The reason people cared so much about Duke Nukem Forever was because they cared about Duke Nukem 3D, a game released the same year as Super Mario 64 and Quake, a game that would have a profound influence on the future of games, even if it’s hardly credited as such these days.

“In some ways I think there's echoes of P.T.: A teaser that was incredibly well received and generated tremendous hype only for the final product to vanish, leaving everyone to wonder what could have been.” “ Duke Nukem Forever-or at least the version of the game that's in that 2001 E3 trailer-has haunted a generation of people who grew up playing Duke Nukem 3D,” said game critic Chris Franklin, who runs the YouTube criticism channel Errant Signal. Gearbox Software, Duke’s current owners, did not respond to a request for comment, but that hasn’t stopped the former creative stakeholders around Duke Nukem Forever from using the leak as an opportunity to simultaneously reminisce and sling arrows over why and how Duke Nukem Forever went from one of the most anticipated games to a laughingstock. “I wouldn't be surprised if that build sat unnoticed for years until someone at Gearbox stumbled onto it buried among a bunch of Duke Nukem Forever material they inherited, but that's a completely wild guess.” “It could easily have just sat on that PC (or archived on their network) for years giving anyone the opportunity to copy it and later leak it,” said one former developer, who asked to remain anonymous because they did not want their speculation tied to their name.

The version that leaked does contain documentation pointing towards the computer of a former 3D Realms employee, programmer Nick Schaffner, who didn’t respond to a message sent by Waypoint on LinkedIn. Waypoint has spoken with three former members of the Duke Nukem Forever development team, and nobody knew where the leak might have come from.

Download free duke nukem forever 1998