Gaming's oldest preorder may go unfulfilled

[mekender]

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plug ... ed/1312328

Will this gamer ever be collecting the pre-order he placed in 2001?

Answer: probably not. His $10 deposit was placed on Duke Nukem Forever, a first-person shooter that, after being in continuous development for an unprecedented 12 years, was suddenly canceled yesterday.

Duke Nukem, a once-iconic blond-haired all-American action hero, with a fondness for catchphrases like "It's time to kick *** and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of gum," was the star of a hit string of games in the 1990s. His creators, 3D Realms, used him to help pioneer the first-person shooter genre, paving the way for modern hits like Halo and Call of Duty.

Ten years ago, Duke Nukem Forever was expected to become just as big a hit as those did. But constant delays -- the game's release date was originally intended to be in 1998 -- caused it to become something of a running joke, topping Wired magazine's annual Vaporware Awards list for seven years out of eight.

Almost unbelievably, the 3D Realms team apparently continued constant work on the game, releasing occasional teaser-style screenshots and trailers, until the company abruptly ran out of money and folded yesterday with what we imagine to be the loss of numerous jobs.

As Guardian games writer Steve Boxer told the BBC, "It would have been nice to see another Duke Nukem game, but given they had more than 12 years it's just incompetence of the highest order...Sadly, Duke Nukem Forever was the most aptly named title in the history of games. Now, it's just Duke Nukem Never."

Duke Nukem Forever's publishing rights remain with Take-Two, but it's not yet clear if the publisher will allocate it to a new team. Given that it's already been 12 years, they could be forgiven for wanting to forget the whole sorry saga. We wish "Slash000" the best of luck in getting a refund.