New Video Games/ Movies

[Spartan198]

Game Spot damn sure wasn't kind to it.

So this is what we've been waiting for, it seems: a tedious and unattractive sci-fi shooter that would quickly hit the bargain bin if it weren't called Duke Nukem Forever. Duke may be an icon, but he's just going through the motions in this stitched-together collection of poorly paced levels, which do the unimaginable: they make Duke boring. Some see the cigar-chomping alpha male as a misogynist pig; others see a clever and ironic take on macho cliches. Neither crowd is likely to get worked up over Duke's actions here. Sure, he spouts the occasional sexist quip. He receives a lap dance from a topless stripper, smacks monsters in the crotch to humiliate them, and has no problem using words beginning with the letter "f." But there's nothing sexy, provocative, or sly about his portrayal in this long-awaited sequel. In Duke Nukem Forever, there is little joy, little excitement, and little fun. That is, unless your idea of fun is to catch an occasional glimpse of digital nipples while you jump and drive around, and only occasionally shoot a few brain-dead aliens.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/acti...er/review.html

[Evil Tim]

I think the Guardian was even less kind, I recall the quote being "If this is what took fifteen years, one must ask what they did with the other fourteen years and ten months."

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by Evil Tim

I believe the classic vapourware games are:

Daikatana (3 years, 1997-2000)
Half-Life 2: Episode 3 (4 years in October, no release date)
Alan Wake (5 years, 2005-2010)
Half-Life 2 (6 years, 1998-2004)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (6 years, 2001-2007)
Dark Sector (8 years, 2000-2008)
Team Fortress 2 (8 years, 1999-2007)
Darkfall (8 years, 2001-2009)
Mother 3 (10 years, 1996-2006)
Prey (11 years, 1995-2006)
Duke Nukem Forever (15 years, 1997-2011)

LOL, it's so funny to think that Daikatana used to be considered vaporware just because it missed its release date by two and a half years (it was supposed to come out in Fall 1997, instead came out in Spring 2000). Of course, back in those days, games used to get developed and released in much shorter time periods - if someone announced a game at E3 in 1997, it was expected to see release within the next year.

Some of those games also don't seem to be vaporware to me. Half-Life 2 may have had a six-year development time, but considering that Valve only announced it at E3 in 2003, it's not like most people were anticipating it from the moment the original game was released. A 1-year delay doesn't really qualify for vaporware status. Plus, unlike Duke Nukem Forever and Daikatana, it was actually a good enough game to justify the wait.

Originally Posted by Evil Tim

I think the Guardian was even less kind, I recall the quote being "If this is what took fifteen years, one must ask what they did with the other fourteen years and ten months."

Yes, you quoted them verbatim.

[k9870]

MT you end up playing it?

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by k9870

MT you end up playing it?

I'll see my gamer friends on Friday, most likely (that's when I usually hang out with them). I'll probably try it out then, and tell y'all what I think. Only problem is, I tend to drink like I'm back in college when I hang out with these guys, so my recollection of the gameplay experience might not be so good.

[k9870]

From the reviews youll probably have to be slammed to enjoy it.

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by k9870

From the reviews youll probably have to be slammed to enjoy it.

True.

There's another problem, too: Remember that I pretty much ceased to be a gamer by the time I was 19 (and for me, 19 was almost seven years ago now). The last FPS game I played to completion was Half-Life 2, in 2004. I've played some of the games in the Halo and Call of Duty franchises in multiplayer, but not single-player. For me, DNF is probably going to seem a lot more exciting than it would be to the rest of you, since I am seven years behind y'all when it comes to FPS games.

[Evil Tim]

Originally Posted by MT2008

Half-Life 2 may have had a six-year development time, but considering that Valve only announced it at E3 in 2003, it's not like most people were anticipating it from the moment the original game was released.

Well, Half-Life did end with a very obvious "what will happen next" sequel hook; I think it's more of a surprise that they actually did start work on a sequel as soon as they finished the first game.

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by Evil Tim

Well, Half-Life did end with a very obvious "what will happen next" sequel hook; I think it's more of a surprise that they actually did start work on a sequel as soon as they finished the first game.

It was a huge surprise to me when Half-Life 2 was announced, and not just because Valve kept it a secret. Before HL2 was announced (May 2003), I figured that most of Valve's staff was so busy with Team Fortress 2 (which was really, truly a vaporware game) that they would never get around to HL2 until it was done. And when TF2's development kept dragging on and on, I started to think HL2 would never come out.

Also, I remember in a PC Gamer issue from Winter 2000, there was an article about TF2 where (in the sidebar) Gabe Newell was asked if HL2 was in development. He flat-out denied that Valve had even started working on a sequel, even though we now know that it had been in development for a full year at the time he said this.

[Evil Tim]

I recall right when it was first being rumoured in 2000, the UK PC Gamer ran a competition with the prize being a copy of TF2 when it shipped. They got a letter from one of the winners in 2007 and sent him his copy for remembering.