Since a lot of gamers are mentioning these past days the fantastic 2001 trailer of Duke Nukem Forever, we thought that we should let you know what was real and what was not in that particular trailer. According to Charlie Wiederhold who worked at 3D Realms that time, some of the scenes from the trailer were actual gameplay footage, some were scripted, some were simply polished and some were created just for the trailer.
This is intended just for fun and curiosity! I’m going to start with the first actual DNF scene (the vegas view) and just go shot by shot. To clarify some terms I will use. Playable = You could experience this yourself as a player just like you saw. Scripted = Think of a Half Life talking sequence or CoD scripted sequence. Meaning it was “real”, but control/interaction would have been limited. Realish = It was all real, but we made special camera angles for trailer interest. Fudged = It was in game, but was either polished for the trailer, or simply an idea prototype. This is actually a big range because some prototypes were fully playable, but hadn’t been incorporated into a level yet. Fake = It was done purely for the trailer and probably wouldn’t have been in the game.
So let’s see what was what in that spectacular E3 trailer:
Vegas View = Realish
Sandworm = Scripted / Fake
Jetskis dropping = Playable
Boat & Building = Playable
Gunship & Window = Realish / Prototype
Octabrain & Tunnel = Scripted / Fake
Cars & Street = Playable / Prototype
Rocket = Scripted
EZVend = Playable
Tunnels = Fudged / Prototype
PMN8EZ Car = Playable / Prototype
Sniping Vasquez = Playable
Incoming plane = Scripted
EDF with shield = Playable
Pinball = Playable
More PMN8EZ = Playable / Prototype
Lightning Strike = Playable
Hoover Dam = Playable
Donkey Ride = Fudged / Prototype (I know I know… sorry!)
Flashlight Man = Playable / Scripted
Waitress and Guy holding door (all cuts) = Scripted / Fakeishfudged
Random EDF = Fake
General Graves = Scripted / Maybe Fake
Mothership = Realish
Graves again = Scripted / Maybe Fake
Save world all by yourself? = Scripted
Motorcycle = Playable
Shooting planes = Playable
Pipebomb = Playable / Fake setup
Tripmine = Playable
Ahhhhh!!!!! = Playable
Kicking door = Playable
Paint splats = Playable
Riot Shield and Turret = Playable
Shrinkage = Playable
EDF209 = Realish
Face Roach = Playable
Dragon = Realish
Minecart = Playable
Keypad = Playable
Squishing = Playable
Lady Killer = Scripted
Blue Man = Realish
Edge of Destruction = Playable
“I live… again!” = Playable
Canons Ahoy = Playable
Bad LOD Jetskis = Playable
Satisfying Chomp = Scripted / Fake
Gus = Soooo very fake.
And there you have it guys. Hope that helped most of you understand what was real and what was not. Kudos to Wiederhold for sharing such information. Enjoy for one more time, the E3 2001 Trailer!
