Wired Announces 2007 Vaporware Awards
Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:46PM EST
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Wired has just unleashed its annual list of the best vaporware of 2007, and guess what won this year? Hint: A teaser for the long-awaited (10 years and counting) game hit the Web yesterday. Also not coming soon: a $1,500 uber keyboard and a still-percolating Guns N' Roses album.
For the uninitiated, "vaporware" means cool, drool-worthy products that were announced but never quite saw the light of day. Past winners have included such gems as the now-cancelled Phantom game console (which was supposed to deliver on-demand games—a cutting-edge idea back in 2003), SED televisions (we're still waiting), and TiVoToGo for the Mac (ditto). Of course, some past recipients actually defied the odds and materialized in stores, including good ole Mac OS X, Windows Vista, Blu-ray and HD DVD discs, and 3G networks.
Anyway, here's a sampling of the winners...
- Steorn Orbo: This ungainly contraption was supposed to deliver free, non-stop power for the masses, Wired reports. The energy crisis solved, right? Unsurprisingly, a planned demo over the summer was scuttled.
- 802.11n: This speedy update to the 802.11 Wi-Fi standard was in the draft stage in 2006, stayed that way in 2007, and will remain so until early 2009.
Optimus Maximus: Remember this—the $1,500 keyboard that can change its layout on the fly thanks to tiny OLEDs in each key? The outfit behind the already-delayed Optimus Maximus promised the keyboard would ship in November. We're still waiting.- "Chinese Democracy": No, we're not talking a political movement here. The sixth studio album of Guns N' Roses has been in the works since 1994. Don't bother looking for it on iTunes.
And the winner? Drum roll please...
Duke Nukem Forever: In development since 1997, this sequel to the venerable Duke Nukem 3D has been a deserving repeat winner of Wired's vaporware award. Perhaps anticipating that Forever would again snare the brass ring, the developers behind the promised first-person shooter released a minute-long teaser (the first in-game footage we've seen in six years) only yesterday. Still no sign of the game, though.
Click through to Wired for the entire feature, along with links to past, er, "winners."
Related:
Vaporware 2007: Long Live the King [Wired]
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2 Posted by maxx0 on Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:23PM EST Report Abuse
second
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3 Posted by maxx0 on Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:25PM EST Report Abuse
second. Duke Nukem Forever surprisingly (or not?) has the same initials as the acronym for an athelete that never completes a race: DNF = Did Not Finish coincidence? hardly.
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4 Posted by mavi_tp on Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:06PM EST Report Abuse
COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT!
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5 Posted by beatleboy61 on Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:56PM EST Report Abuse
Guns 'N' Roses ??!! Weren't they a rock band once upon a time ? If only they had booted Axl "Whiney" Rose out of the band instead of Izzy Stradlin, they might still be around today. Axl's temper tantrums destroyed what was once a very good band - and face it, his vocals weren't THAT good.
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1 Posted by skotti_chan on Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:37PM EST Report Abuse
HAHAH!!! I saw the Duke Nukem Forever trailer yesterday. My best friend then comments, "Rock on, we have a trailer, does this mean another 10 years for the game release?" I'd love to have OM keyboard, but good lord, $1500, pass. I can hope sometime in 2008 Apple releases a multi-touch keyboard.