The Best Game You Can't Buy: Uncovering the Mystery of No One Lives Forever's Missing Rights
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2019
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No One Lives Forever, and it's sequel, are considered to be among some of the best games ever made, but you can't buy them.
Taking a slightly less slapstick tone, more in the vein of Our Man Flint, a '60s era parody of James Bond itself, they would release The Operative: No One Lives Forever in November of 2000 to rave reviews. Today, many list it as one of the top games of the 2000s, some rank it even higher as one of the best games ever made, and it was nominated and won many Game of the Year awards. And of course it was followed up with a sequel, No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way, which was equally well received, won several Game of the Year and other awards, Best Music, Best Writing, Best Action Game. This was another major success story. Yet today, you can't even buy them.
Written, Edited, & Narrated by MRIXRT
#NOLF #BestGames #GamingHistory
Sources ►
• No One Lives Forever 1...
kotaku.com/the-sad-story-behi...
www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017...
www.bluesnews.com/s/140550/no...
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The Best Game You Can't Buy (mrixrt)
• The Best Game You Can'...
MRIXRT
/ reallycool - Hry
It strikes me as really weird how a lot of games just can’t be played/bought anymore, either because of weird legal disputes like this or because of servers being disconnected. Game preservation doesn’t really seem to be a priority to many of the companies that make them or own the rights to them, and that’s a real shame. Really interesting video!
As with my Oni video, I am continually surprised by how many people out there are willing to spend years of their lives preserving their favorite games =)
Oni was great. I remember playing it while listening to Lain ost.
Unfortunately, this happens a lot with other media where because of weird legal crap, the show, movie, comic, etc, can't legally be seen anymore and one has to rely on fans to provide the content and keep it preserved. I'm currently into an old late 80's into early 90's TV sitcom show called "Out of this World" which comes close to rivaling No One Lives Forever in regards to legal absurdity (in a very different way, but just as brain busting)
Of course you can play the games, and you are doing no harm to anyone, search for No One Lives Forever Redux on Google. And enjoy them!
People settled for buying digital only and ruined it for everybody else
This is just so frustrating... I miss Cate so much!!! What I would give for a quality sequel and remaster of the first two games!
I truly don't understand all the fuss about the license and rights. You just make a working demo (it's not a big budget) and announce it, OR even just announce it on CZcams, Twitter, etc. And IF there are any rightsholders, THEN be sure they WILL contact you! IF not, there aren't any left. It's easy! One just needs to think a little bit nonlinearly.
There is a download available. Google is your friend. I just played a Windows 10 compatible version. I forgot a lot.
In case you are wondering who wrote the hilarious dialogue in the NOLF games (since the writer is uncredited), it was lead designer Craig Hubbard himself. I asked him on twitter and he confirmed it was him.
That's super interesting. I'll have to tweet him and say thanks :) Thanks for telling me!
@@reallycool Yeah do it! Show the man some love. You could also make a video on the PC game he made in 2014, Betrayer. It's an odd experience but quite good.
This is like Bryan Cranston getting ideas from a carpenter on how to do a visual joke in Seinfeld and he went with it. Love it.
Actually it was me
Proof?
No need I said it was me so it must be true
@@lukemorgan6166 You don't believe Craig Hubbard when he says he wrote the games? Any particular reason for that? 🤔
Give me NOLF 3 or a 4K remaster, I'll buy it in a heartbeat
Maybe if one of these companies actually went after the "pirates," we'd actually be able to confirm who owns the IP, and then we could hound them to do something with it.
I think that's exactly the argument Revival has. They've been covered by RockPaperShotgun and Kotaku and still haven't been taken down, too, so it's not like these companies don't know they're out there.
The hilarious dialogue overheard while sneaking around is exactly why I remember this game so well. In particular the one where a minion missed the meeting about Cate Archer infiltrating the evil lair because he was taking his daughter to daycare. The other minion was being uncooperative when the panicked first minion was asking him what was discussed in the briefing. When he asked what the girl looked like, the second unhelpful minion told him things like, "She's 90 years old and dressed in a wedding gown," and "She's 19 and wearing only a bath towel!" 🤣 I remember another where two guards in a small guard house were talking about one of them being a drummer in a rock band, too.
"The year 2000 was a great year for games." When every subsequent sequel to a hit game was actually a massive improvement over the previous one - usually only 1-2 years apart. We had so much to look foward to, so much to anticipate and be excited for and now look at us. Regurgitating the same exact game 3x in a row over the span of 10 yrs, no leaps, no features, sometimes not even new content. Y2K devs, thank you for your service. You were (are) massively talented and overwhelmingly underrewarded for your contributions.
who was that bloke at the start he's handsome
Danger Dolan.
CryMor Gaming wait fuck
Without a doubt the first NOLF was a masterpiece, funny as hell and with some of the best dialogue ever written on a video game.
Since this video came out, I'm getting a lot of people telling me they've never heard of this game, or that they're surprised to never hear about it in the "GOAT" conversations, so I'm just happy to expose a few new people to it =)
@@reallycool As you can read on my name, I am a veteran gamer and discovering your channel has been a pleasant surprise, I love your content so far, you've got a new subscriber .
The ownership for this game is such a mind fuck 😅
This breaks my heart! This game series deserves a remaster. Can these companies just pull their head out of their a$$ and get this done!
I loved that scene where you jumped out of a plane. That was indeed one of the most memorable things in gaming.
Thanks for sharing this video, you guys are wonderful! No One Lives Forever 2 Revival has a multiplayer mode, too, and I keep hoping I can find some servers for that and play it with some people.
WB: "It's MY IP to sit on and do nothing with."
this was the game of my childhood, and i am very sad that it is forgotten... it's terrible to think that there will be nothing next.
i still very hopefull for NOLF to come back!
THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS VIDEO. I have been wondering about this for years....
I am infuriated lol. I just want this remade and re-released!!
I played them both (and contract jack too) i loved them! and would love to see a remaster of them. This video nails it on the head.
This story was confusing and now my head hurts, also I've never even heard of this series. Neat.
Isn't it strange to think that games of this calibre, which were *fivefold* nominated by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences for Interactive Achievement, which won the Golden Satellite, and which were Game of the Year from no less than four major outlets--that this legacy is forgotten and unknown.
@@reallycool In todays age everything does seem nicely preserved, but there is a long history of us losing media and history, even short term. Unfortunate, but we never learn from history. Just look at old films, like London After Midnight. Of course, this isn't lost, but if they don't do anything it will be years down the line.
These games were my childhood. I played these games sooo many times and still today (thinking of replaying the 2 in a couple days lol ) Its a shame that the only way of playing them is to crack them and patches after patches (the first one can be played almost perfectly on my pc even tho i have a very modern pc ) but the second one have a level where there's a Color wall appearing in your screen (like video distortion) that if you walk too much into it will crash your game but after many tries i found a way to pass it then i had no problems. Im so happy to still be able to play them. They will always have a place in my heart. If you're able to get yourself the game i assure you that you won't regret it.
Sorry if my english is bad ,its my second language.
Your English is very good :)
After more than 20 years I am still in love with the indomitable and lovely Cate Archer. I don't think that I would ever see a No One Lives Forever 3 or a remaster of the first two games in my lifetime. But hey, just like the game title says, No One Lives Forever, right? :)
Since Time Splitters is mentioned, I'm pretty sure it's currently in a similar limbo of legal hell where no sequels or remakes are possible despite people trying to make them happen.
First FPS I ever played. I was 5 years old back then, and damn I loved the Lithtech Engine.
the IP One Lieves Forever shouldn't belong to anyone by now. no matter who of the three big companies owned the ip.
no one has renewed and protected the trademark rights.
You have to renew the brand. If you don't do anything, you lose the rights to do it.
That was always a reason why you released a game after years to be able to keep the brand.
Since no one has brought the IP back in any way for almost 20 years and has therefore not extended the brand, this brand should be free, at least for sale
Such a wonderful game ! I've got all 3 games (2 great ones and Contract Jack) working excellent for Windows 7.
It's out there ...
i remember you talking about this on a stream once. it still makes just as much sense now as it did then.
So, a lot?
The admonishment of the head mime lives in my head forever. It went something like: "There will always be someone younger, better or faster. The IDEA is eternal."
NOLF 1 is a total masterpiece, after almost 20 years of owning the ps2 version im finally going to downlod the second game, most people say it’s pretty worthy sequel in every way, especially in stealth mechanics. Does anyone know any similar older games? Especially those that few people know, like Black, Getting Up or NOLF especially.
I love Nolf since I was 9, and this is also why I turned into a gamer, blessed I have physical copy of NOLF2 until now , I hope they consider remake for this, miss you Cate Archer! ❤
I played the NOLF2 back then when it was Released, my PC could barely handle it. It's just sad that the game can't see a revival, it plays ALLOT like Perfect Dark on the N64 ... which was also a very good game back then.
You missed the best part.. It starts as : " You look like you need a monkey." I don't know why but it was hilarious. My brother and I still use that line to make each other laugh after all these years :D
I don't need a monkey
Remember stumbling on this game on some old pc website. Never heard of it, but the first time I ever played it, I instantly feel in love with it. Enjoyed every moment of it. From the funny conversation to the fat German (horrible) singing lady 🤣
I grow up playing the PS2 version
That version included 3 extra levels called the 9 years ago
Yep. Thanks for the forward. Good vid. And very, very glad I was able to get both when they originally came out. What a mess.
I was lucky enough to play it in 2000 and till this day it comes to my mind and want to play it again
For me this was a random purchase from Best Buy for $20. Loved it so much I let my best friend borrow it. Couldn't wait to play it again so I got another copy from Best Buy and just let him keep it. I somehow still have the music cd that came with the game but I don't have the game cd anymore.
I like your content. I made a list based on the matacritic best pc games of all times and this game was there with the green score and all. When I searched for it on steam I couldn't find it. Your video explained the why. THX!
Glad to help, thank you for the kind words!
There ARE downloads online. I just played an updated "Game of the Year" edition. It's takes a few tries to get it to launch, but the full game is available online. Free.
Fun fact : The movie "Shoot 'Em Up" rips off the skydiving scene including the outfits. I don't know if it was a "homage" or not but it's there.
Yah, previously bought and played them when they were first released. Halarious enjoyment, a little frustrating but the dialogs you stumble on made that process highly enjoyable. 😂
yes i remember no one lives forever, i loved it so much both episodes ❤❤❤❤
The Disney Princess: Cate Archer.
Thanks for posting this. I’m one of those original gamers who loves these games. It is so frustrating not to be able to buy and play it anymore! At least now - thanks to your video - I understand why. These big corps are so dumb sometimes! I miss Cate! And I want to buy a monkey!
I miss these games so much....
This is extremely sad i used to love these games but sadly as we all know no one lives forever
I bought this on pc week of release and loved it.I didnt play Jack cos I heard it was bad and I didnt play NOLF2 cos I didnt have a Pc that could play it. I think WB knows who truly owns this but wont say because that will earn that company money. If WB owned it they would have whored it out. I think it was still with Fox which means Disney who wont even do anything with those Lucasarts none Star Wars/Indiana/Willow licenses let alone something like NOLF.
Probably not, but it's always possible. Maybe if Nightdive is able to get a hold of someone. At least Disney isn't afraid to make money.
Contract Jack is pretty bad. It's got the NOLF2 engine, but stealth isn't an option. It's straight up combat, which nullifies stealth, and thereby also my favourite part of the game.
I would have enjoyed NOLF2 better if they'd had as many overheard conversations as NOLF: that was my favourite part of the game.
WB IE is ran by Volkov!
... or possibly advised by Blitzny on the matter.
Man i love Night Dive they are doing stupidly lovable things in remasteres. Them and GoG would be dynamite combo for the game release.
Yes played both NOLFs back in the day and recenty the "unofficial release" as mentioned.
Nah, Blitzny is gone for good. Volkov is a possibility :D
NOLF needs to come back, really. There is no other game at all that I love as much.
I have it on PS2; I found it by chance at a used games store. At least the first one. I also have the demo as I became obsessed with this game after reading it in a pc gamer magazine
Different times. Good times. The GOTY edition came with a soundtrack CD. I actually had that longer than the game disc!
I've got 2 copies of this game. The first one I got it came with a video graphics card that I purchased. My sister and I spent hours playing and replaying it lol it was a very fun game
My God you deserve more popularity
Thank you, if you like me, share me!
To this day I consider NOLF 1 to be the best shooter game ever made! It’s tooooo good
I have the first game of the franchise! Bought it for 5 BRL which would be, like, a dollar? Played the s*hit out of the game and still own it today, too bad it's in CD-ROM and I don't have any more computers with the disk drive to play it again. I had to pirate the second game, though, and it broke my laptop because I couldn't find a way of uninstalling it at all after I finished it. That's a cool franchise for sure.
NOLF and its sequel may not be buyable, but you can find versions which run on Windows 10.
Just replayed them both. The first one is truly the best game ever. The first one is still much better than the second, but it's sooo bad that these games are not coming back. They have so much potential.
I’m incredibly sad they never made more and you cant even buy it. One of my favorite games of all time.
Interesting and absurd. Nice video!
The bulk of my time on this video was trying to figure out how to explain where the rights went in a way that someone could understand. What's interesting, on a personal level, is that this is basically the same series of events that's holding an Oni remaster/remake/sequel from being a likelihood.
Sad that the rights issue also applies to AvP2...
Never played the first one but loved NOLF2. Still played it a couple of years ago. Really a shame... AVP2 a monolith game also edited by Fox is stuck under the same problem. While the first Avp is sold everywhere, you have to go on abandon ware and fan patches for playing. A shame cause it s the best of the series.
I bet they talked to like 50 employees from each company they contacted and each person had different answers at different times.
You ever have a problem with a big company and try to contact them? They always give you run around answers and blame someone else. They don't actually want to take the time to figure it out.
I played both of these and found the sequel to be a significant improvement on the first and no less funny. The henchmen chat is priceless.
Really? I'm the complete opposite. NOLF 2 felt like a huge step down imo
Some great Games like Gunman Chronicles are just somehow destined to disappear into the Void.
I have this game on the ps2! Came with a. Box and everything. It’s a very challenging game but worth it most definitely. Regardless of the ps2 graphics lol
Real shame both No One Lives Forever games and Aliens Vs Predator 2 2001 aren't available for purchase on any gaming platforms or current consoles.
AVP 2 was my favorite of the franchise.
One of the many reasons...some... people...have dozens and dozens of external HDD terabytes with pre-installed games (with the physical games, with manuals and such, sitting and looking nicely on the shelves, of course ) and can plug''em any time and just play the games...Physical.All.The.Way.
Very reminiscent of the legal snarl in regards to the ownership of the Discworld games
I've seen this a couple of times, and I'm still shocked at how good of a player that guy must be during the game play at 0:37
Watch it a few thousand more times, eventually you'll notice the audio clipping mistake.
@@reallycool Irrelevant I say.
Cate Archer from NOLF2 is the most beautiful imaginary woman I have ever seen...
I still love to play in NOLF. This game and Windows XP rocks 💪
WB is afraid to be sued by disney in case the game makes profit. Their accountants probably calculated that a legal battle would cost more than the game would make, even if WB does own the rights. One suggestion. If nobody can document that the licence is his propaty does this not mean it's noones propaty and can therefore used as public domane? Disney and WB should get one or two years time to find the documents and prove that they one the licence. If both fail, it becomes public domane forever irreversibly period.
man, its such a shame, id buy a re release instantly, a remake, a remaster, anything
At one point in time, it was my favorite game.
It was a great one for sure. What's your favorite now?
DayZ Origins mod.
I wanna ask is the revival project safe? I scanned the exe and it appeared with a virus which apparently could damage my system?
Can’t they just rerelease the game without the license so that way we can find out who actually owns the rights to the game
Enjoyed the video, but how did you not mention The Avengers? Cate Archer *is* Emma Peel. Seems like a weird thing to miss...
You're right, and Diane Rigg is always a good topic =)
Can't buy it but you can still play it. I just got 1 and 2 and getting ready to start the first one here in a bit and both run just fine on newer hardware though there is a patch for the first one I had to get because the cut scenes were running to fast and cutting off dialog but the patch fixed it and works prefect now. Looking forward to playing it them. :)
I guess no game lives forever
boo I say boo
That’s a low blow. As someone else pointed out on here, there is a website that has both games downloadable and playable on modern PC’s. Let Google be your guide!
I played its moderinzer yesterday. Hope NightDive gonna do it soon
What a great breakdown - and what a big shame
Good God. Monolith needs to just assert they have ownership.
I am so glad I own the PS2 version of the first game.
When it came to ps2 top games .....this was in the top 5 for me..... along with vice city, RE4, up your arsenal, and KILLER 7. I adored this game.
Well technically no one could sue you if you made a newer version of this game without proof you actually own the rights and since no one can prove that and knows whether they own it or not there's no case because technically you cant sue someone for something you the person suing doesn't own and without knowing or being able to prove that they can not know if they had right to sue you hence there not being a case at all to be had. So because of the situation if it went to court it wouldn't get very far and nothing would be able to happen.
I have them both in boxed copies and they cost me a fortune, but they are worth it
I miss the old boxes, sometimes. I get why they're gone, but I still miss them sometimes. Even LimitedRun doesn't do full size PC game boxes. I thought about getting the one for SI6IL but I missed out. Maybe one day.
I am confused by the sheer amount of desire to be able to purchase this game from someone who never even contributed to it, when it is 1 click away from being downloaded via google search fully patched and modernized for new systems as abandonware. As if people have nothing else to do with their money. I, for once, thank the big greedy companies for saving me money. The more they argue about ownerships, the more I save. The only grief I can really see is the impossibility of a sequel.
We try to play the games both I and II at least once a year!
nolf1 man, I don't how many times I played the game since came out, probably more than my hairs count on my head
are your cutscenes cut off?
NOLF and NOLF Two including Contract JACK cannot be bought or valued by 💸💰.
And this is why copyright, as it is, sucks.
WTF. This looks like such an awesome game and I can't play it because of confused ownership and dumbasses not wanting money at no cost to themselves!? [exasperated sigh]
Ahem _NOLF Revival_
One of the best games ever made
I love No One Lives Forever! :D
I have NOLF 1 and 2 on CD so hahaha, I can play it if I just buy a CD drive, lol.
I saw Gmanlives review of this game, "acquired" it and immediately fell in love with it. It had a great blend of humor and seriousness and fun gameplay.
The first one is about a hundred times better than the second one though.
...Actually, the Best Games You Can't Buy are The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (a game starring characters from the 2000 horror movie Pitch Black) and its updated rerelease-cum-sequel, 2009's Assault on Dark Athena. Butcher Bay was the game that put its developers, (Starbreeze) on the map, and it's a genuinely great first person-action adventure to boot!
How good is it? Some of the people who worked on Butcher Bay and Dark Athena would leave Starbreeze to form their own company, MachineGames, and work on a little-known series from the '90s called _WOLFENSTEIN._ Yeah. They're THAT good.
That's more akin to Ducktales Remastered. It was removed for licensing purposes, but was previously on both Steam and GOG. You can still buy the physical edition and install it, and you can still buy Steam Giftable copies and register it to your account.
@@reallycool Well... Butcher Bay and Dark Athena are the most recent examples, to be sure, but they're BOTH abandonware, similar to NOLF. I wouldn't be surprised if, like the NOLF games, they ended up offered for FREE on a fansite for download. And I wouldn't be surprised if someone made enhanced ports of them for their free versions...
I feel it's Activision who owns it
well, if they do not want our money, it's their issue... we will still play it :D awesome games!
You can buy the game on Amazon.
This is technically true, yeah =)
@@reallycool Yeah, I brought them both and they ran fine... apart from the Indian level in the second game, that's a pile of poo for the drops in frame.
I own them both on disk.
I bet the box art is cool.
I'm almost positive I rented this game from blockbuster.
The first one actually was on PlayStation 2, so that's totally possible!
I hired the x box version
Red Alert 2 masterpice to