[Master Fibbles]

Sounds good, Yatta. Everything kind of comes down to seeing it/feeling it myself but I think your judgement is enough to not hesitate to get that demo myself when it is out.

[arveja]

And what about the game Yatta? Was it any good?

[DavoX]

I will not forget the questions for Randy Yatta... Come on, we haven't forgotten, if you played thegame too much then we will shrink you and then squish you

[Hank]

Ok, so Vegas was nice, the game was nice ... hmm. I've got chocolate cake and Black Forest cake in the fridge. - So I'll wait for part two.

ferran275, on Feb 9 2011, 03:49 PM, said:

but in case I sound like an asshole right now, I am very happy for you Yatta

+1

[MusicallyInspired]

DavoX, on Feb 9 2011, 04:09 PM, said:

I will not forget the questions for Randy Yatta... Come on, we haven't forgotten, if you played thegame too much then we will shrink you and then squish you

I think he's posting that on the 11th.

[Honza]

Glad that it turned out so great. However I was expecting at least a tiny little negative feedback on anything, you know nitpicking... I think that's the thing which every pre/review should have even if it turns out 10/10.

[Yatta]

Thanks for all the kind words and gracious replies guys! It's feedback like this that makes all the hard work of writing the preview worthwhile.

blackharted, on Feb 9 2011, 09:07 AM, said:

But seriously you were the last one playing? So everyone else had gone and you were still there?

Were the lights being turned off and everyone was packing things away? Jeez that must've felt strange.

Yeah, I was the last one still playing. They were packing the Xbox 360s on the main stage and everything had been disconnected. I think some of the journalists stayed back for interviews but most of them had left by that time.

fuegerstef, on Feb 9 2011, 09:12 AM, said:

Nice read, thank you.

Can you elaborate how the two weapon system played out?

I think it's fine. There's always weapons you can pick up, so it's not like you're limited to using only two weapons despite the fact that you can only carry two. Plus, you can technically carry a third weapon by picking up objects like vases and throwing them at the enemies. Very effective.

blackharted, on Feb 9 2011, 09:17 AM, said:

Should be fine. Were the graphics as good as I think?

They're on par with Gears of War, and I personally think that's very good.

Cerberus_e, on Feb 9 2011, 09:29 AM, said:

Yatta, any chance in a spoiler-less preview? I don't want to know how the game starts,, which bosses to fight, etc...
I'm particularly interested in these:

- How does the health system work? I assume it's probably ego based, but I'm curious how it exactly works (shooting an enemy = ego, or do you have to kill them? And can you pickup health packs? etc...)
- Does the two weapon limit bother? (I'm a PC gamer and don't like console influences, but it worked in games like Far Cry, hence my question Can't see how it'd work in a Duke game though)

Yes, I intend to do a follow-up to cover the game logistics.

The ego works just like in Call of Duty (rechargeable), except you can add to its total by doing Dukely things like pissing in toilets and admiring yourself int he mirror.

I didn't encounter any health packs. See above for for my opinion on 2-weapon system.

Camelot, on Feb 9 2011, 12:19 PM, said:

I have a very important question for you Yatta:

When you have to sign the book "Why i'm so great" for the kid, can you write or draw whatever you want like in the whiteboard at the beginning of the game? that'd be hilarious!

Yep, you can write anything!

ferran275, on Feb 9 2011, 12:49 PM, said:

Yatta I'm very happy you had a good time but come on man! we need a spoiler-less post, I can't read that! I don't want to know how it starts.

How about all the questions? did you get to ask them? did you get answers?

That's all I really care about

but in case I sound like an asshole right now, I am very happy for you Yatta

I submitted the questions and I'm still waiting for them to be answered. I was told that it might be a while before they have the time to answer it, and that they might not be able to answer everything.

I unfortunately did not get video interview time as that is something typically reserved for industry journalists, but we'll have the questions answered electronically soon enough. I do have video footage to post, though.

MusicallyInspired, on Feb 9 2011, 01:12 PM, said:

Apparently he's posting more when the final embargo lifts on the 11th.

Yes!

Honza, on Feb 9 2011, 03:16 PM, said:

Glad that it turned out so great. However I was expecting at least a tiny little negative feedback on anything, you know nitpicking... I think that's the thing which every pre/review should have even if it turns out 10/10.

I mean, it's still an unfinished game, so technically I could nitpick about glitches that Randy said they're working on fixing, such as missing textures or occasional hitches. However, knowing that they're working to fix those, I don't think it's something I would need to cover in my preview unless they hadn't mentioned their intention to polish out the glitches by release time.

[Richard Shead]

I'd also like to add my thanks to you Yatta for the awesome coverage you're providing us with- and even though I'm not really jealous of you..........well, okay I am; but tbh, I'm actually more happy for you, as I can think of no one more deserving of getting this chance of a lifetime than you. Seriously. You totally earned it, mate.

With that, could you please answer just this one question- going by your playtime with DNF, and everything else you've seen/heard that day, would you say DNF will definitely be ready by May 3rd? Is there even any remote, vague, shadow of a doubt in your mind that there could be a chance of a delay?? I just want the honest truth. I know you mentioned that your guesstimate was a gold status by mid to late April, but I want a dead-set answer, just for the sake of comfort. Please understand.

[Shawneth]

I have a feeling that for a joke- they're going to pretend delay it. I just have the feeling .

[aftli]

Yatta, on Feb 9 2011, 07:02 PM, said:

There's always weapons you can pick up

Thanks, that's all it took for me. I now don't only not dread the two weapon system, I actually look forward to it. The reason why they did this and why it will be awesome dawned on me as soon as you said that. Here's why:

With all the news lately, I went back and played Duke 3D recently. I realized that even with all of the weapons that Duke 3D had (an unprecedented number at the time), and the variety of those weapons, I wound up using only two or three weapons the entire time. Take a look at the weapons Duke 3D had:

• Mighty Foot - obviously fun as a gag, but you can't really run through the entire game with just the foot. Really only the quick kick is useful for finishing aliens while they're begging for their lives.
  
• Pistol - Too weak to be of much use all of the time. Useful only when low on ammo and nothing else is available.
  
• Shotgun - Go-to weapon number one. Most enemies die with just one, two, or three shots. Ammunition balance in Duke Nukem 3D is alright, and if you use the shotgun most often, there will be just the right amount of ammo to keep you switching to the chaingun once in awhile.
  
• Chaingun - A good weapon with plenty of ammo around (especially since it's dropped by Liztroopers sometimes), but ultimately takes too long to kill most enemies. I can fire off two shotgun blasts in about two seconds, but it takes a good three or four or five seconds to kill some enemies with the chaingun.
  
• RPG - The second go-to weapon. Kills anything, you can even get away with short range sometimes. Most enemies in Duke 3D were long range - with the exception of the space episode, most of Duke 3D was wide open areas. This is my second most used weapon.
  
• Pipe bombs - This is one thing I'll miss if I don't have access to them all of the time. The fun that could be had with these was absolutely awesome. I really hope you can detonate multiple pipe bombs at the same time like you could in Duke 3D - maybe Yatta knows about that. Or maybe Yatta saw that pipe bombs aren't part of the two-weapon thing.
  
• Shrinker - Fun as a novelty weapon to whip out once in awhile, but didn't get much use. Not useful for taking out large groups of enemies, common in Duke 3D.
  
• Devastator - Great weapon, but ammo is scarce. Also, the (graphically) small explosions make it seem like it would be suitable for combat in a little closer quarters than the RPG, but this isn't really so. I blew myself up a bunch of times with the devastator, where I didn't at all with the RPG.
  
• Freezer - Same as the shrinker, it's really only a novelty weapon. It's no more powerful than the shotgun, it requires you to kick your enemy apart after you freeze them, you don't have the chance that they'll beg for their lives so you can quick kick them to death, and there is a chance you'll freeze yourself (the freeze blasts bounce off of walls).
  
• Trip bombs - Really awesome for multiplayer, but largely useless in single player with a fast paced game like Duke 3D. Sure, you can coax enemies into walking into the laser if you're bored (which really doesn't happen), or set a trap for an enemy when you know where it's going to be in advance if it's your 30th playthrough. Most of the time however I didn't really bother just because it takes too long.

So, basically, Duke 3D is a two weapon game (shotgun and RPG) anyway. Thing is, I'd really like to actually be forced to use all of the weapons. I just don't out of laziness. That's where this two weapon system comes in - it actually forces you to use what you have at your disposal to defeat the enemies at hand. I rarely used the shrinker in Duke 3D, but you bet when I remembered I had it and wanted to have fun, or I was all out of other kinds of ammo, I had a ton of fun stomping mini-enemies.

A lot of other games suffer from "too many weapons you'll never bother using" syndrome these days. Played Fallout: New Vegas? That game has over 9000 weapons, but I can remember only using three or four at the most. Plus, you had to have the skills to use weapons - I stayed away from energy weapon skills, and I wish it was more balanced and I could have used them (or been forced to use them) just because they were so cool.

So, final verdict for me? The two weapon system will make the game MORE fun, not less fun. Hell, originally I thought "I wish they'd make it three weapons instead of two, as a compromise". Now that I realize this, absolutely no more than two weapons. Period. Three is too many. I'll be forced to make more use of all of the weapons as a whole, instead of sticking to just two anyway. And as Yatta said, there are weapons all over the place. I'll pick up whatever is lying around that I want to have fun with, not what I'm forced to use out of habit.

[MrN]

You stated in the article

Quote

Up to this point, I’ve spilled blood with Duke’s golden Eagle

Was it actually Duke's Golden Eagle or the 1911 colt we have seen in the december 2009 "trailer"?

Any news on the demo? I assume it's going to be released soon. Correct me if I am wrong but aren't demos usually released about
three months before the retail version?

[Stewox]

yatta , Those glitches probably don't even exist in the PC version

[ferran275]

Stewox, on Feb 9 2011, 06:10 PM, said:

yatta , Those glitches probably don't even exist in the PC version

tru dat

[randir14]

MrN, on Feb 9 2011, 05:56 PM, said:

Correct me if I am wrong but aren't demos usually released about
three months before the retail version?

I've never seen a demo come out that early. Betas yes, demos no.

[Kathy]

Mr.Flibble, on Feb 10 2011, 12:39 AM, said:

Sounds good, Yatta. Everything kind of comes down to seeing it/feeling it myself but I think your judgement is enough to not hesitate to get that demo myself when it is out.

Oh, come on. Did you hesitate to get the demo?

[PokeThePower]

What if Jesus came back as DNF and we're witnessing the 21st version...




Hmm... Does anybody else smell sulfur?

[Kathy]

I'd rather identify DNF with Chtulhu awaking from its sleep. Oblivion awaits!

[Raziel]

Luther Blissett, on Feb 9 2011, 10:13 AM, said:

I hope a demo comes out soon.

I'm actually hoping they release this demo rather than the older PAX demo. This one seems a lot less fragmented than what I played. The PAX demo felt really rushed, like, you'd start a level and 4 minutes later it'd be over before you really got into it. Lets hope they hurry with the demo release, the game's shipping in 3 months so you'd think they would be trying to get a demo out ASAP to spread the word further.

As for me, I think it's awesome that they are letting the press play the game and all, but I find it hard to be excited until they actually pass a demo or something to us so we can try the game properly in a less fragmented fashion than the PAX demo. While it may change going forward, there are still other games I want more this year (I'm not going to recite the list yet again since I think I've already posted it twice now), but perhaps once I get the demo DNF might go to #1, who knows, kind of depends on how impressed I am.

[Mr.Deviance]

Very nice preview man, I really liked it even though there was a shitload of spoilers in it.
I just hope you were truly impressed by the game and you didn't just write nice things because you felt obligated due to being treated nice by those dudes from GXB and 2k...

[Raziel]

randir14, on Feb 9 2011, 07:19 PM, said:

I've never seen a demo come out that early. Betas yes, demos no.

DNF is kind of an exception though, I'm not sure the same rules apply here.

Edit: plus, the game is pretty much a beta still, the PAX demo was crashing like crazy - well, that's maybe an overstatement, but I saw it crash twice while I was at the Mana Bar. I suspect they'll be concentrating on getting issues like that fixed now before it gets released, so what I mean to say is, if they did release a demo, it would probably be a beta-demo anyway.

[PokeThePower]

Lotan, on Feb 10 2011, 04:09 AM, said:

I'd rather identify DNF with Chtulhu awaking from its sleep. Oblivion awaits!

Jesus has to fight Cthulhu... and he realized only by coming back as Duke could he win. There was no badder ass to be had. Wait... this movie is going in the wrong direction.

[Kathy]

[Raziel]

Yatta, on Feb 9 2011, 05:02 PM, said:

They're on par with Gears of War, and I personally think that's very good.

Yatta, you know I have a world of respect for you, but I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. Here are some random pics from Gears of War 1 & 2 from google images:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PiICf58tqZs/R1A4...1_screen002.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2008/...5_screen055.jpg
http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/...25073955611.jpg
http://img216.images...36/vividqu9.jpg
http://ve3dmedia.ign.com/images/03/23/3233...rsofWar2-04.jpg

I'm going to have to say, while the enemies look great, the environments are unfortunately a far cry from the ones in the Gears of War series.


Raz.
Edit: Oh, and I notice people are still complaining about the 2 weapon switching system, like I said from my first impression at the mana bar, this really isn't a problem. I would go so far as to say I prefer this system over Duke3D's because in D3D you basically had to stock up on ammo and stuff and I always felt too scared to use the weapons I wanted to use just in case I needed it in an emergency, whereas in DNF, the weapons you need are always lying around all over the place and since you can only carry two at a time it actually encourages you to use the weapons you pick up. I hope that makes sense, if the full game is anything like the PAX demo, believe me, there are plenty of weapons to go around.

[kaisersoze]

Great write up Yatta! Sooo pumped for the game. It looks to be bringing back "the fun" that's gone missing from today's shooters imo.

[Gurty]

Great and awesome preview Yatta!!

[Stabs]

aftli, on Feb 9 2011, 05:47 PM, said:

So, final verdict for me? The two weapon system will make the game MORE fun, not less fun. Hell, originally I thought "I wish they'd make it three weapons instead of two, as a compromise". Now that I realize this, absolutely no more than two weapons. Period. Three is too many. I'll be forced to make more use of all of the weapons as a whole, instead of sticking to just two anyway. And as Yatta said, there are weapons all over the place. I'll pick up whatever is lying around that I want to have fun with, not what I'm forced to use out of habit.

It will IF there is a degree of randomness to obtaining weapons, otherwise its going to play the same way everytime and that is a massive fuckup

i just dont want it to formulate my gameplay 2nd playthrough, IE shoot the pig up in that area, he has the rocket launcher, use said rocket launcher to spam the others into oblivion, move onto next battle, kill the next guy with the best gun, use best tactical advantage with best gun

I really dont mind the 2 weapon system as iam not going to care about what iam using as long as it kills things dead, just some things can be bad if overlooked

[Raziel]

DanM, on Feb 10 2011, 05:36 AM, said:

It will IF there is a degree of randomness to obtaining weapons, otherwise its going to play the same way everytime and that is a massive fuckup

i just dont want it to formulate my gameplay 2nd playthrough, IE shoot the pig up in that area, he has the rocket launcher, use said rocket launcher to spam the others into oblivion, move onto next battle, kill the next guy with the best gun, use best tactical advantage with best gun

I really dont mind the 2 weapon system as iam not going to care about what iam using as long as it kills things dead, just some things can be bad if overlooked

It's not random, but you sort of overlooked my post and missed the point as a result. There are PLENTY of weapons lying around, so you have a lot of freedom to use what you want. At least, that was the case in the PAX demo, maybe the full version would be more restrictive, I hope not.

Anyway, in the main area of PAX map 2 it had a shrink ray, railgun, shotgun, chaingun, pipe bombs, sniper rifle, pistol, holoduke (and probably more I don't remember) all in the same area. The only notable guns that were missing in that area was the RPG and freezegun (whatever that's officially called). FYI: the RPG was located in the next area across the bridge. So you had plenty of choice as far as weapons were concerned and I found myself constantly switching to different weapons. I played the demo through twice, and I found myself using different weapons each time.

[blackharted]

Yatta, on Feb 9 2011, 04:02 PM, said:

They're on par with Gears of War, and I personally think that's very good.

Cool. However I have to ask: Do you mean Gears 1 or 2? (maybe even 3?)

Raziel, on Feb 10 2011, 02:38 PM, said:

Yatta, you know I have a world of respect for you, but I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one.

I'm going to have to say, while the enemies look great, the environments are unfortunately a far cry from the ones in the Gears of War series.

I acually think the levels look halfway decent, but yeah no match for good ol' Gears of War.

[bullerbullerseven]

The thing is that there will always be weapons lying around. You can only hold 2 weapons at a time, but you basicly always have the options to use more weapons. You usually never use more than 2 weapons at once in a fps game.

[Loke]

How was the sound effects, such as gunfire (more specifically Duke's arsenal, i.e. shotgun, ripper, pistol etc.) and the explosions? And while on the subject, how were Jon St. John's delivery as Duke? One preview said it was flat--I really hope that isn't the case. Lastly, were there any music whatsoever?