It's taken 13 years, tens of millions of dollars, and a couple lawsuits, but the videogame that created the Vaporware Award is finally, officially on its way. Publisher 2K Games and developer Gearbox Software announced this afternoon at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle that the Chinese Democracy of videogames, Duke Nukem Forever, is complete and will ship early next year.

We've been following the rumor the game would make its debut at PAX Prime for a month, but given Duke Forever's joke-worthy development cycle, we vowed not to believe it until we saw it. Well, today we saw it. Gearbox studio head Randy Pitchford debuted the Duke Nukem Forever trailer and PAX attendees were given hands-on time with the game. Seriously.


"I know it's hard to believe, but it's totally real. It's really happening," Pitchford said before explaining how Gearbox got involved with the project: "I broke into the industry at 3D Realms, and I witnessed firsthand how the guys there put their hearts and minds into it. When Duke got into trouble, we wanted to help. We couldn't let the Duke die. We wanted to deliver the game that was supposed to be."

Pitchford said Gearbox, of Borderlands fame, got involved with finishing Forever in late 2009. The game is now in the "polishing stages" and is set to ship as a multiplatform title in early 2011.

We'll have the trailer up as soon as it becomes available. All hail the king, baby.



Sharkey says: Pitchford's presentation just happened, so we don't have many specifics. We did get an over-the-shoulder look at the game in action during the hands-on, and it looks tight. Duke was dual wielding some heavy weaponry as he took on what appeared to be an enormous alien boss. We'll keep you posted.