Did Not Finish
Bloomberg has reported that Take-Two Interactive has sued the parent company of Duke Nukem Forever (DNF)developer 3D Realms for failing to, erm, develop it.
Take-Two owns the publishing rights to DNF (which, with perfect irony, stands for ‘did not finish' in racing circles) and is understandably not impressed with 3D Realms decision to call it a day without delivering a finished product, having spent 12 years trying. Especially since it reportedly shelled out $12 million for the rights back in 2000.
"Apogee continually delayed the completion date for the Duke Nukem Forever," said Take-Two in the legal complaint filed with the New York State supreme court. "Apogee repeatedly assured Take-Two and the video-gaming community that it was diligently working toward competing development of the PC Version of the Duke Nukem Forever."
Meanwhile, Apogee is cheekily proceeding with a marketing campaign for the Duke Nukem Trilogy with fellow developer Deep Silver, which is owned by software and games distributor Koch Media. These three games have been developed, possibly by neither company, for the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, and Apogee is auditioning to find a ‘real life' Duke Nukem.
Finally, the independent ‘SaveDukeNukem Project' is up and running with a test website. Apart from a general desire to see DNF completed at some point, it's aims seem ill-defined right now, but it should get some attention and maybe highlight the commercial potential of the franchise to another would-be developer.
