1996. Duke Nukem 3d was released and changed the face of the FPS genre forever. Duke was worshipped as the top dog in the PC industry; expansion packs, mods, new stories and grand new ideas flocked the game, and became a massive success.
But back then there was stiff competition to the FPS market, and soon enough, with the release of Quake and Half Life, Duke Nukem 3d dropped away, having now reached legendary status and cemented itself as one of the greatest games of all time.
How then, could a sequel to this monumental game go wrong at all? Well, the evidence is clear. Duke Nukem forever was announced on April 28th 1997, to the cheers of thousands of rabid fans. Little did these rabid fans know that this newly announced game would not be released for at least another eleven years.
The game produced a teaser trailer in 1998 under the Quake II engine, then upgraded to the Unreal Engine in 1999 to the release of seven or so new screenshots. By 2001, many believed the game would never be released - it had been four years since the game was announced. However, a new trailer was released, looking absolutely stunning once again.
And since that day, the game fell into huge developement hell, and until 2007, nothing has been announced or released. It seemed that Duke Nukem had reached its final breath.
However, 2007 saw the release of three incredibly small screenshots of Duke Nukem Forever to prove to the world the original badass wasn't dead yet. Although small, the screenshots conveyed the amazing new Unreal 3 Engine graphics well, and suddenly Duke fans were whispers of Duke returning once again.
But today, finally, George Broussard, the head of 3d Realms officially announced the release of a new Duke Nukem Forever teaser trailer coming later today. Coupled with a brand new, high resolution screenshot, we could soon be reaching the end of this huge campaign spread over eleven years.
Most rejected the idea that Duke Nukem Forever will ever be released, and even if it was, it would be a crumbly mess. And although the game still hasn't been released, and no one knows for sure how good it will actually be, the future does look promising for Duke.
"Hail to the King baby." The king is back.