Some companies get all tiffy when one of their beloved franchises is honored by well-meaning fans. We're not convinced that fan-made games do anything to confuseconsumers, so it seemsto us that it's justneedless litigiousness that gets them the 'olcease and desist. ButTake-Two Interactive and GearboxSoftware don't roll like that. At least, not in this case.
Gearbox, the new developer of Duke Nukem: Forever,has given the "it's cool, bro" to a fan project which aims to remake Duke Nukem 3D with Unreal Engine 3 tech. The project, tentatively called Duke Nukem: Next Gen, was initiated by Frederik "Fresch" Schreiber, who first made a test level to see if it could be done.
Schreiber then contacted Duke Nukem creators George Brussard and Scott Miller.Miller was impressed, but the project couldn't move forward without permission from Take-Two. Schreiber then got in touch with PJ Putnam, Vice President and General Counsel of Gearbox Software. Gearbox cracked its knuckles, got out its scribin' pen, and gave Schreiber a personal non-commercial license to Duke Nukem. What a bunch of 'ol softies!
The project has only just congealed, so there's not much to see yet, but we wish Schreiber and his team the best of luck. Duke Nukem: Next Gen will be available "when it's done."
Before you go, check out this video of the remake's early progress:
Oct 15, 2010
