Duke Nukem actor hints at future for DNF

By Oli Welsh Published 7 January, 2010

"Don't be disappointed."

Duke Nukem voice actor Jon St. John has hinted that there may be a future for Duke Nukem Forever - by saying nothing at all. St. John implied that he was bound to silence because something is still afoot.

"Let me go ahead and tell you right now that I'm not allowed to talk about Duke Nukem Forever," St. John said when asked about it during a panel at the Music and Games Festival in Virgina last weekend, as reported (with video) by Pixel Enemy.

When the crowd groaned in disappointment, he teased: "No, no, don't be disappointed, read between the lines… why am I not allowed to talk about it?"

Duke Nukem Forever was first announced in 1997, and still refuses to die despite funding problems at developer 3D Realms that led to the redundancy of the entire development team, and a legal dispute with publisher Take-Two.

Most recently, something called Duke Nukem D-Day made a mysterious appearance on Facebook, although this may be an unconnected Duke project.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • SAMagic #1 2 years ago

    Always bet on Duke!

    I can't help but imagine him saying the quoted lines in his Duke Nukem voice.

  • Quixz #2 2 years ago

    Lol just let the Duke die, i don't think people care all the much about him these days.

  • TonyCocaCola #3 2 years ago

    I dunno if i could imagine a duke game with modern graphics.. Maybe if they stylised it, cell shaded or Borderlands 'Concept art' style..

  • sarcasmoidosis #4 2 years ago

    Borderlands 'Concept Art' style' is called cel shading and it's probably the best solution for Duke Nukem. But, I honestly don't know if it's worth to put it on the market right now. Each month passing makes the DN fans grow older and out of touch with gaming.

  • DaemonSpawn #5 2 years ago

    2 TonyCocaCola
    I dunno if i could imagine a duke game with modern graphics
    Personally I don't know if I could imagine a modern Duke GAME! Any Duke game. But that's the point!
    I think Duke Nukem Forever is a pretty cool guy. eh bankrupts publishers and doesn't afraid of anything...

  • Shotaro #6 2 years ago

    Each month passing makes the DN fans grow older and out of touch with gaming.

    What? DN1 only came out in 1991, I'm 25 and played Duke Nukem when it was first released and I'm not out of touch with gaming!

  • misinformed #7 2 years ago

    Im fed up of hearing about this rubbish, i only want to know about a game the month or so before its released, stop pestering me with this trollop.

    This every little tid bit of information thing has gotten so out of hand. Has executive producer A done this, did he leave for x reason, this may not be in the game for y reason but probably will be anyway. Z developer thinks his game is ever so awesome in an internal memo. Or publishing firm B thinks microtransactions are the future and a fantastic way to give the consumer less stuff with a larger price tag, and heres why in depth.
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 11:24

  • ChthonicEcho #8 2 years ago

    @sarcasmoidosis

    Borderlands does not use cel-shading. Clickity.
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 11:26

  • sarcasmoidosis #9 2 years ago

    Hm, I stand corrected about the cel-shaded Borderlands. I missed that article and only based myself on my eyes. And it does look cel-shaded like PoP for instance.

    @Shotaro: Only 1991? That's 19 years ago. I'm 25 too, but i think we're the lowest part of the demographic for it. All the "youngsters" playing Halo and the likes which are aged 16 to 20 are the same age as the game and will probably not be drawn to it.

  • Baranga #10 2 years ago

    So many people say people don't care about Duke, yet every piece of news about it is devoured.
    The game will be a success because people will be curious to check it out. Especially if it gets good reviews... and maybe even if it won't, just look at Too Human.

  • makeamazing #11 2 years ago

    Taking his comment out of context :) - I'm not allowed to talk about Duke Nukem Forever

    Yes i think we would all like them not to continue to talk about this game forever.

  • oceanclub #12 2 years ago

    "So many people say people don't care about Duke, yet every piece of news about it is devoured."

    The same could be said of Derek Smart.

  • canIdoyabombsforya #13 2 years ago


    Duke's veins pop out a bit more than they did 13 years ago. Instant hit with the hardcore Xbox gamer then ;)

  • schnide #14 2 years ago

    Oh please, please just fuck off.

  • Machetazo #15 2 years ago

    @misinformed: I some times feel that the "depth" of articles goes too far beyond the desired level - but then, it's yours and mine, and anyone else's responsibility, who disagrees of the value of a story to not click through, and read that story.

  • Bleh #16 2 years ago

    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0zCD0fsec0&fea ture=player_embedded
    ]http://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0zCD0fse...[/link]

    :D

  • Artemus #17 2 years ago

    So is George Broussard planning on finishing the game on his own now then, seeing as the rest of the team was laid off? Maybe he could get it finished in time for his retirement that way.

  • SheffieldSteel #18 2 years ago

    Duke Nukem is finished.

    Suck.
    It.
    Down.

  • Wyrm #19 2 years ago

    People bitch and moan, but when the game is finally available (which one day, it will be in some form or another), I for one will be very excited to try it. Never understood the 'no-one cares' angle, clearly lots of people care.

  • smelly #20 2 years ago

    This isnt them talking about the game.. he was asked, and then he said he couldnt talk about it.

    The only people hyping the game at this point is the media. Its not 3drealms fault that a "no comment" gets turned into a story is it?

  • sarcasmoidosis #21 2 years ago

    A 40 years old father that plays games on the Wii and enhances the average is not a Duke Nukem fan and also doesn't make me a dipshit. Just to give an example.

    And again, smelly gets it on point.

  • smelly #22 2 years ago

    Im in my mid 30's. I play wii more than my 360 (more games i want to play), I find fps games boring as hell - i was LOOONG bored of running around mazes shooting things years ago - but yet we still get the same old same old year after year.. yawn.

    But yet - I would still buy DNF is it was any good, duke 3d was the last semi-good shooter which didnt bore me to death.

  • SheffieldSteel #23 2 years ago

    There are many ways St. John could have handled that question. He could have shrugged and said "I can't tell you anything." He could have said, "I don't know anything about that," or "It's too soon to make an announcement," or even "I have a non-disclosure agreement that prevents me from commenting."

    Instead he tried to make it sound as mysterious and interesting as possible. In other words, we can safely conclude that the Duke Nukem hype machine is alive and well, and that the voice actor has signed some form of agreement that apparently precludes him from talking in public. That's rather a long way from there being any actual funding, much less development of an actual game.

  • smelly #24 2 years ago

    "voice over actor in not being allowed to talk about the game he's working on - shocker!"

  • man-of-steel #25 2 years ago

    I'm sick of reading between the lines just release the game duke!

  • Nylz #26 2 years ago

    @Zedfragg

    I'm a thirty year old gamer. I've played the original Duke AND (shocker) I can still enjoy those hip new things as Achievements and DLC. It's amazing! Your generalisations are ungrounded. Let people decide for themselves if they should care or not. Let time decide and who knows, maybe those youngsters will enjoy the duke like we did 'back in the day' ;). We're really not that different.