 7:14pm Tushon that is the best explanation so far.
24 May 2011 ~ 7:45pm Butters Considering pre-ordering.
24 May 2011 ~ 9:13pm Bandrik MY BODY IS READY
24 May 2011 ~ 11:21pm CrazyJoe I love the Similar Threads at the bottom... Duke Nukem Forever threads going back 5 years...
24 May 2011 ~ 11:33pm Tushon Who's ready for a necro achievement?
24 May 2011 ~ 11:41pm RootWyrm

Tushon wrote:

Who's ready for a necro achievement?

100% of the "PC Gaming" forums in the world, I'd say.;)
17 Jun 2011 ~ 11:37am Cliff_Forster Just remember kids, Cliff warned ya.....
17 Jun 2011 ~ 12:12pm Koreish I honestly don't see why this game is getting so much flak. Sure the graphics aren't top notch but they're certainly passable. The two gun and regenerating health bug me but that's just catering to the console crowd. The same crowd I believe that keeps complaining about graphics and long load times.

How can anyone complain about the one liners the Duke spews out. That was one of the reasons that DN3D was so great.

I'm not trying to say it's a great game but it isn't some terrible PoS either. It is simply a 90s era FPS in a world 15 years gone by. I strongly believe that Gearbox and 2k games wanted to be the ones that said "Here it is we have given you the Duke. All hail the King Baby." If they make a sequel, and I hope they do, then that will be what DNF needed to be.
17 Jun 2011 ~ 1:38pm MiracleManS

Cliff_Forster wrote:

Just remember kids, Cliff warned ya.....

I have heard nothing that makes me think it is any more offensive than the original game.

Then again I find almost everything slightly amusing.
17 Jun 2011 ~ 1:44pm Cliff_Forster Duke should have been left back in the 90's.
17 Jun 2011 ~ 2:23pm Canti This is cute http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/06/duke-nukems-pr-threatens-to-punish-sites-that-run-negative-reviews.ars