Month: May 2022

Enlarge / Apparent footage from a 2001 build of Duke Nukem Forever has leaked, 21 years later. As this version of the Mona Lisa might say, deal with it. (credit: 3D Realms)

The story of Duke Nukem Forever's development appeared to be tied up in a bow when the game finally launched in 2011, a whopping 14 years after it had been announced. But the first-person shooter that was eventually cobbled together by Gearbox Software, crappy as it was, didn't necessarily show the game's whole story.

Arguably the game's most famous trailer came at E3 2001; it showed off a bombastic, explosion-filled romp through Las Vegas that actually looked like a playable video game, apparently rendered in that era's version of Unreal Engine. This week, we've learned just how playable that version of the game was—with at least one of Duke Nukem Forever's original creators backing up its authenticity.

“A smattering of test levels”

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  Selections from a video released in May 2022 of an apparent Duke Nukem Forever build made in 2001. Here's the weapon-selection interface. [credit: 3D Realms ]

The game's latest leak, posted to 4chan on Sunday and widely shared by Duke Nukem fansite duke4.net, appears to be made of original 2001 code and assets. It includes a one-minute video of first-person carnage in a very Duke-appropriate environment of a strip club called "Slick Willy." The sequence was apparently played and captured by the build's leaker.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

We made it! After announcing our inaugural conference and providing you with updates, we're ready to get things started. We've been planning this event for months, and as some of your favorite Ars staffers start hopping on planes to meet up in Washington, DC, later in the week, we'll be kicking things off with a series of livestreams before the main event on Thursday.

Today: Making critical infrastructure safer

We'll get things rolling today with a conversation between security researcher Lesley Carhart and Ars alum Sean Gallagher on Twitter Live at 1 pm ET. Lesley and Sean will be discussing how we should be thinking about cybersecurity when it comes to our critical infrastructure and how we continue to build a talent pipeline prepared to address the ever-increasingly complex challenges of keeping our digital society running.

Tuesday: How COVID is shaping virology research

We heard your requests for a Beth Mole-moderated COVID discussion (thank you!), and she and Dr. Angela Rasmussen will be with us on Tuesday to talk about how the pandemic is altering the field of virology—particularly in terms of future pandemic preparedness—and how COVID has given the public a first-hand look at the unknowns and long-term effects of viral infections. Join us Tuesday on Twitter at 3:30 pm ET.