I have a very simple formula: There are two reasons why the development of a Video-/Computergame can take more than five years:
a) You´re Blizzard Entertainment
b) You´re just slow and your game will have a 75% Chance to suck quite a bit.
or in this case, there´s a special C:
c) You´re a bunch of lazy liars that couldn´t get a mediocre game done, even if your job depended on it. Fits 3d Realms post-Duke3d rather well I think
I sometimes wonder, what the hell they were doing all the time (Drinking in Mexico, smoking Crack in Atlantis, every 3 months, someone has to write a half-assed excuse why they don´t have anything to show...again) and why the publishers couldn´t see through such an obvious charade...ah well.