But what about what we didn't do? There are a handful of key titles that we thought we could expect for this year's holiday season, so why weren't they showing alongside their seasonal bretheren? We rounded up for you a complete list of this year's no-shows and the hype that preceded them, and then tried to get to the bottom of their conspicuous absence.

Hit the jump for the full report.

The Game: Alan Wake

The Hype: Max Payne developer Remedy announced the "action thriller" way back in 2005, promising to unveil it at E3 — but the game's skipped every event since then, while the developers denied cancellation rumors.
The Facts: A recent story referring to a Windows-branded contest that suggested the game would be shown at this year's Tokyo Game Show turned out to be old news from last year - Remedy posted on its Alan Wake forums that the team's just gotten back from a bit of holidaying, and that they "haven't had time to chat with Microsoft on upcoming shows/showings yet." We contacted Microsoft, and got a "no comment."

The Game: Beyond Good & Evil 2

The Hype: After the original Xbox title first earned critical acclaim in 2003 (making it the ideal title for the return of Kotaku's Game Club), Ubisoft at last announced a sequel for Xbox 360 and PS3 at its Ubidays 08 late in May with a single trailer. No release date was given, and the only other thing we've heard from boss Yves Guillemot is that the sequel will be "more accessible" (read: easier) than its predecessor.
The Facts: Ubisoft has not returned requests for comment, but since the lid was only peeled off the first trailer late in May, it's probable that E3 came too soon to expect the developer to put together a serviceable E3 build.

The Game: Tekken 6

The Hype: Back in 2006, some less-than-impressive E3 screens surfaced for the sixth Tekken title, and in early 2007, unconfirmed rumors suggested the title would launch on Xbox 360 after a period of PS3 exclusivity. When? All we heard is "after Soulcalibur IV" — that's this month, and with no show at E3, that seems pretty unlikely.
The Facts: It's been out on Namco's Japanese arcades, the ones modeled on PS3 hardware, since November 2007, and that's the only place it's been seen since then. We've got no comment from Namco as of press time.

The Game: APB (All Points Bulletin)

The Hype: Dave Jones of Realtime Worlds, the team behind Crackdown, first unveiled APB at GDC 08 in February, wowing audiences with the Counter-Strike-inspired MMO that featured character customization with so many choices that Jones demoed a battle featuring modded FFVII characters. It must have inspired investors, because only a month later Realtime Worlds scored an eye-popping $50 million in venture capital to support the game's development.
The Facts: After the developer bought full rights to the game back from Korean company Webzen, rumors abounded that the developer was angling to sell the game to Rockstar, to create a GTA IV-branded MMO. No such deal surfaced, and early in June the developer said they were in alpha, heading for a full public beta.

Realtime Worlds president Tony Harman told Kotaku that the investment, plus the changing of hands, is the reason behind the no-show at E3: "This year we would have had an exciting presence with APB at E3 if we had continued with Webzen as our publisher," Harman said. "But, given that we re-acquired the rights to APB just this spring and closed a very large fundraising round ($50,000,000) to secure APB’s future, the timing just wasn’t right to attend E3."

"RTW is very excited with APB's progress and we have used our fundraising as a means to invest even more heavily in the APB development team. RTW hopes to release more information later this year with regards to gameplay details and beta plans."

The Game: Brütal Legend

The Hype: The "heavy metal roadshow" epic, starring Jack Black and in development by Tim Schafer-fronted Double Fine, was first announced in September 2007 to much anticipation. We've since seen some effervescent concept art and even a trailer, enough to provoke anticipatory handwringing over the next opus from the well-reputed Psychonauts genius.
The Facts: Alas, it looks like the Activision-Vivendi merger tangled E3 plans for Brütal Legend — Vivendi was the game's original publisher, and the newly-combined company largely snubbed E3 amid its withdrawal from the ESA, though it did hold a press conference there. Just ahead of the event, Schafer confirmed that he hopes to show the game "soon after" E3, and told MTV Multiplayer that "As soon as the dust settles from this whole [Activision Blizzard] merger thing we should be able to talk about the game a lot more.” On Double Fine's official blog, though, Schafer humorously told readers that he skipped E3 because he was much too fat to get through the door, but hopes the South Beach Diet will help.

The Game: Indiana Jones

The Hype: The game was announced in 2005 and first unveiled at E3 2006, appearing to be slated for a 2007 release — when 2007 came and went, we figured that LucasArts would time the game's launch with the release of the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull flick. Nope.
The Facts: LucasArts has had its share of troubles lately; back in June, it sacked anywhere from 75 to 100 employees. Though the publisher stated it was still committed to internal development, it joined Activision, Vivendi, id and others in ditching the ESA, and while it still presented at E3, LucasArts told us in late June not to expect any new announcements or titles at the show because of "too much noise" around the event. The publisher has not yet returned requests for comment, but the facts seem to point to a resource-limited LucasArts preferring to focus on Star Wars right now.

The Game: Team ICO's Mystery Project

The Hype: The team behind ICO and Shadow of the Colossus is working on something, possibly even two somethings, with a Sony exec saying he was "pretty sure" it was an ICO sequel while another rep said it seemed "close to Shadow of the Colossus" in atmosphere. Since then, all we've seen is an exciting screenshot of a chain disappearing into a hole of some kind.
The Facts: Sony says there's nothing new to announce — if there are any details to be known about when we'll see the Team ICO game, they aren't telling us.

The Game: Duke Nukem Forever

The Hype: The "Forever" in the title must refer to how long it's been since we first heard about this game. Actually, it's been more than a decade — that's right, it's said to have entered development in 1997, a whole 'nother console generation ago. Since then, we've seen the occasional stray screen and twittering rumor to remind us that our favorite piece of vaporware does exist. But then, when a trailer surfaced at last, a 2008 release date was confirmed (and then promptly un-confirmed), and Shacknews actually got to take a demo for a spin, we wondered — could this E3 finally be the one?
The Facts: 3D Realms' Scott Miller said at the end of June that the game, although "coming along" (of course), would not be at E3. Why? Because E3 has become so unimportant that Miller just forgot it existed. "It's just that we view E3 as irrelevant nowadays. In fact, I wasn't even aware it was coming up," he said.

The Game: Aliens: Colonial Marines

The Hype: A new FPS based on the Aliens IP? Count us in. Sega first revealed official details of the Gearbox-developed title in February 2008, teasing with a quick trailer at its gamers' day in May. The release date is supposed to be "late 2008," the same timeline as other games shown at E3. So why did Aliens: Colonial Marines skip the party?
The Facts: Sega of America president Simon Jeffery told our own Crecente that Aliens was the game he was most looking forward to among the publisher's entire lineup. "I think Aliens is going to be kickass," he said. Coming out this year, then? "Well, fiscal year," said Jeffery. "This E3 we're really focusing on stuff that's coming out by the holidays, as much as possible," he added.

The Game: Bungie's Next Project

The Hype: Rumors abounded about what Bungie's next project would be — a Halo sans Master Chief? A 2D platformer featuring a plunger-wielding hero? Whatever it was, when a cryptic splash page appeared on Bungie.net at the start of E3 week, it seemed we were just about to find out.
The Facts: What's E3 without a little drama? When no Bungie announcement came, Bungie president Harold Ryan was quick to reveal the reason why via a simple letter posted on the front page of the developer's website — Bungie had been planning to announce its next game, but said it was as disappointed as the fans when its "plans were just changed by our publisher." When Microsoft's Don Mattrick let slip during E3 that Bungie's next project was indeed a Halo game, the publisher soon followed up with an explanation for why they held off on a big reveal: Microsoft thought it had its competition well enough beat with its E3 presser, and decided to save some of its "embarrassment of riches" for a later event that would "do this game more justice."

3D Realms: Duke Coming Along, E3 "Irrelevant" [Next-Gen]

Due to the aggravating nature of Crackle videos to autoplay, the clip is after the jump. An interview segment with developers Scott Miller and George Broussard kicks off around 2:30, with first blurry footage of Duke Nukem Forever about four minutes in. Thanks to the many, many tipsters who sent this one in.

"We both confidently agree that after seeing this demonstration, Duke Nukem Forever is looking great, and will easily stand apart from the crowd in both visual and gameplay styles," writes Shacknews' Steve Gibson. Not going to be stamped on a box in a big, bright, all-caps pull quote, but better than nothing. Maybe?

Shacknews Views Duke Nukem Forever [Shacknews]

According to 3D Realms:

This is a new piece of conceptual art. One thing we weren't happy with in the teaser from December was the pig cop design. Shortly after the video was released, we happened upon a really hot new artist by the name of Alex Huenick. Here's Alex's take on the classic pig cop.

Quite simply, they are lying bastards and they know it.

The Dallas Business Journal has posted a sound clip from the interview. The exchange goes:

Webster: Ideally, we'd like to spotlight some of the projects coming out in 2008: Ghostbusters, Rage, Borderlands, and maybe it's just hopeful on my part, Duke Forever. Of course, you don't have to tell me when it's coming out. I know how...

Miller: It might make this year. We can't make any sort of official announcement. We're pushing for this year. Frankly, I think we're going to miss it by just a by a few months, but it's definitely an internal push.

Webster: That's good to hear.

In what appears to be an unfortunate turn of events, there seems to have been some confusion between what was 'off the record' and what was not. I suppose we're used to dealing with gaming press and not mainstream press. Lesson learned.

While we have internal targets, dates and goals, like every developer, we are not ready to share them. What's amazing about this is that the DBJ must have assumed that we'd actually announce a date to them, and not gaming press, and that even in the light of Scott's quote of "We can't make an official announcement.", the DBJ effectively did that. Lesson learned.

The release date is still 'when it's done', and will be until the appropriate moment. Platforms have not been finalized or announced. You can rest assured that we are moving toward a goal and that the recently released teaser trailer is the start of that process and seeing more of the game, sooner than later.

We apologize to gamers and websites everywhere for this series of events. Sometimes, you can be too trusting of people and assume things that come back to bite you. Lesson learned.

First and foremost, the elusive Duke Nukem Forever is slated for a late 2008 release. As for platforms, Miller explains:

We haven't formally announced any platforms for DNF...But, of course hitting the big three makes the most sense (PC, PS3, 360).

The details are light, but the XBLA version will feature everything you'd expect, including online multiplayer, co-op (unspecified if that is online or not), and your typical scoreboards and achievements. 3D Realms is negotiating with Microsoft to get a release window of "sometime this year" on this title as well.

But this XBLA download makes me wonder—I've always considered LIVE's retro titles to be designed for "glory days" gamers who were looking to recapture magic of years gone by. How many of our younger readers use the service to download games that they never originally played, like Tapper or Doom? How many of you will download Duke Nukem 3D if you like the new version?

'Duke Nukem Forever' confirmed for 2008, coming to home consoles [Dallas Business Journal via Maxconsole]

Rumor: Duke Nukem 3D for Xbox Live [IGN]

New Duke Nukem Forever Teaser Trailer Debuts [primotech]

Duke Nukem Teaser [shacknews]

Perhaps George Broussard forgets that some of us have been waiting to play, even see Duke Nukem Forever for longer than a lot of new gamers have been playing games. Heck not only was my son not yet born, I wasn't married when the game was first announced. It's been ten years folks, well nearly.

Broussard seemed a little taken aback by the reaction to his announcement last night that there would be a "teaser video" hitting today around noon Central Time. So taken aback, in fact, that he decided to amend his statement.

Guys just to manage expectations...

This is a teaser. It's not a full blown trailer like the 2001 trailer (but something like that is coming). I tried to be clear about that in the message board post, so just bear in mind that it's a teaser :)

Enjoy.

Update [3D Realms]

Described as a "collaborative" but not squad based shooter, Earth No More focuses on group dynamics and looks to a number of huge sci-fi and horror films for inspiration.

Details online are scarce, so you'll have to wait for your issue of Game Informer to show up in your mailbox or start camping out at newsstands. It even contains a new screen shot of a game that is not not Duke Nukem Forever. Michael McWhertor

Earth No More [3D Realms]

Earlier this year, an in-game image from Duke Nukem Forever popped up on a Gamasutra job ad. Months later, there is another apparent real time image of an enemy model. According to Duke Nukem creator George Broussard:

Just to head off any questions. Real-time in game asset, like the last job ad shot. Taken from a game level with a dark background, on purpose, because we wanted to focus attention on the character.

Better than focusing on DNF's ten year development hell. Brian Ashcraft

DNF Image [Gamasutra via Shack News]

Known as the Nintendo Revolution until April 27, 2006, the folks at Nintendo decided to release the controversial name for their Gamecube successor just prior to E3. Obviously, they wanted the name to sink in, to not downplay or interfere with other Wii announcements made at their keynote.

Needless to say, reaction was mixed. A good number of readers, past and then-future Kotaku editors had plenty to say about the wee name for the tiny device.

Some of the more choice quotable reactions are below.

Kyle Orland, Joystiq contributor and former Video Game Media Watcher kicked off the comments tersely with, "No."

Cheap Ass Gamer's CheapyD hit us with his punnery with "WIIEAK!"

Dishliquid, who we hope is feeling peppier, described his feelings, "I feel so deflated now. Why not just call it the Nintendo Gaa."

The Lamonster also took it quite personally, writing "I'm embarrassed."

Protector one, clearly in denial, wrote "Wasn't April fools like weeks ago? Common guys, buy a calendar."

Reader BaronBo was ready to physically protest. "Does anyone want to get together at the Nintendo World Store in Rockefeller Center, and protest this stupid name change? I am soooooooo down! Let's show NIntendo that they can't make this kind of stupid misstep."

Destructoid editor Nick "Brutal" Chester was a bit more measured, bordering on romantic, saying "My first impression is that it's not a strong name at all and I don't necessarily mean I hate it. I just don't feel it's name commands a presence. The word "wee" makes it seem smaller, inferior. But having beaten Shadow of the Colossus, I know that the tiniest can take out the giants. Personally, I dug the "Revolution," but perhaps it was just familiarity. How many people do you think are going to pronounce it "Why?" Or better yet, are we all ready for the haters to proclaim the same?"

Spilt_Milk on the other hand, went with the potty humor/Nintendo bankruptcy combo prediction: "PEEEEE! Nintendo is officially dead with this name."

Our Atlantean editor Mike Fahey weighed in with "What, was there already a console called The Urine? I mean hell, I will still buy it. I am a whore like that, but I might hold out for a yellow one, cause yellow Wii is healthy Wii."

Frequent (and I do mean frequent) commenter DaveKap said "I'm going to be in an infinite state of denial over this. "Hey Dave, get the Wii yet?" "Huh? I got a Rev, but not a Wii."

Bigby? He didn't like it either. "This is a very, very crappy name, considering Intel already has experimented with Viiv, which aren't really "hot" as far as the name goes. Revolution is way better!"

Former executive editor Joel Johnson, now of Dethroner fame, analyzed the name thusly: "I am in shock at how a marketing person could think that was a good idea it's one of those names that is totally brilliant in a marketing sense and completely awful in an actual snese SNESe ^HELLO I JUST MADE A BETTER NAME"

Ashcraft seemed to like it, simply agreeing with "Oui."

Someone named Robert Summa (who?) saw nothing but doom and gloom "Nintendo was on such a roll too. They had to fuck it all up, didn't they?" Indeed, Mr. Summa!

In general, I'm surprised to go back and read how positive the comments were, possibly due to our more restrictive commenter invite system in place at the time.

What a difference a year makes. Everything worked out okay and no one got hurt. Michael McWhertor

Revolution Is Officially Wii [Kotaku]

They ask Miller in a recent interview:

It's been nearly 5 years since the last Duke game on a PC was released and although it was critically accepted, it was perhaps not the Duke game many fans were expecting; is it not a case that Duke's time is now long gone?

First, we fully admit we're screwed up the development of DNF, and it's now an industry joke. I laugh (and cry) when I think about it, too. Our fault is that we set the bar too high, and we tried too hard to make the game to beat all games. In the last 18 months we've taken a much more realistic look at the project, we've hired a truckload of experienced help, and I personally believe we are now on the right track...finally.

Finally. Finally! We look forward to this new realistic look at the project. Really! Michael McWhertor

Scott Miller Interview - The Man Who Would Be King? [YouGamers via 1UP]

Kotakuite Darren was checking out the Amazon Deal Finder that was posted yesterday and ran across an interesting listing on Amazon's UK site. Apparently, the are offering pre-orders of long, long, long awaited Duke Nukem Forever for 24.99. A search of the North American Amazon site turned up no such pre-order which leads me to wonder if perhaps the Brits know something about this title that we don't. One cheeky commenter on the page claims to have done some testing work for Duke Nukem Forever's developer, 3D Realms:

I got a testing job at 3D Realms this past summer. Duke Nukem Forever was up and running, they just have to tweak the graphics on level three. It's stunning, and it'll be premiered on The Phantom, taking full advantage of the new Lapboard.

Well, that tears it, I am pre-ordering this immediately. I just hope it arrives by the time I get my Phantom that I pre-ordered last year. I still can't figure out why I haven't gotten it yet. Flynn De Marco

Duke Nukem Forever [Amazon U.K.]

Impressive.

Is Duke Nukem Forever progress another sign of impending Armaggedon? Get your copies of Left Behind: Eternal Forces and repent before it's too late! Michael McWhertor

A few days ago there were widespread reports of many 3D Realms employees jumping ship. 3D Realms is the company responsible for the long-promised delivery of Duke Nukem Forever, and in addition to denying the horrors implied by so many employees bailing at once, the president claimed that DNF is nearing completion:

Today 3D Realms President George Broussard responded on Shack's message boards, insisting that development is going full steam ahead on DNF but not outright denying the departure of certain personnel. "Physics and animation systems are virtually finished and shippable. It's simply maintenance and polish from here on out. We haven't needed to make substantial changes to those systems in months. The changes we have made, were made without great effort," he said, then adding, "Things are never as bleak as they appear, as is often the case when you simply have one side of the story."

Well la-di-da, mister Broussard. We'll believe it when we play it. Eliza Gauger

More here [GameDaily.BIZ]

If I remember my Biblical history correctly, the Jews — under Moses — made a mass exodus out of Egypt for the land of milk and honey when the pyramid they were building was crassly labeled as being completed "Fornever."

So there's clear theological parallels between the Israeli exodus of the Old Testament and the current exodus of 3D Realms game developers working on Duke Nukem Forever Since December, Scott Alden, Will Bate, Brian Cozzens, Kyle Davis, Andy Hanson, Keith Schuler, and Charlie Wiederhold have all left 3D Realms for greener pastures. Up to 10 team members have left the company, and there have been multiple departures within the last few days alone.

Shacknews posits that the problem is George Broussard, a crazy perfectionist who keeps on bloating the design document with new Army of Darkness one-liners and ways to "use" the strippers found in the game. Still, when so many people responsible for so many key systems in development start flooding out, that's 2007 release starts looking more and more implausible. Florian Eckhardt

3D Realms Sees Major Employee Departures, Fate of DNF in Question? [Shacknews]

CNET has a bizarre little slideshow of the top-eleven vaporware titles, with the mysterious inclusion of those who are no longer vaporware (Prey is #3). I think someone is confused about the definition of "vaporware", despite the literal definition being pasted above the article itself.

Here're their complete picks:

1. Duke Nukem Forever
2. The Phantom Game Console
3. Prey
4. Starcraft Ghost
5. Sam and Max: Freelance Police (listed as cancelled...whuh?)
6. PlayStation 3 (say what?)
7. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (this is getting ridiculous)
8. Team Fortress 2 (jesus christ)
9. Fallout 3 (I actually hope this is true; I don't want to see Bethesda fuck my sunshine on this one)
10. Earthbound 64/Mother 3

In fact, I think the only actual vaporware items on that list are the Phantom, DNF, and maybe Fallout 3. Although the latter doesn't really count because it hasn't been cancelled or delayed; it's barely even been announced. Get the fuck out of my comic book shop, CNET. Eliza Gauger

See list here [CNET, not sure where I got this link]

Gory gaming makes players desensitized to violence say three psychology professors. Their recent study had 257 students play Duke Nukem and Mortal Kombat for 20 minutes. Then, once an endless stream of questions regarding "finishing moves" and speculation on Duke Nukem Forever ceased, the students then watched a 10 minute clip of 100 percent real violent acts. The students had their heart rates measured before, during and after each session. These were then compared with a control group of students that watched the same video without muddling through those retro titles.

The findings? The video game group had higher physical responses to the games than the clip, and those reactions were similar to those of the non-gaming group when watching the 10 minutes of real gore. Good to see researchers proving that humans react to filmed brutality the same way to game onslaught. How bout next time having them watch a violent clip for 20 minutes and then play video games for 10 minutes? Brian Ashcraft

More Here [1Up]

Since Duke Nukem is always good for shits and giggle, the game gets no respect. So leave it to a metalhead to give Duke what he deserves with this rockin' rendition of the game's theme song. Guitarist Chris Kline writes, "I used influences from the Megadeth version, the original, and my own twists to come up with the final composition." All tracks, including the backing, were played by him. Hail to the king, baby! Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Vertex] Thanks, Alex!

Add another bullet point in the list of things that have happened while Duke Nukem Forever has been in production: a completely different 3D Realms vaporware product has gone gold, under the watchful eye of Human Head Studios.

We refer, of course, to Prey. I haven't kept tabs on this very well, so I was surprised to find that they abandoned their Native American protagonist idea ('Talon Brave') and replaced him with a garage mechanic named Tommy. Huh. Interesting... although I suppose we can all thank 3D Realms for not giving a Native American the Lo Wang treatment.

A demo of Prey is scheduled for tomorrow, according to Wikipedia. Florian Eckhardt

Prey Goes Gold [3D Realms Forums]

But someone's been keeping a list. A list of a couple of events that have transpired since DNF was announced on April 25, 1997. Some of the highlights?

• Over 75 games based in the Mega Man universe, and 12 games featuring Mega Man universe character cameos were released.
• The Voyager 1 spacecraft has travelled 8.8 billion miles from Earth.
• 19 wars have begun. 5 wars have ended.
• Every single Grand Theft Auto game (13 of them!) was released.
• Over 350,000,000 consoles and handhelds were sold worldwide.

Most embarrassing of all, from a product release standpoint?

• Valve released both Half-Life 1 and 2, with several expansion packs and countless mods for each.

Ouch. Check out the full list before it collapses under its own weight. Michael McWhertor

Well, Mike has nothing to worry about. Everybody's favorite vaporware Duke Nukem Forever doesn't look ready to ship this year—even with contractual obligations. George Broussard had this to say:

As for the 500k completion bonus, I don't even know were that came from. Scott [Miller, 3D Realms CEO] would know, but I do know that we never cared or asked for it, and I think it was just tossed in as part of some other agreement. We're certainly not motivated by that amount of money, after all this time, and getting the game right is what matters. I would never ship a game early (even a couple of months), for 500k.

What was that George? Sorry, my eyes just glazed over. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Next-Gen]

In March 2005, the Company renegotiated a $6 [million] contingent obligation due upon delivery of the final PC version of Duke Nukem Forever through the payment of $4.25 [million] and issuance of a promissory note in the principal amount of $500,000. The payment of the promissory note is contingent upon the commercial release of such product prior to December 31, 2006.

In other words, 3D Realms former publisher GT Interactive gets less cash total and if 3D Realms fail to ship DNF for Christmas, no one gets their Christmas bonus—save the enrollment in the Jelly of the Month Club all Take-Two employees now receive. Considering the lack of news, images, or E3 presence for Duke's next outing, I'm putting my entire Kotaku salary on "not shipping in 2006". Michael McWhertor

Hot 10-Q Filing Action

Charlie Wiederhold was a Duke 3D modder who was hired out of the community eight years ago to help develop the sequel, due to be released sometime in 1999. Since then, he's been a rather tireless and somewhat delusional promoter of the game:

So long as we deliver [on DNF], all the jabs and jokes up to that point will have been worth it, and will be looked back upon with amusement and affection for a once in a lifetime industry and gaming community experience.

We're skeptical on that one: as a fifty year old friend of mine who recently lost his virginity discovered, even the best things can't usually live up to decades worth of feverish anticipation.

As for Wiederhold's departure from 3D Realms, we're sure this means the game's release is imminent. "His work done, the dusty cowboy walks into the sunset..." FLORIAN ECKHARDT

Duke Nukem Forever Developer Leaves [1UP]

Case in point: this jubilant post over on Duke4.net, which posits that DNF might be released as early as 2007. But don't get that 'Duke Nukem 2007' tattoo just yet! Although Duke4.net finds the source extremely reliable, they posit caution, as PC Gamer may yet be "bullshitting us." Gee. Ya think?

PC Gamer's "anticipated 2007 release." [Duke4.net]

Gamasutra has a post up that, in the time-honored cannibalism of the web, summarizes a recent article on DNF in Computer Games Magazine. A CG writer got some hands on time with DNF in what sounds to be a remarkably unpolished state: "mainly just pieces of the game in progress and tech demos... an early level, a vehicle sequence, a few test rooms."

Here's a quote:

3DR's George Broussard also demonstrated world interactivity that includes Duke standing in front of a computer and emailing the player, if he provides his email address for the game. But, according to the piece, Broussard was bashful, overall, about showing off the game, commenting: "The problem is that when we show it, people are going to be like, 'Yeah, whatever'. Honestly, at this point we just want to finish it."

We ask you: does that sound like a man who thinks he's got a great game on his hands? The article also contains some speculation that we may see it this year. Gentlemen! Begin breath holding... NOW!

Broussard Updates Duke Nukem Forever Status [Gamesutra]

• Blizzard Entertainment Presents Burgercraft
• Wisps Are New Playable Race In World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
• EA's Snakes On A Plane Preview
• World of Starcraft — World Exclusive Hands-On Preview Impressions First Look
• Harmonix Announces Cowbell Hero
• Bungie's Flood On A Plane and Pimps at Sea
• GameFAQs Shut Down By Anti Cheating Association of America
• Gamespot's Top Ten Final Fantasy Games
• Ars Technica's Review of Duke Nukem Forever
• iGot Game: Apple Jumps Into the Portable Market

Oh, I'm sure there are a lot more, but my patience has been tested — and failed — yet again. For the next 364 days, we are all business.

Alright, we're really close to stretching the concept of gaming wafer-thin here. But we were so fascinated by this article that we had to post it. Giles Trehin is an autistic 28 year old who has spent the last 16 years designing an imaginary Antarctic city called Urville. The drawings alone are more detailed than most game worlds, and he has expended the effort to create detailed historical, geographic, economic and cultural histopries of the French science based turned city. A game world if we ever saw one. This sort of thing makes us wonder why more autistics, outside of Will Wright, aren't allowed to design games. Maybe because of the 16 year development cycle. George Broussard, take note!

Urville: The Imaginary City [Kircher Society] (Thanks, Rossignol!) (Thanks, Guy-Who-Couldn't-Wait-To-Comment-Before-We-Previewed!)

A poor analogy — there is absolutely nothing as maddening as waiting for the gelatinous crawl of ketchup down the inside of that diner Heinz bottle, to gloop out of its crusty mouth and, ten minutes later, onto your burger. Meanwhile, the drooling over screenshots, the gossiping with fellow fans, the dialogue with developers, the profuse fantasizing about what it is like to actually play your hotly anticipated game... all of that is oodles of fun. Hell, look at Duke Nukem Forever — pre-release anticipation of that game and the ridicule that has resulted from its seven year development cycle is more fun than DNF could ever hope to be.

The article is good, though we think the entire point could have been made in a small percentile of the words actually belabored upon it. Nevertheless, we hear him: it's fun to look forward to games, but unfortunately, the games themselves can almost never live up to the game we make out of waiting for them in our mind. It's like the time you lose your virginity, absolutely positive that you are about to be immersed pelvis deep into a small wormhole leading straight to the raptures of heaven, only to find yourself sighing with a cigarette afterwards, thinking to yourself: "Yeah, that was pretty good... I guess."

The Religion of Release [Gamers With Jobs]

Thanks to loyal Kotakuite addicted2cosplay for calling our attention to this beautiful ballad to Duke Nukem Forever over at Newgrounds. Featuring the Duke Nukem Five, The Duke Nukem Dancers and, as a special treat, a touching encounter between an Duke and Dr. Proton in their twilight years. Sniff.

Duke Nukem Forever Ballad [Newgrounds]

First, we have this E3 trailer from 1998, when DNF was still using the Quake 2 engine.

And next, this 2001 trailer demonstrating DNF in the Unreal engine:

We'd link the 2014 E3 video of DNF2 using the Doom 12 engine, but our flux capacitator is out of order.

3D Realms' CEO Scott Miller took the opportunity to enthusiastically mention that, despite the game being a decade in the making and still unreleased, a sequel to DNF was already being planned. Hey kids! Start holding your breath.... NOW!

He also has this beautiful tidbit about how Microsoft made a mistake getting into the console market:

I said from the beginning, back in the late 90's, that Microsoft made a business mistake getting into the console business. And from a profit and loss standpoint, that has certainly been the case — they've lost well over a billion dollars, enough to sink many Fortune 500 companies. I still think it's a business mistake for them, detracting from their core business strengths (Windows and business software). But, from a personal standpoint, I'm definitely glad they're in the game, so to speak, because despite their loss my company gains tremendously by having another platform to exploit. I hope IBM and Intel also come out with consoles, it would make just as much business sense, after all.

He hopes that IBM and Intel make consoles so they can fail as spectacularly as he thinks the XBox did. People — this is martian moon man logic we're talking about here.

Duke Nukem Forever...2? [1UP]
3D Realms Interview [Firing Squad]

Games and consoles never live up to our lofty expectations. In our collective gaming vocabulary, we typically pick out actual products to highlight these shortcomings. Doing so, we sully that original product, pegging it with all shorts of external negative connotations. Thus, instead of picking on the usual suspects, I propose picking on someone else. I propose Axl Rose.

For those living under a rock during the late 80's or early 90's, Axl Rose was the lead singer of a rock band called Guns N Roses. Recently, he's found vox work in GTA: San Andreas and was the inspiration for a Guilty Gear character. His band released a series of smash hit records, but lost the plot thanks to heroin and supermodels. Axl fired everybody that didn't quite GNR and has been working on the band's newest album, Chinese Democracy, for donkey's yonks. Recently, Rose told Rolling Stone, "we're working on thirty-two songs, and twenty-six are nearly done." Continuing, the controlling singer said, "People will hear music this year."

It doesn't matter when people hear this album, because people are going to let down. Chinese Democracy is a product of excess, indulged and bankrolled by a huge corporation. Same goes for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Duke Nukem Forever and the PS3 or any other titles, games, whatever. Granted, they could very well turn water into Kool-Aid, but will never meet the expectations and neither will Chinese Democracy. But, it's better than waiting for nothing.

Learn About GNR [Wikipedia]

Yeah, right. Amazon lists its release date as April 21, 2006 (UK only, sorry America) — so it must be true, right? Is this vaporware product finally coming out? Doubt it, but I still laughed when I saw the link. Hey, remember in October when it looked like this was going to ship in December? Giggle.

Thanks, Tyrone

Duke Nukem Forever at Amazon [Amazon]
Duke Nukem Forever to Ship in December (Doubt it)