Duke Nukem Forever FAQ

3D Portal's Dukeworld has updated their Duke Nukem Forever FAQ. This new version (v1.02) includes several new items. Here's what's new in this revision:

* Updated information on the people behind DNF to reflect the addition of the content developers behind Prey now working on DNF
* The news that Megadeth will be recording the theme song for the game.
* Updated IRC section and acknowledgments.
* Added information on Sven Technology�s MRG technology for level of detail rendering
* The decision to not show DNF at E3 �99.

Make sure and check out this FAQ - it's probably the most comprehensive listing of Duke Nukem Forever information. If you have a question about the game, the answer is in here. If the answer isn't in here, then we haven't said anything about it!

Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM

Lo Wang's Rap

If you're familiar with the registered version of Shadow Warrior, then you should know this. But in case you don't... When you play Shadow Warrior, and complete the game, there is a special audio track presented. It's called "Lo Wang's Rap" and was written by our music and sound director, Lee Jackson. It's a pretty funny piece of music, especially if you're a fan of Shadow Warrior.

Anyway, we've had several requests to release this song in MP3 format, and we've done so! Available now on our FTP site is an mp3 file of the Lo Wang's rap song from the Shadow Warrior CD. Get "Lo Wang's Rap" while it's hot! If you need an MP3 player, we recommend Winamp. We think it's funny, and we think you will, too. If you enjoy it, let us know what you think of it. While you're at it, take a look at our Shadow Warrior area.

The download link above is an FTP link, if you have troubles downloading, visit our FTP help page.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM

Duke Nukem: Zero Hour Preview

The Adrenaline Vault has a new Duke Nukem: Zero Hour preview preview online today. Written by Jason Purdy, this preview looks at the about to be released Duke game for the Nintendo 64. Here's a bit of what Jason has to say..

*The levels themselves will be much more intricate and follow a mission-based system similar to Syphon Filter and Goldeneye...

*From what I've seen so far, it has great graphics, an interesting storyline, innovative gameplay and an arsenal that goes on forever.

*Add a well-designed multiplayer mode and wrap the whole thing around the most charismatic protagonist in the history of gaming, and you have all the makings of a hit.

Make sure to check out the entire preview for more of what Jason has to say, including some new screenshots!

Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM

Max Payne Blows Away E3 Watchers

A news story on Max Payne's appearance at E3 ( http://dreamcast.ign.com/news/8066.html ) included these exciting comments:

*"...After seeing some incredible video footage of Payne in action, we must confess that they can take all the time they need. Imagine a cross between a hyped-up John Woo flick and the box office smash The Matrix, and you begin to get a sense of what they have created."

*"Bullets whiz by in slow motion, gunmen stand face to face in a classic stand-off and Max performs standing back flips and launches head-first into a volley of shots at his next target. There are several sequences where Max dives while filling his enemies full of lead as he tumbles through a hallway or past a group of concrete supports to nail the bad guys square in the chest. He also performs a variety of back flips and dives, which stunned the E3 crowd, which could do little but cheer in utter amazement at what looks more like a high-budget action film than a game."

*"Max Payne is well on its way to redefining the action genre as we know it."

Be sure to read the full article on the IGN Network.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM

Jar Jar Must Die!

by George Broussard

(Click on any of the pictures for a larger version - with captions!)

Well, we resisted as long as we could. There's no way in hell John Romero can make us his bitch, but George Lucas sure can.

We had heard that Episode 1 tickets were going on sale 5/12 sometime. Around 5am (still up from the previous day) we started emailing each other trying to find out more and formulate an attack plan.

We found out that tickets went on sale at the local UA Galaxy 9 theater (a mere 5 minutes from the 3DR offices) around 2pm, and that they'd be on sale around 3pm on movielink.com. Being die hard fans and wanting the experience to talk about, we decided to wait in line at the theater and have some fun. People that went were: Allen Blum, George Broussard, Brian Cozzens, David March, Paul Richards, Keith Schuler and Charlie Weiderhold.

We met up at the office around 11am, and headed over to the theater. When we got there, the line was already around 2 corners of the 4 corner building. So we go in line and sat down (Color GameBoy's in hand). We sat around for a bit, making fun of Jar Jar, and a couple of guys wen to find an ATM, so they could get tickets.

While the guys were gone to the ATM (for over an hour!) the line started compressing. This was because the theater management started making the guys at the front, pack up the sleeping bags and such. So the line was effectively cut in half, and we realized we had rather good spots after all. In the meantime, the line had continued to fill in behind us, and it was now a compressed line of the original length. But when the guys got back from the ATM, we were gone, and they panicked ;) Serves them right for taking so long.

But they also brought snacks and drinks with them. That was nice of them. Funny thing is that when they walked up we were all eating Wendy's hamburgers ;) while they feasted on beef jerky and Pringles :) BWAAA HA HA HA.

The fun part was over. We'd been there an hour and a half and had talked all we wanted to and had eaten. Crap, now we had to wait. The sun came out and it started getting hot. Africa hot. Texas hot. It had been overcast up until that point.

Not much happened for the next 2 hours as we waited in the baking hot Texas sun, but we continued to make fun of Jar Jar and call for his immediate death, so that relaxed us.

They started selling tickets at 1 PM, an hour early and that was great! Thing is the line moved like molasses. I mean slow. Waiting for Duke Forever slow. So we all stood and complained about the slow moving line for an hour. 'Why can't they hire more ticket grunts for $5/hour? Not like they aren't making a zillion dollars off this." "Screw this, let's go back to the office and hit movielink.com." Then some guy walked around and informed that movielink would only be allotted like 50 tickets per showing, so the people in line could get them first. "Cool, this rocks!" was the response.

Wait, wait, wait. Make fun of Jar Jar. Make fun of Keith. It was a vicious cycle of dark humor.

Finally we got within sight of the ticket window. Enthusiasm turned to Texas baked skin, and exhaustion. You were allowed to buy up to 12 tickets at the window and that's part of what slowed things down. Lot's of people were buying max tickets. The cool thing was, although we got tickets for the 10pm showing on the 19th, we could have gotten tickets to the very 1st showing, even with where we were in the line. We felt good about that, and the fact that we had only invested 4-5 hours in that and not 2-3 weeks like some of the guys that camped out. Natural selection at it's finest.

So we finally made it to the window and purchased our tickets. The people in the window were like zombies. They had been running off tickets for 2-3 hours now. I got 12 and walked off happily. Good thing I looked down, because they were for the 7pm show!!! That would have sucked. As I'm sure by the time I would have found out, all the 1st day shows would have been sold out.

So with that, our adventure came to an end. We went back to the office and heard a few snickers from people that thought we were crazy to wait in line that long. Then we sold them tickets for 3 times the price ;)

Until next time...

Posted by Joe Siegler at 4:28 PM

A Piece of History

This morning, we updated our Milestones & history page with some more tidbits from our company history. Apogee, 3D Realms & Pinball Wizards have a long history of setting several trends in this industry, and this page documents some of them. We also have a detailed release history page to go along with the milestones page - that's an interesting read, too.

While we're on the subject of history, make sure and check out ROTT in Hell, which is a look at our 1995 game Rise of the Triad. There's tons of info about this game, and is the definitive source of info about this game. It also details how ROTT had many features in the game first that people generally attribute to other games (generally Quake).

Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM

Duke Nukem: Zero Hour Preview

IGN64 brings you video, video, video! The IGN64 site has a big update to their Duke Nukem: Zero Hour preview preview up now. This new update includes 10 video files you can download and check out, as well as several new screenshots. There's tons to see here, so make sure to head over to IGN today and check the stuff out! Here's a bit from some of the text that comes with the gaggle of Duke Multimedia...

*In Duke's latest adventure, the gun-toting bad-ass learns of an alien plot to destroy mankind. But this is no ordinary, run-of-the mill alien plot like Duke has fended off so many times in the past, this is the real deal.

*The biggest difference between Zero Hour and previous incarnations of Duke is that the game does not take place via an exclusive first-person view a la Quake. Whereas Duke Forever will hit PCs running on the Unreal engine and retaining the series' classic shooter view, Zero Hour takes an alternate approach to the franchise: a third-person view, leaving the first-person action to multiplayer activity only.

*Duke Nukem: Zero Hour looks to be a very promising title for many reasons: the first and most obvious, it's a Duke Nukem game.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM