We've been following the 3D Realms saga for a few weeks now, and it appears things have just taken an unexpected turn.  Contrary to what was reported, even on their own website, 3D Realms is not shut down - but rather the entire Duke Nukem Forever team was let go.

So what happened?  Basically the money finally dried up.  Twelve years takes its toll on a studio and 3D Realms buckled under the pressure.  So why the sudden outcry of "We're not dead?"  If you hadn't heard Take 2 filed a lawsuit against Apogee, the parent company of 3D Realms.  In the suit Take 2 claimed payments to 3D Realms to the tune of 12 million dollars.  The response from 3D Realms?  They never saw a penny.

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When someone works for over ten years on the same project, well their portfolio tends to not have a lot in it.  With all of 3D Realms let go with the studio's closure, there are plenty of artists looking for a job now, and most of them have a portfolio filled with Duke Nukem Forever goodies.

Joystiq got their hands on concept renders from artist Chris Smith, and there's plenty of goodies here from vehicles to characters. 

Brian Brewer took matters into his own hands and uploaded a video to Gametrailers.com showing not only game models, but actual gameplay footage.  Can you say stadium level? 

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Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the end of the longest running development of a game.  No, Duke Nukem Forever has not finally been finished.  Instead it appears that 3D Realms has shut down, closed their doors, and ceased to exist.  

After 13 years we finally got a screenshot or two of Duke Nukem Forever with the release of Duke Nukem 3D on Xbox Live Arcade; but even that game couldn't save the studio.  According to Shacknews 3D Realms employees have been let go, and Apogee may have been affected as well.  We did just receive the following statement though concerning the upcoming Duke Nukem Trilogy
 

Deep Silver and Apogee Software are not affected by the situation at 3D Realms. Development on the Duke Nukem Trilogy is continuing as planned.

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Classic Gaming download service Good Old Games (GOG) has announced the availability of several classic Apogee titles.  Apogee were the kings of PC gaming back in the mid 90s with such hits as Rise of the Triad, Blake Stone, and of course the co-op friendly Duke Nukem 3D.

The aforementioned Duke Nukem 3D is now available to download via the service.  For the low price of $5.99 you can be kicking ass and chewing bubble gum with your buddies.  Unfortunately playing it in co-op is going to be an exercise in what made PC Gaming great in the era of the 386 - setting up IPX networks!  That was sarcasm.

The game is certified to work on Vista and XP, and comes with SMS Ringtones, Hi-Res Wallpaper, the original manual in PDF form and more.  Of course if you don't want to set up a kick ass IPX/SPX network, you should be able to find a way to play the game via TCP/IP.  

If none of this entices you, and you still want to get in on the Duke 3D action, you could just drop $10 on the Xbox Live Arcade version.

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What's better than getting a brand new screenshot from the game that's been in development since 486DX processors were cool?  Getting a brand new screenshot from Duke Nukem Forever AND getting a picture of two scantily clad girls in front of a Christmas tree in pleather outfits.  I have no idea what they have to do with the game, but I imagine George Broussard said "shake it baby" before snapping the photo.

Above and beyond that the "screenshot" can be had in a variety of shapes and sizes, some may call it wallpaper, we call it a window into the 2017!

Source: Link

A few weeks back, we had a contest, giving away three copies of Duke Nukem on XBLA.  A nice bonus for the winners was the promise of playing co-op Duke Nukem 3D with the Co-Optimus staff.  Last Saturday night, one of the winners got together with us for some old school, one-liner spoutin' action.  Since Duke Nukem is such a classic, and features co-op, it's only natural that our report on the action would be the topic of this week's Co-Op Classics.

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A week has come and gone, and it's time to announce the winners in our Duke Nukem 3D Caption Contest.  If you haven't had the chance, you can check out all the entries here in the original news post.  I'd be nice and say that all the entries were great, blah blah, but I ask you, What Would Duke Do?  Would he be nice?  Nope, he'd laugh at a few of them, and use a rocket launcher on all the rest.  So, without any further delay, here are your winners, in no particular order...

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This week has been a busy one for me. That's part of the reason why This Week in Co-Op is a day late. However, I hope that I can make it up to you all. I think I might be able to, because I've been spending the week playing a game that most all gamers can agree is either cool, or at least features a cool character. The game in question is Duke Nukem 3D on XBLA,.

I've played the single player part of Duke Nukem 3D, and it is super retro fun. Actually, for a game that originally came out in 1996, it holds up decently. Duke himself is the main draw of the game, but it also features great weapons, enemies, gameplay, and so forth. Also, the XBLA version has up to 8 player co-op. I've already stated that Duke is cool, since he's basically a one-liner machine. So, if one Duke makes the game great, eight Dukes must  be epic, correct? Yes, indeed this is the case.

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Duke Nukem 3D was the most downloaded XBLA game the week of its release, which is no surprise to us here at Co-Optimus.  It also managed to crack the top 10 games played over Xbox Live, which just goes to show you, you can't keep a good man, or a walking cliche, down.  The game features an 8 player co-op mode, which makes us very happy.  We're so happy, in fact, that we've decided to celebrate!

Co-Optimus has three codes to give away, which means three lucky winners get a free copy of Duke Nukem 3D.  To sweeten the deal, each of the three winners get to join Co-Optimus staff members for a Duke Nukem co-op session!  Can you imagine it?  8 Dukes running around, tipping strippers, spouting one liners... it's the stuff co-op dreams are made of!

So what do you have to do to enter the contest?  It's easy: see that screenshot above?  Come up with the coolest caption you can, and put it in a reply to this news post.  I tried to make it as easy as I could on you, with a huge gun, a sleazy girl, and a bar to use in your caption.  Just make sure you keep it more or less safe for work, and also for Japan (oops too late for that).

The deadline for entries is next Tuesday, October 14.  Then, our crack team of judges will consider each caption, and choose the top three.  Those three winners get a code for the game, and the chance to co-op with our staff at a later date.  So, who wants some free Duke Nukem?

If you are like us, then you've been re-living your earlier years replaying a great conversion of Duke Nukem 3D for the Xbox Live Arcade.  I've been playing co-op all the way through, and I believe we are just shy of the infamous Football Stadium level.  But if you go outside your cooperative comfort zone and play some Duke Match amassing 500 kills and finally earning all achievements in the game you'll be rewarded with something special.  There's a hidden gallery that is unlocked that reveals two hi resolution Duke Nukem Forever screenshots.  Yes...THAT Duke Nukem Forever. 

While it's not known if the latest iteration of the Duke franchise will support co-op, we can only hope 3DR hasn't taken out on of the things we loved so much about the original.  We have the screenshots posted after the Read More link...warning...one of them is sort of NSFW risky.

In similar D3D news, according to sales tracking site VGChartz the title has sold over 40,000 copies on Xbox Live Arcade in its first week alone!

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