Ah, to live in 1996, it was a great time for gaming with the original Quake coming out, but a smaller title from a development studio just down the road really outshined the big guy on the block, and that was Duke Nukem 3D. While Quake brought us true 3D graphics, Duke gave us 2.5D graphics and lots of Bruce Campbell quotes. And let us not forget the girls in tassles, which was huge for a game in 1996. Well, according to George Broussard, it looks like Duke Nukem 3D will be coming to an Xbox
Achievements Unveiled: Duke Nukem 3D 19 08 2008 There are 12 achievements with a total of 200 points.    Piece of Cake 25 Complete “L.A. Meltdown” on any difficulty or in co-op.  Let’s Rock 25 Complete “Lunar Apocalypse” on any difficulty or in co-op.  Come Get Some 25 Complete “Shrapnel City” on any difficulty or in co-op.  Game Over 25 Complete “The Birth” on any difficulty or in co-op.  Duke’s Mighty Foot 10 Step on 40 enemies after using the Shrinke
Skandal! Duke Nukem na Xboxa 360 Ta informacja może wpędzić w długotrwałą depresję wszystkich tych, którzy od kilkunastu lat z zapartym tchem czytali newsy o Duke Nukem Forever. Kontynuacja kultowego pierwowzoru ukaże się… w wersji konsolowej. Cierpliwość nie popłaca! Wierni fani mogą czuć się zdradzeni. Choć większość z tych, którzy za młodu wcielali się w postać lubującego się w cygarach i mordowaniu kosmitów mięśniaka, dziś założyła już własne rodziny, to i tak będzie to dla nich cios. No b
3D Realms (legal name Apogee Software, Ltd.) is the name of a computer game publisher and developer based in Garland, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, established in 1987. It is best known for popularizing the shareware distribution model and as the creator of franchises on the PC such as Duke Nukem, and also the publisher of other franchises such as Commander Keen and Wolfenstein 3D. The name 3D Realms was initially created as a branding label in July 1994 for use by Apogee which would be dedicated to just 3D games (as Apogee was then known for several styles of games). However, shortly after this, 3D games started to dominate the industry, and Apogee decided to direct their focus on this style of game, and as such, the Apogee name was eventually abandoned as a public marketing name in late 1996. While the company is now known as "3D Realms", the legal name of the company is still Apogee Software, Ltd.
Background
Apogee started in 1987 with the release of Scott Miller's Kingdom of Kroz, which used crude extended ASCII characters as graphics. Nevertheless, the game sold quite well and Apogee was born. In 1991 George Broussard joined the company as co-owner, bringing with him several games of his that were previously released under the name Micro F/X. Miller and Broussard run the company to this day.
Apogee published games by other developers in addition to its own in-house titles. One of these developers, id Software, contributed to Apogee's success with games such as Commander Keen and Wolfenstein 3D, but later severed their ties with Apogee with their release of Doom in 1993 (although in its earliest stages, Doom was still an Apogee title).
Shareware and the Apogee Model
Unlike traditional larger publishers that sold games in retail outlets, Apogee (like many independent developers) sold their products using the shareware method, depending mostly on BBSs, such as Software Creations, for distribution of their software.
Initial Apogee games (Beyond the Titanic and Supernova) were distributed as traditional shareware; that is, giving away the full game for free, and asking the customer to pay for it if he/she liked it. Upon registering, the customer would be able to receive support and help for the game. However, this marketing model did not prove to be profitable enough, so Apogee decided to implement a variation on the shareware model. Starting with Kingdom of Kroz, Apogee would provide the first installment of a game composed of several episodes (usually three) for free (as shareware), and sell the remaining installments by mail order. Registering the first episode would also enable the customer to receive support for that game, as well as giving them cheat codes for it. This method became known as the Apogee Model. Initially, each episode of a game was sold separately, with discounts for buying all the episodes together. Later games did not offer the option to buy a specific episode; the customer could play the shareware version (first episode) for free, and buy the full registered version (all episodes) if they liked the game. The former model has some similarities with the episodic model currently used by some game companies.
Apogee's commercial success led to the widespread adoption of the shareware model (and most of the time, the specific Apogee Model) by other major publishers such as Capstone, Parallax Software, id Software, Activision, and Epic Megagames, and also led to a growth of Software Creations BBS, which would become the largest BBS in North America. Apogee later moved to the traditional retail model through distributors like GT Interactive; however, it still offers its earlier titles via shareware.
Apogee to 3D Realms
With the original intent to create a division for every genre of game Apogee produced, the two brand names 3D Realms (formed in July 1994) and the now disused Pinball Wizards were created. Instead of publishing every game under Apogee as it had been in the past, the goal of this strategy was to create a different brand for each type of game genre, making each new game identifiable based on which brand it belonged to. This would enable Apogee to target different markets.
However, many of those varied genres such as platform or scrolling shooter (that were much of Apogee's early releases) were slowly dying out in the late 1990s, which made this strategy unnecessary. In addition, due to the increasingly lengthy development time in producing a game title, video game publishers were no longer releasing titles at the rapid rate at which they once were.
3D Realms was created in 1994 for the 3-D title Terminal Velocity and is responsible for the latest installments of the successful Duke Nukem games and for producing the Max Payne series (earlier 3D games like Rise of the Triad were released under the Apogee name). The Pinball Wizards name was created for the 1998 pinball title Balls of Steel but has not been used since.
The last game to be published under the Apogee name was Stargunner in 1996. Since 1998, all the company's games have been using a 3D engine (even if the gameplay is 2D, like in Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project). As a result, 3D Realms has replaced Apogee as the brand name to publish games under. Also, by the end of the 1990s, Apogee felt their brand name was more associated with old, outdated games and adopted the 3D Realms brand for all future releases. When the 3D Realms name was first conceived, the official motto was Reality is our Game. That motto is no longer used and there is no official motto.
Current state and products
The most recent success the company was associated with was Prey, a game released July 11, 2006 after being stuck in development hell for 11 years.
The other major project that 3D Realms has been working on is Duke Nukem Forever, the upcoming sequel to Duke Nukem 3D. It was announced in 1997 and as of 2008 is still in development. The official release date of Forever is "when it's done." During this period, some outside developers have developed and published Duke Nukem spinoffs.
3D Realms has mentioned that a sequel of Duke Nukem Forever and a sequel of Prey are intended to be released in a near future.
In the seventh generation of video games, 3D Realms has stated that it will not support the Wii. In a blog post, Scott Miller stated that he believed the system would be a "distant third" behind the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and that the system would be Nintendo's last.
Games
Under Apogee Software
Developer
1986 - Beyond the Titanic
1986 - Block Five
1986 - Diamond Digger (aka Raiders of the Forbidden Mine and Gold Miner)
1986 - Maze Machine
1986 - Maze Runner (aka Rogue Runner)
1987 - Kroz series
1987 - Supernova
1988 - Night Bomber
1988 - The Thing
1988 - Trek Trivia
1988 - Word Whiz
1989 - Meteors (aka Asteroid Rescue)
1990 - Phrase Master
1991 - Arctic Adventure
1991 - Crystal Caves
1991 - Duke Nukem
1992 - Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure
1992 - Secret Agent
1993 - Bio Menace
1993 - Duke Nukem II
1993 - Major Stryker
1993 - Monster Bash
1994 - Rise of the Triad
1995 - Realms of Chaos
1996 - Stargunner
Publisher/Producer
1988 - Trivia Whiz - Micro F/X Software
1988 - Star Trek: The Next Generation Trivia - Micro F/X Software
1989 - The Thor Trilogy - Scenario Software
1990 - Pharaoh's Tomb - Micro F/X Software
1990 - Monuments of Mars - Scenario Software
1990 - Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons – id Software
1991 - Dark Ages - Scenario Software
1991 - Commander Keen: Goodbye Galaxy! – id Software
1993 - Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold – JAM Productions
1994 - Blake Stone: Planet Strike – JAM Productions
1994 - Boppin' – Accursed Toys
1994 - Hocus Pocus – Moonlite Software
1994 - Mystic Towers - Animation F/X
1994 - Raptor: Call of the Shadows – Mountain King Studios
1994 - Wacky Wheels – Beavis Soft
1995 - Xenophage: Alien Bloodsport - Argo Games
1996 - Death Rally – Remedy Entertainment
Cancelled Projects
The Underground Empire of Kroz
Dino Days
Gateworld
Commander Keen: The Universe Is Toast
Fantasy 3D
Cybertank 3D
Tubes
BoulderDash 5000
Nuclear Nightmare
Angels Five
The Second Sword
Wards of Wandaal
Doom - Was supposed to be published by Apogee, but a discussion with id Software (developer of Doom) finished with the conclusion that Apogee would no longer publish any games of id.
Megaloman
Tom, Dick, and Harry - Was actually a game written by Chris Nurse and produced by Andrew Amess of Transend Ltd which was a shareware company in the U.K. that sold all Apogee games and was the U.K. distributor of DOOM. Tom, Dick and Harry was offered to Apogee but never reached the market as Transend Ltd closed down.
Violent Vengeance
Descent
Monster Bash VGA
Crazy Baby
Fumes
Crystal Carnage
Pitfall (PC version)
Ravager
Cyberpunk Kid
Duke Nukem Forever (scroll game) - Was a side scroll game Apogee intended to do but later cancelled (not related to Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project).
Under Pinball Wizards
Publisher/Producer
1997 - Balls of Steel - Wildfire Studios
Under 3D Realms
Developer
1996 - Duke Nukem 3D
1997 - Shadow Warrior
Publisher/Producer
1995 - Terminal Velocity - Terminal Reality
1997 - Duke Nukem 64 - Eurocom
1997 - Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown - Aardvark Software
1998 - Duke Nukem: Time to Kill - N-Space
1999 - Duke Nukem: Zero Hour - Eurocom
1999 - Duke Nukem (Game Boy Color) - Torus Games
2000 - Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes - N-Space
2001 - Max Payne - Remedy Entertainment
2002 - Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project - ARUSH Entertainment/Sunstorm Interactive
2003 - Duke Nukem Advance - Torus Games
2003 - Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne - Remedy Entertainment
2004 - Duke Nukem Mobile - Machine Works Northwest/Tapwave
2005 - Duke Nukem Mobile II: Bikini Project - Machine Works Northwest
2005 - Duke Nukem Mobile 3D - Machine Works Northwest
2006 - Prey - Human Head Studios
Announced Projects
2009 - Earth No More
TBA - Duke Nukem Forever (DNF)
TBA - Prey 2
TBA - Incarnate
Cancelled Projects
Ruins: Return of the Gods - A 3D game using the Build engine, it was sold to Playmates Interactive and retitled "Exhumed" (Powerslave in the US).
Blood - The game was supposed to be developed and/or produced by 3D Realms, but the rights were sold to Monolith Productions, who finished the game, which was published by GT Interactive.
Descent: FreeSpace — The Great War
Duke Nukem: D-Day - Was to be developed by N-Space.
References
^ 3D Realms Site: Duke Nukem Forever. 3D Realms. Retrieved January 13, 2007.
^ ab Firing Squad: 3D Realms Interview. Firing Squad. Retrieved February 19, 2007.
^ Casamassina, Matt."3D Realms CEO on Revolution". IGN. January 24, 2006.
^ 3D Realms Apogee Legacy Interviews: John Romero
^ ab The Apogee FAQ. Retrieved on 2007-06-10.
^ 3D Realms: Press Release: 3D Realms sells the rights to Blood
External links
Official Web site
Complete list of games Apogee/3DR has been involved with
