[DavoX]

Gregor Punchatz uploaded a demo reel video and in it you can find Duke Begins "footage".

At 5:56

https://youtu.be/yh2-X8mWeP0

[hismasterplan]

Intrigued.

[xMobilemux]

[hismasterplan]

So this 2009 stuff or now?

[The Kins]

hismasterplan, on 20 October 2019 - 05:35 PM, said:

So this 2009 stuff or now?

Andrew Hulshult said on Twitter that this is a CGI "proof of concept" from the mid-to-late 2000s.

[Romulus]

Whatever Duke Begins was, I am glad it didn't see a release.

[KaijuTurtle]

Gotta say, not sold on the younger duke. Don’t mind the shoulder holsters, and the rest of his get up is spot on- but those shades and that douchebag gelled hair is weak. Who’s to say how good it would have been, but that giant desert wasteland jet pack battle is the kind of thing i would love to see in a duke game. The elements we know fleshed out to their fullest extent.

[Zaxx]

I love his clothes, this kind of simple design is exactly what I'd love to see in a modern Duke game. He doesn't look like a fucking action figure like he does in DNF.

[MusicallyInspired]

At the end with the giant alien and the jetpack was basically the end of Serious Sam 3.

[Mr. Tibbs]

Quite a find. Thanks for sharing, DavoX! Nice to see a glimpse of the direction they were taking with the game.

[Mark]

I thought it was great. I don't nitpick things to the point I can't tolerate it. I see it as better than nothing.

[Altered Reality]

Romulus, on 20 October 2019 - 06:33 PM, said:

Whatever Duke Begins was, I am glad it didn't see a release.

Yeah, I hope no new Duke games are ever released, so every True Fan™ will be happy that Duke gets the respect he deserves.

[Zaxx]

It would have had a checkpoint system anyway.

[HulkNukem]

If the shirt was white I'd think it was a Serious Sam 3 concept video

[Trooper Dan]

The scene at the end showing the invasion at the capital is pretty cool and captures the spirit of Duke.

[ryche]

I thought it was interesting. Obviously they’d tweak the look but some elements looked neat.

[Kerr Avon]

The version of "You're so vain" in that video is beyond awful.

[geomancien]

Hello I did a new editing on this video Duke tell me what you think

https://youtu.be/Q_nc9vAFmNw

[necroslut]

Looked pretty terrible, and indeed much more Serious Sam 3 than Duke.

[gemeaux333]

Perhaps it could become a good Duke game if they could improve upon it, make it more realistic and less cartoonish...

[necroslut]

gemeaux333, on 28 October 2019 - 09:23 AM, said:

Perhaps it could become a good Duke game if they could improve upon it, make it more realistic and less cartoonish...

The whole concept was a bad idea. Duke was never about story, and a "prequel" makes no sense in that context. Duke's "story" doesn't matter.

[KaijuTurtle]

necroslut, on 28 October 2019 - 11:35 PM, said:

The whole concept was a bad idea. Duke was never about story, and a "prequel" makes no sense in that context. Duke's "story" doesn't matter.

Purely marketing. We know that 3DR had been talking with GBX prior to their 2009 closure about the production of Duke Begins. I could very easily see 2K/Take 2, or perhaps even 3DR themselves, feeling that Duke had been out of the spotlight for so long (the last real release for the series before that was Manhattan Project in 02) that the newer audience would be put off playing a new installment in a series they had never touched before. Then they look it up and "ew what's this? a SNES platformer? these games look like shit!" I'm not saying that's my perception but circa 2009 the retro fps revival was nowhere to be found, so how do we interest a new audience in the sequel to a game thats over 10 years old? Prequel. The soft reboot angle of the day. Same reason Doom 4 is just called DOOM. John Q Public sees the title 'Duke Begins' and are instantly reassured that not only will they need no prior knowledge to feel included, they are gaining an entryway into a larger ""fandom"".

Personally, I wholly agree with you. The correct course of action would have been to make another spinoff game ala Manhattan Project or Zero Hour. The name Duke Nukem should be a tag line the same way Schwarzenegger was in the 80s. Impart that unto the consumer base and Forever being a sequel to 3D would have been a non-issue. After the hype surrounding the 07 teaser, I don't think there should have been any fear of DNF under-performing anyways.. had it been finished and polished before release.

[Commando Nukem]

Yeah, that 07 teaser broke the internet.

Honestly, that footage just gives me the same cold sweats that DNF did.. Sure, the wardrobe is fine, but Duke is still his douchey self. That whole project would have been bad. Just looking at what they had in mind, it reaks of the same shit htye tried to do with Duke Trilogy. Overly narrowed game design with scripted events and sequences instead of what made Duke the legend he was.

[gemeaux333]

The game would/could have been fun, but not this way I guess...