For most kids who played the first three versions of Duke Nukem (and who hasn’t?), it has indeed been a long wait as the release of its latest installment since the announcement of its release occurred in 1997.

And even though most of us might have grown up in the meanwhile, this series of the Duke Nukem game that has obtained critical praise as well as stirred up controversy due to its crude depiction of women has not been released yet due to going through a phase of ‘production hell’, if you will.

If that was not enough, 3D Realms and Take-Two Interactive, who claimed to have a stake in this game, filed lawsuits and after much haggling, decided to settle differences but it is still unknown as to who owns the rights to the game.

While spending ten years in the development of this game, the studio behind the game announced that it was shutting down in 2009, however, what will cheer DukeNukem fans around the world is that GearBox Software will finish the game while the publisher of the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ games; Take-Two Interactive will publish the game in 2011.

And while the fourth installment of the video game has already been unveiled at a gaming convention recently, it has been kept strictly in line with the earlier installments of the game to rave reviews from enthusiastic fans around the world.

Whether or not, Duke Nukem Forever will be released is anyone’s guess but is for sure is that if it does, fans (whether grown up or not) will yet get a chance to play the latest installment of the Duke Nukem series.