I feel the need to update this archaic node with a few new facts about the development of Duke Nukem Forever by 3D Realms.
From searching the 3D Realms forums about Duke Nukem Forever, I have found many comments from George Broussard about the development process of the game. It has become apparent that 3D Realms is tired of working on the game and is trying to bang out the best thing they can (they are striving to not pull a Daikatana) and move on to a different Duke game. Broussard himself admitted that they wanted to release it as fast as possible, but didn't want to release a piece of junk and lose what little respect they have left. From Broussard's comments it is clear that they intend to work on another Duke Nukem game after this. How long it will take is questionable, though I am sure the community will entertain many more jokes at the company's expense when the idea is brought public.
The development underwent many different problems that affected the length of time. As we all know it has now been bordering a decade since Duke Nukem Forever has started development, and so many are wondering exactly what is going on that could be delaying our favorite womanizer from making his leap back into popular culture. George Broussard has pin-pointed two topics on the forum that attributed to the delay and extension to the game's deadline.
Staff
Duke Nukem 3D had fourteen people on staff during production. This included the man who voiced Duke Nukem himself and Ken Silverman, the genius teenager who programmed the wildly popular Build engine in the first place. Going into Duke Nukem Forever, George Broussard was severely understaffed. At first the workload seemed reasonable, but over time it became very clear that they would need more and more people. As the development went on, more staff was brought in to work on the project. The understaffing of the game increased development time immensely, and they ended up taking longer than expected due to this circumstance. The current estimate for staffing is around thirty people, and 3D Realms is asking for two more people on their website.
Engines
Duke Nukem Forever has had about three different game engines at various times of development. They started development with Quake 2 and ran through several popular engines before finally ending up scrapping the whole deal, hiring an extended programming staff to update all of the graphics and audio, and finally ending up with Unreal 2.
Duke Nukem Forever has undergone change after change, mess-up after mess-up. It's time for them to finish it and release it, and I am under the impression that this will be happening quite soon. Like the apocalypse, it is only a matter of time before it happens. So prepare yourself.