Yahtzee speaks out on the whole Duke Nukem Forever fiasco. For me watching his diatribe on that epic Fail is like watching Falling Down. Yahtzee says everything I want to, but can’t; at least not without violating the safe for work and family guidelines we attempt to maintain.

I think Yahtzee’s vision of Duke Nukem Forever would be loads more interesting than anything 3D Realms didn’t come up with. You have to hand it to them though, they managed to get paid to sit and spin for years without producing anything more than concepts and screenshots. That’s very clever indeed. Watch Zero Punctuation: Duke Nukem Forever after the jump.

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Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition and Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project are available on Good Old Games for just $8.98, 25% off the regular price. Duke Nukem 3D is a legendary FPS and one of the best selling games of all time. The 3D platformer, Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, is a more recent release.

Gamers who’ve never met the Duke can finally get an idea of what all the controversy over the Duke Nukem Forever is about. If you’ve already got one of these games, you can pick up the other for $1.50 off at $4.49. The Duke Nukem Pack offer runs until Monday, June 1st at 11:59pm on GOG.com.

Check out the Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project video after the break.
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Finnish developer Recoil Games have released the first screenshots of its upcoming ‘when nature goes wrong’ inspired 3d shooter Earth No More. Powered by a heavily modified Unreal Engine 3, the screens (above) show off the game’s Crysis-like graphics. However, very little of the game itself is known at this time.

What little we do know is that the game takes place in a small New England town that has been quarantined due to a mysterious outbreak. The player will assume the role of Will Foster/Forsythe, a DHS chemical weapons specialist, initially responding to a gas attack on Washington, D.C. As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that the gas-attack is nothing but a government cover-up devised to hide the truth: plants are taking over the world. Poisonous red vines have spread throughout the region simultaneously strangling and terra-forming the environment. It is up to the main character, who will be joined by four other characters, to survive the apocalyptic threat of environmental extinction. Conversation paths similar to Mass Effect will presented to substantiate the game’s character driven story. Multiplayer and co-op options have also been put on the table.

Recoil Games is founded by Remedy Entertainment (Max Payne) co-founder Samuli Syvahuoko.

Also worth note is that Scott Miller’s Radar Group will be producing the game. Many of you may recognize his name in association with the now defunct 3D Realms (Duke Nukem Forever).

When recently asked if the recent closure of 3D Realms will have any effect on the game’s development, Recoil Games responded “No, the situation at 3D Realms has no effect on us or Earth No More.”

Recoil Games and Radar Group plan to release the game for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 at a future date yet to be announced.

I just knew some litigation was going to come of this.

It looks as though Duke Nukem Forever publisher Take-Two isn’t going to let the recent closure of the game’s former developer Apogee Software, Ltd.’s 3D Realms go without some form of retribution for its near 12 years of slacking. Bloomberg initially broke news of the publishers’ grievance stating Apogee/3D Realms “breached an agreement to design the latest installment of Duke Nukem” claiming Apogee/3D Realms “never produced the game and instead closed its studio on May 6, terminated development of the game and fired employees who had been involved in the Duke Nukem project”. Take-Two insists that “Apogee continually delayed the completion date for Duke Nukem Forever”, and ” 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”.

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While we mourn the loss of 3D Realms as well as the joke formerly known as Duke Nukem Forever, it seems there are a handful of former employees of 3D Realms who refuse to go quietly into the night. Game assets from what we can only speculate as the final push for DNF are now being leaked onto the internet.

While I’m not sure if their (former employees) motives are sincere, I am getting the feeling there are some former bosses and/or publishing associates who are rather irritated right now.

To give fair warning, some of these are NSFW (not safe for work):

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With rumors circulating around the web the past 24 hours regarding Duke Nukem Forever developer 3D Realms shutting down, the guys over at Shacknews have found the proverbial nail in the coffin in the form of confirmation from a reliable source at 3D Realms. Shacknews reports:

3D Realms webmaster Joe Siegler has commented on the shut down, stating: “It’s not a marketing thing. It’s true. I have nothing further to say at this time.”

Shacknews also obtained Duke Nukem Forever’s publisher Take-Two’s stance on 3D Realms failure at producing the game:

“We can confirm that our relationship with 3D Realms for Duke Nukem Forever was a publishing arrangement, which did not include ongoing funds for development of the title,” said Take-Two VP of communications Alan Lewis in a prepared statement. “In addition, Take-Two continues to retain the publishing rights to Duke Nukem Forever,” he added.

While this news is bleak, Apogee Software and Deepsilver want fans to know that Duke is far from dead. You can see what they had to say after the break.

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Seems like the team at 3D Realms working on the long awaited Duke Nukem Forever is giving fans of the series a small taste of what to expect by way of a screenshot from the upcoming (maybe someday) game.

Anyway, here is a nice little Christmas wish from 3D Realms:

We at 3D Realms wish to extend a safe and happy holiday wish to all our site visitors. We hope your holiday season brings you something joyful, and something fulfilling. We’ll see you on the flip side of the holidays.

In the meantime, we head out to Christmas break with this small treat for you. Due to (how shall we say it), “popular demand”, here is a new Duke Nukem Forever wallpaper image.

While it is pretty decent screenshot, I think that guys who follow the link to the website where it was posted will like the shot below it better. Personally I think the blond has the better “assets” but then again, I like a little junk in the truck. (Hey, I can appreciate a nice looking woman without wanting one so keep those comments to yourself pervs).

After failing to come to an agreement with Electronic Arts, and deciding to look for other partnerships instead, Take-Two has instead decided to remain independent after all. This is a very anti-climatic end to the back and forth that gamers have been following closely since EA made their initial tender offer back in February.

However, according to recent comments made this morning by Take-Two’s Chairman of the Board, Strauss Zelnick, the company has decided that it would be better for stockholders if the company continued to do business as usual.

Zelnick feels that the company has great creative forces working for it, is financially stable, and still a big enough competitor to brush off any offers that should come their way:

“Our management and outstanding and talented employees have maintained an unwavering focus on our products and our business through this lengthy strategic review process and we are confident in our prospects. We remain focused on maximizing value for stockholders and are executing on our business strategies in a determined manner.”

Ben Feder, Chief Executive Officer of Take-Two added his two-cents regarding the decision to remain independent with the same amount of confidence the company has maintained over the past few months, by reminding the world of their recent financial cash cow, GTA IV:

“We have delivered solid financial results and expanded our portfolio of leading titles, which includes the powerful Grand Theft Auto franchise, as well as 15 other wholly owned brands with sales of more than one million units each..with no debt and an undrawn $140 million credit facility [this gives] us the financial flexibility to continue to do what we do best: innovate and create the great games that our customers have come to expect.”

Yes, it is easy to be confident when you have big name games in your portfolio coming to consoles like BioShock PS3, Duke Nukem Forever, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, GTA: Chinatown Wars and GTA IV coming to the PC in November. The biggest and most interesting thing I find though is that Feder states that they have no debt. How many companies can say that?

Take-Two sort of dodged the bullet on the EA take-over though, and while most companies would have been content to sell out to the first monopolistic giant to make an offer, they didn’t. While they did this in the best interest of their company, it is the gamers who are the big winners in the end.

Last week, 3D Realms re-released the original Duke Nukem 3D on the XBLA, which was sadly the only decent release we’ve seen from them in years. But gamers who plopped down 800 MS Points apparently got more than just an oldie-but-goodie FPS with some new features. Hidden away in the game’s extras are a couple of new screenshots for the upcoming (maybe) Duke Nukem Forever. They both become viewable after you complete all the game’s achievements, which is a pretty hefty feat, considering the online multiplayer hasn’t exactly aged well.

So to save you all that trouble, Duke4.net has luckily managed to get some hi-def versions of the screens (below). They basically show Duke in a strip club (because a Duke Nukem game just isn’t complete without a strip club) and an updated version of those pain-in-the-ass flying aliens from the original game. The graphics actually look pretty slick, but I’m not convinced these will actually reflect the final product.

Via Duke4.net

Well it’s about time. After plenty of rumors about its existence followed by an eventual confirmation awhile back, 3D Realms has announced that Duke Nukem 3D will finally be hitting the XBLA next week on September 24. The game will come equipped with the standard features you’d expect from a game being re-released on the XBLA, such as a leaderboards, achievements, and a new co-op setting. It will also come with a few new surprises, such as “rewind” and “saved film” features, which let you reverse the gameplay on the fly and save replays of your games to share with friends.

That should certainly break up the monotony of the usual XBLA games we’ve been getting for the past couple of weeks. After a solid month full of great games like Castle Crashers and Bionic Commando: Rearmed, it’s a little jarring to go back to the usual hack fare of the Xbox Live Arcade; so a revived classic should actually feel like a breath of fresh air.

UPDATE: There’s also a trailer out now, which will probably make your brain melt from all the awesome it contains.

Via 3D Realms