Earlier this year, the 12 year-long development soap opera that was Duke Nukem Forever’s development cycle came to an end, marked by the laying off of almost its entire development team at 3D Realm. However, today, rumors point to there being a new installment in the works, teased by the Facebook account for our catchphrase-spouting hero himself, Duke Nukem, reports GameSpot.

The account, created last week, seems to be a viral marketing campaign for Duke Nukem. Which, after posting the status “Duke Nukem doesn’t stay down for long”, released this screenshot (pictured above) – picturing a helmeted soldier shooting a rifle at a towering monster inside a sports stadium, a picturesque scene from the leaked Duke Nukem Forever footage.

Unfortunately, there’s little chance that our catchphrase-spouting protagonist will be blasting aliens anytime soon. You see, the Duke Nukem license is currently at the center of a heated legal dispute between 3D Realms parent Apogee Software, who retains ownership of the Duke Nukem IP, and Take-Two Interactive, which lays claim to Duke Nukem Forever’s publishing rights.

The only word that can sum up the 12-year-long development soap opera that was Duke Nukem Forever is disappointing. However, it was super disappointing for publisher Take-Two Interactive, who had invested over $12 million in the game, because the publisher is suing 3D Realms, or what’s left of it.

According to Bloomberg, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. filed a breach of contract suits against Apogee Software Ltd. – also know as 3D Realms - this week in a Manhattan Court over the developer’s “continually delayed” of the Duke Nukem sequel.

The complaint revealed that, “Apogee repeatedly assured Take-Two and the video-gaming community that it was diligently working toward competing development of the PC Version of the Duke Nukem Forever.”

3D Realms, which was based in Garland, Texas, never produced the game and instead closed its studio on May 6, terminated development of the game and fired employees who had been involved in the Duke Nukem project.

Please say it ain’t so. According to a post on the official 3D Realms forums, long running developer 3D Realms has closed its doors for the final time due to funding issues – as sources reported.

Although the developers did not explicitly confirm the closure, the recently relaunched Apogee Software and its publishing partner Deep Silver issued a statement saying they were “not affected by the situation at 3D Realms. Development on the Duke Nukem Trilogy is continuing as planned.”

3D Realms were working on such games as Duke Nukem Forever, which was originally announced back in 1997. However, Duke Nukem Forever publisher Take-Two did confirmed to Shacknews that it wasn’t funding the project.

“We can confirm that our relationship with 3D Realms for Duke Nukem Forever was a publishing arrangement, which did not include ongoing funds for development of the title,” said Take-Two VP of communications Alan Lewis in a prepared statement.

[3D Realms closing doors, Duke Nukem Trilogy 'unaffected' via GameSpot]

3D Realms really loves movies so they have decided to move their well known franchise, Duke Nukem, to the big screen. To help with this big screen move they have decided to pick a very responsible man Scott Faye will be taking on this big project. If you don’t know Faye, he has worked on the upcoming future blockbuster Max Payne, starring Mark Wahlberg. “I am already working on building a scenario that does justice to the game, as Duke Nukem is one of the most important franchises in the history of video games,” Said Faye. As producer he will work very close with Scott Miller,3D Realms, to ensure that this movie is done right. Even if it takes 10 years to make this movie as gamers we would rather have a great movie then a bad one.

In an interview with Joystiq, Xbox representative Jason Ing revealed that Duke Nukem 3D has passed certification and is expected to release “sometime in September.” The Xbox Live Arcade revival, which sports the same minimal graphical enhancements as Doom did on the service, is being published by Microsoft and is an exclusive release for the platform.

The achivement list for the upcoming Duke Nukem 3D port was released today via the achievement guru, Achieve360Points. At first glance this is sign that the game has undergo certification and should be released very soon. Here’s what 3D Realms George Broussard had to say when speaking to ShackNews, “We officially passed final certification on our first try Friday, August 15th,”. While no price has been mention, ShackNews goes on to say that most games of this upcoming fall will fall behind the 800 and 1200 Microsoft point mark with a retail value between $10-15.