It's never simple with 3D Realms. The Duke Nukem creator is current being sued by Gearbox Software, who bought the musclebound chucklehead's IP as it finished Duke Nukem Forever, over supposedly trying to make a new Duke game with Rise of the Triad remaker Interceptor Entertainment. 3DR simply has no right to, Gearbox says. But oh, another wrinkle. 3D Realms has now been bought by an investment firm which part-owns Interceptor.

Or, more accurately, SDN Invest has acquired Apogee Software, Ltd, of which 3D Realms was a front. Which is not to be confused with Apogee Software, LLC, the publisher which put out Interceptor's Rise of the Triad. 3D Realms is the name Apogee Ltd started putting on games in the mid-nineties, while Apogee LLC is a new company founded in 2008 having licensed the Apogee name. Never simple!

"There are only a handful of independent studios with a better track record of original games. Yet even with this stellar track record, we hope we can take the company to new heights," 3DR's new CEO Mike Nielsen said in today's announcement. Nielsen is also chairman of the board at Interceptor.

What exactly SDN gets for its money is something of a mystery, as it's unclear what 3D Realms currently is beyond a name. But oh, what a name! One of the stars of the shareware era, 3DR made the Duke Nukem games, Rise of the Triad and Shadow Warrior, it produced Max Payne, created Prey, and had its fingers in many other notable pies.

"My long time partner George Broussard and I are extremely proud of our past, especially as developers who always tried to partner with up-and-coming studios who just needed their break," 3D Realms co-founder Scott Miller added. "Our history shows we did that throughout the 1990s & 2000s, and I expect the new 3D Realms to continue with this tradition in full force. Our industry needs more good guys, who honor the profession and fellow hard-working developers."