This year's Penny Arcade Expo kicked off with a doozy of an announcement. Duke Nukem Forever is finally-actually-seriously-definitely-possibly-for-sure on the way. For real this time.

Gearbox Software has hit the show floor with a playable version of Duke Nukem Forever confirming earlier rumors that the Borderlands studio had taken over the development of the title. CEO Randy Pitchford told the Wall Street Journal that his team first started working on the title in late 2009.

"Clearly the game hadn’t been finished at 3D Realms but a lot of content had been created” he said. “The approach and investment and process at 3D Realms didn’t quite make it and it cracked at the end. With Gearbox Software we brought all those pieces together. It’s the game it was meant to be.”

"The game it was meant to be" is reportedly in the "polishing" phase of development and includes single player multiplayer and lots of alien combat. More information is expected over the course of the PAX weekend. Duke Nukem Forever will be published by Take-Two Interactive for the PC PS3 and XBox 260 and is currently set for release in 2011 although Pitchford understands if some fans are still skeptical.

"This is a game where we can not make a promise we can not fulfill” he added. “We need to get past the shock and awe and then we can go to all the retailers and first parties and work out a launch plan."

Taking my cue from Pitchford I won't fully believe that Duke Nukem Forever is coming out until I see a release date see it on store shelves and see it in action on a home console. Even so this is the most concrete news we've heard since the game was first announced so it looks like it may finally be seeing the light of day. I wouldn't have high expectations - Take-Two probably just wants to see some return on their investment - but in this case anything may be better than nothing.