3D Realms drop a Bombshell
Duke sidekick set to "star" in her own games
3D Realms have revealed that plans are afoot to create a new gaming franchise based around .. er .. Bombshell. Yes, the blonde sidekick from the terminally delayed Duke Nukem Forever will one day become the star of her own series of games, and CEO Scott Miller is confident that she will be just as big as Duke Nukem and Max Payne. "George [Broussard] and I have studied and discussed characters for almost a decade, and finally in the last 5-6 years we think we've put together the key pieces of the puzzle better than anyone else in this industry", Scott proclaims in a feature about character design on game development site Gamasutra. And what is this great revelation that has been visited upon Scott through constant meditation on the 22 Immutable Laws Of Branding? "Positioning and differentiation", apparently. "Duke is the first white male action hero. No other character will ever have a chance knocking Duke off his particular pedestal, because it's better to be first than it is to be better (a key concept of positioning). Likewise, Max Payne is the first character of his type - a true antihero vigilante cop - and no other developer will ever have a chance making a better character with this description. Thanks to the well-known psychology of the human mind, better doesn't win; being first is what really matters." You'll be glad to hear that even Scott doesn't believe that being first in your own narrowly defined category is enough to make your character a hit though. You also need a silly name. "One commonality of catchy, memorable names is that one of the names is only one syllable long. For example: Johnny Quest, James Bond, Darth Vadar, Luke Skywalker, Duke Nukem, Commander Keen, Indiana Jones, Max Payne, Han Solo, Lara Croft [and .. er .. Bombshell - cynical Ed]. There are several important rules like this that should be followed to create a great character name." "Duke Nukem and Max Payne do this very well", Scott continues, before claiming that "other game character names like Lara Croft, Kate Archer, John Mullins, John Blade are just generic, valueless names that say nothing about the personality of the character they represent." "We planned Max to be the next great male action character and franchise from day one of the games design, and guided Remedy in the key ways to make it happen. And we're going to do it again with two more coming game characters, Bombshell (appearing first in Duke Nukem Forever before starring in her own games), and another game I can't announce yet (wait for E3 2002)." Whether Scott's faith is well-placed remains to be seen, as pretty much all we know about Bombshell at this point is that she has big tits and a stupid name, and she doesn't fancy Duke Nukem. A girl of impeccable taste then...