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That's what many Duke Nukem fans have been asking themselves. The creators of Duke Nukem 3D have been working on a new game called Duke Nukem Forever for several years now, and there has been a surprisingly small amount of hype for such a major game. As a matter of fact, the only big news story that has ever come out of the game's development is 3D Realms' switch from the Quake 2 engine to the Unreal engine. That's it. Now that the annual E3 show is upon us, you would think that 3D Realms would seize the opportunity to finally unveil the game they've been working on for so long, but you'd be wrong. The game will not be shown in any form at E3. No playable demos on the show floor, no video clips of the game, no secret unveiling behind closed doors to select members of the press, nothing. 3D Realms' owner George Broussard says that by showing the game at "the dog and pony show of E3," they would be spoiling the game for many fans. Broussard said, "We do not want to show you specific details of the game because we'd rather you experience them when you play for the first time." Broussard continues, "We're protecting the players' experience. When they play the game, it will be fresh and new and they will say 'wow' every ten seconds. They will thank us for not spoiling the game for them." Broussard's stance on E3 and game hype in general is very intriguing. Judging by the massive number of companies showing off their games at E3, many people disagree with Broussard. Personally, I think the video game industry would be better off if more companies adopted 3D Realms' strategy. Can you imagine how much more scary the dog jumping through the window in Resident Evil would have been if you hadn't already read about it in countless video game publications? Can you imagine how much more powerful the scene at the end of disc one in Final Fantasy 7 would have been if you didn't know what was going to happen ahead of time? The video game press is guilty of over-exposing and often spoiling games by giving away too many specific details about them in previews and features. By not showing Duke Nukem Forever to anyone, 3D Realms has avoided this problem all together. Broussard says, "We will never over- expose the game before its release. You won't ever see mass releases or Screen Shot Of The Day for Duke Nukem Forever. You won't ever see a full weapon and character listing in a preview, spoiling the many surprises... and we certainly don't want to waste time doing some teaser video." Producing teaser videos that often don't tell you anything about the actual gameplay is often rewarded by the video game press with "Best Game of E3" proclamations. Two prominent examples include the teaser video of Metal Gear Solid at the 1997 show, and Freelancer at last year's show. The "teaser-happy" behavior of the video game press isn't sending the right message to developers who are intrigued by 3D Realms' strategy but aren't sure if they should adopt it for themselves. 3D Realms' strategy may also help prevent re-hashes from rearing their ugly heads. Broussard says that by showing off your game while it's in development, "You tip off competitors and devalue your hard work which can easily be replicated once seen." Many developers are likely to make a re-hash of a game if they see it six months into its development cycle, thus giving them plenty of time to do the dirty deed of making the re-hash. In some cases, they might be able to release the re-hash just a short time after the game they're copying. On the other hand, if competing developers didn't see the game at all until its release, it would make a lot less business sense for them to re-hash it because their re-hash would appear to be outdated and stale. By never announcing a release date for Duke Nukem Forever, 3D Realms avoided falling into the delay trap that so many other companies never avoid. Majesco delayed the Dreamcast version of Rainbow Six two weeks at a time for eight months. Interplay has been promising a PlayStation version of Carmageddon for years now. Nintendo and Rare delay every single product they make (several times). In terms of public announcements, there's no such thing as a delay for a product with no release date. The downside to all of this is that with over three years of development and nothing to show for it publicly, many people will naturally begin to wonder how much work has actually been done on Duke Nukem Forever. Broussard realizes that by holding off on showing anything related to Duke Nukem Forever, the company is facing "backlash from disappointed fans or people crying Vaporware." But, he says, "This is fine, because it all goes away when the game ships. We have thick skins, we see the game daily, and we are confident with its progress and position in the gaming food chain." Broussard exudes a level of confidence that makes it seem unlikely that Duke Nukem Forever will be the next Daikatana (and by "the next Daikatana," I mean a vastly over-hyped piece of crap). 3D Realms' strategy isn't good for marketing executives or people who write previews for video game magazines and web sites, but it's good for the vast majority of gamers, and that's what really counts. While it would certainly suck if all developers took 3D Realms' approach, it does make a lot of sense to avoid tipping off competitors and giving away specific game details. The next game from the creators of Duke Nukem 3D is going to be highly-anticipated whether they hype it or not. It's just a matter of how many potential surprises are spoiled before the game's release. Send your thoughts on this feature to ivan@mastergamer.com
© 2001 ivan@mastergamer.com