ure, people have been calling Duke Nukem Forever vaporware for years, pointing to the 12 year development cycle as a sign that the game was never going to be released. But we didn’t expect it to end like this—3D Realms webmaster Joe Siegler has now confirmed that the rumors are true: 3D Realms are shutting down their Texas-based studio and calling it quits.

"It's not a marketing thing. It's true. I have nothing further to say at this time” was all that Siegler posted on the studio’s forums, with no word on the status of Duke Nukem Forever. However, thanks to our friends at shacknews we now know that Take-Two own the publishing rights to Duke Nukem, and that their deal does “not include ongoing funds for development of the title,” making it look like Duke Nukem Forever is more doomed than that alien sitting on the toilet in the first level of Duke Nukem 3D. *sigh*—we loved shooting that guy.

If you think life isn’t worth living without your old pal Duke—and if you do, you probably need some serious counseling—all is not lost. In light of the news of 3D Realms’ demise, the folks at Apogee Software and Deep Silver announced that the Duke Nukem Trilogy, a series of three games being developed for the DS and PSP, will not be affected and are “continuing as planned." So, while there’s still some hope that Take-Two may decide to pass the legendary Duke Nukem Forever project on to another team, it looks like for  now at least this larger than life figure is going to have to kick ass and chew bubblegum on a much smaller screen.