And lo, the clouds parted, and the sun shone down, and a game studio known for re-releasing classic PC games filed for a trademark on one of the great lost video game series of our age.
As spotted by Siliconera, an outfit called Night Dive Studios has filed trademark applications for No One Lives Forever, The Operative, A Spy In H.A.R.M.’S Way and Contract J.A.C.K. Those, of course, are the primary and secondary titles of the three games in Monolith’s cult classic No One Lives Forever series of early 2000’s stealth/espionage games.
In one of gaming’s all-time bummers, the NOLF games have never been made digitally available, meaning that modern PC gamers must either pirate them or track down physical CDs if they want to play. The last we heard about them was about a year ago, when then-Activision spokesman Dan Amirch explained that Activision no longer had the rights to the games, and that they actually didn’t actually know who did.
Night Dive is primarily known for reviving long-lost PC games and re-releasing them — they’re responsible for bringing games like System Shock 2, The 7th Guest, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, and the Wizardry series to services like Steam and GOG.com. In other words, they’re just the people you’d expect to bring No One Lives Forever back from the dead.
These are just trademark applications, mind — it’s not yet confirmed whether or not Night Dive has secured the copyrights to the actual games. But the trademark application is certainly a promising sign, since it’d be odd to file for a trademark without having some assurance that it’d be usable. In an email, Night Dive CEO Stephen Kick told us (and everyone else in the press) that while he is currently unable to comment on future plans, “our team has a great fondness for these games and our hope is that they will one day be re-released.”
Last year I replayed all of the first game and a good chunk of the sequel, and found that not only do they hold up, they do some things better than most moderngames do.
Needless to say, I’m really excited at the possibility of wide re-release of these games, even *gulp* Contract J.A.C.K.
[via Siliconera]
Comments
14 responses to “Looks Like No One Lives Forever Is Finally Getting A Re-Release”
Yesss… first this, then Grim Fandango…
Please, please pleeeeeeeeeeease…
Naw, man. First Loom, then Day of the Tentacle, then Sam & Max Hit the Road, then this, then Grim Fandango. Then The Dig.
Loom and the Dig are on steam already… not sure which version of Loom it is though
Turns out it was Grim Fandango that came out first!
I am totally Ok with that
Great news if this pans out.
I’m still waiting on Suikoden 2 getting a re-release, and for Suikoden 1 to be available in Europe and Australia.
…I also want Croc.
Suikoden II just recently blipped on the ESRB so the rumour is it’s coming. I have the original game, but I’d love to have a digital copy to play on my Vita. I’m with you on Suikoden I though.
That’s the thing though, it would be great news unless it’s locked like Suikoden 1.
Also wondering how they’re going to do the transfer thing.
Oh man if this could be an HD remake……*sploosh*
Awesome, awesome news if it comes together. I think it’s utterly idiotic that these games have so far been completely neglected simply because no one knows who holds the Copyright. Both the studio and publisher involved have said they don’t own it – Monolith (who are now owned by Warner Bros.) and Activision, who bought out Vivendi, who bought out Fox Interactive, who published the game originally (everybody keeping up? :P). If no one’s making a claim to it, it should become public domain by default in my opinion, thus ensuring the games don’t get lost to history.
Alright. Everyone buy these so Monolith has an incentive to can stop developing whatever tiresomely not-NOLF games they’re working on and get stuck into a sequel.
I am still waiting for Omikron The Nomad Soul sequel……come on Quantic Dream, you can do it!