QJ is NOT vaporware. Of course, I'm not talking about this site - the closest we get to vapor is when we're manning our shifts over at the smoking area. I'm talking about Q Entertainment's enigmatic Wii title of the same awesome name - QJ. After supposedly going MIA for nearly six months after the announcement, QJ the game is back with an update, letting us all know it won't go the way of Duke Nukem Forever.

3D Realms is now denying that they received an offer from Take-Two Interactive for the IP of Duke Nukem Forever. Rumors swirled last week that US$ 30 million was put on the table, but the devs are saying that these are all just that - rumors.

When contractual obligations are not carried out according to stipulations agreed to by both parties, you can expect an ugly lawsuit to come next. What more if the agreement is not carried out at all? 3D Realms is about to find out the answer to that scenario as Take-Two Interactive files suit against what's left of the developer company for failing to deliver Duke Nukem Forever, via its parent company, Apogee.

When Slash000 paid US$ 10 to pre-order Duke Nukem Forever through his local GameStop, little did he know that he would have to wait 12 years to wait for an answer. Unfortunately for him, the answer might be a disappointing "no" now that 3D Realms has run out of money and can no longer continue the game's development.

MrPeanut is back. The developer of Duke Nukem 3D for the PSP has ported another classic. A test version of Wolfenstein 3D, regarded as having popularized the fps genre on the PC, is now available for the Nintendo Wii. 

Download: Wolfenstein 3D Wii

In the news today, Uwe Boll was assigned to work on the movie adaptation of Duke Nukem...

... Kidding.

But seriously though, there is a Duke Nukem movie in the works. The project is led by Scott Faye, the producer behind the Max Payne movie. Details in the full article.

Admit it, playing as a pansy would suck even if it was the best video game ever made. That isn't to say having some random well-built guy with a deep voice on screen is enough to make a game fun. In fact, we've seen so many pitiful attempts of trying to make "cool" characters that it's not even funny anymore.

Fortunately, there's a handful of really manly video game dudes out there that aren't just made of testosterone and big muscles - they also have the history, personality, and attitude to be considered men among men. In this list are the most epic piles of manly turned video game characters. Are you man enough to take it?


10. Ryo Hazuki - Being manly doesn't mean you have to be some barbaric dude with an axe and a loud voice. As they say, the deep waters are more silent. Ryo Hazuki sounds and acts like your typical quiet guy, but fans of Shenmue know what lies beneath. He's not a womanizer or a jock. In fact, he ditched his cute lover, plays with kittens, and drives forklifts. What makes him so manly, then?

Even while facing potentially the strongest organized crime group in China, Ryo is deadset on facing Chiyoumen's leader, Lan Di, to avenge his father. Just like a man with strong convictions, this guy fresh out of high school has left worldy matters behind to do whatever it takes just to get closer to the fiend that killed his dad.

Click on for the rest of list, in which we ooze machismo and hose the decks down with testosterone. RAWR!

In an interview over at YouGamers, Scott Miller, founder of Apogee (now known as 3DRealms), assures that Duke Nukem Forever is being worked on. Yes folks, despite the game being treated as a punchline, and being used as an epitome of vaporware, Miller says that it's been resurrected, and in Eugene Huang of GamePro's words: making good progress.

It's nice to note that 3D Realms takes full blame for the delay. Here's Miller's words:

First, we fully admit we’re [sic] screwed up the development of DNF, and it’s now an industry joke. I laugh (and cry) when I think about it, too. Our fault is that we set the bar too high, and we tried too hard to make the game to beat all games. In the last 18 months we’ve taken a much more realistic look at the project, we’ve hired a truckload of experienced help, and I personally believe we are now on the right track... finally.

As for the question of Duke’s lasting appeal, I believe strongly that it doesn’t matter at all. DNF will succeed or fail not because of the Duke brand, but solely based on whether the game is great, or not. The original Duke Nukem 3D didn’t have a large fan following, and yet it succeeded. DNF will have to stand on its own just the same.

The game is reportedly in full development and has a 33 man team working on it. Publishing wise, Take-Two Interactive has inherited 3D Realms' original agreement with GT Interactive back in the 90s. Miller notes that the original agreement does allow them to sell the game directly through an online digital service, and that they plan to do so.

Yes, they're taking forever, but at least they're admitting they messed up. So yeah, they're taking criticism pretty well. In fact Miller even has a favourite Duke Nukem Forever joke here's him talking about it: "It's hard to resist the cold, cruel, but true: Duke Nukem Taking Forever. My two sons, in particular, love to slam me with this one."

They plan to bring DNF to multiple platforms. However, Miller has refrained from noting which ones.

New Scientist Tech informs that Neda Gould of the US National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and her colleagues have considered the use of a Duke Nukem inspired videogame to measure the severity of depression.

The basis for this is that depression has been linked to a shrunken hippocampus, a region of the brain that plays a role in spatial memory. The idea is that if they get a videogame that can test spatial memory, they will be able to measure the severity of depression.

They used a videogame that was developed based on some scenes from Duke Nukem.

Participants of the test were asked to navigate through a virtual town and find their way to as many landmarks as possible within a set amount of time. It was found that depressed people found their way to an average of 2.4 locations compares with 3.8 locations for healthy controls. It was found that the more depressed a person was, the lower the score would be.

Gould hopes that the test may eventually be able to provide a quantifiable measure of depression.

Always finding yourself lost in Saint's Row or GTA? Cheer up emo boy.

As we dip our toes into the warm inviting waters of the next generation, we're greeted by mega consoles finally powerful enough to truly handle the technically demanding nature the first person shooter and versatile enough that control is no longer an issue. As the consoles come forth they bring with them a deluge of first person shooters, lots of 'em. So many that we have to stop for a second and ask, "what's the big deal with all the FPS's?" Whatever happened to the adventure game, or the straight up platformer, or the MUD? (that last one was a joke)

A brief glance at the upcoming games list for the 360 and PS3 sheds some light on just how many FPS titles are in development, even Nintendo's console entry, usually overlooked by the genre is likely to get more than its fair share of FPS's this time around thanks to the nature of its revolutionary controller. But do people really want all these shooters? Probably not (the sales say otherwise) but we're getting them anyway. It seems developers have decided that the most surefire way to show off their next gen tech is by having us view every grimy detail in the first person.  Surely it's only a matter of time before we get burnt out on first person shooters (space marines and World War II in particular). It can probably be argued however that console gamers have yet to truly experience all that a PC FPS can offer in terms of multiplayer  content, graphical prowess and control, perhaps developers see a potential market, and that's why we're getting this flood.

Take heart in the thought that some of these games do look innovative, and at the very least look darn pretty. With new methods of control at our disposal, awe inspiring processing power to generate intelligent AI, and graphics  the likes of which we've only dreamt of we might just end up with some stand out hits among the litter. Consider this as well, simply due to the sheer number of first person shooters coming out the rules of chance dictate that at least one of them will be Duke Nukem Forever (yeah, I went there).

With all that in mind, what say you guys, are you eagerly awaiting the arrival of Duke Nukem, or would you rather have more diversity in your videogame lineup? As always, we'd like to hear in the comments :)