3D Realms Shuts Down! Oh noes!

StardogChampion said:
Interesting article here - http://gamingisstupid.com/2009/05/06/the-chair-story-revival/

I haven't read it all yet but I have to go work...
Click to expand...

K. So you've signed a publishing deal with Take Two for a game you have no intention of releasing. Since I haven't seen a lawsuit, I have to assume Take Two got owned OR I don't understand at all what this gentleman is trying to convey.

Take Two agrees to publish this game "when it's done".



I could see EA pulling off some insane marketing scheme like this, but how does a "small" developer's management think this is a good idea??? Even if you want to live off the hype machine for a few years, you had to have realized that DNF was going to print money. Just can't imagine this type of stupidity.
 
jondy said:
Absinthe nailed it; better to go out like this than release a game that could never have met expectations
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doubtful anyone could meet 12 years worth of expectations.

had they released SOMETHING anything, even if it were a steaming pile of crap 3drealms might have avoided closing the doors, developers who have been there the entire time could have used the game for their portfolio. I know most job wanted ads ask for "shipped games" as proof of work experience ..what are the people who have been there for 12 years going to do if they have nothing to show for those 12 years? I dont know the details but it sounds like the employees are taking the brunt of this. George B probably closed up shop before the creditors started knocking on the door. chances are his ass is covered. not so with the employees. some of the head people found out yesterday
 
Just saw this on the BBC news website. I was never really interested in DNF, and i'm just surprised it took them this long to go bust. Loads of successful game companies are struggling in these times that have actually recently shipped successful games, and are now scaling back and closing some of their studios. Valve almost went bust taking so long to create Half-Life 2 and that was only 6 years. 3DR deserve everything they got, this is just incompetence at the highest level and they are going to struggle finding new jobs having wasted 12 years of their careers.
 
epic posts stern. this is pretty insane anyway. But yeah, it feels like this would be a better way for it to go than a shitty game. shame about the employees though.

I haven't thought about DNF at all lately but this really brought the last 12 years in gaming back up, I remembering seeing the first god damn screens in a PCGamer, accompanied by the editor hailing this as not just a game, but THE GAME, coming to end all games.
While in the same issue, there was a tiny "first-look" article on Half-Life, saying "Well, we guess this could be kinda promising".

Good night, sweet prince.
 
Amazing to think DNF is well basically dead after all this time but **** i'm more amazed at that story. Seriously that is some ****ing deep **** and sounds like something from a tv show almost O_O
 
I'm starting to think there's a grain of truth to that story. A money making scheme where they didn't have to do almost any work for the past decade. They got what they wanted so now it doesn't matter if 3d realms is closed or not.
 
And seriously did it just seem like coincidence to anyone that duke nukem FOREVER would be in development FOREVER.
 
jondy said:
Absinthe nailed it; better to go out like this than release a game that could never have met expectations
Click to expand...

Take-Two still owns the rights to publish, so they probably would pass it on to another developer (if the story is intact)
 
I really don't understand this:

1) Why people are surprised that a company that kept milking one game franchise for the last 12 years now? And did not release any media for the last 5+ years went bankupt before releasing said "game"

2) Why people give a crap about a shoddy game about a stereotypical redneck character who was not even cool in the 90's when the game was released?

3) Why people thought Duke3D wa so good, and why anyone even looked forward to DNF with any sort of realistic expectation.

I mean, I used to visit te 3DR boards because that's where the MP2 mod editing forums were, and I'd venture onto other boards every now and then and it was just kind of pathetic to see people post there for so many years, always talking about how DNF was going to be the best game ever, and spewing hatred for anything Valve-related when HL2 was coming out.

I find the whole ordeal to be sad for any serious employees they may have had, and kind of pathetic really. I always kind of figured that 3DR in the last few years probably only consisted of Joe Siegler (who was the reason I quit posting on those boards, talk about horrible moderators. The most unprofessional person I have ever had contact with...) and George Brussard. A ghost ship, really.

Anyways given Siegler's behavior in those boards, I don't expect it to be easy for him to find a new job.

I don't bear any ill will to 3DR but I honestly feel like not having them around will actually be a good thing for the gaming community. There are so many good small startups that TRULY deserve the spotlight they have been taking away talking about their shoddy vaporware.
 
:LOL: No but seriously I am personally not aware of such shady under the table dealing that would involve beating a guy with a broken chair leg and also the mysterious disappearance of shareware devs of old.

Also is it just me but wouldn't the idea of keeping DNF in the dark for so long easily backfire? After all it is considered pretty much a laughing point of game design but I suppose marketing can fix that whenever it would come out. And if true epic have made a **** ton of money anyway from selling their engines now.
 
Rico said:
2) Why people give a crap about a shoddy game about a stereotypical redneck character who was not even cool in the 90's when the game was released?

3) Why people thought Duke3D wa so good, and why anyone even looked forward to DNF with any sort of realistic expectation.
Click to expand...

You are a god damned fool if you:

A) Can't accept Duke for the trashy fun he provided.

B) Can't recognize the awesomeness that was Duke Nukem 3D for its time.
 
I remember liking Duke Nukem 3d almost as much as Blood, although I didn't play it as much.
 
i have more fond memories of duke 3d than i do any other game, i think. this is why i find this news really shitty. would've been nice to play dnf and relive some old memories
 
Rico said:
2) Why people give a crap about a shoddy game about a stereotypical redneck character who was not even cool in the 90's when the game was released?
Click to expand...

Nostalgia. I used to play Duke3d multiplayer with my friends when I was still in the elementary school. I would go to his house after school and we would be late to the night. I would get a headache for not remembering to eat anything during the whole time. It was one of the first games that truly got me addicted. Although I had already tried the level editor of Wolfenstein 3d (and other, not FPS games) the Build editor of Duke3d was the one that really got me interested. The other editors included also allowed to add and change graphics, including enemies look. It was the first game I tried to mod.

Duke3d also had a lot of fun things in it. Being able to take a leak in a video game really convinced the young me of the potential of interactivity. Although not good personality although Duke had personality, unlike lets say Quake, which I have never ever cared for. The maps were not simply "brown castle" after "brown castle" either, they had a lot color, a lot more personality. There were a lot fun things to do, walls and buildings to explode, secret areas to explore, and all kinds of different locations.

Then to think about the weapons. Even the first episode guns were fun, but in the second and third episode there was also the Shrinker and Freezer, which added a whole new layer of fun. Getting shrinked and then trying to helplessly run to safety from your friend before he steps on you. Or freezing your friend and then just dancing in front of him while he couldn't do anything, without even killing him.

Rico said:
3) Why people thought Duke3D was so good, and why anyone even looked forward to DNF with any sort of realistic expectation.
Click to expand...

I didn't expect it to be that good, but if it could have been anywhere near as fun as the original. If it could have had any as imaginitive ideas, as many things to do. Or if it could have simply reminded me of the good old Duke3d, then it would have done its job.
 
It may be popular to hate on Duke these days, but that has more to do with the mockery of DNF.

DN3D was chock full of great level design, unprecedented interactivity, eccentric and satisfying weaponry, and its fun sense of humor (if admittedly juvenile). And although I never really touched multiplayer in any PC game when I first played it, I've heard nothing but good things.
 
You can play the multiplayer over internet with DosBox.
 
Absinthe said:
You are a god damned fool if you:

A) Can't accept Duke for the trashy fun he provided.

B) Can't recognize the awesomeness that was Duke Nukem 3D for its time.
Click to expand...

I played it when it came out and just didn't see what was so special about it. It was a deent, but forgettable shooter for me.

Doom was great for it's time too, and I loved the originals. However, I did not look forward to Doom 3 and I also thought it was a very lame, forgettable experience. To be honest, I'm a little tired of companies throwing sequel after sequel at us with updated visuals, and no new gameplay.
 
Absinthe said:
You are a god damned fool if you:

A) Can't accept Duke for the trashy fun he provided.

B) Can't recognize the awesomeness that was Duke Nukem 3D for its time.
Click to expand...

bc_damnfool.gif


I am sorely disheartened by this turn of events, though we all shoulda seen this one coming.
 
I'm inclined to believe the chair story, tbh. If it's not true, it's still hilarious.
 
I hope we get to know something after all this

and I call bullshit the chair story
 
It's all a trick guys, its coming out soon.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
 
So one Internet article tells that story and another Internet article calls it a lie/joke/whatever. I think I'll believe neither.
 
The guy who wrote the chair story posts on SomethingAwful and has been saying it's real this entire time over in there 3Drealms thread.

WHO DO WE BELIEEEEVE
 
Aww man :(

I was hoping it would eventually come out, even if it could never meet expectations.

If the have the build from 2001, it would be awesome just if they could release that...
 
A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How the previews used to make me smile.
And even when they switched from quake
I never thought the screenshots fake
And, maybe, I'd get to play it in a while.

But over a decade, could not deliver
Romero's shooter in the shitter.
Bad news in the games mags,
Release dates just get pushed back.

I can't remember if I sighed,
When the expo trailer went, and lied.
But something touched me deep inside,
The day Duke Nukem died

So bye-bye, to our Vaporware guy
Got the boots on come and get some
Cause I'm all out of gum.
And 3D Realms, they lost their prodigal son
Saying, "It'll be done when it's done.
"It'll be done when it's done"

Did they write a line of code,
Have any actual levels to load
If George Broussard tell us so...
Can you believe Team Fortress Two,
Saw release before, do you think they knew
That even Valve don't work this slow?

Well, I know that you're in love with them
Cause I saw you downloading through Steam.
Who'd have thought you'd ever get games,
On modems above 28ks! Oooh!

I was excited enough, or so I thought
With my second computer and my ethernet port
But all that I wanted could never be bought,
The day Duke Nukem died.

I started singin ,
"bye-bye, to our Vaporware guy"
Got the boots on come and get some
Cause I'm all out of gum.
And 3D Realms, they lost their prodigal son
Saying, "It'll be done when it's done.
"It'll be done when it's done"

Now for 10 years we've been playing games
With 3D accelerated, transparent cross-hairs
But that's not how it used to be.
When the computer sang from soundblaster sixteen
From bundled speakers on my CRT screen,
And an engine, that was Two-Point-Five-Dee.

But, while the Duke was laying down,
The Chief picked up his gaming crown.
The library was farce,
Still the duke wouldn't kick his ass!
And called to duty in the World War Two,
Where was he when UAF eleven flew?
And eight years on we've got swine flu
The day Duke Nukem died.

We were singing,
"bye-bye, to our Vaporware guy"
Got the boots on come and get some
Cause I'm all out of gum.
And 3D Realms, they lost their prodigal son
Saying, "It'll be done when it's done.
"It'll be done when it's done"
 
Don't worry guys, it will take them another 12 years before they actually close down.
 
Remus said:
I remember liking Duke Nukem 3d almost as much as Blood, although I didn't play it as much.
Click to expand...

Now thats a game that needs a reimagining :thumbs:

BTW, all tell me what the Hell the Chair Story is about
 
Oh god it's frustrating to see how this works on everyone everytime. It's deja vous, regardless of the state of the game, they are getting the attention they want again, even if it is negative. And I lol'd, because if the chair story is true, it backs up Cliffy B's slimey douche bag status.
 
just like all modern games
 
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