Duke Nukem Forever is ALIVE and Gunning for a 2011 Release!

Always bet on Duke!

After last May's heartbreaking (or hilarious, depending on your point of view) news that Duke Nukem Forever was either canceled or indefinitely put on hold after most of the staff at 3D Realms was fired, it was confirmed just hours ago at the PAX gaming conference that everyone's favorite womanizing badass alien killer will indeed be seeing the light of day in after all. According to several websites, including vgreleases.com, Duke Nukem Forever will be coming to the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC sometime next year!

According to Wired.com, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford exclaimed to a group of gamers waiting to play the two-level DNF demo, "You cannot kill Duke. You cannot kill Duke!" Pitchford is a former employee of 3D Realms and, said Wired.com, he was wearing the Duke Nukem shirt the company gave him in 1996.

How sweet it is!

If you know anything about the sordid history of DNF, you'll know to take this announcement with a grain of salt. Anyone who has been gaming for 15 years or more is probably well aware that Duke Nukem Forever was originally announced around 1997 running on the Quake II engine, and the dudes at 3D Realms have been "working" on it for more than a decade. They always said the game will be ready "when it's done" in order to make endless improvements - or perhaps just fool around - for years on end. After plenty of engine changes and total rewrites, this is the first time I can remember that Duke Nukem Forever has been given anything that looks like a solid release date, so we might actually see it in the next five years or so.

What's really exciting about this announcement is that DNF is still alive. And to the Duke faithful, that's all that matters.

The Xbox 360 demo's title screen 

I am now and will always be a huge fan of the original Duke Nukem 3D; I consider it the finest first person shooter title ever conceived. (Thanks for showing it to me all those years ago Tom; I'm FOREVER in your debt!) I nuked my way through all the official add-ons, like Duke Caribbean: Life's a Beach, Duke It Out in D.C. and Duke! Zone 2. I also finished the 1,000 level add-on Nuke It!, though it took me a good three years. I'm one of those guys who always had faith in Duke Nukem Forever, though I knew it wasn't coming out when they said it was... ever. Even if DNF turns out to be the worst game I've ever played, I'm ecstatic that it still has a chance to take its rightful place on my gaming shelf.

There's just one thing left to tell the naysayers: Come get some! (Maybe, possibly, one day. I hope!)