After 15 years, the game that seemed to become nothing more than a joke has finally been released.
Last night at an official launch party in the UK, the ribbon was cut on what was for all intents and purposes the most delayed video game in history.
“June 10 in the UK will forever be celebrated as the day that the legendary Duke Nukem Forever went from video game folklore to Earth shattering reality. For 15 years fans have waited in limbo just yearning to hear those two little lovely words strung together, Now Available. Today, the acronym ‘DNF’ changes its meaning to a ‘Day to Never Forget.’ I am proud to announce that the wait is finally over and that Duke Nukem Forever is truly Now Available,” said Christoph Hartmann, according to a GamePro quotation.
Duke Nukem Forever was first announced in 1996. Back then, it was to be a sequel to the recently-released Duke Nukem 3D. Production problems plagued its development and it never came out.
But instead of outright canceling it, developers persisted that they were still working on it. Tiny little reminders of the game popped up every couple years but after a while it seemed more like a running gag than a serious confirmation that anyone was interested in actually working on it.
Then, at last year’s PAX convention in Seattle, 2K Games – which nabbed the rights to Duke Nukem at some point during the series’ storied and embattled legacy – made a firm promise to release the game in 2011. It was quite a shock since no one had heard anything about DNF for years.
Today’s launch only applies to the major gaming markets outside of the US. Here in the states, there’s still even more waiting. But not much, as DNF is slated for a June 14 launch in the American market.
