Earlier this week, Blaze Entertainment announced the new Duke Nukem Collection for its retro handheld Evercade console, which includes remastered versions of the first two games from when Duke Nukem was still a side-scrolling block man. With all due respect to Duke, it wasn't that big of a game announcement, but it quickly became a big deal when it became known that Blaze had used AI-generated art for the promotional images for this bundle.

At first glance, the image appears unremarkable. Duke Nukem is standing over a large corpse, gun in hand, shooting anything off-screen. However, as Kotaku points out, there are some danger signs: some are over-exaggerated (the legs look fine, and it's a typical superhero-style pose), the gun (the literal gun, not Duke's biceps) is severely out of perspective, and the trigger finger on his right hand There is no doubt that something is wrong.

Any doubts about whether this image was generated by AI seem to have been put to rest when Blaze removed the image and issued an official apology.

"We commissioned an artist to create the lead image for Blaze Entertainment's new game, Duke Nukem 1+2 Remastered. From the response on social media, it is clear that the work for this commission fell short of the expectations and standards that fans demanded due to the artist's use of AI."

"We will be removing the work as soon as possible and will follow up with a replacement commission that better matches the high standards expected. We apologize to the fans who have spoken so passionately about this matter. I would also like to thank everyone who has worked on this project to date."

Blaze initially defended the work and the artist Oskar Manuel, who describes himself as a "professional hybrid concept artist," when a follower on Twitter pointed out that other examples of Manuel's work were also clearly AI generated, he changed direction.

While the response to Blaise's change of direction was broadly positive, some reply tweets questioned the need for the uproar and new images, saying that AI is simply another tool for artists to use: one user, Retrowertyk, complained that the use of AI in the arts tweeted that to complain is "like expecting artists to paint on a canvas without Photoshop."

A fair point on a complex topic, but it is difficult to express nuance in the heated, abbreviated forum that is social media. And, as we saw in the ugly reaction to the first steps devised by AI in May, there is little patience for the use of AI, whatever your position. Manuel has yet to comment publicly on the controversy.