from the you-mean-there-really-was-a-game-in-development? dept.
Two submitted stories talk about new developments in the DNF saga. Both stories are much longer than can be summarized here, but are worth the read (and pictures):
Duke Nukem Forever's 2001 build appears online, may fully leak in June
The game's latest leak, posted to 4chan on Sunday and widely shared by Duke Nukem fansite duke4.net, appears to be made of original 2001 code and assets. It includes a one-minute video of first-person carnage in a very Duke-appropriate environment of a strip club called "Slick Willy." The sequence was apparently played and captured by the build's leaker.
In addition, the leaker suggested that the build's playable files, source code, and official map editor could be released in June—which would coincide with the E3 trailer's 21st anniversary—and responded to various 4chan doubters by posting additional images based on their requests. These included screengrabs of the build's file and folder lists, along with images from other sections of the game and a higher-res peek at "the redneck from the E3 trailer."
Shortly after the video and its related screencaps made the rounds, former Duke Nukem Forever project lead George Broussard confirmed its apparent authenticity on Twitter, telling fans that "the leak looks real." He said that while it may be playable, it shouldn't be looked at as a game, "just a smattering of barely populated test levels."
We have played the lost Duke Nukem Forever build from 2001
Earlier this week, a retro game leaker teased '90s shooter fans with something they'd never seen before [...] Was this an elaborate fan-made fake of Duke-like content in a dated 3D engine, or would this turn out to be the real deal?
We thought we'd have to wait until June for an answer, as this week's leaker suggested that the build and its source code would be released to coincide with the 21st anniversary of the game's tantalizing E3 2001 trailer. But after this week's tease, the leakers decided to jump the gun. On Tuesday, 1.9GB of Duke Nukem Forever files landed on various file-sharing sites (which we will not link here), and Ars Technica has confirmed that those files are legitimate.
As it turns out, this is a surprisingly playable version of Duke Nukem Forever from October 2001, though with so many bugs and incomplete sections, that's not saying much. Most of this content, which includes moments from the aforementioned E3 trailer, was shelved by the time the game reached a cobbled-together retail state in 2011. So we're finally getting a closer look at how the game could have turned out differently if it had launched closer to 2001.
Now that the code is out, do you think the community can finish the game in a state that will live up to its original promises?
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Gearbox and its Borderlands franchise were the biggest get, however. The looter-shooter series, struck through with (often exhausting) "edge-y" humor, has reportedly sold more than 77 million copies and earned more than $1 billion in revenue throughout its run, according to Bloomberg. Take-Two noted that a Borderlands game was "in active development" at Gearbox in its acquisition announcement.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 13 2022, @02:56PM (6 children)
If hobbyist developers pick this up, it should be a playable game by the 2040s.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 13 2022, @03:18PM (5 children)
There's also legality issues. The game would still need to be reverse engineered unless they decide to officially open source the license. Legally, it would be a mess as there's a significant chance that the assets from the final release wouldn't even work with the 2001 source code anyways m
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Friday May 13 2022, @03:29PM (4 children)
Who cares? Just distribute as a torrent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 13 2022, @03:33PM
You're not going to finish a project like this on a torrent site. It's a massive undertaking.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 13 2022, @05:13PM (2 children)
People are uploading the leak everywhere, including several different submissions at Archive.org!
I would urge caution, however, as one/some of the anonymous people uploading it may include a rootkit or something in there, who knows!
What a time to be alive!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by stretch611 on Saturday May 14 2022, @02:13AM (1 child)
Looking on the fact that it was initially uploaded to 4chan, I wouldn't be surprised if the initial upload didn't have a rootkit already.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @03:41AM
> Looking on the fact that it was initially uploaded to 4chan, I wouldn't be surprised if the initial upload didn't have a rootkit already.
Was it uploaded to 4chan? I thought it was announced/discussed/leaked via 4chan by way of anonfiles free file hosting. Do they run anonfiles?
The last thing the "leaker(s)" should have done prior to uploading it to anonfiles is use GPG to sign the top .rar file, and include SHA512SUMs also signed by GPG. That's just for a chain working back to the original leaker(s). I hate it when people leak stuff and don't put the effort into it to provide checksums and a signed file.
I understand neither of the above options provides any level of real world trust, but when you have people downloading it from anonfiles and distributing it several times by several people to places like archive.org, with no original sums and/or sigs it just further makes it more likely the "couriers" of said leak may pass something *special* along with it.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Friday May 13 2022, @03:07PM (4 children)
What were people expecting? Looking at the likes of Duke Nukem 3D, Duke Nukem Forever as was launched, was about what I was expecting. Did people actually think this was going to be a Half-Life type of experience? Slap enough hype on a game and you will reach a level that is called "expect to be disappointed". Half-Life Alyx is likely the closest people will get to a Half-Life 3 for a very long time. Then, when they get Half-Life 3, it will probably be a cash grab, because Steam is circling the toilet. I mean, eventually that's going to happen, because they will eventually be overrun by the MBAs.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 13 2022, @03:13PM (1 child)
DNF might have been a revolutionary game had they stuck to an engine and finished it in a reasonable period of time. As if always the case, the longer it takes to release, the more time everybody else has to improve their games.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday May 16 2022, @01:33PM
Somehow I don't really believe Duke Nukem was ever going to head into the "Revolutionary Game" status. Maybe new heights of nudity as far as games are concerned, but "Revolutionary" yeah, I really, really don't believe that.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Funny) by maxwell demon on Friday May 13 2022, @03:28PM
That development would take forever. :-)
I'm sure the fan community can live up to that promise.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by loonycyborg on Saturday May 14 2022, @12:47PM
They shouldn't have aimed for a "revolutionary" game, instead only for consistent implementation of Duke Nukem idea, though it's rather hard given lack of consistency between DN 1-2 and 3D. I for one prefer snarkiness of DN 1-2 to childish vulgar humor of 3D.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 13 2022, @04:20PM
It's insane how deep this game could've been.
But the real fun was always in Duke multiplayer anyway, (for Duke 3d fans) which none of the current YouTube videos show, though the game menus have a MultiPlayer option.
It seems the main fan community for this (and all things Duke) is at:
https://duke4.net/ [duke4.net]
https://forums.duke4.net/ [duke4.net]
https://forums.duke4.net/forum/19-duke-nukem-forever-general-discussion/ [duke4.net]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 13 2022, @05:25PM (1 child)
On various noise channels, people have mentioned that there is a possible 2012 version which was more complete, but not leaked (yet).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @02:07AM
you mean 2002, not 2012!
I know, sorry.
It's cool.
Is it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 13 2022, @06:40PM
https://archive.org/details/duke-nukem-forever-2001-x-0r-jmp [archive.org]
NOBODY STEALS OUR CHICKS, AND LIVES!
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Friday May 13 2022, @07:27PM
Just sayin'
Duke nukeem was garbage compared to them.
(Yes, I know, off-topic)
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Friday May 13 2022, @09:34PM
Don't remember which console. I do remember it was a complete let down, with at least 1 level not finished (some long driving thing through a whole lot of nothing except random shit to make me think the developers placed bookmarks). The humor had been cut off at the nuts (HA! See what I did there? The game didn't)
I'd love to see what the community can do for this game. The originals were great, both with the non-PC (non-Woke) humor, the cops being pigs, and things like the shrink-ray. Which weren't just one off jokes, but who's intelligent use was required to get through some levels.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @03:54AM
Has anyone tried running the leaked game in Linux with Wine or other methods?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Mojibake Tengu on Saturday May 14 2022, @04:23AM (1 child)
Certainly, the overall old culture model of original Duke Nukem 3D does not conform to modern Woke standards of contemporary society and respectable cultural policies.
Stereotypes like pig cops, dancing girls, macho phrases at the mirror ("Gee, I'm looking good!") may harm feelings of frail and vulnerable young generations.
For one, someone who does not look as good as Duke may get emotionally hurt. He or she even may start shooting at the street or in the bar.
That would be sad.
I suggest immediate ban of this leak.
Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @02:43PM
Pig cop stereotypes do in fact fit with today's woke Defund the Police crowd. All other points are valid.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @05:53AM (1 child)
https://www.moddb.com/games/duke-nukem-forever-2001 [moddb.com]
I know nothing about the site but it looks like people are putting in some work there, YMMV.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @03:41PM
But probably the second biggest general purpose mod database website. Added bonus it's far less obnoxious about demanding you sign up to download any mod you want (nexus won't let you download anything >2 meg without an account!)