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Duke Nukem
Duke Nukem is a video game series and media franchise created by the company Apogee Software Ltd. (now 3D Realms). The franchise follows the titular Duke Nukem as he battles against a military or extraterrestrial force. Originally a series of video games for personal computers, the series later expanded to have games released for various consoles by third-party developers. The first two games in the main series were 2D platformers, while later games have been a mix of first-person and third-person shooters.
In 2010, the rights of the series were acquired by Gearbox Software, who completed the development of Duke Nukem Forever and released it on 10 June 2011 in Europe and Australia and on 14 June 2011 in North America. The franchise generated over $1 billion in revenue by 2001.
The first three games in the series were developed by Apogee Software, which in 1996 rebranded as 3D Realms. The original game, Duke Nukem, was released in 1991. It is a two-dimensional platform game for the IBM PC and features 320×200, 16-color EGA graphics with vertical and horizontal scrolling. The original game has three episodes, the first distributed as shareware. When Apogee learned that the name "Duke Nukem" might have already been trademarked for the Duke Nukem character from the television series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, they changed it to Duke Nukum for the 2.0 revision. The name was later determined not to be trademarked, so the spelling Duke Nukem was restored for Duke Nukem II and all successive Duke games. The sequel, Duke Nukem II, is more than four times larger and took advantage of 256-color Video Graphics Array (VGA) graphics, Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) music, and digitized sound. While the game uses three different 16-color palettes, only 16 colors are actually used onscreen at once.
The third game of the series is the first-person shooter (FPS) Duke Nukem 3D, released in 1996. Like most FPS games of the day, Duke Nukem 3D features three-dimensional environments with two-dimensional sprites standing in for weapons, enemies, and breakable background objects. Duke Nukem 3D was released for MS-DOS, Mac OS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, game.com, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Nintendo 64, and later re-released during 2008 for Xbox Live Arcade, and for iOS and Nokia N900 during 2009. Duke Nukem 3D has more than a dozen expansion packs.
The most recent installment in the main video game series, Duke Nukem Forever, was delayed for more than a decade after the initial announcement during April 1997, leading to its being named as a piece of vaporware. Initial development had begun at 3D Realms, but in 2009, 3D Realms was forced to lay off a number of its staff, and development of Duke Nukem Forever stalled. Take-Two Interactive, which was to publish the game, sued 3D Realms for failing to deliver, which was settled in 2010. Gearbox Software had close contact with many of the laid off 3D Realms staff and quietly hired them to continue its development as Triptych Games. 3D Realms sold the rights to Duke Nukem to Gearbox in 2010. The game was officially released on June 10, 2011.
Duke Nukem Collection 1, which includes remastered versions of Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II alongside a port of Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown, was released for the Evercade retrogaming console in November 2023.
One of the first projects to be announced after the success of Duke Nukem 3D was a return to Duke Nukem's 2D side-scrolling, platforming format for a game named Duke Nukem 4Ever. The project was directed by Keith Schuler, main designer and programmer for the games Paganitzu and Realms of Chaos, and a level designer for the Plutonium PAK.
The 2D 4Ever was planned to combine a number of the new concepts of Duke Nukem 3D with the old-style play of the first two games of the series. Duke's look, personality, and armory from the recent shooter would be matched with run and gun platforming, with a few new objects, including a cloaking device and five-piece weapon named the "heavy barrel", added in. Players would face off against Dr. Proton's minions, the Protonite cyborgs, along with other level-specific grunt enemies. Each episode would end with a boss fight, with the last one fought against Proton himself. Development on Duke Nukem 4Ever stalled during the middle of 1996 when Keith Schuler was reassigned to work on maps for the Duke Nukem 3D expansion pack. The game's cancellation wasn't publicly announced until 1997, at a time when 3D Realms had decided to reuse the name for their sequel to Duke Nukem 3D. An early version of the game was leaked in December 2022.
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Duke Nukem AI simulator
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Duke Nukem
Duke Nukem is a video game series and media franchise created by the company Apogee Software Ltd. (now 3D Realms). The franchise follows the titular Duke Nukem as he battles against a military or extraterrestrial force. Originally a series of video games for personal computers, the series later expanded to have games released for various consoles by third-party developers. The first two games in the main series were 2D platformers, while later games have been a mix of first-person and third-person shooters.
In 2010, the rights of the series were acquired by Gearbox Software, who completed the development of Duke Nukem Forever and released it on 10 June 2011 in Europe and Australia and on 14 June 2011 in North America. The franchise generated over $1 billion in revenue by 2001.
The first three games in the series were developed by Apogee Software, which in 1996 rebranded as 3D Realms. The original game, Duke Nukem, was released in 1991. It is a two-dimensional platform game for the IBM PC and features 320×200, 16-color EGA graphics with vertical and horizontal scrolling. The original game has three episodes, the first distributed as shareware. When Apogee learned that the name "Duke Nukem" might have already been trademarked for the Duke Nukem character from the television series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, they changed it to Duke Nukum for the 2.0 revision. The name was later determined not to be trademarked, so the spelling Duke Nukem was restored for Duke Nukem II and all successive Duke games. The sequel, Duke Nukem II, is more than four times larger and took advantage of 256-color Video Graphics Array (VGA) graphics, Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) music, and digitized sound. While the game uses three different 16-color palettes, only 16 colors are actually used onscreen at once.
The third game of the series is the first-person shooter (FPS) Duke Nukem 3D, released in 1996. Like most FPS games of the day, Duke Nukem 3D features three-dimensional environments with two-dimensional sprites standing in for weapons, enemies, and breakable background objects. Duke Nukem 3D was released for MS-DOS, Mac OS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, game.com, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Nintendo 64, and later re-released during 2008 for Xbox Live Arcade, and for iOS and Nokia N900 during 2009. Duke Nukem 3D has more than a dozen expansion packs.
The most recent installment in the main video game series, Duke Nukem Forever, was delayed for more than a decade after the initial announcement during April 1997, leading to its being named as a piece of vaporware. Initial development had begun at 3D Realms, but in 2009, 3D Realms was forced to lay off a number of its staff, and development of Duke Nukem Forever stalled. Take-Two Interactive, which was to publish the game, sued 3D Realms for failing to deliver, which was settled in 2010. Gearbox Software had close contact with many of the laid off 3D Realms staff and quietly hired them to continue its development as Triptych Games. 3D Realms sold the rights to Duke Nukem to Gearbox in 2010. The game was officially released on June 10, 2011.
Duke Nukem Collection 1, which includes remastered versions of Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II alongside a port of Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown, was released for the Evercade retrogaming console in November 2023.
One of the first projects to be announced after the success of Duke Nukem 3D was a return to Duke Nukem's 2D side-scrolling, platforming format for a game named Duke Nukem 4Ever. The project was directed by Keith Schuler, main designer and programmer for the games Paganitzu and Realms of Chaos, and a level designer for the Plutonium PAK.
The 2D 4Ever was planned to combine a number of the new concepts of Duke Nukem 3D with the old-style play of the first two games of the series. Duke's look, personality, and armory from the recent shooter would be matched with run and gun platforming, with a few new objects, including a cloaking device and five-piece weapon named the "heavy barrel", added in. Players would face off against Dr. Proton's minions, the Protonite cyborgs, along with other level-specific grunt enemies. Each episode would end with a boss fight, with the last one fought against Proton himself. Development on Duke Nukem 4Ever stalled during the middle of 1996 when Keith Schuler was reassigned to work on maps for the Duke Nukem 3D expansion pack. The game's cancellation wasn't publicly announced until 1997, at a time when 3D Realms had decided to reuse the name for their sequel to Duke Nukem 3D. An early version of the game was leaked in December 2022.