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[IbizaPocholo]

In 2008, when I was working for the good folks at Janimation in Dallas Tx,
we were hired by Gearbox to create a vertical slice (an animated version of what the game will look like) for the game "Duke Nukem Begins", a Duke origin story.

I headed up this project, as the director at Janimation, and did a lot of the character development, including the design and modeling of Duke. We poured everything we had into making the most awesome cinematic Janimation had ever created. But unfortunately, we got word the game was canceled due to the legal issues with Duke Nukem at the time.

"Duke Nukem Begins" was never made.

It crushed us, as this was what we thought could help us compete with bigger players in the game trailer market at the time.

Because it is still a piece I am damn proud of, I am releasing it 13 years after its creation. The whole team that worked with me deserves to see this released into the wild.

I hope this somehow resurrects this version of the game by showing the world how awesome it would have been...

 

[rofif]

ok but why is 2001/2002 build of dnf still not leaked. Why is my life not complete

 

[whyman]

Looks horrible imo. BUT I do think we will see another AAA Duke game now that 3D Realms and Gearbox is under Embracer.

 

[TheBomb]

glad it didn't happen

 

[ManaByte]

Looks horrible imo. BUT I do think we will see another AAA Duke game now that 3D Realms and Gearbox is under Embracer.

We got Duke in Bulletstorm and it's the best DLC ever and better than Forever.

 

[Aldynes]

I want the build of DNF from 2001 too, damn you feature creep !

 

[Hawking Radiation]

 

[Fart Knight]

This wouldve been cool 15 years ago alright

 

[JonSnowball]

I want the build of DNF from 2001 too, damn you feature creep !

It appears as if Randy Pitchford is actively preventing any media from it being released, let alone a build of it. Over the last several years since 3DR was acquired by a Danish investor it came out that builds from late 2002 were basically walkable from start to finish, with all the levels being in except the last 'zone', Area 51. In early 2003 they switched to a Doom 3 style renderer that required all new textures to be produced with normal maps, this apparently resulted in about 2 years of trying to catch up before throwing it away and shifting to more of what the final '2011' version would be. This led to the last four or so years of Randy bouncing between saying it's a goal inside of Gearbox and it'll happen, to saying - and I quote - "maybe when everyone involved is dead", and most recently claiming that it was too difficult so they gave up and their head of publishing thought the Duke3D expansions were sexist and racist.

A former developer posted two screenshots of the game on Twitter and the next day his account was deactivated...



A few screenshots and short clips seem to leak every few months with the most recent being from a few weeks ago, there's a couple with action sequences and interactions, and a couple that seem like trolls with Duke randomly dying

 

[MasterCornholio]

When they think you're going to drop the soap.......

Instead they get a face full of shit.

Keep this in mind when you go to prison boys.

 

[makaveli60]

It appears as if Randy Pitchford is actively preventing any media from it being released, let alone a build of it. Over the last several years since 3DR was acquired by a Danish investor it came out that builds from late 2002 were basically walkable from start to finish, with all the levels being in except the last 'zone', Area 51. In early 2003 they switched to a Doom 3 style renderer that required all new textures to be produced with normal maps, this apparently resulted in about 2 years of trying to catch up before throwing it away and shifting to more of what the final '2011' version would be. This led to the last four or so years of Randy bouncing between saying it's a goal inside of Gearbox and it'll happen, to saying - and I quote - "maybe when everyone involved is dead", and most recently claiming that it was too difficult so they gave up and their head of publishing thought the Duke3D expansions were sexist and racist.

A former developer posted two screenshots of the game on Twitter and the next day his account was deactivated...



A few screenshots and short clips seem to leak every few months with the most recent being from a few weeks ago, there's a couple with action sequences and interactions, and a couple that seem like trolls with Duke randomly dying

Pitchford……. They should give the franchise to id software. They could not only develop the game it deserves but they are maybe the only ones in the industry who still have balls

 

[Fuz]

Looks like an unpolished turd.

 

[JonSnowball]

Pitchford……. They should give the franchise to id software. They could not only develop the game it deserves but they are maybe the only ones in the industry who still have balls

Embracer owns Gearbox and all of their IP now including Duke Nukem. I have some glimmer of hope they'll do something with it. It's sad that Randy is still involved though. The sad thing as far as the Duke Forever content goes is Randy has stated several times since 2017 he wants to do a Duke Nukem collection and include this stuff, and already has a license from Take-Two to redistribute Duke Nukem Forever....but they gave up because it was "too hard".

Here he is three years ago having a tantrum on Twitter promising it'll come out:

 

[funking giblet]

It's just an animatic, but man, I'm so glad it would have featured the best part of Forever... The TURRETS!

 

[makaveli60]

Pitchford……. They should give the franchise to id software. They could not only develop the game it deserves but they are maybe the only ones in the industry who still has balls

Embracer owns Gearbox and all of their IP now including Duke Nukem. I have some glimmer of hope they'll do something with it. It's sad that Randy is still involved though. The sad thing as far as the Duke Forever content goes is Randy has stated several times since 2017 he wants to do a Duke Nukem collection and include this stuff, and already has a license from Take-Two to redistribute Duke Nukem Forever....but they gave up because it was "too hard".

Here he is three years ago having a tantrum on Twitter promising it'll come out:

It’s no use expecting anything from that guy. He is a snake.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

When they think you're going to drop the soap.......

Instead they get a face full of shit.

Keep this in mind when you go to prison boys.

High velocity feacal matter a direct result of a widened anal canal.

Keep this in mind when you go to prison boys.

 

[eyesabitdull]

"Most awesome thing we ever created as a studio."

Game was going to suck hard if that was the best thing they were capable of doing.

 

[bender]

Looks like a mix-up of substandard versions of Dead to Rights and Rez.

 

[lh032]

Looks like mobile game ad "gameplay" ngl.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

yup, that would be removed with todays crybabies.

 

[Bridges]

My head immediately went to that RHCP music video

 

[bender]

My head immediately went to that RHCP music video

How have I never seen this music video before? How do I erase it from my memory? Spot on comparison.

 

[TheUndeadGamer]

Not to go off topic but where is this scene from?

 

[LordCBH]

Pitchford……. They should give the franchise to id software. They could not only develop the game it deserves but they are maybe the only ones in the industry who still have balls

This is why I call him Randy Bitchford. He should stop being a chode for once.

 

[iHaunter]

Nvm. Thought it was satire.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Not to go off topic but where is this scene from?

Haha good question. Have no idea lol

 

[Knightime_X]

Needs a little bit of polishing.
By little, I mean astronomical amounts.

 

[Apocryphon]

In the wake of Amid Evil, Ion Fury, and Blood: Fresh Supply, you'd think Randy would be trying to get the 2001 build finished and released. Would sell like hotcakes.

 

[Duchess]

Would anyone play a pixel remaster of Duke Nukem 1? I might give it a go:

(fan pixel art from Reddit)

 

[martino]

this is really the fake gameplay cgi traler from that era....

 

[mcjmetroid]

I would never touch Duke Nukem as s character today. He just wouldn't work.

Either they tone him down and make him "modern" and fans send hate mail.

Or they keep him as is and expect bad review scores on Metacritic.

 

[Kuranghi]

Everyone already said what needs to be said about this video so I'll slag off ratm instead, this is truly Rage Against the Machine's worst song lyrics-wise, thank god they removed much of it from the video.

"tURn tHaT shIT uP!"

Very insightful, thanks Zach. Its all mostly faux-insightful when you listen to it as an adult but at least the other songs have interesting lyrics.

 

[Kadve]

Makes you wonder when we will see the Duke again. Impossible for Gearbox and 3D realms to argue about it anymore at least when the are under of the same parent company.

 

[AJUMP23]

Well that was terrible.

 

[Kikorin]

I was a big fan of Duke Nukem, Time to Kill has been one of my first PS1 games and I loved it, single and multiplayer. Sadly, I agree that in today's climate Duke Nukem could never work, since it's a parody of the muscular action movies from 80s/90s that would "offend" basically everyone these days and I think would make no sense to change who the character is just to make it acceptable for today's standards. Long time fans would hate it and youngest gamers probably would have no idea about who he is and would not care at all.

 

[ultrazilla]

I want Gearbox to release the completed Duke Nukem: Reloaded they're sitting on. Apparently Gearbox and Randy had given the "blessing" to a mod team to make the game but then Gearbox
changed their minds. This was around the time of Duke Nukem Forever's release and speculation is that the "Reloaded" mod team had made a better Duke game and with the money
Gearbox had invested in the Duke I.P., didn't want any sales or hype taken from "Forever's" release. Something along those lines anyways.

 

[Thabass]

Not sure why people think this looks terrible. It's not intended to be gameplay, it's basically a fully animated concept of what the game would look like. It was never intended to be seen to an audience / be a real world representation of what the game would look like in-engine.

The concept seemed sound, but we've had 3rd person Duke games...and they were never very good. Duke should always be a first-person shooter type of game.

 

[Blond]

ok but why is 2001/2002 build of dnf still not leaked. Why is my life not complete

I mean it probably doesn’t exist anymore and was just for showing off that original trailer.

 

[JCK75]

It's graphically pleasing but I mean.. on a gameplay level it looks like pathetic dog shit..
What the hell even is that?

 

[jigglet]

I suppose that was not bad for the time.

 

[rofif]

I mean it probably doesn’t exist anymore and was just for showing off that original trailer.

You would think that.. but there are new gifs and screenshots every 3-6 months.. and allegedly it was 90% done before engine swap

 

[MiguelItUp]

I'd still love to see Duke return, but, in a good/great way. This wouldn't have been that I'm sure. So, it not making its way through completion is probably a good thing. Especially after Duke Nukem Forever.

 

[Davey Cakes]

Would anyone play a pixel remaster of Duke Nukem 1? I might give it a go:

(fan pixel art from Reddit)

Sure. Classic Duke doesn't get enough love.

If anything, all the failed attempts to make something that tops Duke 3D make me think that they should just go back to the OG.

 

[SantaC]

You would think that.. but there are new gifs and screenshots every 3-6 months.. and allegedly it was 90% done before engine swap

what was George Broussard thinking?

 

[Skyfox]

People forget what games looked like 13 years ago. I think it's fascinating!

The company that produced this concept also created the original artwork cover for doom 1 and sculpted the original doom 1 enemies! That's an imprint on videogame history if you ask me.

The old screen grabs here showing the ability to piss in the game look hilarious. Duke although a bit much for my tastes sometimes, is an antedote for anti-fun censorship.

 

[JonSnowball]

what was George Broussard thinking?

The short of it was at the end of 2002/early 2003 a new renderer using a similar lighting system as Doom 3 was built and integrated with the game, 3D Realms were under the impression they could generate normal maps from existing textures and it wouldn't be a big delay, but to the surprise of no one it made the game look like complete shit - the information available post-release of the game seems to show that in 2005~ they gave up. They were working on the "2001" version from 1998 - 2005 before a more significant internal soft reboot to the version we saw released....which itself was butchered in 2008 as they realised that it wouldn't work on Xbox 360 (alternate paths cut, open areas cut, two weapon system integrated, interactive elements cut, etc..)

Funny how in the end the game looked uglier than the 2001 iteration.

Leaked 2001 clip:



Same area in 2006:

 

[RowdyReverb]

Same area in 2006:

Woof