apogee-software posts

Earlier today we reported that publisher Apogee and Icarus Studios were planning to revive Sam Suede in Undercover Exposure, the comedy themed action-adventure game that was first announced in 2006 as the big gaming comeback of Leisure Suit Larry creator Al Lowe. The game's original creator iBase Entertainment went under less than a year after the game's official announcement.

So is Al Lowe involved in any way with the new version of Sam Suede? Big Download contacted Lowe via his web site for comment and he emailed us back this statement: "This is the first I've heard of it. It's been four years since I was involved. I wonder who's going to finish the design and add the humor?" The last game Lowe was directly involved with that was actually released was Leisure Suit Larry: Love For Sail! back in 1996. Two revivals of that game franchise (Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude and Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust) were done without Lowe's involvement and both were critical and sales bombs. Big Download has attempted to contact the game's new PR contact for more info but so far we have not received any response to our inquires.

Games, it seems, don't die off . . they just stay in the fridge until someone thaws them out. Last week, we heard that a once canceled MMO, Gods and Heroes, was going back into production. Today we got word that another title that was once thought to be lost is making a comeback.

That game is Sam Suede in Undercover Exposure, a PC humor-themed action-adventure title that was first announced in 2006 by iBase Entertainment. The game was promoted as the return to gaming of Al Lowe, the creator of the original Leisure Suit Larry series. However only a few months later word came out that the game was being put on hold due to financial issues. Today it was announced that the game is being brought back by developer Icarus Studios, the makers of the MMO Fallen Earth, and publisher Apogee.

The press release makes no mention of the game's previous history or Al Lowe's involvement nor does it reveal a platform for the game. We hope to get more info on the title soon.

Recently news hit that Apogee Software was looking into doing a "reboot" of the classic first person shooter game Rise of the Triad. If you have been wondering what all the fuss is about, GoG.com is here to help wth a new discount on the original on their DRM-free site.

Released in 1994, the game had a number of first person shooter "firsts" including support for rocket jumping and "platfoms above platforms" among other features. GoG.com is selling the game for 10 percent off its usual $5.99 price from now until the end of the week. It also comes with some additional levels and the game's soundtrack

3D Realms (under their Apogee Software parent name) has now officially responded to Take Two Interactive's lawsuit filed last month concerning the shut down in the development of Duke Nukem Forever. In the 20 page response filed on Friday (found by GamePolitics) with the US District Court in the Southern District of New York, 3D Realms/Apogee denies most of the allegations made by Take Two in its lawsuit.

However the response has also revealed that 3D Realms entered into an agreement with Take Two for an all new Duke Nukem game, Duke Begins. The agreement was made in 2007 and the development would be handled by an unnamed third party game studio, not 3D Realms, and published by Take Two's 2K Games brand. According to 3D Realms, Take Two/2K Games ordered work halted on Duke Begins in April 2009,something which 3D Realms says Take Two has denied.

The legal fight between 3D Realms/Apogee Software and publisher Take Two Interactive over the long awaited FPS Duke Nukem Forever remains one of the biggest news stories of 2009 so far and now more info on the lawsuit has come to light. A filing made by Take Two to the New York State Supreme Court on May 11 and posted on the court's web site on June 13 gives Take Two's side of the story in full.

In short, Take Two states that in early 2009 they came to 3D Realms/Apogee to work on an agreement to make an Xbox 360 version of the game alongside the PC version. According to the Take Two statement, 3D Realms requested that they fully fund the game. Instead Take Two said they would fund 50 percent of the game's development for the PC and Xbox 360 version and would fund the remaining 50 percent when Duke Nukem Forever was completeted. Take Two stated that 3D Realms rejected this offer.

As PC game software gets older it technically loses its monetary value (although not necessarily its value in terms of gameplay). One of the older PC game developers and publishers is 3D Realms who once upon a time released games under their Apogee Software name.

This week 3D Realms released five of their older games on their site as freeware (they also re-released three others). You will have to get some emulation software to run these titles but you will get some bonafide PC game history when you do. One of these titles is Kroz which happens to be Apogee/3DRealms' first ever game. The text-adventure title was first released in 1987.

In the 1980s and early 1990s Apogee Software was one of the biggest of the PC "shareware" publishers, releasing free episodes of PC titles and making money by getting folks to purchase the rest. Apogee developed games on their own and also published titles by third parties, including id Software's debut FPS Wolfenstein 3D. However, Apogee created the name 3D Realms to publish 3D Game titles in the early 1990's; by the middle of the decade the "shareware" publishing model was abandoned and Apogee was abandonded in favor of 3D Realms' titles.

Now it looks like 3D Realms has brought the Apogee Software name back from the dead as a full fledged publishing title. Unfortunately for PC fans the first game from the new Apogee will be a handheld console game, Duke Nukem Trilogy, for the PSP and DS consoles. However the new Apogee's press release does recall the glory "shareware" days so perhaps new PC titles are not out of the question.