It's no secret that the somewhat grim and public airing of dirty Duke Nukem Forever laundry has been the hot topic of conversation over the past month or so. Today, Apogee Software Ltd. (3D Realm's parent company) has filed new paperwork in an attempt to disprove Take-Two's allegations.

According to the paperwork which can be found in full over on VoodooExtreme, Take-Two was secretly working on a new game in the Duke franchise called Duke Begins. The game was apparently going to be released sometime in 2010 and was being developed in conjunction with an unnamed third-party outfit.
Development was due to be completed by mid-2010, but was mysteriously suspended in April 2009. 3D Realms alleges that Take Two cancelled the game to restrict 3D Realms' income, giving Take Two the ability to purchase the Duke Nukem rights at a lower cost because 3D Realms would be desperate for any cash to keep their studio afloat, especially as they would be unable to repay the $2,500,000 royalty advance due 2012.

Amid its rebuttals, 3D Realms also revealed that they've pumped over $20,000,000 of their own money into Duke Nukem Forever's development, which is presumably on top of the advances they received. To put that figure in perspective, Grand Theft Auto IV cost around $100,000,000, Halo 3 $30,000,000, and Killzone 2 $40,000,000.
VE has scanned in all of the documents pertaining to this latest volley of legal artillery fire, and while 3D Realms claims to still be in development with the DNF project, only time will reveal exactly how this will all play out in court.

Duke knows what time it is.



Bryn says: How much more can we all take with this train wreck? Here's the bottom line. If Duke Nukem Forever was to actually be released even after all this crap has gone down, would you still want to buy it and play it?