Duke Nukem: Planet of the Babes Preview

New today is a preview of the upcoming Sony Playstation exclusive title, "Duke Nukem: Planet of the Babes". This preview over at Gamefan has a couple of screenshots and some text describing the game. Here's a bit of what they have to say..

Avid disciples of the world of Duke already know that the key to much of Nukem's success is the quirky, ridiculous story lines featured in his games. Well, good news, Duke-lovers, Planet of the Babes upholds this tradition with an entertaining (and sometimes tantalizing) adventure.

The most noticeable cosmetic addition to the sequel to last year's blockbuster would have to be the new and improved lighting effects; Planet of the Babes features some of the gnarliest fire effects ever seen in a PlayStation game, using various lighting techniques to produce the game's action-packed mood.

Beefed-up graphics, lightning-fast gameplay, and cool (yet politically incorrect) story lines have never hurt games in the past--let's hope the folks behind PotB keep up the good work.

Make sure to check out this preview over at Gamefan today!

Posted by Joe Siegler at 4:15 PM

Interview with John Anderson

Once again, one of our staff has been interviewed. This time, it's John Anderson, Duke Nukem Forever mapper. John was interviewed by Andy's DNF Zone, and is asked about his past, what he does in his job, and other aspects of being a gamer, and working for 3D Realms. Here's a bit of what John has to say:

Q: What is it that makes you want to do level design?

A: This is an interesting question that I'm not sure how to answer. It's much more than a strong desire, in fact I'll put it like this, every mapper at 3D Realms has it. It being a desire so strong that you'll work for 15 hours plus every day and have to drag yourself away every night and look forward to returning the following day. In previous job if I felt a little "under the weather" I would not hesitate to call in sick. At this job I could be dying but I won't miss work, I just love it too much. You really do have to love this sort of thing it's not something you could do half hearted.

John has a lot to say here, so make sure to check out the full interview today!

Posted by Joe Siegler at 2:00 PM

Stomped & E3 Discussions

Scott Miller is quoted again - this time over at Stomped's new E3 site. Stomped is getting an early start on 2000 E3 coverage with their new site dedicated to the annual trade show. They've been asking several folks in the industry for their thoughts on E3, and here's what Scott has to say:

Q: What is the single most memorable thing you can recall from any of the past E3s you have attended?

A: Just the enormous size of the event, the huge, elaborate booths, and the idea that so much money (100's of millions, I imagine) is being spent on digital gaming, once just a hobby that few took seriously. No one could have thought this would happen 20 years ago?! One of the memories that impresses me most is seeing the Scavenger "Spider Leg" booth a few E3s ago, which must have million or two bucks easy. But the booth was better than their games, and apparently the booth got all the budget, too, because Scavenger soon went out of business.

Q: What single thing are you most looking forward to doing and/or seeing at this year's E3?

A: Being a game fan, I just like to check out what everyone is doing, and take a look at every single game at the show (1500+ games!). Most games do not impress me because they're the same old games in new clothes, and they do not reach their full potential because of restricted budgets and publisher pressure to get the game out. But lots of games still contain innovative ideas, and seeing these innovations always gives me hope for our industry.

Make sure to head on over to Stomped's E3 site and check out their pre-pre-pre-pre E3 coverage.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 12:45 PM

Game Engine Article

The RPOV gaming news site has a pretty cool five page article online now entitled, "In the Business of Making Games Engines". It's a pretty good article, it covers an aspect of the industry that isn't usually talked about. This article covers several 3D Realms related issues, one of which was the (ongoing) development of the Prey engine, as well as our licensing the Build engine for several games. Our own Scott Miller is quoted in this article a few times, both about the Prey engine and the Build engine. Make sure to check this article out - it's a wonderful read, and gives some insight into a side of the business that not everyone pays attention to.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 12:45 PM