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[alr1ght]

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011...er&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=duke_060111

“It’s like shaking hands with Bigfoot or riding the Loch Ness monster,” said Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford when talking about finally releasing Duke Nukem Forever. Look up the term ‘vaporware’ and Duke Nukem Forever will likely be used as an example, but it’s real and it’s coming to U.S. PS3s in less than two weeks. I caught up with Randy to ask why you should always bet on Duke.

Duke is an all-American hero with the Stars and Stripes featuring heavily in the game’s art style, but characters like that haven’t always been so popular internationally. Why is Duke an exception?

It’s because Duke is a caricature of all that – it’s silly! Duke Nukem takes place 12 years after Duke saved the world and he has leveraged that to live like a king. He’s walked on the moon, climbed Everest… he’s done it all. The only thing bothering him is that they were supposed to make a video game about him saving the world and it has taken 12 years for them to finish it. I think it’s that angle that makes it work internationally because we parody that image of America that exists in Duke’s world.

How do you meet the expectations and conventions of when the game was originally conceived and those surrounding its release, so many years later?

Because of the legendary development cycle of the game, it’s natural to imagine that we’ve just been sitting on parts of the game since 1997. That’s not true – it’s a modern game. The way you get a character like Duke is take all of the action heroes you can think of and then blend all of their most memorable traits and blend them together, and then exaggerate that even more. Basically, he is borne from the sum of all clichés.

If you look at the modern heroes currently being created for games and action movies, for some reason, they’re all taking themselves very seriously and trying to be more human. We [Gearbox] have done that too – just take a look at our Brothers in Arms games. We’re dealing with real human emotions and problems, but Duke doesn’t have any problems – he just goes around kicking ass.

What I’m getting at is that Duke started out as a cliché but now he stands out from the crowd, which is an odd thing to happen. I think that’s why he has become a meme despite there being no games about him for so long and Duke Nukem Forever leverages that. In some ways, games have come so far, especially when you look at what a machine like the PS3 is capable of, but there are still game experiences and mechanics that are kind of timeless, and we’re trying to hit a smart balance between that and modern sensibilities and technology.

How can you reassure PlayStation fans that the PS3 version of the game is going to be top-notch?

Gearbox has a lot of experience with the PS3 with Borderlands and Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway and the PS3 version of Duke Nukem Forever is something we’re really proud of. What I particularly like about it as a platform are the vibrancy of the colors you’re able to get, the great performance and just how open the PlayStation Network platform is.

Interestingly, most of the Duke games have found their way onto PlayStation consoles; in fact, there are more Duke games on PlayStation than on any other platform. Sony customers of this generation deserve to experience playing as Duke and I’m glad we’re able to do it so well.

How is that current generation you speak of going to ‘get’ Duke’s mythology know what he is all about?

The game is designed not to have any entry point so it doesn’t really matter if you’ve played the previous games or not. Anyway, everyone has heard of Duke if only from all of the memes I see going around like ‘Balls of Steel’, the ‘Ventrilo Harassment’ video and ‘Always Bet on Duke’, which is a funny joke because this game has been in development for so long that it’s the one thing you probably shouldn’t bet on, but now its here.

Duke Nukem Forever is surely one of the most talked about games, not least by you yourself, after such a lengthy press tour. Is there anything you haven’t revealed yet?

This game is massive and we’re only scratching the surface. I feel like we’ve put less out there than we did for Borderlands but such is the interest in the game that people are jumping on anything we announce and picking up the stories. Take the Penny Arcade Expo, where we announced that we were releasing Duke Nukem Forever, we didn’t tell anyone that we were going to be there or schedule any press, yet it became the number one trending topic on twitter worldwide.

You’ve told us before that some members of the original 3D Realms team have been working on the game; what’s going to be next for them?

Each person is their own individual but, as far as I’m concerned, Allen Blum [3D Realms Senior Level Designer] walks on water. He is Duke and he is one of the reasons I moved out to Texas in the mid-90s to join 3D Realms. I’m going to try and talk him into coming to E3. It has to be amazing to be in his shoes right now, to see the game finally coming out having been there for the whole ride. Then again, I can’t just single him out and I have to recognise the commitment that George Broussard, Scott Miller and others brought to the game. They’ve done so much for the industry – without Scott and George, we wouldn’t have had Wolfenstein and I don’t think the first-person genre would be as popular as it is today.

 

[StuBurns]

What does the PS3 have to do with colour vibrancy? In fact it's ironic he highlighted that when the default output is less saturated and contrasting than the 360 and few developers do anything to compensate that.

 

[Dwight Schrute]

Bullshots ? Looks A LOT less aliased than previous shots. Anyway, I'm so gonna buy this game !

 

[Doogington]

without Scott and George, we wouldn’t have had Wolfenstein

wut

 

[mujun]

Despite the thread title there isn't much in the article that is specifically about the PS3 version.

 

[sixteen-bit]

just how open the PlayStation Network platform is.

double meaning?

 

[TheSeks]

Came in thinking they were doing something similar to Portal 2's Steamworks with "Playstation Legacy." Leaving disappointed.

 

[funkystudent]

Didn't he say before that the ps3 version is being handled by another studio?



Never a good sign.

 

[Johann]

wut

Apogee Software (formed by Scott and George) was instrumental in funding and distributing Wolfenstein 3D.

 

[V_Ben]

Those shots look really quite good... I'm having trouble believing they're from the PS3 version. Oh well, I get my first access PS3 demo sometime soon, so i'll see for myself :/

 

[TheSeks]

Apogee Software (formed by Scott and George) was instrumental in funding and distributing Wolfenstein 3D.

Funding and publishing, sure. But Carmack/et. al. were the workers and makers behind it.

 

[AwesomeSauce]

Didn't he say before that the ps3 version is being handled by another studio?



Never a good sign.

http://www.piranha-games.com/index.html

I think these are the guys doin' the ps3 port.

 

[Azar]

Funding and publishing, sure. But Carmack/et. al. were the workers and makers behind it.

Which doesn't really invalidate the point that Apogee as a publisher, and more specifically the way it pioneered the "pay for the first episode" shareware model, had a real impact on Wolf3D's success.

 

[RedStep]

So, he basically said... nothing. About the two things listed in the topic title.

C'mon, how are we supposed to system warz about this?

 

[Luckyman]

just how open the PlayStation Network platform is.

Nice one, sir.

 

[Metalmurphy]

What does the PS3 have to do with colour vibrancy? In fact it's ironic he highlighted that when the default output is less saturated and contrasting than the 360 and few developers do anything to compensate that.

I believe it's actually the opposite, the default 360 outputs crushes blacks and when developers work around it and forget the PS3 version it ends up brighter/washed out.

 

[StuBurns]

I believe it's actually the opposite, the default 360 outputs crushes blacks and when developers work around it and forget the PS3 version it ends up brighter/washed out.

I guess it depends how you interpret 'vibrancy', for me stronger contrast and saturation are more vibrant, but a smaller dynamic ranger that's brighter and less colourful might be what Pitchford considers vibrancy.

 

[Metalmurphy]

I guess it depends how you interpret 'vibrancy', for me stronger contrast and saturation are more vibrant, but a smaller dynamic ranger that's brighter and less colourful might be what Pitchford considers vibrancy.

Like I said, "brighter and less colourful " only happens when developers tune it for the 360 and leave it the same on the PS3, which might not be the case in DNF. By default the PS3 has the most correct color outputs.

Found this over at Beyond3D:

TestPattern				PS3					
R        G	B		R	G	B		Difference	Deviation
252	252	252		251	251	251		1.00		0.40%
230	230	230		229	229	229		1.00		0.43%
209	209	209		208	208	208		1.00		0.48%
187	187	187		186	186	186		1.00		0.53%
164	164	164		162	162	162		2.00		1.22%
142	142	142		139	141	140		2.00		1.41%
117	117	117		116	116	116		1.00		0.85%
93	93	93		91	91	91		2.00		2.15%
67	67	67		66	66	66		1.00		1.49%
38	38	38		37	37	37		1.00		2.63%
10	10	10		9	9	7		1.67		16.67%
									
									
TestPattern				Xbox 360					
R	G	B		R	G	B			
252	252	252		244	242	243		9.00		3.57%
230	230	230		217	217	217		13.00		5.65%
209	209	209		195	195	195		14.00		6.70%
187	187	187		172	172	172		15.00		8.02%
164	164	164		148	148	148		16.00		9.76%
142	142	142		125	125	125		17.00		11.97%
117	117	117		100	98	98		18.33		15.67%
93	93	93		74	74	74		19.00		20.43%
67	67	67		48	48	48		19.00		28.36%
38	38	38		21	18	19		18.67		49.12%
10	10	10		2	2	2		8.00		80.00%

 

[StuBurns]

I'll take your word on it, those 'charts' mean nothing to me without greater context.

 

[Metalmurphy]

I'll take your word on it, those 'charts' mean nothing to me without greater context.

Format messed up when posting. I'll try to fix it.

Anyway, the opposite can also happen, I remember Armored Core for example, was EXTREMELY dark on the 360, you could barely see anything on some areas.

 

[Totobeni]

Was Borderlands port on PS3 good compared to the 360 version?

 

[StuBurns]

Was Borderlands port on PS3 good compared to the 360 version?

Pretty much the same.

 

[False Witness]

Yeah, unless they've polished it up quite a bit since April, it looks nowhere close to that (even outside the expected bullshot difference range). The PS3 version I played rather extensively looked pretty bad (super blurry textures) and I'm pretty sure it was sub-hd. Additionally, the framerate was completely unlocked and would vary between 20-60 and it was literally headache inducing :\. The game was hilarious though.

 

[sleepykyo]

Was Borderlands port on PS3 good compared to the 360 version?

Frame rate plummets to the low teens during heavy action and a virtual slideshow during the dlc parts in Borderlands on the PS3. Haven't touched the 360 version, but I can't imagine they would put something with such mediocre performance on the 360.

 

[Barkley's Justice]

What does the PS3 have to do with colour vibrancy? In fact it's ironic he highlighted that when the default output is less saturated and contrasting than the 360 and few developers do anything to compensate that.

less contrasty is definitely the polite way of describing it.

 

[Revolutionary]

Frame rate plummets to the low teens during heavy action and a virtual slideshow during the dlc parts in Borderlands on the PS3. Haven't touched the 360 version, but I can't imagine they would put something with such mediocre performance on the 360.

Also, the MP was hosted by Gamespy and was horrifyingly bad at launch. Delayed/garbled/no microphone communications, slow matchmaking, and subpar multiplayer performance made that game a chore to play through.

 

[Jigsaw]

Was Borderlands port on PS3 good compared to the 360 version?

it had superior textures,something we rarely see in multiplatform games due to the less memory on the ps3

 

[StuBurns]

less contrasty is definitely the polite way of describing it.

I've heard people say the PS3 is typically more accurate in the contrast regard, but I've heard the opposite too and I don't really know, so I was straddling the fence.

 

[evilromero]

This actually got me a little hyped for the game, which is good considering that hands-on video of the intro kind of soured my interest.

 

[funkystudent]

Was Borderlands port on PS3 good compared to the 360 version?

Played the GOTY edition on ps3 and it seems like a typical Unreal 3 ps3 port.

Missing effects and a more unstable frame rate but it had some sharper textures here and there. Had a bit of showdown when there was alot of blood splatering but I put that down to Epic's shitty job with the engine on ps3 and not Gearbox.

Duke is modified UE2 so who knows. the game isnt exactly a looker on any platform so I hope it turns out ok on ps3.

 

[astroturfing]

if the PS3 version is actually good, i'm getting it new. otherwise used. or maybe PC version.

 

[MNC]

PC version is the only way to go. I played the (old) demo and it was a jaggy 2 minute loading screen mess on Xbox 360.

 

[sleepykyo]

if the PS3 version is actually good, i'm getting it new. otherwise used. or maybe PC version.

Haven't played any demos of DNF, but if Borderlands was an indication and he did reference Borderlands, probably shouldn't touch the ps3 version.

 

[alr1ght]

what is it running on? UE2?

 

[Salsa]

im gonna make an OT of sorts for the demo tomorrow since the true OT maker title has been taken from me!

cannot wait

 

[Xabora]

what is it running on? UE2?

Highly modded UE2, at this point its worth calling it an inhouse engine from how much its changed from the original UE2 codebase.

 

[dallow_bg]

From the conversations I've "overheard" of Gearbox employees at local restaurants. PS3 won't be as good.

 

[renitou]

Color saturation is low on my list of concerns for this game.

 

[Evolved1]

BiA PS3 was a travesty... best not to mention it at all, Randy.

Borderlands was pretty good on PS3 though.

 

[celebi23]

im gonna make an OT of sorts for the demo tomorrow since the true OT maker title has been taken from me!

cannot wait

I can't wait either. I've got my Windows 7 Boot Camp partition all set up & ready to go. I'm replay Duke 3D now. Man, FPS's used to be so much fun. Now, it's space marine this, soldier that. Duke Nukem Forever will show the industry how it's done.

 

[BriareosGAF]

Frame rate plummets to the low teens during heavy action and a virtual slideshow during the dlc parts in Borderlands on the PS3. Haven't touched the 360 version, but I can't imagine they would put something with such mediocre performance on the 360.

They have severe overdraw/fillrate issues on both platforms in heavy action. Protip: use the previous frame's GPU draw counters as part of a throttling heuristic for particle draw.

 

[onken]

It's like a dream, I can't believe it's really happening. I just need somebody to post that ridiculous exaggerated fan-made FAQ about the game that was on the 3DR forums for years to really make my day.

 

[Rich!]

Can't wait to play the demo on my PC tomorrow in 1080p with max AA and v-sync.

 

[BobTheFork]

There are games that people worry about the ps3 version of. This was never ever one of them.

 

[plagiarize]

I can't wait either. I've got my Windows 7 Boot Camp partition all set up & ready to go. I'm replay Duke 3D now. Man, FPS's used to be so much fun. Now, it's space marine this, soldier that. Duke Nukem Forever will show the industry how it's done.

it still amazes me to think that i will be playing DNF and Alice 2 on the same day.

and that that day is in 2011 and not, like, 2002.