Critical Update: Duke Nukem Forever back from development purgitory

When it seemed that all hope was lost for the latest installment in the Duke Nukem franchise called Duke Nukem Forever, a miracle occurred earlier this month for this All-American one liner dropping though guy. As of September 3rd, Gearbox Software (creators of the Brothers in Arms series and Borderlands) has procured the rights and assets to Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem Forever. This is truly an amazing turn of events for this game especially when considering just how convoluted its development history is.
Duke Nukem Forever has been in development since the year 1997; a whopping twelve year long development period. The game originally used the Quake II engine created by ID Software, crossed over to the first Unreal engine, and has trailed its way to the Unreal III engine. In terms of the business backend, Take Two Interactive held the publishing rights to the game and had provided funding for it. In 2009, Take Two cut funding for the project and filed suit against the developer 3D Realms. In April of this year the developer closed its doors, laid off most of the staff, and announced that Duke Nukem Forever was put on hiatus indefinitely. However, Gearbox somehow acquired the rights to the game and the franchise.
On top of this, Gearbox has also stated that the game will be done and released sometime in 2011. During this announcement the company presented a two level playable demo of Duke Nukem Forever in action and it shows promise. Instead of just being a PC game exclusive it will go multiplatform over the XBOX 360 and the Playstation 3 systems. According to other members of the press who have played it, the game feels very much like most first person shooters nowadays in terms of controls and mechanics. All the weapons that made an appearance in Duke Nukem 3D will return in this installment. Also, there will be multiplayer as it is expected in any first person shooter coming out these days. One thing the DNF has on other FPS games is what it does with environment interaction.
Needless to say, it seems that miracles can happen even in the games industry. Even if 3D Realms is no more at least Duke Nukem, one of the most iconic video game franchises, will live on in this generation of gaming. Whether it is considered by many as an industry joke or not, no one can deny that this recent event is nothing short of incredible.