When Duke Nukem made his...triumphant?...return to gaming, it was a conversation starter the Net over. This bizarre hyperviolent misogynist who made his biggest hits back in the early days of gaming had a tough time stepping into the future, and as such, that made for a somewhat disappointing release when he finally showed up again. But the company behind Duke's bizarre, trigger-happy adventures is putting those adventures to work with a new release that may spark some future development.

More specifically, 3D Realms—a former subsidiary of Apogee Software, one of the biggest names in early PC classic gaming like “Wolfenstein 3D”--is planning to release a full back-catalog collection containing names so old that only some gamers will even remember them, let alone actually have played them. However, some games might be much more recognizable, as said titles actually kicked off some major developments in the field. For instance, the “Commander Keen” series will be in play, as well both “Blake Stone: Planet Strike” and “Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold.” “Rise of the Triad: Dark War” will be on hand and so too “Wolfenstein 3D.” But some much more obscure titles will be around as well, like “Paganitzu” and “Alien Carnage.” The anthology collection includes fully 32 total games, and is available for $40, but for the next couple of days it will be available at half that.

That by itself is interesting news, but what's really interesting is the whole point of the package: 3D Realms is reportedly selling these off in a bid to raise cash for future development, and that itself is a move that a lot of studios could stand to get behind. Remember the frenzy when Capcom brought out that collection of games for Xbox 360, featuring a bundle that had never been seen before? That's just the start; how many studios are sitting on a library of games that could be handily bundled and brought out for easy sale? Nintendo's seen the value of this first hand with all its Virtual Console titles; why not take advantage of this by bringing the best of last gen titles forward into the modern day? It's a great opportunity to sell titles a second time while at the same time offering a valuable way for gamers to gather together old favorites for use on a new system.

It will be interesting to see if anyone else follows in 3D Realms' shoes, but it certainly would be nice to have a large quantity of classic games on hand at heavily discounted prices. Certainly developers would welcome the opportunity to make new sales where formerly such weren't possible previously, and that's value on every side of the aisle.