Gearbox Intends to Reboot Duke Nukem With Duke Begins
Like most decades old franchises that grow stale after awful installments, Duke Nukem is set to get a reboot. Despite Duke Nukem Forever’s critical failure, rumors indicate that developer Gearbox is not ready to abandon the franchise. The studio is apparently planning to work on Duke Begins, a reboot of the franchise, shortly after they complete Aliens: Colonial Marines.
Duke Begins was a project that Gearbox had actually started before they even got their hands on Duke Nukem Forever. In the midst of the legal dispute and production quagmire that was Duke Nukem Forever’s development cycle, however, Gearbox had to cancel the project.
Not long after, Gearbox obtained the entire Duke Nukem IP, and completed work on DNF.
It is unclear how much progress Gearbox made with Duke Begins before its cancellation, and whether or not any of Gearbox’s previous work on the game will show up on the current iteration.
For fans eager to see either the redemption of Duke, or watch the final nail in his coffin, don’t hold your breath. Aliens: Colonial Marines is still slated for a 2012 release, meaning that the Batman Begins-esque reboot will most likely be far away.
This is EXACTLY the way that GearBox needs to approach this situation. They need to make their own game, add their own charm, and do what they do best. It’s noble that they wanted to finish DNF, but it wasn’t a TRUE game by GearBox, they just helped get the game out into gamers hands. This is going to be the “true” Duke game that gamers wanted, and I have faith GearBox will follow thru well.
I can see it now … you get to go with Duke to his first strip club and fumble putting money into the stripper’s g-string … ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: “Another day, another dollar”.
well if this game also blows, we know exactly who to blame this time!
I’m 100% for this. I didn’t even dislike DNF that much.