|
 |
Happy New Year!
No real news here, we just wanted to say Happy New Year and a safe one to everyone out there.
We expect 1999 (our 12th year in the gaming business) to be our best yet, with two new Duke Nukem games coming out, as well as Max Payne (with Prey on the horizon, too). Keep it here at 3D Realms for all the latest! We also have some new plans for our web site that we haven't told anyone about yet. We're working on them, and when we're ready, we're sure that you're going to enjoy them.
Just remember. If you go out, stay safe. We want you back playing games with us next year. If you need a ride tonight, call a cab! (Here in the Dallas area, AAA will tow you and your car home for free).
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Duke Nukem Forever Update
Early this morning, George Broussard (3D Realms Partner, and Duke Nukem Project Leader) posted a message on our Web Forums detailing some of the recent happenings regarding Duke Nukem Forever's development. This is what he had to say...
I'll try to clue you in a little:
Code: Been adding lot's and lot's of neato features so our mappers can do insane, and I mean insane amounts of interactivity. Also working on things like skeletal character system, level of detail, and preparing to do a major patch to Unreal's version 220+ code base (January).
Maps: the guys have been working steadily on majorly detailed level scripts, so that we know where you are and what you will be doing on a level per level basis. This is analogous to a blueprint for a house, or a script for a movie. They are about to start on "real" maps according to the scripts we've drawn up. Major design meetings and level reviews have been taking place as we continue to refine the game.
Art: Modelers have been building some characters and smaller decorative objects for the game. We are amassing a library of items that can pop into the game at any time and they know how to react to being shot or used. Texture guys are always jamming on textures for the levels, or skins for the characters.
Concept sketches: Been working on nailing final looks for Bombshell, and storyboarding some cinematic sequences. About to start doing sketches of level locations so the mappers have a good visual to build off of. Will continue with character sketches as we refine what will/will not be in the game.
That's a brief run down of what we've been doing. The major part of the last 2-3 months has been uplifting Unreal to do a lot of what we wanted DNF to do. We are now 95% happy with the interactivity we can do and are moving to more mundane things like Unreal patch upgrades, weapons coding and neat little interactive touches.
All in all, things are going great and we're about in our stride in full production on the game. We'll also probably be building a small motion capture studio in house and getting the equipment in here ASAP (as we've done the research and demoed a couple).
We've still got an immense amount of work to do, to bring the game up to playable "game" status, but all the separate parts are coming together and we're all really, really excited at what we see forming.
Thanks for the patience and support. DNF will rock you.
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Balls of Steel Expansion Pack Announced!
 Coming from Wildfire Studios (the makers of Balls of Steel) is Devil's Island. What's that? Well, it's an expansion pack for Balls of Steel. Devil's island was slated to be one of the tables for the original Balls of Steel game, but when the choice was made to do a Duke Nukem table, Devil's Island was dropped. Well, it's back and being primed for the expansion pack.
There is no info yet as to how this will be made available, or who will be distributing it. Once that info is available, we will be posting more info on it.
In the meantime, you can click on the small graphic to your right to see what the table looks like (it's a huge picture - about 540k). You can also visit the Devil's Island page on Wildfire Studio's site for more information, and some more screen shots!
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Duke Nukem Zero Hour Preview
Silent News has a new question and answer session with Eurocom, the makers of the newest Duke console title, "Duke Nukem: Zero Hour". Zero Hour is an original game for the Nintendo 64. Following this year's PSX-only game, "Duke Nukem: Time to Kill", Zero Hour will also be exclusive to that platform (there will be no PC version of the game). Here's some of what was said about Zero Hour in the Q&A session:
Silent News: How many levels/stages does the game currently have?
Eurocom: Currently there are 20 single player and 8 multi-player only levels.
Silent News: What weapons does Zero Hour have? Any new ones?
Eurocom: There are too many weapons to describe here - over 25 in total. There are several which are specific to a time periods, such a Volt-Cannon in the Victorian levels.
Silent News: What makes Duke Nukem: Zero Hour (different than) Duke Nukem: A Time to Kill for PlayStation?
Eurocom: They are both cool games, but aside from the time travel story they are completely different. Duke ZH has totally unique level design, art, animation, gameplay style and audio.
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
How Were your Holidays?
Well, we're back. There were several of us away on vacation during the holidays, and there were some of us (like myself) who just took some vacation time around Christmas. That's the reason the web site hasn't been updated in awhile (that, and there wasn't a whole lot going on over the Christmas holidays anyway).
We hope that everyone had a good time, and more importantly, a safe one. We thought you would like to see this picture. It's the cover art for our company Christmas Card for 1998. It was sent out to friends and family (and the like) of the people here at 3D Realms. We thought we'd share the cover art with you now as a belated Christmas present (plus we didn't want to put it online before people would have gotten them in the mail if they were getting them). You can click on the thumbnail for a larger image.
On the inside it said, "Ho...Ho... Ho... Come Get Some... Presents! Happy Holidays from Duke Nukem and 3D Realms", had the 3D Realms logo the Duke Nukem Logo, and was signed by Scott Miller, George Broussard, and Steve Blackburn.
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Duke Nukem Time to Kill Reviews
We have two Duke Nukem: Time to Kill reviews for you today.
The first comes from Adrenaline Vault. Here's some of what they say about it:
... Nukemites might appreciate the change in gameplay while keeping the famous Duke style: all of the interactive "adult" subtleties and wise-cracking comments of the previous titles are present. Bullets leave holes in walls, strippers can be gunned down by misogynistic players, Coke machines restore life and mirrors can be shattered. Duke�s one-liners are also found within. There�s the new "lizards make great boots" line, the odd health-acquiring "I feel good" impersonation of James Brown, and the mildly offensive "suck my boomstick" remark Duke makes when drawing his shotgun.
The second comes from Gaming Age Online, and here's a small tidbit of what they said about the game:
It�s interesting to note that n Space has actually made an attempt at a somewhat interesting storyline here. Duke will travel to different time periods, like the Old West and Ancient Rome, and dress accordingly (read: Duke dons a kilt, a cowboy hat or a toga). The results are hilarious.
Make sure to check out both of these reviews today!
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maximum Excitement for Max Payne Continues
Check out GameSpot UK for their latest preview of Max Payne, a game primarily being developed by Remedy Entertainment (in Finland), with assistance from 3D Realms. Here's some of what the preview says:
* "You want an interactive Pulp Fiction? You might just be in luck. Max Payne is a story-driven third-person action game cum pulp thriller for grown-ups."
* "Max Payne is going to be as big on attitude and storyline as it is on action. Mad, bad and black humored from start to finish."
Several screen shots are also included, so be sure to visit GameSpot UK for the full story.
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
South Park Creators are Big Duke Nukem Fans
The just-out January issue of PC Gamer has a story about the making of Acclaim's coming South Park game for the PC. In the article, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the show's creators, are interviewed and talk about their love for video and PC games. They talk a lot about Duke Nukem 3D. Here what they say about the 3D Realms super hit:
"When we started South Park and were doing the pilot show ["Spirit of Christmas"], we were a PC-based operation, so we had this little tiny office with six PCs in it all networked together -- with Duke Nukem, of course. We'd always work until about five in the afternoon, then we'd play networked Duke until two in the morning."
"One of these days, we're going to learn as a country -- Japan's already figured this out -- that violence in video games and TV does not create murderers and rapist. People like me [Trey] get rich when they come out with a game like Duke Nukem -- people at the time were like 'Whoa! Did you hear what [Duke] said? There are strippers there, pulling their shirts off!' Everyone wants it because it's pushing some sort of envelope, and it's exactly the same with South Park."
Be sure to check out the entire article in PC Gamer!
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Id & Apogee's First Shareware Hit - 8 Years Ago!
 It was eight years ago (on Dec. 14, 1990) that Apogee released id Software's Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons into the shareware jet stream, putting two game companies on the map with a quake still heard today.
The story of id started several months earlier when Scott Miller, Apogee's founder, contacted John Romero who worked at Softdisk, Inc. (a company that developed a monthly disk magazine with articles, small utilities and applications, and small games) about the possibility of creating a shareware game that Apogee would release.
As luck would have it, John Carmack, also at Softdisk, had just written an EGA smooth scrolling engine capable of doing Nintendo style platform games like Mario Bros. Romero sent Miller a demo of this technology, and very quickly a deal was struck to develop an original game, Commander Keen.
Tom Hall, also at Softdisk, wrote a brief story about the game, which Miller approved. Part of the approval was id's request for a $3000 advance, which at the time was quite a risk for Miller. In hindsight, of course, it was one of the deals of the century, as id and Apogee also had a publishing relationship for id's next Commander Keen series, as well as Wolfenstein 3-D. The Apogee-id relationship or the early 90's enabled both companies to quickly rise to fame, and earn enough money to avoid signing bad publishing deals with more mainstream publishers.
Click here to see the original proposal from id Software (then known as IFD -- Ideas From the Deep) sent to Apogee for Commander Keen. The four signatures are John Romero, John Carmack, Tom Hall and Lane Roathe. If you'd like to download the shareware episode of the original Commander Keen, you can do so by clicking on the big slug.
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Duke Nukem with the Kung-Fu Grip!
 OK, that title might be a little silly, but the "Grip Games" line of toys from Tiger Electronics is the latest "platform" that Duke Nukem 3D has turned up on.
This latest entry is a small handheld unit not much bigger than an adult's hand, and played on an LCD screen at the back of the unit, this game is a good idea for kids on those long car trips. :) The game itself is not all that difficult to play, it's just basically blast everything in front of you while finding the exit to the level you are on. There are give stage levels (episodes) to play. In each stage, you move "through" the layout of the level to find the exit. There are also several alternate routes that can take you to each stage level exit. In the levels are several game enemies, some familiar to PC Duke players. The final stage is a one on one fight with the BattleLord - if you win that, you win the game. The manufacturers rate it for Ages 5 and up.
There are some pictures of the unit itself on our Console Games Product Page. When I was given this device to put on the web site, I went around the web looking for info on this item, and could not find any. The home page for Tiger doesn't have any info on the product at all (not even the Grip games line), and I don't know offhand of any stores selling this item. If you know if a web site that has more info about this toy, or know where it can be ordered, please drop us a line. Thanks.
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Disturbing Trends
Geoff Keighley of Gameslice is not one to hold back what he thinks. In his latest editorial, entitled "Disturbing Trends of 1998", he talks about what he sees are some of the bad things to happen to the gaming industry in this past year. The things he lists are:
* The $2 Million Shuffle
* But it's 3D
* But it's 3D Again
* The Celebrity Factor
* Destroying a Good Franchise
He has some really good insights into these things, make sure to check out Geoff's latest over at Gameslice today!
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Been Here Before
Jonathan the Grape has a slightly different from the norm article online entitled "Haven't I been here before?". In it, he talks about things in various first person shooter games that he feels are overused. Our own Keith Schuler is quoted in the article, here's what Keith has to say:
Creativity basically means creating something new rather than rehashing something that's been done before. If Doom was creative, then Quake probably wasn't, because Quake was more of the same in an enhanced engine. Duke 3D was creative because of the swimming, the strippers, the jetpack, the shrinkray, and everything else. Of course, I'm talking about general design again rather than level design, but the same thinking applies. I think a level is creative if I'm doing and/or seeing something I've never done in a game before.
Make sure to check out this very interesting article; it isn't just more of the same kind of gaming article that makes you want to say "Haven't I read this before?" :)
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Duke Nukem 3D Still Available
There was a rumour going around last week about Duke Nukem 3D no longer being available for sale. This is untrue. While it might not be available at a store near you (depending on how they order games for their operations), it will always be available direct from us. In fact, George Broussard sent an Email to 3D Portal the other day about this, and here's what he said:
People will always be able to order the game from us. GT/Eidos should still be selling it overseas. It has not been discontinued to the best of my knowledge.
If you're looking for Duke Nukem 3D (or any of our games for that matter), you can check out our ordering info page for the latest info on ordering. For a complete list of games that are available, cost, format, etc, check out our pricing page (which also has info on discontinued games, too).
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Demonstar
 "Demonstar is one of the most intense scrolling shooters I can ever recall playing. At times, it is difficult to tell if you are playing the game, or if the game is playing you". - Adrenalin Vault
Click Here for Demonstar Home PageWhat is Demonstar? Is it a new game by us? No, it's not. However, it is related to one of our games from a few years ago, Raptor. If you might remember, Raptor was a game by Cygnus Studios that was hailed as the best shooter of it's time (Raptor was originally released April 1, 1994). It's now 4.5 years later, and the main driving force behind Raptor (Scott Host) has followed up Raptor with a new game, Demonstar. Demonstar is a vertical shooter in the vein of Raptor, but it's added a whole lot more. Here's a list of some of the features of the game:
* Multiplayer/Net play
* Works with MSN Gaming Zone, ICQ, IGames or any DirectPLay Lobby server.
* Force Feedback support
* Stereo Sound FX
* Awesome Sound Track by Bobby Prince
* 18 Deadly Levels ( 6 in shareware )
* New Graphics and Enemy Ships on every level
If you were a fan of Raptor, you're sure to like Demonstar. For more information on Demonstar (and to download your copy of the shareware game), make sure to check out their home page. And while you're at it, check out Raptor here on our site!
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Duke Nukem Time to Kill Review
There's a new Duke review online. It's by Gamespot TV, and reviews the Playstation game, Duke Nukem: Time to Kill. This is not your normal web review, this is a Real Video enhanced review of the game, which has two people from their staff talking about the game, while the game plays on screen. Here's some of what they had to say about the game:
* This game could put a dent in your social life.
* Developer n-Space has done a great job of creating immersive landscapes and keeping alive the cartoonish feel of the original. The action is up to Duke's usual standards, consisting mostly of messy gun-fighting and after-hours carousing. You can adjust the splatter factor, but this game isn't for the squeamish. And of course, there's plenty of crude humor, from the typical prurient content found in previous Duke games to old fashioned bathroom jokes.
The entire video review runs about 2 minutes and 45 seconds, and requires the RealPlayer to see it. Also included in this review is a section they call "Game Breakers", which gives you a few small hints about game play. Make sure to check it out today! Thanks TC.
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Duke Nukem Zero Hour Interview
 IGN64 has posted an interview with the team of developers from Eurocom, the company developing Duke Nukem: Zero Hour for the Nintendo 64 (the same team developed the already out Duke Nukem 64 game title). Duke Nukem: Zero hour is a Nintendo64 Exclusive game that is due in Spring/Summer of 1999. In the same type of adventure game vein as Duke Nukem: Time to Kill, Zero Hour promises to bring all the fun and excitement of Duke Nukem to the Nintendo 64 platform in ways you haven't seen before. Below is a small tidbit from the full interview:
IGN64: When we think of Duke Nukem we think of violence. Will Zero Hour have its fair-share?
Eurocom: Oh yeah, there's a ton of violence and death. We've gone for a lot of killing shots that blow big holes through people. You can blow holes through someone's torso, you can blow half of their head off, parts of their face off and take the back of their head off. You can shoot them in the nads. We've got specific animations for when they're shot in the groin. Some of them really are quite gory. And you can do all of this with the sniper rifle as well. You can zoom right in and blow the legs of zombies and so on.
The picture to your right is some concept art from the game. If you check out the interview, you'll see more such art, as well as a few screenshots!
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mystic Towers Redux
Lon Matero's Apogee Page has posted another in his series of looks back at classic Apogee games.
This time, the game he reviews is one of our 1994 releases, Mystic Towers. This is probably the most unique game in our entire product line - there's nothing else quite like it. Based on the character Baron Baldric, this adventure game takes through a land of magic.
If you're into puzzle games, and are looking for something different, check out Mystic Towers. You can check out what Lon Matero had to say about the game by clicking on the logo to your right.
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chris Hargrove's Fireside Chat
As you may or may not know, Chris Hargrove does a regular column for loonygames called "Code on the Cob". In it he is writing a computer program (in the column), and you get to watch it progress. However, due to the Thanksgiving Holiday last week, Chris forgot to write his article. So, he whipped up a piece detailing his own past, and how he came to be at 3D Realms. It's a fascinating read, especially if you want to break into this industry. Here's a piece of what Chris wrote:
You can't control random chance, but if your goal is to program games for a living then you can still tilt the odds in your favor. You do that by learning whatever you can, whenever you can, however you can. Don't expect somebody to spoon feed you through your education... that may work when you're younger, but it doesn't work that way with this industry.
Make sure to check out the full article over at loonygames today!
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Duke Nukem Time to Kill Rated Higher than Tomb Raider 3
Over at Gamespot UK, TTK scores an 87%, while TR3 settles for an 80% score.
The review for TR3 references TTK is several places, pointing to TTK's superiority, stating: "...there are in fact a few elements introduced in the very similar 3D adventure Duke Nukem: Time to Kill that could have helped Tomb Raider III."
The TR3 review also says, "For those who are looking to shoot or carve through tons of foes in a 3D environment, there are games like GT Interactive's Duke Nukem: Time to Kill...but the Tomb Raider line remains more about puzzles than combat."
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Duke vs. US Senate II
 The two folks you see to your right are United States senators Herbert Kohl and Joseph Lieberman. They have just published their fourth annual "Video Games Report Card", and guess what? Duke Nukem made the list again. There is a related story about this press conference over at MSNBC, which lists their alternate non-violent video games. This is what they had to say about Duke:
Lieberman says, however, that some 20 percent of the games can best be described as ultra-violent. He says such games as "Duke Nukem" and "Cardinal Syn" glorify brutality, carnage and killing.
On our December 1997 News Page, we reported on these same two senators attacking Duke Nukem. Two years in a row - we must be doing something right! :) Thanks Tina Haumersen.
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
