Yeah, it's getting kind of tired now isn't it? Duke has officially been delayed... again. The good news is that it's only for about a month, placing the game's launch in June.
But it's not really about the length of the delay is it? No, it's more about the fact that there's a delay at all. When Gearbox Software took over the (at the time) dead Duke Forever project, studio boss Randy Pitchford came across really well and generally gave the impression that the long suffering fans of Mr.Nukem would finally be taken care of. That they'd get the game that original developers 3D Realms had promised. Gearbox seemed ready to go- even holding off on any kind of announcement until they had a fully playable build ready for display.
And now, a delay... at this point, any delay is unacceptable to fans of this series. A half hour would be too much. Perhaps Gearbox should have held off on a release date until they were sure they had one that would stick. Screwing around with a game that has this much baggage is just plain old asking for a hater/media crap storm, no matter what the reason for the holdup is.
There was, before this latest news even hit, a microscope on Duke Forever solely because of it's history. Let's not forget that this is a game that was first announced back in 1997. Fourteen years is a long time to wait for anything, and an obscenely long time for development on a video game.
To be fair, it wasn't all dev time- there were studio closings and re-appropriation of properties and all that good stuff tossed in there as well- but at this point, does anyone even care? It's been fourteen years! I think it's pretty safe to say, that if Duke Nukem Forever is anything less than a total smash hit it's going to take a drubbing. Maybe not from longtime fans- but from everyone else. And I've got a feeling that there aren't all that many of us longtime fans left.
Advance word is nothing amazing, it's far from terrible, but it isn't knock your socks off wow. Any further delays or 'issues' are only going to make things worse and further tarnish the image of a truly classic PC game series.
Come on Randy- don't let us down.
posted by Jason