Feb 18, 2011 13:10 GMT  ·  By

What we know

Duke Nukem Forever, after a development cycle of over 12 years, is finally getting ready to be released and reach the hands of gamers that awaited Duke's return for a huge amount of time

The project started back in the 1990s at 3D Realms, but, after plenty of turmoil, drama, scandal and legal issues, it seemed like Duke Nukem Forever wasn't going to be released because the studio was shut down due to financial problems.

Luckily for Duke fans, the project lives on at Gearbox Software, the creators of the Brothers in Arms and Borderlands franchises, and is set to finally appear this May.

The game will once again see Duke Nukem crack his wise jokes and one-liners while battling a wide array of aliens, monsters and other such things.

The game will have pretty much every classic shooter trope, from driving sequences to long corridors or intense shoot-outs in huge arenas.

According to Randy Pitchford, the boss of Gearbox Software, the single-player campaign of Duke Nukem Forever is going to take around 16 to 18 hours to complete, so you know you'll be spending quite a lot of time with the upcoming game.

Why it matters

Probably the most important thing about the game is that it's actually Duke Nukem Forever, a title many of us had been hoping to see since our infancy.

We were treated to small tidbits of information here and there in the last few years, and after having most of our hopes crushed with the bankruptcy of 3D Realms, Gearbox is now making sure that we'll actually play Duke Nukem Forever during our lifetime.

It may seem a bit too good to be true and the expectations are extremely high, but the launch of the game will mark the end of an era, and might just be worth telling to your grandchildren about when they'll probably play Duke Nukem 20 on the PlayStation 8 or something.

Look forward to Duke Nukem Forever on May 3, in North America, and May 6, in the rest of the world, for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.