Duke Nukem Forever is #1 in the UK All-Format chart. As if there could be any other end to the story

"That Duke bastard's gonna pay for shooting up my charts"

Words: Justin Towell on June 13, 2011

There must be some mistake. See, I've come into work today and some joker's sent me an email saying that Duke Nukem has sold more copies than any other game in the UK this week. They can't fool me. You can't buy vapourware. But... actually this 'joker' in question is UKIE and now I look around, the game shops are all full of game boxes with Duke on them and discs inside. Crikey - Duke is real, and after some 14 years, the development time has finally paid off. Duke's number one. All hail to the king, baby.

Duke's appearance has finally displaced LA Noire from the top of the charts and positively smashed the other new entries, with Infamous 2 coming in at 4, Red Faction: Armageddon at 8 and EA's MMA debuting at a disappointing 21. However, Infamous 2 did outsell the PS3 version of DNF, which Duke will probably amend with some guns and an act of depravity involving its neck.

Above: Duke's still refusing to change clothes or hairstyle, despite his look being over a decade out of date

Gamers are likely snapping up copies before they inevitably wake from this strange dream - and who can blame them? It's been the most ridiculously protracted development in the history of gaming, after all. We'll have our definitive review up soon, but for now, get out your camera for this Kodak moment. On this day, June 13, 2011, Duke Nukem is back in game stores, and on top of the world.

UKIE Games Charts©, compiled by GfK Chart-Track

13 Jun, 2011

Platforms:

PC, Xbox 360, PS3

22 comments

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quincytheodore - June 13, 2011 11:26 a.m.

First, baby! (Just let me have this one peacefully) It's actually not that good... reminds me of Portal 1 graph without the sophisticated gameplay.
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Firewarrior706 - June 13, 2011 11:30 a.m.

Pity the game actually turned out to be balls. Even after 12 years the game is broken. I guess thats what the most hype ever can do to you.
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andybeans - June 13, 2011 11:33 a.m.

I hope DNF gets swallowed pretty quick (no pun intended) before the Fox/Daily Mail readers see it and launch another crusade against adult certificated games. It's only a matter of time before some idiot parent buys it for their 10-year-old and then screams blue murder when the sprog starts repeating the titty jokes. I'm glad you put the inFamous 2 picture straight Justin, it's a way better game than DNF (once you get past Nix's weird body)!
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ricsuave - June 13, 2011 11:57 a.m.

Duke Nukem would shoot you in the asshole for posting "first".
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JD_Method - June 13, 2011 12:13 p.m.

Duke Nukem Forever was always going to get a mixed reaction. I really enjoyed it though.
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podsaurus - June 13, 2011 12:35 p.m.

The game is really not very good. It's quite bad actually, which makes me sad. Duke looks out of date (which is fine) but the gameplay is out of date too.
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TheDigitalG - June 13, 2011 12:53 p.m.

I can't understand the hate for it. It's a ridiculously funny game, and the gameplay is pretty sweet. Fuck everyone who thinks the humour is 'old', Duke is an alpha we men should aspire to become.
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jackthemenace - June 13, 2011 1:30 p.m.

With more time in development than just about anything in history, it had bloody well better be good. Although, with all the feedback above my comment, it does't look to have been taken to kindly. Oh, and justin? PLEASE never say 'Hail to the King, Baby' ever again? I imagined you saying it, and it was even worse than hearing you swear D:
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ChrisCultista - June 13, 2011 1:32 p.m.

For the past, what, 5 years, every single gamer was seeming;y yelling at everyone and their grandmother that gaming was stagnating to its very bones. So what does the videa garms industry do? Instead of make something totally new it shits out the stagnation from a generation ago and put a pretty face on it. It totally goes against what gamers prioritys supposedly were, innovation, and the cutting edge. I dont in particularly like or dislike the Duke Nukem franchise, just what this one game represents, a different kind of stagnation. The stagnation of HD-remake after HD-remake after Zelda remake after Contra remake after Metroid remake after Halo remake. Every single year we get old-gamers (which I respect) games. They arent bad (for the most part, ahem Other M) but the are restricted by the formula. Or else they reboot and the models could be replaced with anything and it could be anything. Duke Nukem (and stuff like it)is just not the way to go.
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bass88 - June 13, 2011 1:51 p.m.

It's a pretty poor game. I love Duke 3D. One of the most fun times of my childhood. I still play it today (thank you GOG. BTW, Duke 3D is under a fiver. Get it now!). I was hoping DNF would be a return to old school gameplay i.e. health packs and health bars; carry all weapons; levels to explore and colourful enemies. Instead it was a COD/Halo health system; two weapons only; and brown, brown, brown enemies. A rather painful bore to play. And what was with the loading times? I congratulate Randy Pitchford and Gearbox for getting it out the door but they would have been better off with just making the game from scratch themselves. At least it would have been consistent. Guess I'll have to wait for Resistance 3 or Serious Sam 3 to get my old-school kick. If you are going to get DNF, get it on PC. You don't need a powerful PC to run it. I recommend PC as you know there going to be fan-mods to fix that regenerating health system and two-weapon-only system. I can see Yahtzee tearing this game to shreds already.
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bass88 - June 13, 2011 1:58 p.m.

@ChrisCultista What do you mean by "Duke Nukem (and stuff like it) is just not the way to go? I hope you're not implying that older gamers shouldn't be catered for and we should all be playing COD/Halo/Killzone or Gears Of War? Because, believe it or not, they are many out there who dislike those games. Or do you mean developers should stop exploiting our nostalgia and make an effort to update these games for a modern perspective (i.e. keep the multiples weapons and health bars but remove awkward platforming - kinda what People Can Fly did with Painkiller)?
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ChrisCultista - June 13, 2011 2:10 p.m.

@bass The second one. If you can make a good remake that deserves to be on the market thats fine, but all this 'Take an old franchise and throw pixels at it until its pretty. SELL SELL SELL!" Is the bad part. Sometime people got away from the old games for a reason. Duke Nukem didnt try that hard (Even if it was for 12 years). I dont want Remaketopia and I dont want CODsville. I want the future already. And not this Movement control BS. It seems that the big three were trying to do everything but move up a console generation. With the Wii U (and whatever MS and Sony are making) I hope we actually get some new experiences. To sum it up. I dont want COD 28, and I dont want Duke Nukem Super Turbo HD remix Platinum Edition The Third Tits Guns Bang Bang either.
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myguyfromthe80s - June 13, 2011 3:29 p.m.

Sitting here with my Duke Nukem talking keyring I only have one thing to say. "Hurry up and load already" Damn!
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shawksta - June 13, 2011 3:41 p.m.

Apparently ign UK hated it and gave it a 5.5 but I aint given balls till you guys review it and I try it myself.
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Sharkbot - June 13, 2011 3:44 p.m.

"Gameplay out of date"? No kids, you're just too young to remember how Duke Nukem was. The gameplay is just like it should be. Balls out and loads of destructive weapons. All hail to the King dammit.
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jasoncarter - June 13, 2011 4:08 p.m.

Sharkbot- "Gameplay out of date"? No kids, you're just too young to remember how Duke Nukem was. The gameplay is just like it should be. Balls out and loads of destructive weapons. All hail to the King dammit. --- Couldn't have said it better myself sir. What the hell is wrong with you people, go back to your modern warfare garbage and shut it. God, duke is back and its about time already. "The graphics look out of date," WHO CARES. Seriously, I am sick of this generation of spoiled gamers whining about graphics. Try playing some games when we first moved into 3d. You think this is bad textures and graphics? Kids, you know nothing. The only thing I wish they would have kept is that you can have all the guns at once, the modern halo 2 gun thing is annoying, but whatever, it's livable. I'm off to give something the finger while I shove a gun up its ass and watch it explode. The way it should be. :)
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TheIronMaiden - June 13, 2011 4:11 p.m.

meh I didn't dig it like I thought I was going to : (
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StoneDreadnaught - June 13, 2011 5:09 p.m.

@jasoncarter Thank you sir, for speaking for the old school. You're absolutely correct.
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talos91 - June 13, 2011 5:50 p.m.

wasn't the best game i've ever played wasn't too long either finished it in a few hours but my god its fun!! reminded me of when i was younger playing duke and doom and even though its graphics may seem old and gameplay might be outdated it brings a breath of fresh air to all these realistic games that are EVERYWHERE these days. If you just want a game to enjoy playing you cant beat it
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opiv23 - June 13, 2011 6:10 p.m.

The only thing Duke 3d had going for it was nudity and poop jokes, which I'll admit was awesome when I was 9 sneaking a few games on my uncle's pc, but all in all it was a mediocre shooter that really doesn't deserve all the hype.
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