The way they're handling it seems god tho, the whole "you need to destroy/kill things to regen health" could easier be amazing or terrible, depending on how they handle it. Still beats sitting in a corner waiting to heal.
Agreed. It also beats wasting time and looking around the entire level for health kits. That's always annoying.
Also his character will only really matter with his fans, considering how kids these days seem to focus on the thing that Douk actually parodies, and are too dumb to understand that he's parodying it.
Like I said, it's going to depend on how the game is marketed.
I was 11 years old when Duke Nukem 3D was released and didn't understand many of the references that Duke spouted off. That certainly didn't stop me from taking a liking to the character. Granted, at the time, he was the only expressive character in a first-person shooter, so it really stood out, but even now there's a certain type of charm that literally no other character but Duke (and possibly Serious Sam, though it's very obvious that Sam was inspired by Duke Nukem) has in the midst of today's FPS.
I think Eggman said it best, kids want a multiplayer shooter with some sort of leveling, possible unlocks, and customization.
Those games are certainly dominating the industry, but there have been some games lately that achieved popularity without being primarily multiplayer shooters and aren't hype machines.
Take a look at Fallout 3. How many people that played Fallout 3 have even seen a screenshot of the older titles? You could argue that the game sold on Bethesda's name alone, but that still doesn't explain why Morrowind was able to compete with the original Halo (which was the reason why most people bought the Xbox in the first place) when the Xbox was released. The original Halo didn't exactly offer Internet multiplayer support, but I can attest to it being all the rage in college dorm rooms at the time. The fact that a game from a once-niche developer that clearly favored the PC (at least at the time) managed to hang in the top 10 chart should be proof enough that exceptions to the rule have been made, even post-Halo.
The thing is, most games won't sell well unless they have a fucking TON of hype and clever advertising, which is a shame. I know Douk won't outsell MW2 or Halo 3 or anything, but I hope it does well. It sounds promising thus far.
Comparing it to MW2 or Halo 3 would be foolish. Of course it's not going to sell better than two of the most highly regarded multiplayer first-person shooters on the market nowadays.
As far as hype goes, the fact that they allowed PAX attendees to actually play it is a good way to kickstart the hype machine. It's definitely a way to shock the people who have been waiting for this game since 1996 into believing, since this is the closest this game has come to having a tangible release in fourteen years. Hearing about Gearbox taking up development was certainly an "oh shit" moment for me. Basically, the gears are turning with the older Duke fans from this announcement. If they make a marketing push and focus on the younger folk, they could very well have a successful title on their hands.
Mercenaries 2 is living proof that a good marketing campaign can sell a game. That game was practically released in a beta state, was panned by critics (and, of course, in the gaming press, "panned" means that it scored between 75-80%), yet sold like hotcakes because the marketing was bloody genius.
P.S. Please disregard any blatant logic/spelling/grammar errors in this post. I desperately need sleep right now. :x
