Duke Nukem

For the Captain Planet character, see Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

Duke Nukem
Duke Nukem logo
Developers	Apogee Software Ltd./3D Realms Frontline Studios Koch Media Sunstorm Interactive n-Space Eurocom Torus Games Gearbox Software MachineWorks Northwest Aardvark Software Triptych Games Piranha Games Lobotomy Software Tiger Electronics Frontline Studios
Publishers	3D Realms Deep Silver Apogee Software Take-Two Interactive / 2K Games ARUSH Entertainment Infogrames Europe SA GT Interactive Software U.S. Gold FormGen MachineWorks Northwest LLC King Records SEGA of America Tec Toy Indústria de Brinquedos S.A. MacSoft Games Infrogrames Skyzone Entertainment
Platforms	MS DOS, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, Game.com, PlayStation, Sega Mega Drive, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Live Arcade, Mobile phone, iOS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS
First release	Duke Nukem July 1, 1991
Latest release	Duke Nukem Forever June 14, 2011

Duke Nukem is a video game series focusing on its protagonist, Duke Nukem. Originally created by Apogee Software Ltd./3D Realms as a series of video games for the PC, the franchise expanded to games released for various consoles by third party developers. In 2010, the rights of the franchise were acquired by Gearbox Software,^[1] who completed the development of Duke Nukem Forever and released it on June 10, 2011 in Europe & Australia and on June 14, 2011 in North America. The voice actor for Duke Nukem is Jon St. John.^[2]

Games

Main series

Title	Year released	Platforms
Duke Nukem	1991	MS-DOS, iPhone/iPod (Episode 1 only)
Duke Nukem II	1993	MS-DOS, Game Boy Color, iPhone/iPod (Shareware version)
Duke Nukem 3D	1996	MS-DOS, Game.com, Mac OS, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Microsoft Windows, Sega Mega Drive (in Brazil only), Xbox Live Arcade, iPhone/iPod, Nokia N900, Android
Duke Nukem Forever	2011	Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X

Other games

Title	Year released	Platforms
Duke Nukem: Time to Kill	1998	PlayStation
Duke Nukem: Zero Hour	1999	Nintendo 64
Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes	2000	PlayStation
Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project	2002	Microsoft Windows, Xbox Live Arcade
Duke Nukem Advance	2002	Game Boy Advance
Duke Nukem Mobile	2004	Tapwave Zodiac, Mobile phone
Duke Nukem Mobile II: Bikini Project	2005	Mobile phone
Duke Nukem: Critical Mass	2011	Nintendo DS

Reception

Aggregate review scores
As of May 21, 2011.

Game	GameRankings	Metacritic
Duke Nukem	(PC) -[3]	(PC) -
Duke Nukem II	(PC) -[4] (GBC) 73.31%[5]	(PC) - (GBC) -
Duke Nukem 3D	(PC) 88.50%[6] (SAT) 82.50%[7] (X360) 80.67%[8] (N64) 74.33%[9] (PS1) 59.33%[10] (GEN) 50.00%[11]	(PC) 89[12] (X360) 80[13] (N64) 73[14]
Duke Nukem Forever	(PS3) 49.21%[15] (X360) 49.15%[16] (PC) 48.52%[17]	(PC) 54[18] (PS3) 51[19] (X360) 49[20]

The series has been generally popular since its inception. Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II, along with Commander Keen, helped make the genre popular on the personal computer, as against games like Super Mario Bros. for video game consoles.^[21]

The games broke out of the shareware niche and into the mainstream gamer audience with Duke Nukem 3D, which also brought the series to the forefront of video game controversy. The game, like others such as Star Wars: Dark Forces, was one of the first titles considered comparable to Doom. The Build engine used in Duke Nukem 3D has also become one of the most popular engines among developers. Duke Nukem 3D was controversial, because of its depictions of sexuality, pornography, obscenities, graphic violence, drug use, and other taboo topics. This caused the game to be banned in Brazil and, in other countries, the sale of the game was strictly regulated against purchase by minors. Despite this, Duke Nukem 3D was a commercial and critical success for 3D Realms.^[21]

Duke Nukem Forever had been in development hell since 1997 until it was finally released on June 10, 2011. The exceedingly long wait had spawned a number of jokes related to its development timeline. The video game media and the public in general have routinely suggested several names in place of Forever, calling it: "Never", "(Taking) Forever", "Whenever", "ForNever", "Neverever", and "If Ever". Many fans^[who?] have noted that the game's initials, "DNF", also stand for Did Not Finish, which is an acronym widely used in motorsports to denote cars which did not reach the finish line (usually due to mechanical failure or crash). Due to Duke Nukem games featuring many pop culture references, a joke on the development hell nightmare of Duke Nukem Forever's production was included in the title itself, where Duke is playing it himself within the game, and when asked if it was any good, commented "After 12 fucking years, it should be!". The game has also won a wide variety of "vaporware awards".^[22][23][24]

Although anticipation was high, Duke Nukem Forever received disparate reviews upon release from critics, with most of the criticism directed towards the game's clunky controls on consoles, shooting mechanics, and overall aging and dated design.The PR firm responsible for the game's publicity, The Redner Group, reacted to these reviews in a statement on the corporation's Twitter account. This comment appeared to threaten to withdraw access to review copies for future titles for reviewer who had been highly critical of the game. Head of the PR firm Jim Redner later apologised for and retracted this comment, and the original twitter post has been deleted.^[25] Despite the apologies, Publisher 2K Games has officially dropped The Redner Group from representing its products.^[26]

Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, a spin-off from the main franchise released in 2002, generally received positive reviews in the video game press, with rankings around 7/10 and of 80 out 100. However, the game did not sell as well as hoped, and its developer Sunstorm Interactive is no longer in existence. Duke Nukem Advance, which was also released in 2002 for the Gameboy Advance, did also receive favorable reviews. Duke Nukem: Critical Mass, which was released the same year as Duke Nukem Forever and was developed for the Nintendo DS, received a similarly negative reception.

Duke Nukem: Glorious Bastard

A new comic series titled Duke Nukem: Glorious Bastard is set to be in July 2011 by IDW. The series will feature Duke Nukem travelling back to the Second World War, to help the allies defeat the Nazis and aliens.^[27]

References

1. ^ Kelly, Kevin (September 5, 2010). "Gearbox Software Acquires Rights To Entire Duke Nukem Franchise, Free Level Cap Upgrade For Borderlands". G4tv.com. http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/707337/Gearbox-Software-Announces-XXX.html. Retrieved March 27, 2011. 
2. ^ "Duke Nukem Forever release date delayed until June". BBC News. March 24, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/12849616. Retrieved March 27, 2011. 
3. ^ "Duke Nukem Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/564724-duke-nukem/index.html. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
4. ^ "Duke Nukem II Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/564725-duke-nukem-ii/index.html. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
5. ^ "Duke Nukem Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/gbc/197173-duke-nukem/index.html. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
6. ^ "Duke Nukem 3D Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/197174-duke-nukem-3d/index.html. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
7. ^ "Duke Nukem 3D Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/saturn/573955-duke-nukem-3d/index.html. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
8. ^ "Duke Nukem 3D Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/944795-duke-nukem-3d/index.html. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
9. ^ "Duke Nukem 64 Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/n64/197176-duke-nukem-64/index.html. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
10. ^ "Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/ps/197178-duke-nukem-total-meltdown/index.html. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
11. ^ "Duke Nukem 3D Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/genesis/928814-duke-nukem-3d/index.html. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
12. ^ "Duke Nukem 3D Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/duke-nukem-3d. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
13. ^ "Duke Nukem 3D Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/duke-nukem-3d. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
14. ^ "Duke Nukem 64 Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/nintendo-64/duke-nukem-64. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
15. ^ "Duke Nukem Forever Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/ps3/944793-duke-nukem-forever/index.html. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
16. ^ "Duke Nukem Forever Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/944794-duke-nukem-forever/index.html. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
17. ^ "Duke Nukem Forever Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/448848-duke-nukem-forever/index.html. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
18. ^ "Duke Nukem Forever Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/duke-nukem-forever. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
19. ^ "Duke Nukem Forever Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/duke-nukem-forever. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
20. ^ "Duke Nukem Forever Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/duke-nukem-forever. Retrieved May 21, 2011. 
21. ^ ^{a b} Kushner, David (2003). Masters of Doom. Random House. 89. ISBN 0-375-50524-5. 
22. ^ Kahney, Leander. "Vaporware 2000: Missing Inaction". December 27, 2000. Wired News.
23. ^ Manjoo, Farhad. "Vaporware 2001: Empty Promises". January 7, 2002. Wired News.
24. ^ Vaporware Team. "Vaporware 2002: Tech Up in Smoke?". Wired News. January 3, 2003.
25. ^ Kuchera, Ben (June 15, 2011). "Duke Nukem's PR threatens to punish sites that run negative reviews". Ars Technica. http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/06/duke-nukems-pr-threatens-to-punish-sites-that-run-negative-reviews.ars. 
26. ^ Orland, Kyle (June 15, 2011). "2K Games Drops PR Firm Following Duke Nukem Forever Blackball Threats". Gamasutra. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/35262/2K_Games_Drops_PR_Firm_Following_Duke_Nukem_Forever_Blackball_Threats.php. 
27. ^ "Duke Nukem: Glorious Bastard Sends Duke to WWII for His First Comic Book Series". Kotaku. 2011-04-29. http://kotaku.com/#!5797179/duke-nukem-glorious-bastard.