Duke Nukem Forever & S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Rumour Control // UPDATE

There's been a lot of commotion these past few days, over that $500,000 bonus offered to developer 3D Realms (by Take Two), should Duke Nukem Forever be released by the end of 2006. We have GameSpot to "thank" for that, as their recent story not only managed to dig up a fact that's been known for more than four months (as reported by Gamasutra on February 1st), but they also induced some serious confusion as to the payment to be received by 3D Realms - initially stating that: "Under the original deal, 3D Realms was to receive some $6 million from Take-Two to develop the title. Now the Texas-based developer will receive only $4,250 for the oft-delayed game when it is completed".

They have since updated their story with the correct figure ($4.25 million... just a bit of a differece), but it still doesn't precisely fit Take Two's old report, which stated that "The epic delay of 3D Realms' shooter has meant that $4.25 million of the final milestone payment has already been paid, alongside the promise of a final $500,000 upon the commercial release of Duke Nukem Forever prior to December 31, 2006". So much for "breaking news" here, so let's move on to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Forever... That is, Shadow of Chernobyl.

After a dubious appearance at E3 2006, several rumours appeared with partially-misleading information about the current state of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. project. Ukranian developer GSC finally decided to react by putting together a lenghty post on their forums. They strongly deny that the game's signature "A-Life" AI has been removed, but admit that the use of vehicles is now "limited", to say the least. Also, sleeping in the game is gone, while eating and hunger are "still there". Hopefully so is vodka.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is due for release in September 2006, a.k.a. Early 2007, a.k.a. "When it's done".

UPDATE: Today stop. GSC newsletter stop. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. launch fixed stop. Q1 2007 stop. [14.06.2006, 11:59]

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)