Duke Nukem var engang én af spilbranchens mest genkendelige karakterer, men han blev dog erstattet af en masse andre, og gik lidt i glemmebogen. At Gearbox bragte ham tilbage i det udskammede Duke Nukem Forever gjorde ham ingen tjenester.
Men tilbage i 2008 var der dog kortvarigt en plan om at lave et nyt spil ved navn Duke Nukem Begins, der skulle fortælle hans "origin story". Gearbox bad Janimation fra Dallas, Texas om at sammensætte en demo, men til trods for at de arbejdede hårdt, så blev projektet aflyst på grund af juridiske årsager.
Men nu har Gregor Punchatz løftede sløret for denne demo i en video på Youtube, hvor han siger følgende:
"In 2008, when I was working for the good folks at Janimation in Dallas Tx,
we were hired by Gearbox to create a vertical slice (an animated version of what the game will look like) for the game "Duke Nukem Begins", a Duke origin story. I headed up this project, as the director at Janimation, and did a lot of the character development, including the design and modeling of Duke. We poured everything we had into making the most awesome cinematic Janimation had ever created. But unfortunately, we got word the game was canceled due to the legal issues with Duke Nukem at the time.
"Duke Nukem Begins" was never made."
Du kan se videoen via ovenstående link.