Anul acesta am primit cadou de Crăciun anticipat anunţul celor de la Gearbox că au pe mână soarta bătrânului Duke Nukem şi că se ocupă intens de el. Aproape de final de an, primim încă un cadou, o dată de lansare plasată în 2011, chiar dacă deocamdată nu s-au dat detalii mai exacte. Curioşi din fire, cei de la bigdownload.com au reuşit încă o dată să-l încolţească pe Randy Pitchford (fondator şi CEO al studioului) şi acesta a fost bucuros să răspundă la o serie de întrebări: cât de grea este sarcina de a realiza un joc la înălţimea aşteptărilor, cum va fi Duke ca personaj, grafică, data de lansare, multiplayer şi beta/demo (acestea din urmă vor veni înainte de lansarea jocului).
Duke Nukem, at least as a character, was written as a satire on 1990’s movie action heroes. How hard is it to convey that fun and satirical aspect to the character yet make him relevant to a 2011 audience?Randy Pitchford: I think it’s been pretty easy. Many imagine that Duke began as a cliche or amalgamation of the prima-facie heroes during a great era for action heroes. Since then, we’ve sort of witnessed a pussification of our heroes in action movies. They have become complex, emotional characters. Duke, being incredibly one-sided and super badass, now stands out, not as a cliche, but as a unique and fresh character rising through a tide of emo. Haha.
How close are we to playing the game’s promised beta/demo at this stage?
That will go out before the game ships. The game is going to ship in 2011, but we have not yet announced a specific date. We’re not trying to be coy with that information, it’s just that the specific information doesn’t exist yet and we’re still coordinating worldwide plans for marketing and launch of the game and there are still some details to be sorted out. I have an idea of around when we’ll be doing each step, but we feel it’s really important for us to be clear and accurate when we talk about dates with this particular game.
So, that the information we’ve released already that Duke Nukem Forever will launch in 2011 is clear and accurate. The fact that the beta/demo will launch before the game does is also clear and accurate. We’ll be able to more precise soon.
Interviul complet, aici.