Ghostbusters video games, tabletop role-playing games, board games, and related development, release, and player news.
Archive coverage: 1999-01-10–2009-07-03 · 282 entries. Entries are ordered oldest first. Select a date and title to read the original text.
Historical archive: statements, prices, offers, and links reflect their original publication dates. Some linked websites, images, and media may no longer be available.
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- Ghostbusters III — Archived Timeline
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- Ghostbusters Games — Archived Timeline
- Everything Else
Jump to year: 1999 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009
1999 (1 entry)
— GB fans found at Valve software
Ghostbusters fans show up in the strangest places.
While trying out Sierra Studio’s new first-person shoot-em-up, Half-Life, the staff of Proton Charging noticed something odd. There’s a big gun, that fires a stream of destructive particles, that is referred to in the game’s control console as “Egon”. On a whim Proton Charging emailed the game’s developers, Valve to ask them about it.
Valve staff replied quickly;
“The ‘official’ name of the weapon is the Gluon Gun, but in development we always called it the Egon Gun… because it looks like the Ghostbuster weapon.”
Click here for a shot of the gun in action.
2001 (1 entry)
— EGB GBA Game Released in Europe
A month later than announced, Light & Shadow Productions has finally released their Extreme Ghostbusters game for the Game Boy Advance – but only in Europe. No word on why, but considering the franchise is over three years old in North America, LSP may have just decided it’s not worth the money.
The bottom line is that this should only pose a minor hassle to North American EGB fans, as GBA systems are not only backwards compatible with Game Boy and Game Boy Colour titles (meaning you can still play your old GB and RGB games on it), but the system doesn’t have territory lock-outs. If you can get your hands on a copy, it’ll work on your GBA just fine.
credit | Woym
2002 (4 entries)
— More EGB GBA Details
A little more information regarding the upcoming Extreme Ghostbusters Game Boy Advanced title have come to light.The two most interesting pieces of information are the full title of the game – Extreme Ghostbusters: Code Ecto-1 -and the suggestion of a March ship date for the game. For the full story and some more screenshots, head to gamespot.com for the full article.
|credit Ryan LeClair
— And More EGB GBA Details
The offical press release for the Gameboy Advance title Extreme Ghostbusters: Code Ecto-1 arrive in my email today.Lots of interesting new details and a new release date – unlike the Gamespot article (below) the press release says the game won’t be released until a month later in April. Click here for the press release.
— Code Ecto-1 Released – Somewhere.
April 2nd, the announced release date for the Extreme Ghostbusters GBA game Code: Ecto-1, came and went and… nothing. Constant checking of both the US and British Amazon.com websites refused to yield a convienient place for GB fansto buy the title. But now it appears, in a fanfare of complete silence, the game was actually released. Just not widely. Everybody’s favorite GB internet snoop, Ryan LeClair spotted not one,but three copies of the game for sale on Ebay. With a little checking, PC has discovered that you can actually buy the game from Amazon.com, but only from their French arm. To round out this unusually large serving of information, there’s also the screenshot of the previously unseen driving portion of the game (see above) and a luke-warm
review by Gamespot Austrlia (they found a copy through strong trade relations between France and Oz I guess).The long and the short of it is that the game is out. If you’re not so inclined to deal with online buying, you can likely order through your local game store.
credit | Ryan LeClair
— GB RPG resources.
It’s always nice to see stuff online for the old GB role playing game. I just stumbled upon this site by Rik Kershaw-Moore, which not only contains two adventures (including one based on an infamous episode of the Real Ghostbusters cartoon), but a fancy, automated version of the random adventure generator found in the game guides.
2003 (4 entries)
— EGB GBA games easily available. Finally.
For those of you who have spent nearly a year wondering what was up with the apparently released, but hard-to-find, critically ignored Extreme Ghostbusters game for the Game Boy Advance, well worry no more. The title has started appearing in most major retailers – if nothing else, they can be easily bought online at national stores like Electronics Boutique and KB Toys. Called “Extreme Ghostbusters – Code Ecto-1” overseas, but just “Extreme Ghostbusters” by North American retailers, the game sells for under twenty bucks.
credit | The Kids on the Board
— Premiere GB game developer wins award.
David Crane, along with four fellow video game pioneers, received the International Game Developer’s Association Penguin award.
The penguin award is given out yearly to gaming luminaries who made a mark on the gaming industry by going somewhere no one had gone before them. In this case, Crane and co. left their other jobs in the fledging game industry and formed Activision, the first game development studio to operate independent of the hardware manufacturers, who until that time made all the games themselves.
Crane, for those of you who don’t recognize the name, created the first Ghostbusters video game for Activision, making him eligible for a second Ghostbusters game as the first major success of a video game based on a movie license. Congrats to Mr. Crane and the rest of the Activision founders.
— LSP brings more EGB to gamers.
After taking nearly a year to hit North American shores with their last Extreme Ghostbusters game, “Code-Red”, LSP are set to release yet another EGB game. “Extreme Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Invasion” is for Playstation (you remember, that thing in your closet that came before the PS2) and so far only announced for PAL machines (meaning European fans can rejoice, NA fans are out of luck). An action-shooter, Ultimate Invasion is a Ghostbusters themed shooting gallery, with players being able to play any of the four, young, EGBs and zapping the town clear of ghosts using a Playstation compatible light-gun.
Amazon.fr lists the game as being available June 1st and there are no listing on gaming retailer websites outside of France so far, but we can only hope they’ll port it for NTSC and make it available soon to North American retailers.
credit | GB Fan Forum
— E3 2002.
Yup, I was at E3 again this year. Actually, I didn’t get to see a lot while I was there (so I can’t report
about games dealing with ghosts – there was one in particular that looked cool though).
Mostly I spent a lot of time hanging out in Burbank in a recording studio. I got to meet and chat with
Roger Bumpass, who did the voice of Louis Tully on The Real Ghostbusters, and
Michael Gough, who did voices on The Extreme Ghostbusters. All the voice actors I got to meet were hilarious.
The stories and gags they havec are too many to recount, so I won’t.
I also got a chance to hang out with everybody’s favorite GB webmaster,
Chad. If we’d have been smart, we’d have taken
a picture, but we weren’t smart. You’ll just have to make do with the picture of my run in with convention security (see above).
For those of you who live in the LA area, it would have been cool to have met more of you, but my trip wasn’t that
carefully planned. Perhaps next year.
2005 (5 entries)
— PAX?
Any Northwest Ghostheads attending the Penny Arcade Expo this weekend? Drop me a line – I’ll be wandering about and with luck should have some treats for GB fans.
— Greetings PAXites
Well, say hey. Are you here because you got stickers you got at the Penny Arcade Expo this weekend? Well keeeeen. You can keep em. Hopefully you dig Ghostbusters and will find something here you like.
— Ghost Unit
Ghostbusters has found its way into the latest volley of fire between rappers 50 Cent and The Game. I won’t explain the feud. I can’t explain it. But in short, they’re taking pot-shots at one another through thier albums.
With a new album due out by 50 Cent, The Game has made an offer to all his fans, in the hopes of hurting 50 Cent’s sales – if you buy The Game’s new album, mail him the cover, he’ll sign it personally and mail it back to you with a copy of his new mixtape – this is where Ghostbusters enters the scene.
Called Ghost Unit, the mixtape digitally drops the heads of The Game and his new crew onto the heads of the four Ghostbusters photo used in the GB2 posters (presumably because there are four busters present for the four rappers – the first movie only featured the first three GBs.) To make things even more surreal, the back cover features a shot of The Game busting a ghost – well, his head is at any rate. His body is Ghosthead and video game guru Dan Elektro. Like the front cover, the back cover uses nicked art from the web, digitally altered to feature The Game.
Now, before you all freak out, understand that by their nature, mixtapes aren’t strictly by the books (which when you think about it is the whole vibe a lot of hip hop wants to project.) Getting angry at The Game and co. for remixing GB art is like getting angry at the tide. Pointless, and besides, it’s more fun to enjoy it.
However, the guy who generated the original art used in the back cover should be given his credit – so nice work to Matt Willson. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery they say. And credit to Dan – after all, it’s his costume and props appearing on the album.
Update – You can buy the mixtape from The Game’s website, here for $6.99US.
Update – If you’d like to see a larger picture of the album, with track listings, check here.
— GB RPG named #1 in horror gaming
Ken Hite, who’s an old-hat RPG designer and columnist for GamingReport.com devoted his Halloween column to his picks for top ten most influential horror RPGs. Surprisingly (and much to the annoyance of some hardcore gamers) the number one spot went to West End Games’ Ghostbusters RPG – not so much for the horror (though frankly, with the right mission, it could be) but for it’s invention of the dice pool, which in was used in turn on a number of other influential games.
— Sony announces Ghostbusters for mobile phones.
Earlier this week, Sony announced a new plan to sell mobile phone owners theatrical films on memory sticks. Calling it “Movies on Memory Cards” (or MMC), Sony hopes to take advantage of an increasing number of phones (notably new Nokia models) that allow users to swap in memory cards.
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Spider-Man 2, are already available, and now Sony plans to release Hitch, Ghostbusters, Charlies Angels: Full Throttle and Stuart Little.”
These cards are currently only available in the UK, though should a person elsewhere have one of these “series 60” type phones, there’s no reason why the card shouldn’t work for them. The cards retail for just under 20 pounds at Carphone Warehouse stores.
I haven’t seen Hitch, but I hear the LA Engine 23 New York Ladder 8 firehall is featured in it, so I included it in the above image.
credit | Spike
2006 (6 entries)
— ST GB
Someone took the time to scan in and post an old issue of Atari ST magazine. While there’s only one obvious reference to Ghostbusters, I found the rest of the article, about haunted machines, to be pretty keen. You can click to see larger versions (ie readable) of the page scans.
— Sony Mobile to release GB phone game
IGN has an article up, with two screenshots not pictured above, about a cell phone game being produced by Sony Pictures Mobile and Handheld Games.
While not terribly deep (it’s a phone game after all) there’s lots of roaming rooms, blasting ghosts (including what looks like a breed of Sam Hains). There’s no word yet on what model phones the game will be available for and no word on release date, other than sometime in the next few months.
[UPDATE] Handheld Games has a mock-up of the game running on a Nokia 6600, though one would assume that an recent model, “large” display, colour phone would be able to run the game. Stay tuned.
— GBMMORPG
Someone has produced a GB multiplayer RPG – I haven’t had a lot of time to check it out, but while they’ve been working on it for months, the response has been low. So, in lieu of actually having a chance to play the game, I thought I’d spread the word. The application you’ll need to play it can be found here.
And since we’re on the topic of fan created games, SadJason has been working on an old school GB sidescroller, with some awesome sprite art.
— GB C64 2K6
The Retro Remakes competition (wherein code monkeys try their hand and re-doing their favorite old games) has just ended and one clever brain decided to re-do the old C64 Ghostbusters game – better machines to run the game on mean better sound, better graphics, and in a couple of places, new gameplay.
credit | John F
— Ghost-Nazi-Ninja-Slasherbusters
Alex Upton sent along this great ad for the Phantom console system. The only thing that says Ghostbusters is the cartridge. The one, small, blurry shot of the screen shows what looks like a port of David Crane’s original game, but the kid is using a lightgun. So, I’m lost. If anyone is familiar with the system and version of the game, please let me know. Otherwise, have a good laugh. Run, kids! Run!
[UPDATE] I did a little searching, and the Phantom System is essentially a NES, officially licensed from Nintendo, and produced around 1990 by Gradiente (as you can see at the end of the commercial.) While the company did sell unlicensed games, Ghostbusters was licensed from Activision. So, there you go.
— Gearsbusters
As a fan of the original commercial, I had to post this – stick to the end, it’s worth the minute of your life.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
2007 (38 entries)
— Zootfly throws down the gauntlet
Two days ago, Slovenian video game developer, Zootfly, sneak-released a couple of videos onto YouTube, sans explaination – best guess is that they amount to them expressing an interest in a Ghostbusters game (as they featured concept art in a company precis – see below for the art.)
Currently, as PC understands it, nobody holds the licence to make a GB game, so it’s not known if this is some pre-hype before pursuing the license or a publisher, evidence that they just aquired the licence, or are just doing it to show off their love of GB.
Whatever the case, it’s pretty darn sweet. Big thanks to Kingpin, Robert Knippels, and the gang at the GB message boards for spotting this.
Concept art from summer 2006 has surfaced and I’ve taken the liberty of turning it into desktop sizes for you. You’re welcome.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— More Zootfly videos
Zootfly has posted two more videos to YouTube, this time showing off the Ecto-2 (not the cartoon Ecto-2, but they’re idea of an Ecto-2.) Thanks to Shades for the heads-up.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Zootfly real… sort of. But definitely on hold.
IGN has an article on the Zootfly Ghostbusters game.
“We are very glad to see the overwhelming response to the Ghostbusters prototype movies. What you’ve seen is indeed in-game footage of early prototypes on the Xbox 360, running on ZootFly’s proprietary engine. Due to licensing issues, further development of the Ghostbusters game hit a bump on the road. But everybody here at ZootFly is working actively on resolving the challenges with the owners of the Ghostbusters IP.”
“Not to lose the momentum, a part the ZootFly team is currently working on an original game called TimeO, which is closely related to Ghostbusters. The game follows the adventures of two die-hard New Yorkers. They get trapped deep in the shadow world of a parallel New York. The city itself is a war machine threatening to wipe out our world and they have three days to stop it. As soon as the Ghostbusters IP issue is resolved, the whole team will go back to Ghostbusters.”
What that means is that they were hoping to secure the rights, but it has currently fallen through. If nothing else, it puts to rest all the party-poopers who cried, “cheap mod!” Big thanks to Nik for the link.
— Wired posits shenanigans – MC Chris flys GB flag.
Wired blogger Chris Kohler pointed out the elephant in the corner, that possibly Zootfly’s move was simply to create some buzz and establish some name recognition for TimeO.
Speculation: after the licensing deal fell through, and with the opportunity to put themselves on the map fading away, ZootFly decided to leak what they had. They figured that when journalists came a-knockin’, they’d direct them to their other project, TimeO, which nobody would have cared about otherwise.
The response from most people would be, “Well, no duh. Quit pooping on our cake.” It’s true that if this is the motivation behind Zootfly posting the videos to the web, and that regardless of their assertions otherwise, their shot at a GB game is dead in the water, it would suck, but since we’ll never know for sure, we might as well dream. Thanks to CrazyMrTibbs for spotting the link.
King of the white-boy rappers (don’t let Eminem tell you otherwise) and the reigning 800 pound gorilla of Nerdcore Rap, MC Chris spotted the Zootfly videos and expressed his love for the GBs. He also hinted that his new album is drawing inspiration from Ghostbusters, which likely means some solid references to the movie.
the ghostbusters is one of the many muses of the new album. that and whodini’s haunted house of rock.
and there is no gorilla in the ghostbusters.
— More Zootfly interview
Zootfly’s Tibor Klajnscek answered some questions for FiringSquad.com. There is some great new stuff, including some descriptions of how they see the game operating.
FiringSquad: In terms of gameplay will the Ghostbusters game allow you to play as all four characters in a tactical action game a la Rainbow Six or would you control each team member individually?
Tibor Klajnscek: We were thinking more along the lines of Gears of War where you would only control one character. You’d get to decide which one in the start. The other three would be AI sidekicks. A setup like this would enable us to have much more fast paced action in the game.
Interestingly, the videos have been removed from YouTube, at Sony’s request. Given Sony’s firm grip on controlling materials, whether it was pulled just because, or if it’s related to their ongoing, supposed discussions with Zootfly, who knows?
Thanks Darren! Cheers on the YouTube spot, Ben.
[update] Two of the videos are back up, for the time being, at GameTrailers.com.
— Aykroyd says he's involved in GB video game.
Touring Canada with Jim Belushi as The Blues Brothers, Dan Arykoyd talked to the Edmonton Sun about a variety of things, one of which includes providing motion capture for a Ghostbusters video game, to be produced by VUE.
As such, he hasn’t much time left for Hollywood. Aside from a role in the Adam Sandler-starring I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, due out later this year, Aykroyd says he’s pretty much done with acting after a fun, 30-plus year run.
He will, however, be revisiting the role of Dr. Raymond Stantz for a Ghostbusters video game.
“Universal purchased the rights from Sony for a game. I’m actually going to have to perform and do some motion capture for them. That will be next year.”
So, apparently VUE is going to publish the game – but does this mean Zootfly is going to be the developer? It now explains why Sony yanked the Zootfly videos from YouTube, but is it a thumbs up or a thumbs down for the Slovenian dev studio?
Big thanks to Chad Kerychuk
— Angry Video Game Nerd: GB on NES
Gametrailers.com regularly features the Angry Video Game Nerd video show – this week he’s taking a shot at the Ghostbusters game on the NES. And all his swearing aside, he’s right. It wasn’t exactly the slickest game in the book. It was pretty cool on the Atari, but not so much on the Nintendo 8bit system. In fact, it was pretty annoying.
Parental Warning: Dude likes to swear. A lot. Thanks to Chizzy for the heads up.
— Angry Video Game Nerd: GB on NES pt.2
Finding he still had enough anger for two reviews of the Ghostbusters game, the AVGN takes another swing – this time he compares and contrasts to the Atari/Commodore and the Sega versions. So much anger! And swearing – as last time, delicate ears need not apply.
And if you need more, he’s lining up a third episode that takes a look at the Sega Master System GB game and GB2 on the NES – stay tuned.
Thanks to Chizzy for the heads up.
— Angry Video Game Nerd: GB on NES pt.3
As he’d threatened/promised previously, the AVGN has finally completed his epic trilogy review of the various Ghostbusters games. He’s not getting any less right about the games or any less potty-mouthed, so as before and before-before, tender ears should not watch. Thanks again to Chizzy for the heads up.
— Critical failure roll, you cross the streams.
In the wake of my posting about the GB-style d20 game system, some gently, slightly condescendingly, but ultimately pointlessly reminded me that there was already a GB RPG. Yes, but this is new, and not everyone wants to track down a copy of the old game.
However, they did rightly illustrate that I probably should have pushed my old RPG features more, especially now that I updated part one (part two, due before the end of the world) with old, rescued online materials to help a person set up their own classic GB RPG game.
Also, James N. spotted a situation appropriate episode of Full Frontal Nerdity. Thanks, mate! Ace!
— David Crane talks about making GB C64
Penguin award-winning, old-school designer, David Crane took some time to chat with Next Generation magazine about the making of Activision’s Ghostbusters game for the C64.
With the film still in production at this stage, Crane would have to come up with a design concept working directly from Ramis and Aykroyd’s original screenplay. “We started the game before the movie came out. As it happened, I did get to see the completed film before finishing the game, and may have tweaked it a bit. But most of the work came before the release of the film.”
Love it or hate it, it’s definitely a good read. Thanks to Dan Elektro for the heads up!
— Just like 1989… only better
I remember the Ghostbusters 2 game that was originally put out for the PC most computer systems of the time. I disliked it. A lot. BUT, now there’s an alternative. Park Productions have taken the original gameplay and updated it to use newer graphics, with much more satisfying results. Still a weird little game, but a nice take on an old product. It’s also notable to point out that the new game will run on Mac, PC, and Linux, so no one is left out of the fun.
— "Let's run some red lights!"
Every video game that features cars has inevitably found itself with an Ecto-1 driving around – provided that it was possible. Some games required a person to import a whole 3D model, essentially modding the game to feature the e-mobile. Others wouldn’t let you import squat, but you could “paint” them. I put that in quotes, as the features were very limited.
But here comes Forza – I don’t know if the guy imported the skin or made it in-game, but in either case, it’s a lot of work. Fantastic! True, it’s not, strictly speaking, THE ecto-mobile. But it certain earns the right to call itself AN ecto-mobile.
Thanks to Dan Elektro for the heads up. It’s like all he does is read up on video games all day.
— Another GBI-style RPG – InSpectres
Nothing really compared to the original GB RPG by West End Games – recent supernatural investigation RPGs, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer were more stats heavy and modeled after episodic television. Others, like the d20 rules ExorSystems Inc., tap into a wealth of third-party d20 books, allowing GMs to create a game to match almost any movie or show, but d20 isn’t exactly newbie-fuzzy-friendly.
But now there’s a newcomer, InSpectres (“inspectors” Get it?) and even a quick look at the sample materials reveal the designer has Ghostbusters in mind and is more than a little familiar with the stripped-down, super-accessible d6 system WEG pioneered.
There are differences, most of which provide a bit more structure to how the game plays out compared to the very flexible, anything-goes attitude of the GBI RPG, but as I haven’t played with the system yet, I can’t really compare in detail. I just dig the art a lot.
Still, the idea of wacky characters, joining a spirit-hunting franchise wearing a uniform with a snazzy logo will be instantly familiar to GB fans. Basically a simple change of nouns will allow players who can’t find a copy of the old GBI game, to attempt some new GB-style fun.
Go here for an overview of the game and some sample materials – the game is available in print and PDF format.
Thanks to Toren for the heads-up. Toren has a new album. Everyone should buy a copy.
— ExorSystems ™ preview… I don't have one.
BUT! That’s not to say I’m not enjoying the copy the designers sent me. I’m still in the read-it-over stage, and while I haven’t had a chance to pull a group together to try it out (not a lot of free time these days), the full core rulebook confirms everything I suspected and dug in the free sample guide.
Also, I stumbled upon the DA gallery for the Game’s illustrations. Very cool, particularly the equipment profiles.
Anyone familiar with d20 gaming will have no problem jumping into this, and it looks like a good gateway game for anyone not familiar with the world’s single most prevalent RPG system. Check it out!
Big thanks to Octavirate for letting me get a hands-on look at the full game!
— An exclusive ghost! Game sale! Whoo!
Octavirate, the makers of ExorSystems Inc. have extended a cool offer to PC readers – for starters, they’re offering a 15% discount on the ExorSystems core rules, just for being you. But wait! There’s more!
They’ve also furnished me with an exclusive ghost for the game – Vertigox (Class 2 Posthumous Ectoplasmic Phantasm). There is also a memo from the ExorSystems head office;
It has also come to our attention that some franchises are ignoring regulations regarding the keeping of free-roaming spirits as pets and/or mascots. Remember, the “friendly ghost” phenomenon has turned out to be false in all but a handful of cases. Do not take unnecessary risks: trap all ectoplasmic and paramortal entities as soon as possible. We do not want a repeat of the unpleasantness in Westchester…
The store discount is for a limited time, until the end of the August, but the exclusive ghost is forever.
— Sega Genesis Ghostbusters TV spot
Big ups to Ryan LeClair for finding this one (the original can be found at Sega 16’s media archive, but it’s in WMV format (and the volume is loooooud! So, I’m using a YouTube copy for universal viewing. Hang tight Ryan, the zombies are coming soon.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Hudson in Belgium – Him and Bill unofficially confirmed for video game
This past weekend, Ernie Hudson put in an appearance at a convention in Ghent, Belgium, and one videographer and his pal, sat down with him for a ten minute chat. Ernie covers a lot of Ghostbusters ground, commenting on the possibilities of a new video game (though no hard facts that I heard – it was a rushed viewing, I will admit.)
He does say that he and Dan Aykroyd have talked about the video game, and he will be doing Winston’s voice. He also says that as he understands it, Bill Murray is also involved with supplying his voice to the video game. The recordings were intended for this summer, but have been pushed to January.
He also proves himself a philosopher and a gentleman about Winston’s presence (or lack of) in various Ghostbusters properties.
Thanks to Andreas for the tip!
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Official game announcement?
I don’t normally post maybes, but this rumour does fit a lot of what we know about the upcoming, but not officially announced Ghostbusters video game – Vivendi, multi-platform, 80s franchise – and offers some tantalizing new ideas. A kid-friendly art style for the Wii? But this is all moot if it’s for some other franchise… but hey. Dare to dream, right? We’ll find out in two weeks.
Thanks to Jacob – if it’s not GB, we’ll blame you. 😛
— Official game announcement… almost.
OK!
Thanks to everyone emailing me and posting links! Actually, keep sending me links, but I’ve gotten most of them repeatedly.
Game Informer Magazine’s next issue will have the initial, official scoop on the Ghostbusters video game.
The pre-word is mostly what we knew already – Murray, Ramis, and Aykroyd are back and it’s being treated as a follow-up to the two movies.
Thanks to Brendan, Rob, El, Nik, Ed, Tantalized Mind et al.
[UPDATE] Any PC reader who is a Game Informer Insider (meaning, you have a subscription, and can get their exclusive online content) willing to be PC’s Game Informer Correspondent, please let me know – there’s swag in it for you.
— All 4 GB confirmed for game – six platforms!
Forget Game Informer – Variety has the first details on the upcoming Ghostbusters game!
The games will be published by Sierra Studios (owned by Vivendi Universal) in the Fall of 2008 for six (6!) platforms – PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, and Nintento DS. The interesting part is that half are for the grown up gamer, and half will be aimed at a family or casual gamer. Since the casual forms will be on the PS2, Wii, and DS, this suggests a big difference in the type of game.
Also confirmed is that all four GBs, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis will be lending their voices to the game, with Aykroyd and Ramis writing the storyline.
Even better is that William Atherton, Brian Doyle Murray (Bill’s brother, and the psyche doctor from the second movie) and Annie Potts are signed on as well. No word on anyone else, though word has it that Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis have passed.
The photo above is from the Variety article, but has no credit or reference to the games – does anybody know if that is fan art they nicked for something to use?
[Update] Thanks to some digging by Charles and Tyler, here’s a second picture (though, as much as I love the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, bringing him back doesn’t bode well for a unique GB story – maybe he’s in a flashback. That certainly looks like the end of the first movie.)
Also, it looks like there’s at least 1 Ghosthead at Terminal Reality (developers for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 versions)
— Two more screenshots
Variety continues to share, with a total of four screenshots from the just-announced Ghostbusters game. It certainly appears that the game will feature some amount of familar scenes from the movies – besides Slimer and Mr. Stay-Puft, the NY Library is back, as is a Slimer battle in a ballroom.
Thanks to Dr. V for the spot.
— GB game site goes live, videos abound.
Ghostbustersgame.com has gone live, with a teaser trailer and two more screenshots to look at (including a nice look at a certain Doctor Stantz.) Also mentioned on the site, is that the game features you (yes, you!) as a new recruit to the Ghostbusters franchise. Who needs Mary Sue fan fiction, when you’ve got a video game, eh? Thanks to Wheelhouse and Groschopf for the link.
Also, Dutch gaming site, Game1, has a gameplay video (may take FOREVER to load.) Man, this is pretty sweet. Thanks to Jerome.
And if that’s not enough, G4 has a video as well. Using the PKE meter, different beam settings, and the library ghost is back… nice! Thanks Keith and Daryn and Eric and Christopher and Matthew!
— Now Hiring
I didn’t want this lost in the regular shuffle, but on the new game website, they’re setting up to “hire” people at the end of the month – presumably as some sort of street-team, grassroots marketing initiative, which certainly suits the games premise that you are employee number 6 7 at the slowly growing GBI. You can access this by clicking the Now Hiring poster (hmmm) on the left, though at this time, you can only sign up for Sierra’s newsletter.
— "No fee is too big…" EB taking game pre-orders
It’s apparently never too early to buy a video game – with just under a year to go until the Ghostbusters game is released (which was just formally announced two days ago!), EB Games will let you pre-order the game. With a discount no less (appropriately, SLIME). Seems crazy, but hey, it helps the hype. The only thing I can’t help but wonder is if there will be any pre-order incentives elsewhere that might be cool to have (a la the Stay Puft antenna topper for the RGB DVDs.)
And when you’ve got a classic logo, who need to wait for months to see the covers?
Big ups to Dan Evans for spotting the discount.
— Some more game details
Without giving too much about the game mechanics, I’ve summarized certain facts from the preview that will appeal to ghostheads, not just gaming ghostheads. And again, buy a copy when the magazine hits stores – you won’t regret it, honestly.
PS3 360 PC
Single player (multiplayer to be announced)
Sierra
Terminal Reality
October 2008
Sierra’s research into IPs to develop revealed that the Ghostbusters logo was the second most recognized logo in the world (after coke.)
The game is set in 1991.
New York loves them once again, and the origianl busters hire the player to help cut down on the work week. Your role is Experimental Weapons Technician. (Weapon doesn’t seem like GB word – I can’t imagine Ray and Egon are big on the word, but maybe that’s just me.)
Brian Doyle Murray is the team Psychiatrist (all but confirming that he is coming back as his role from GB2)
The city assigns Walter Peck to oversee the GBs as part of a new Paranormal oversight commitee (so, no cyclotron madness like in the cartoon.)
A massive and ancient evil decends on the city, accounting for an outbreak of new spirits and the return of some old “friends”. Some of the exclusive art suggests that its downright Lovecraftian – tentacles… that’s all I’ll say.
Slimer is your tutorial ghost (how appropriate) in the Sedgewick Hotel.
The Elmer Bernstein score is used in the game. Ray Parker Jr’s theme is not confirmed, but c’mon…
The Library ghost returns as “the one that got away”, answer a longtime question fans have about the first movie – what ever happened to the Ghostbuster’s first real ghost. The incident introduces a new fictional book to add to the shelves next to The Spates Catalog and Tobin’s Spirit Guide – The Gozarian Codex.
The firehall is a natual save point, where players can wander the entire building, interacting with the other Characters and various items.
Wii PS2
1-4 player wii, 1-2 Ps2
Sierra
Red Fly Studios
October 2008
Players can play co-op, compete, or go head-to-head in GB v. Ghost battles. Ghost players can fly, phase, and scare, while the GBs have their usual variety of tools and gadgets. Each human GB has their own special ability.
— "I read a lot myself."
Everyone’s favorite ghosthead-game journalist hybrid, Dan Elektro has a new blog at the just as new Official Xbox Magazine website – as one would expect (nay, demand) Dan posted what I’m sure will be the first of many blogs on the new Ghostbusters game. Keep an eye on that spot – if there’s one man that will, at some point, be providing coverage of the Xbox 360 version of the game, it’s Dan.
— "Aww, I thought it was gonna be He-Man."
Could these two sound more disappointed about the video game? No. Not really.
“Well, I guess it’s good for those gamers out there.”
I think there’s money in this somewhere – if you’re a gamer, you can hire yourself out to play the game for people who just want to watch, people who are interested in Ghostbusters, but not gaming (ie losers. Kidding. Some of my best friends are losers.)
— GB Game blog
With the new game announcement comes new websites – the first out the game isGhostbusters Live, which will be keeping specific track of the news on the game.
— Ghostbusters is already on the Xbox 360
So to speak…
The Xbox 360 movie trivia game, Scene It! features Ghostbusters questions (some of which are based on Ghostbusters movie clips.) But don’t get too cocky. According to the Official Xbox Magazine UK, the game may stump the hardest of the core;
Likewise the film clips are a real lesson in memory-management. We’re watching the scene in Ghostbusters were Sigourney Weaver finds out her fridge is possessed by a evil entity. Her eggs start exploding, the yolk frying on the kitchen top in front of her disbeliefing eyes. We count the number that start frying. We’ve got this one in the bag.
“How many hats were hanging on the stand when Diana [sic] came into the apartment?” WHAT? The game certainly knows how to throw you.
There is a demo available for free download through Xbox Live, though it’s not certain if the demo contains the demo does not contain any Ghostbusters love. I know, cuz I played it last night – it could be kind of fun as a group or family game. And priced the same as a triple-A title (which is good, considering it comes with four buzzer controllers.)
— GameStop tries to think of the most harmless thing.
According to the November 16th blog entry (no direct link, sorry) at Gamestop.com, their main store support office in Grapevine, Texas, had a visitor the to help promote the just announced Ghostbusters video game – a 20 foot tall, inflated Mr. Stay-Puft. Either that, or they’ve made a very convincing photoshop image.
Thanks to Paul at Spook Central for the heads up.
— Juego del vídeo de Los Cazafantasmas!
It’s becoming pretty clear that Vivendi and Sony went all out on their opening PR salvo for the Ghostbusters video game. In addition to the exclusive coverage from Game Informer (US) and NFormer (UK) magazines comes Xtreme magazine in Spain. No idea what’s inside, but if any PC reader happens to get their hands on a copy and can scan us a copy, that would be something I’d like to read.
Similar to Game Informer, Xtreme has also included a retro-Ghostbusters gaming feature, judging by the blocky Stay-Puft on the cover.
— IGN gets hands-on with Ghostbusters game (Xbox/Wii)
IGN Xbox has posted a sizable four-page preview of the Ghostbusters video game. What new information does it hold? Well, not tonnes, but some.
For starters is the suggestion that Louis Tully is completely out of the question. But Dana Barrett is, leaving the need for a new female lead – one that’s tied directly to the main evil of the story.
Sadly, it’s looking less and less like the game will feature co-op, though the team hasn’t completely discounted it yet. But cheer up – it sounds like the groundwork is being deliberately laid down for a series of games.
We have to sign them for the second game, we have an option, but they were talking to us like they want it to be lots of games and lots of franchises. They’ve already talked about where to take the next one. They’d be in it – at the very least – as the writers for the long haul. Dan’s like a little kid at Christmas when it comes to Ghostbusters because this was his baby… they want to make sure it’s taken care of. We’re just playing in their universe and we know that.”
Overall, the article is a BIG look at all the game technology, so for those who want a sneak-peak under the hood, you should have a look.
Thanks to Daryn for the heads-up.
Just as tasty is IGN’s look at the Wii version of the game – it’s not a long article, but comes with a new screenshot, giving us a sweet look at the game’s visual style.
Cheers to PikeD2zL for that one.
— Games Radar has look at co-op Wii Ghostbusters
A nice article, largely taken from NGamer UK, on the Wii version of the Ghostbusters game at Games Radar, has some excellent details on the Wii’s co-op option for the story campaign (something the Wii can retain, as you don’t play as a new Ghostbuster, you play as one of the four OGBs) and some of the multiplayer mini-games. Better yet it has some screenshots – one of which gives a split-screen look at co-op play (and a back of the head look at the stylized Egon and Winston.)
— IGN Ghostbusters images online
IGNs images for the Ghostbusters video game has, as one might expect, made it’s way online. Some are familiar for those who saw the Game Informer insider exclusives, but there are new ones, from the quick look I had. Pages and pages in fact.
[UPDATE] Worth Playing has posted 30 shots – some look like doubles, but a couple, I’m not so certain.
— Videogame press storm continues
The sleepless Kingpin has scanned not one, not two, but four new UK magazine features on the Ghostbusters videogame. A mixed bag of stuff we mostly know already, but still, breathtaking in the amount of PR push is behind this game. Thanks Ben.
— CVG scores game images, talks plot points
Computer and Videogames magazine has posted their 18 images for the Ghostbusters video game – a lot look familiar, but I haven’t compared to IGNs massive collection yet. If you’d like to have a look for yourself, they’re sweet even if you have seen them before.
What’s most interesting in the very short article is CVGs take on the game’s main plot point – what’s with the massive ghost freak-out?
But now, horror of horrors, the short attention span of New Yorkers has led to the opening of a Gozerian museum. This coincides with a worrying, if inevitable, spike in paranormal activity, so the ‘busters are forced to employ a new recruit (you) to deal with the workload.
It would certainly explain Mr. Stay-Puft – after all, Gozer wasn’t destroyed, just locked away in another dimension. What two possessed apartment dwellers could achieve, surely a city caught up in Gozer-mania could accidentally accomplish as well, namely re-opening that door.
— More Wii/Ps2 pictures
Serial Real Ghostbusters comic correspondant, Nevil, sent a link to some new pics IGN has posted for the Wii/PS2 build of the upcoming Ghostbusters game. Technically, it’s on their Wii site, but as it’s all concept art and environment renders, they apply to both.
Say, is that a subway full of slime?
2008 (83 entries)
— Ghostbusters Art: Jorge Parras
Remember the whirlwind of magazines trumpeting the Ghostbusters video game last month? And do you remember the Spanish magazine, Xtreme? Well, the magazine remains un-found in English speaking Ghostbuster circles, but it’s internal art, commissioned for its retro gaming article has made its way online, including this awesome full-page spread by Jorge Parras.
Taking advantage of our exclusive right cover, we reviewed in Retro all the had games and by having of Ghostbusters. Jorge Parras nailed the most showy characteristics of the film, with special attention for a wonderful image of Egon with the bizcochito.
We’ve learned that Twinkie, in Spanish, is “bizcochito”. It’s educational!
— "If there's a steady paycheck in it…"
It’s a big day for photos of Ghostbusters ads taken with crappy cellphone cameras;
The latest issue of Game Developer magazine featured the above full page ad by Terminal Reality, who are looking to hire a lot of new people. How many applicants will be working on Ghostbusters the video game, that’s another story, but…
This is the link printed on the ad, for any of you interested in applying. I call dibs on Lead Game Designer or Producer… wait, nevermind, I’m booked up.
— UK gamers get game sneak-peak
Play.com (a particularly spiffy online retailer of movies, etc. in the UK) is having it’s Live! event at Wembley Stadium on March 15th and 16th.
This sounds cool in general, with the promise of Rock Band jamming, but of high interest to ghostheads;
Jam away on EA’s Rock Band music game where you play guitars, drums and sing and get the chance to try out the new Ghostbusters adventure that’s certainly going to be one of this year’s classics.
There’s also the likes of Soul Calibur IV and Lego Indiana Jones to try out plus competitions, live bands and plenty of surprises.
To get tickets, just log onto play.com or call 0845 270 1669 (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm).
Any UK gamers attending are encouraged to report to PC!
— UK gamers report from Wembley
People who got to attend the Play.com Live event at Wembley stadium are starting to post their reports and pictures – first up is Matt, who got a picture of the game’s booth (where attendees got to watch a trailer of gameplay, not actually play the game) and a lot of pictures of the giant inflatable Stay-Puft and local near-replica of the Ecto-1. Thanks, Matt.
— Play.com Live wrap-up
I’ve been meaning to direct people over to this thread that Kingpin put together – he’s been gathering various photos and people’s reactions to the showing. Short version – people were hoping for more to see, there was a giant Stay Puft in the parking lot, and the Sierra reps got kick-ass jackets. But don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself.
— GhostbustersGame.com updates
The official website for the Ghostbusters video game has had a couple of minor updates in the past few months, mostly amounting to text from the Sierra newsletter – but a meatier update has just been made. For starters, the opening with Slimer has been expanded. More importantly, a new quiz has been added as part of our “callback interview” – the quiz is 21 questions long, and it’s not exactly a push-over. However, diligent players who score a perfect 21 get a wallpaper – concept art for a ghostly opera singer (A Fright At The Opera, anyone?) As well, players get a signature banner, proclaiming them awesome, and inviting others to try the game. Also, it appears that there are five more Callbacks to come.
The wallpaper you can earn yourself, but seeing as it’s good PR for the game, PLUS their copy-to-clipboard function is broken for the UBB code, here are the banner for your signature files.
Oh, and the top five Ghostbusters websites are linked from the game website as well. While I’m pretty pleased, for readily apparent reasons, it does mean that a lot of great sites can’t be included – I’m hoping maybe we’ll see more and more of them in the coming months.
Big thanks to Raffaele at Ecto-web for the heads up.
— Ghostbusters game site gets some X-play
The crown jewel of G4 television, X-play, gave a shout-out to the Ghostbusters videogame website, which they were excited to report had just launched. Which isn’t the case (it’s been running since November of last year), but you don’t go on TV and say “hey, guess what we just found out about?” And any hype for the game is good hype. Plus, Morgan Webb can tell me it launched yesterday, and I wouldn’t care.
Props to Paul at Spook Central for spotting the nod and tracking down the clip – Spook Central is one of a handful of GB sites that should have been on the game site’s link list, but wasn’t. If you’ve ever come to PC and said, “where are all the images/videos/sound clips?”, you meant to go to Spook Central. Paul has it all, and then some.
— Game stores get Ghostbusters promo materials
Dustin sent in some pics of dummy promo inserts (to make fake, pre-sale boxes to fill a shelf) for the Ghostbusters video game – these were at his local GameStop, but presumably similar inserts (and blank boxes) will soon be available at fine gaming stores everywhere. Click here to see the large picture. Thanks Dustin!
— Goo gun? And Stay-Puft level overhauled.
1UP.com’s podcast from last week talked a bit about their look at the Ghostbusters game at the Sierra press party – the good news is that they seem to like the game a lot and they talk about it in the first ten minutes of the podcast. The bad news is they talk about it for less that 10 minutes. Still, they do give us some details on the “goo-gun” – imagine Spider-man webbing, where the gun creates a stretchy, gooey string between two points, like the roof or a building and a chair or a car. It sounds a little odd at first, except that the goo operates within the physics of the world, meaning if you attach a line from the roof to a chair, the chair will go springing up to the ceiling – if you add it from the roof to a car, the car will stay low to the ground – BUT adding more gooey lines will pull the car up more. Kind of like a bungey-cord gun, really.
Also, the say the Stay-Puft level that we’ve see bits of, and was used for the initial press previews of the game, is being overhauled after Terminal Reality decided it was good, but not awesome enough. Excellent to hear they’re sweating the details.
— Sierra Ghostbusters press party
Earlier in the month, Sierra held a Ghostbusters party in San Francisco (a infamous hub of gaming press) and the ninja-enforced news black-out period is almost up. In the coming week, I expect we’ll start seeing a lot of Ghostbusters game news items from various outlets. Nintendo had a press party the following night, so there’s a double chance we’ll hear some Wii and DS info.
But as a teaser, The Swag Show (from GotGame.com) has posted a short on their attendance at the party – and besides a killer drink recipe, and a too-brief look at Mr. Stay-Puft in game, in all his grinning glory, you’ll get to see a jacket worth killing for.
I’m not kidding, Sierra. Just give me a name and a photo, and I will take that person out. Quiet. It’ll look like an accident. I’m an XL.
Props to Ryan LeClair for never leaving his computer, apparently.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Ecto-1 versus Terminal Reality
I’ve gotten a lot of pictures from various people over the last week, all of them taken at an appearance of the Ecto-1 in Texas. Where in Texas? Lewisville. At the Terminal Reality offices. The developers of the Xbox/PS3/PC SKUs of the Ghostbusters game got to get hands-on with the Ectomobile last week under the smirking gaze of a 28 foot tall Mr. Stay-Puft. Also, it appears from local fans dropped by, as well as some random strangers (probably having spotted the giant marshmallow man.)
Check out the oodles of pictures here!
Eric emailed me links to his pics and a video of the Terminal Reality Ecto-1 visit, I totally forgot about it. As usual, Paul saves the day. Thanks Paul!
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Ghostbusters previews, 6 images, and music news.
The Sierra press party from earlier in April has seen its news black-out dropped, and there’s a flood of impressions. There’s a good look at Joystiq online, which also has 6 new images and a lot of notes on the Wii gameplay – these are repeated at most every other site. Kotaku has their impressions up as well.
One of the most interesting notes at Joystiq is that updated versions of the Ghostbusters theme were tested, but ultimately dropped in favour of the Ray Parker Jr original – or to put it as reported to Eurogamer, a crowd booed them when the idea was merely suggested. But that’s not all – apparently Terminal Reality has 75 minutes of music scored for the movie, but never used. One wonders how much of that overlaps with the sanctioned, limited edition film score released a couple of years back?
Other bits of news from the landslide – Terminal Reality states the obvious regarding the disparity between the latest next-gen machine and the previous, two year old console (this was reported by PSXextreme.com, hence the biased tone, one assumes.)
Thanks to Adam, et al. for the emails.
— Murray set to record game dialog this week
My pal Adrian at Kidz World Games pointed me in the direction of this blurb at Video Gaming 247 that talks briefly about getting Bill Murray involved in the game and that he’s recording his lines this week. Thanks Adrian!
— Wii/DS connection, downloadable content, and Venkman love-interest
Didn’t I say this week was going to be crazy, now that the news blackout by Sierra was lifted?
First, anyone with a DS as well as a Wii, will be able to use their DS as a PKE meter in the Wii game, via Nintendo’s wireless set-up (thanks to Sean and everyone that mailed that one in.)
Second, The PS3 and Xbox 360 will each have exclusive downloadable content, as well as some downloadable content that is the same on both systems. Terminal Reality head honcho Mark Randel said;
“You have to buy the PS3, 360, Wii and DS [versions],” he said when asked how gamers would get the complete Ghostbusters experience.
“In a cross-platform game, it’s a good idea to have a little bit of exclusive content for each system. It makes everybody happy.”
Personally, I’m fine with three out of four thanks. However, on the plus side, the content is free – the Video Gaming 247 article made the downloadable content sound specific to the PS3 and Xbox, but one would hope that there will be something for Wii and DS fans. Unless using your DS in Wii-play is that something.
[UPDATE] Xplay covered this a bit on G4 last night – they don’t have any more details, but if you’d like to see the clip, Paul has it at Spook Central.
And finally, for now, while talking about the contributions Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd made the game story, Sierra and Randel revealed that Ramis added a love interest for Dr. Venkman. Since the heroine has been added, and Sigourney Weaver is not involved in voice acting for the game, it suggests that it’s not Dana.
Fan fic writers get ready, as Aykroyd has apparently worked all the new equipment in the game into the Ghostbusters canon. You can stop inventing super-ghost traps and electro quarter staffs now – they’ve got a whole bunch of new stuff for you.
Also, it’s been confirmed (as suggested by some of the earliest screenshots) that not everything in the game takes place in the Earthly dimension.
— PSP Ghostbusters game not out of the question
One of the producers at Terminal Reality has said that depending on the benchmark tests on the PS2 version of the Ghostbusters game, it’s possible, and in fact even currently under discussion, that the PS2 version will be ported to the PSP. Hooray! Another system I can buy it for! Maybe! I’m still not buying a PS3 though.
— Red Fly on DS as PKE meter – forget it.
Well, that was quick – Red Fly has stated, in the wake of all the post-black-out coverage for the Ghostbusters video game, that the early April report at the Sierra event that the DS could be used as a PKE meter for the Wii game, is now out of date. They agreed it would have been a cool feature, but has had to be axed. No reasons were given. It’s too bad they weren’t able to cut those reports off at the pass – the original compatibility report will likely persist as fact right up until the Fall release of the games.
— Straight from the horses mouth
GameTrailers posted this interview with Terminal Reality head-honcho, Mark Randel.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Friday, May 9th – Ghostbusters game footage
Well, GameTrailers.com did more than just talk to Mark Randel, they also took a good hard look at the game – and we get an exclusive look this Friday, May 9th, on Spike. Check your local listings for GameTrailers TV.
— More screenshots?
There are getting to be a lot, so while some of these screens at CVG look similar to (if not exactly) like others we’ve seen before, I’m pretty sure a couple are new. Well, maybe just one. But CVG is pretty excited about them, in any case.
— Old screens, but larger
A little late, but better than never, to paraphrase, right? These are the six images that came out last week, but whereas most sites compressed, resized, cropped, and/or watermarked them, they are provided here as fresh as if they just came off of Sierra’s press server… which they did. Enjoy! Let me know if you find anything good amongst the pixels.
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4
Picture 5
Picture 6
— GameTrailers: Ecto-H20?
So, did everyone see GameTrailers? The Game Trailers HD footage will be online soon, very soon (and you will want to see it in HD), but in the meantime, GBFans.com has something to tide you over.
[UPDATE]
Game Trailers TV has their video up!
High Definition (the best way to see it)
Highlights
(click for HD screengrabs)
– A small, blurry shot of Bill Murray in CGI (on loading screen, in GB poster pose, with Ray and Egon)
– Concept art of a Ghostbusters boat
– Profile shots of the Rookie (dude’s got a face!)
– A rail-gun type energy blast from proton pack system and slime tethers (behind interview, on screen, approx. 8:30 in)
– Interviews with honcho Mark Randel, level design lead Andy Dombroski, creative director Drew Haworth, and lead animator Angel Gonzalez Jr. – environment artist Shawn Spetch also shows off his GB colours in his jumpsuit and prop-pack.
– Various ghosts, both in game and concept art
– Lots of new concept art (one, two, three, just a taste)
– Blast scarring on Stay-Puft
– Firehall exterior
– Haunted island environment.
– PKE meter
– Jewelry store called Family Jewels (not Ghostbusters related, I just thought that was funny)
– Confirmation that Gozer is in the game, but not in nimble little minx form (but rather, perhaps, original Paul Rubens style.)
– Lots of shots of the Infernal Engine in action
– Early crowd shots (lots a people)
– Giant teasing about what crossing the streams will do (hint: probably not total protonic reversal . That really slows down game flow.)
— Terminal Reality looking for Texan testers
Terminal Reality has, apparently, posted on Craigslist, seeking individuals to participate in a focus testing group for the Ghostbusters video game. You have to be 13 or older – any skill level of gamer. There will be several test sessions in the coming months, so that’s a lot of opportunities to get your hands on the game. The Iron willpower not to blab preferred, I’m sure.
Thanks for AJ at GBFans.com for the heads up.
— More Ghostbusters gameplay footage
PlayrTV on Bravo UK showed a bunch of footage from the Ghostbusters game as well – only 5 minutes worth, but we still got to see another pack weapon (slime balls?), and a much different look at the PKE meter. Not to mention the slime tethers in full action. If you watch on the roof fight, there also seems to be some sort of overheating/overcharging on the proton pack, giving the basic proton stream a short, powerful wallop. And, if that’s not enough, we get a first look at Elissa, the damsel-in-distress for the game.
Oh, and… trap in action. I’ll say no more. Oh, and stick around to the end. It’s only 5 minutes and it’s worth it.
Also, the game footage appears to be using the movie score in a reactive form (meaning, it changes as the action changes). Plus the magic voice narrator explains that the pack has four modes, each with a secondary fire mode (so, 8 “weapons” total.) Thanks to AJ and Matt for letting me know, and bigger thanks to egonspengler2 for posting the clip.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Mark Randel talks more about Ghostbusters game
Similar to his earlier TV interview, this interview with Terminal Reality chief tech brain and CEO Mark Randel goes into details about the making of the Ghostbusters video game – how it came about, the involvement level of Dan Aykroyd, etc. Check it out.
— UK Fans – See the game, see Ernie Hudson, this weekend!
Maybe even touch him! But I’m betting it’s the same video of the gameplay as has been seen previously (I doubt we’ll get hands on until San Diego Comic Con.) Still… The video game will likely bring all the fun stuff with it, like the UK Ecto-1 stand-in and the giant inflatable Stay-Puft. Sierra will also be showing off their Bourne Supremacy game as well.
The game and Ernie will be putting in an appearance at the MCM London Expo this weekend – For more info, check it out here, and for specifics on the show (as in, where Ernie will be and when) go here. Remember, take pictures! And occasionally cough out “protonchargingdotcom” when you’re around Ernie. Around anyone, really, but Ernie in particular.
— GB fan linked to Red Fly game style
Chad over at gb.net caught wind that Dapper Dan, who has been posting his awesome Ghostbuster art for years now (and is well known to readers of PC and Cereal Geek magazine), may be linked to the art style of the more “cartoonish” Wii and PS2 versions of the Ghostbusters video game. In his Deviant Art blog, he has posted an image comparing his art to the neutral pose shots of a 3D Ray from IGN.com.
He also mentioned he was contacted by the game developers at Sierra’s specific request in May of 2007, half a year before the rest of the world would even hear about a video game. His current concern is that his art style will go without credit and has contact the developers again, but without having seen the other three Ghostbusters or a copy of the game credits (which we won’t see until October) it’s hard to say how much or how little his style will be used, and what credit he will receive. That the developers contacted him at all is a great deal more respect than a lot of online artists are granted these days – we expect as fellow GB fans, Red Fly will do right by Dan. We’ll know more in the coming months.
— Ghostbusters, October 8th in Pennsylvania (not New Jersey)
Oh, sure, this one is a ways out yet, but what with the Ghostbusters video game coming out only a few weeks later, better to give ghostheads a big heads up, in case they want to get prepped and show up in style. I know nothing about New Jersey geography, other than you have Manhattan island, a decommissioned aircraft carrier, water, and then New Jersey. So if I were to say that it’s in Bethlehem, I’m assuming area residents will know what I mean. The Ghostbusters showing will be free and outdoors October 8th – that’ll be some cool Halloween vibe, to be sure.
UPDATE: Bethlehem is in Pennsylvania as it turns out. Thanks terribly uninformative news article. And totally non-sarcastic thanks to Steven for helping sort that out.
— London Expo Ghostbusters video
BiggBoss at Ecto-Web was at the London Expo last weekend and besides a boatload of nice pics for the event, he also took the time to record Sierra’s promo video that was showing. It’s worth checking out as it’s a nice mix of footage we’ve seen previously, and some nice new clips.
— Ghostbusters game script is huge!
Ernie Hudson sat down with VideoGaming247 at the London Expo and talk about the game – he had this to say about the game script;
“You know, I read the script, and it’s a really good script,” he said. “It’s huge. It covers every possibility. A regular film script is 120 pages, this thing’s 480 pages, or something.”
They will be posting the full interview later in the week. Stay tuned.
— MTV gets a look at PS3 Ghostbusters
MTV’s Multiplayer got a look at the Ghostbusters video game on PS3 and said, in short,
It was like watching a long-lost “Ghostbusters” sequel.
There’s not a lot to the sneak-peak, though we learn that the game design calls for something funny or scary every 15 feet. What is interesting is that someone got to see the game running on a PS3, and pre-approval for this game remains high.
— Report from the International Licensing Expo
Matthew (he of the awesome Stay-Puft t-shirt – check it out and get your own) got to hit the ILE in New York this week, and scoped out all the Ghostbuster goodness;
I was at the licensing expo in NYC yesterday and the GB game was actually in the main entrance of the Jacob Javitts center (before you actually even got into the show). The Ecto-1 was parked next to a demo station, the giant inflatable Stay-Puft wasn’t too far from that. There was a guy from Sierra playing the first level demo of the game and he told me some new info.
I noticed as he played, the character had no life bar, he told me that there will be no life bar because Dan Aykroyd didn’t want that. Since no characters died in the movies, no one dies in the game. You can get knocked down and at worst knocked unconscious, but eventually another buster gives you smelling salts to awaken you.
I asked about the Wii and DS working together, since there were rumors of the DS being used as a PKE meter. He said they are still up in the air with that one, so we might get that, we might not.
Matthew says he’s got some pictures to send later, and that the game looks and plays amazing – Thanks Matthew!
[UPDATE] Matthew sent in the pics! Of particular interest is the shot he got (even though it was a no-no) of the game in action – check it out, wormy ghost… (after the jump)
— Game Daily reaction to Ghostbusters game
Game Daily posted their thoughts on the Ghostbusters game demo they were witness too – overall, they had the same reaction as anyone else; they loved it. What was interested is that they said the game will feature music from the movies (plural) as well as 70 minutes of unreleased tracks. 70 minutes!? Some questions obviously come to mind – does this mean we’ll hear some of the music from Randy Edelman’s Ghostbusters 2 score? And where are they finding 70s minutes of unreleased tracks (given we have all of Elmer Bernstein’s GB1 score) – Edelman’s score was never released, so perhaps that’s some of where the 70s minutes is coming from. Hard to say, but as I said, interesting to consider.
Thanks to staypuft428 for the heads up.
— Sierra newsletter talks Ghostbuster game weapons
The new Sierra newsletter is out, and while it’s a bit fluffy, it’s a nice read, nevertheless. Check it out.
— Real Ghostbusters arcade, playthrough vid on YouTube
If you never saw The Real Ghostbusters arcade game in action, you’re in luck. While a rarity in actual arcades these days, someone took the time to record the entire game and post it on YouTube. The gameplay take nearly 40 minutes total, so the video is in four parts – also, it’s not a recording off and Arcade box, but of MAME, the arcade emulator (which might explain why the graphics don’t look as awesome as I remember – either that or old age.) Thanks Matt!
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Ghostbusters video game site has new test
Subject yourself to Dr. Venkman’s Zenner Generic Telepathy Test (AKA the Venkman Electro-V500, and get new stuff (new sig banner, for one.) There are also new screenshots in the gallery. Don’t worry about logging in – it doesn’t seem to a) work or b) stop you from participating in the test or getting the goods. It does tend to interfere with your “employee file”, which is keeping track of your achievments (ie, tests you’ve completed.) Hopefully that will be sorted soon.
Hint: watch the draw pile in the middle carefully. Any result gets you some concept art desktop wallpaper. A perfect score gets you the signature banner.
— ECTO-1 Tour Schedule
As part of promoting the upcoming Ghostbusters video game, Sierra and Sony will be touring the newly restored Ecto-1 around the United States. Here are the dates, as posted at 411mania.com;
June 21 – Nightshift New York
(Belmont Raceway; New York, NY)
August 9 – Nightshift Pomona
(Pomona Fairplex; Pomona, CA)
August 29-31 – Penny Arcade Expo
(Seattle Conv. Ctr; Seattle, WA)
Sept. 20 – Nightshift Pleasanton
(Alameda Fairgrounds; Pleasanton, CA)
Sept. 27 – Hot Import Nights
(Minneapolis Conv. Ctr; Minneapolis, MN)
Oct. 11 – Hot Import Nights
(Dallas Conv. Ctr; Dallas, TX)
Oct. 15 – Nov. 1 – Knott’s Scary Farm
(Knott’s Berry Farm; Buena Park, CA)
Nov. 19-30 – L.A. Auto Show
(L.A. Conv. Ctr; Los Angeles, CA)
No San Diego Comic Con – what up with that?j
[UPDATE] My late night post beat out the arrival of official press release on the tour. You can read it here. The pr is video game centric, which suggests that the tour is specifically a Vivendi/Sierra event, which would explain the absence of the SDCC, where one would assume Sony would handle any Ecto-1 and 1a appearances as part of the “big announcement.” Cheers to AJ at GBfans.com for linking people to the press release, for those interested.
For those not interested, the kicker is the blurb on some of the upgrades given to the Ecto-1 (some of which we saw in earlier photos.)
In light of ECTO-1’s tour to some of the hottest car shows throughout the country, Sony has taken the liberty to update the Ghostbusters’ ride with the latest and greatest Sony Xplod mobile electronics. ECTO-1 now sports a Sony XAV-W1 double din touch screen A/V center, Xplod XS-GT1625A speakers and an Xplod XS-L10S slim subwoofer – all the essentials to keep ECTO-1’s sound system on par with the rest of the ghost catching equipment found on the Ghostbusters’ primary mode of transportation.
It better play THIS, that’s all I’m saying; :p
[audio:JudgementDay.mp3]
— OXM podcasts with Terminal Reality
The Official Xbox Magazine podcast has posted it’s chat with some of the lads at Terminal Reality. Tragically, Dan, THE Ghostbusters fan at OXM, was out of the office on assignment and couldn’t take part. However, he was there in spirit and we share his pain.
You can download the podcast now at oxmpodcast.com or subscribe to podcast via iTunes (free.)
[update] Direct Link to episode in question.
I haven’t listened yet, so if anything good pops up, I’ll note it here.
[UPDATE] If you’re not interested in the preamble (which you should be, if you own an Xbox or like video games in general – it’s a fantastic podcast), jump to 16:05 for the interview, which is with Terminal Reality creative director Drew Hayworth, executive producer Brendan Goss, and company head Mark Randel.
– Demo in the works for release prior to release.
– Playable game station will be at Comic Con!
— Yes, it's true…
…these men have no dicks. Well, that’s what I heard.
Seriously though – observe a lesson in being too cool for school. As Chad spotted over at GB.net, Kotaku (the gaming wing of the Gawker network of blogs, infamous for their remarkable snark to effort ratio) contacted Sierra to find out why Rick Moranis wasn’t going to be voicing Louis Tully in the Ghostbusters video game.
The brief to the point of flippant Sierra response;
He made so much money off of Honey I Shrunk The Kids that he retired. He just doesn’t want to work anymore.
The snarky to the point of dickitude Kotaku analysis;
Oh. Well. Good for you, Rick Moranis.
Which then turns into a Rick Moranis-bashing free-for-all in the comments. Unfair, and uncool. While the Sierra rep is correct, I can only hope he said much more than that, and that Kotaku cut it down to size, making it seems so glib. If only someone had thought to, you know, maybe ask Rick why he would or would not do Louis Tully every again. Oh wait, someone did. And it’s a lot deeper an answer than “He’s rich and doesn’t want to work.”
[UPDATE] Sorry, Kotaku didn’t talk Sierra, Das Gamer did. They were just reposting and snarking. Like they do. But still… tacky.
— New game equipment setting – The Boson Dart
Initially lost to me (due to the red haze) – and lost to everyone else because most every gaming site in the world was too lazy to look past the juicy jab at Rick Moranis – is the fact that we know a name for one of the weapons equipment settings (I prefer that – remember, a proton pack isn’t a toy, but nor is it a weapon. It’s a tool, if you have the talent) – the Boson Dart (not the “Boston Dart“, as one site incorrectly copied.) That’s, like, a moth or something.
Aykroyd went so far as to change names of weapons, “He changed things like the Proton Torpedo to the Boson Dart because he thought the original sounded too ‘Star Trek‘.”
Well, he’s not alone. And hooray for Boson beams! So, we’re talking about, what…? Gluons? As long as they zap nicely.
— Ghostbusters game website login now working
That’s it – where as registered users couldn’t login (and thus their accomplishments at the two employee tests weren’t being saved), now you can. Plus, if you’ve forgotten your password, the system will send it to you at the email with which you registered. Credit to Ectoman57 for being the first to spot the fix.
— Two new game previews and 8 new screenshots
Thanks to Matt for sending in this link to Computer and Video Games preview of the Ghostbusters video game, which includes a nice, if brief, look at some of the equipment settings. Also, IGN has waded in with their demo walkthrough.
Also, 8 new screenshots went out last night – some are awfully similar (if not the same) as we’ve seen before, but a few are downright gorgeous.
— Red Fly starts to speak up
After all the attention lavished on Terminal Reality, Red Fly Studios is starting to talk a bit about the Wii version of the Ghostbusters video game. This interview is fairly broad, but there is some Ghostbusters talk;
You also develop the Wii version for Ghostbusters, which looks highly promising too. Could you name one feature of the version why Wii owners should buy it in a first place?
CB: Well, for starters let’s state the obvious – if you own a Wii, and you are a Ghostbusters fan, then you should own Ghostbusters: The Video Game for the Wii. *Otherwise, if you don’t, other Ghostbusters fans will consider you a traitor to the franchise and will come knock down your door and will hold an intervention, possibly a tickle fight – true story! *Additionally, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is all about shooting and wrangling ghosts with an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on your back, and destroying tons of expensive furniture along the way, so what better way to act like a Ghostbuster then being able to use the Wiimote as the Proton Stream with the comfort of destroying your own living room!*
— Wii screens!
I get lots of stuff in the mail – LOTS! Like these Wii screenshots. I’ve got a lot more and a big thanks to Timo for sharing them. However, I’m not sure where they’re from yet (I’m waiting for Timo to get back to me on that.) Sometimes it’s just helpful to know where they came from, so I can try and track down copies (or better copies – as Timo admits, they’re a little fuzzy) – but more importantly it’s a matter of giving their source credit. So, I’m going to hold on to the bulk of the pictures, in bigger format, but here are a select few awesomes. Regardless, stay tuned – I expect we’ll see a lot more Wii/PS2, and dare I hope, DS pictures soon.
[UPDATE] Ah ha! They’re from the German gaming magazine, N-Zone! Nice. Though it’s funny that the Wii version of the New Recruit has a bit of Real Ghostbusters Egon hair. Thanks again to Timo for sending them in. Everyone should keep an eye out for their favorite Nintento magazine – if one gaming mag has pictures, the rest will likely be publishing more or similar shortly!
— Pre-E3 Ghostbusters preview on G4
According to Adam Sesssssler, this Monday on G4, Terminal Reality will be on hand to demo the Ghostbusters game before it heads off to the Electronic Entertainment Expo the following week. With luck, it’ll be online on the G4 site, afterwards, but I wouldn’t count on it – if you’ve got G4, check it out. Thanks to QZEDDEMOORE for spotting that one.
— Ernie Hudson talks movie role, video game
The big news today is an interview with Ernie Hudson at Eurogamer – he shares some details about his work on the game and the movie. The big news part is his confirmation that the role of Winston used to be much larger before he was hired – this might presumably be because the role was originally intended for the other king of movie comedies at the time, Eddie Murphy. There has always been some question of what the role would have been like when they had Murphy in mind, and the answer is “larger.” He also talks about not being a gamer, but that his kids give the game a thumbs-up.
He doesn’t pretend to be a huge gamer. “But my sons, they’re really into games,” Hudson says. “So when they asked me to do the voiceover for the game, one of my boys came with me. He played it and he really liked it a lot. He was very impressed with it.”
Thanks to JP for the tip.
— Infernal tech demo – best look yet at Ghostbusters video game!
Mark Randel, head boss at Terminal Reality, narrates three tech demo clips just recently posted to YouTube – this is as from-the-horses-mouth as it gets. Mark shows off a number of features of their Infernal Engine, so this representative of the Xbox360/PC/PS3 versions. All three clips can be accessed here as a playlist. Enjoy! Andreas, Das ist fett, mein Freund. Danke!
[UPDATE]
– This is running on the PS3
– New Equipment Setting! Meson Collider! (remember, the basic is a “Positron Collider”)
– A look at terrain destruction (blows up a statue)
– Crowd herding is shown.
– A quick pass of the Ecto-1B (their hybrid Ecto design)
– Show a ghost catch and trap.
– Crowd demo of 1000 people milling about independently – then they panic when Stay Puft shows up!
– Fantastic – just under 10 minutes of footage all told.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— G4 Ghostbusters demo, tonight on G4
Okeydoke, this is it – tonight at 7pm (double check your local listings) (monday July 14th, not 13th, as the post date suggested – sorry, it was totally Monday when I posted it, technically, honest.), G4 will premiere their first E3 preview special, including a look at the Ghostbusters demo. As well, I’m sure a lot of other gaming media will light up with coverage from E3 – calling all cars! If you spot one, send it in. I’m going to be picky and choosy, looking for new info, but when in doubt, send it anyhow. It’s going to be a busy week!
— G4's Ghostbusters demo preview online!
Associate producer from Sierra, Ryan French stopped by the G4 E3 studio to show off the game – lots of great stuff! And more to come!
-Big point, you don’t earn points in the game, you earn money, which you can use to pay for your new equipment upgrades, but doing damage to the environment can cost you and the city. You can see the money coming in and going out in the footage.
– HA! And Ryan makes a point of calling it “equipment” not “weapons”! YAY!
– Comic Con will feature more, exciting news about multiplayer, but Ryan does confirm different multiplayer games for each SKU.
[UPDATE]
Anthony has a bigger, slightly longer, clip of the segment (complete with the Ghostbusters segue beforehand) that you can see here. You can also find a link to the high rez version of the clip as well. Thanks Anthony!
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Ghostbusters video game E3 trailer and screenshots!
E3 is in full swing, but you’re not missing out – PC has the E3 trailer! And more! I’ll get to the more – check out the video first (high quality QT and WMV versions after the jump.)
Now bring on the pictures!
E3 “Greatest Threat” trailer
Quicktime Low (10M)
Quicktime High (18M)
Quicktime HD 360p (31M)
Quicktime HD 780p (104M)
Windows Media Low (15M)
Windows Media High (9M)
Screenshots – Xbox
Library Ghost
Outside Library
Paragoggles
Basement Storm
Basement Clean-up
Wielder of the PKE
Screenshots – Wii
Hall
Library
Paragoggles
Book Soldier
Basement Clean-up
Book Monster
Sceenshots – Trailer HD
Whoops – Tire decal backwards
Roof Rack
Dr. Spengler
Dr. Stantz
Rookie Ryan
Shotgun Burst
Slimer…
…Sliming
Heat Em Up
Katamari Demonic
Nice shootin’ Ray
And yes, for those of you that caught the G4 demo exclusive – Sierra Associate Producer Ryan French wasn’t kidding… he actually is the model for Rookie (or an uncanny resemblance.)
(“corn fed” hee hee)
But for all of those good pics and all that good video, the most interesting part of the E3 trailer is at the very end – nested in amoung about a dozen logos sits Vivendi Gaming Mobile. Ghostbusters the video game on your phone? iPhone perhaps? All delicious speculation, but an interesting thought.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Vivendi Mobile Ghostbusters game pics
They’re teeny tiny, but they make it clear the game is an action platform that looks a lot like the old Sega Ghostbusters game. Cooool. I still want a game for the iPhone though.
The game is due out in the Fall, same as the other games, and will be available through Verizon Wireless, AT&T;, Sprint, T-Mobile. Thanks to Raffon, my man, for the heads up.
— First look at PC Ghostbusters
Gamerzines.com has their preview look at the Ghostbusters video game for PC – while not substantially different than previews for the Xbox 360 and PS3, it is cool that the PC build is out there getting some attention. The website also has their free, “magazine” page download. Thanks to Ectofiend for the find.
— Third game up at Ghostbusters video game website
The freshly rebranded Ghotbusters video game website (all references to Sierra have been replaced with Activision) has the third of six mini-games up and running. In “Containment Unit”, you have to quickly empty traps into the containment unit while Winston stalls Walter Peck upstairs – completing the game nets you a new banner, and new concept art (a wallpaper of the trap, but of course.) So, get to it – those traps aren’t going to empty themselves! But be warned… it gets fast real quick! Be sure to watch the tutorial first.
Thanks to Mike for the heads-up.
[UPDATE] It appears that the game sites outside of North America haven’t been updated yet. Hopefully the game will go online for everyone tomorrow.
— G4 footage, without all the jibber-jabber
(Well, less jibber-jabber. Those people get paid to talk, after all – but it’s not as much as from the E3 special.)
G4 has the Ghostbusters footage we saw last week in their E3 show with Associate Producer Ryan French, but without everyone talking over it, so you get a nice listen to the in-game chatter, including Bill Murray and his freshly recorded lines.
Thanks to Mr. Gill for the links – I wasn’t in a rush to post these, but I think Paul’s head was going to explode all over the PC comments in excitement if I didn’t.
[UPDATE] I don’t know what went wrong with G4 today, but I’ve found better, more direct link for the main video. Paul. There’s a link button at the bottom of the videos – please use it if you want to send in the other two videos as well.
— OXM to interview Ryan French on Inside Xbox
For those of you with an Xbox and an interest to either a) hear more from Associate Producer Ryan French or b) see OXM’s Dan Amrich fly his GB freak flag or both, then get ready – this Sunday Dan will be interviewing Ryan, in full costume, on Inside Xbox. Never fear though – the feature will go live online about a week later, so those of you without and Xbox will get a chance to watch as well.
— SDCC Ghostbusters gameplay footage
[UPDATE]
Wow, I hope you watched it, because it got yanked within minutes of me posting it. I wonder if I got a PBS channel in trouble? Whoops.
If the video comes back, I’ll be sure to post it again.
[UPDATE] QZeddemore has found submitted a video he made and posted to Game Trailers – very similar to the one that was on Flickr earlier.
[UPDATE] And more video! Thanks Zack!
[UPDATE] Q posted a whole lot more info he’s gathered at the SDCC – details of the game gleaned from Assoc. Producer Ryan French, pictures of swag from the show (marshmallow flavoured lip balm – nice), and still pics of the game demo main-menu (showing the Firehall in a near exact copy of its real surroundings in New York.) “Extras”, eh?
[UPDATE] Found a new link to the PBS video. Kotaku has their hands-on impressions from the show (thanks to Adam.) As well, Gamespot has not one, but three videos from SDCC, which pretty much put the PBS clip to shame, but fair’s fair – they got the first video up, even if it disappeared for awhile.
— More screenshots and details for mobile Ghostbusters game
Some more info and images for the Vivendi Mobile Ghostbusters cellphone game have popped up. The game, which has an excellent caricature cartoon style, has all four Ghostbusters busting ghost in three game-modes (no word on what those are), 50 levels, over various parts of the Greater New York area. C’mon, iPhone version!
— SDCC Ghostbusters game – demo controls
While they shouldn’t be considered final, Lucas sent in this pic of the demo controls for the Ghostbusters game. At this stage, they are if nothing else, a really good hint of what the final controls will be, as well as hint as some of the equipment setting features. Thanks, Lucas.
Capture Stream/Alternate Fire (only with proton stream weapons) – Left Button
Secondary Weapon Fire – Left Trigger
Primary Weapon – Right Trigger
Vent Proton Pack – Right Button
PKE Meter/Goggles – Y Button
Deploy Containment Trap – X Button
Jump – B Button
Use/Interact – A Button
Pause/Game Options – Start
Rotate Camera – Right Stick
Xbox Guide Buttons – Xbox Button
Directional Pad – D-Pad
Move – Left Stick
Proton Stream – D-Pad Up
Plasm Distribution System – D-Pad Down
Dark Matter Generator – D-Pad Left
Composite Particle System – D-Pad Right
This is also semi-official confirmation of the game controls as scooped in the OXM article last month – don’t forget, OXM’s interview with Ryan French is tomorrow on Xbox Insider. Don’t miss it!
— Activision makes announcement – calm down
Activision announced today that it is streamlining it’s publishing portfolio and “realigning” two of their subsidiary studios, Radical Entertainment and High Moon Studios, while pondering what to do with two others.
The absence of any mention of Ghostbusters: The Video Game immediately had the gaming press speculating that’s future was at risk. But that’s speculation. Here’s some speculation;
“Four of the five properties that we are keeping will be wholly owned properties that further bolster our strong brand portfolio,” said Mike Griffith, CEO of Activision Publishing. “We are very excited to add such recognizable and successful brands as Crash Bandicoot, Ice Age and Spyro, which reinforce our leadership position in movie-based and family entertainment video games.”
It’s just as easy to speculate that the following statement means that Ghostbusters is the fifth property they’re retaining, which certainly fits their agenda of retaining and building upon strong movie-based properties. It’s just not as exciting, nor does it get gaming websites as many hits (note that their headlines say it’s been axed, but the articles say it’s in “limbo”. Classy.)
So, as usual here at PC, until someone official says, “Ghostbusters has been axed!”, I’ll relax. And even if someone did, neither the IP nor the developers are tied to Activision – they would be free to find a new publisher (and a largely complete product with a high profile brand attached to it isn’t a hard sell.)
— More perspective on Activision press release
Let’s hear it for real gaming journalism – the Original Xbox Magazine did the sensible thing, and actually asked Activision for clarifiction;
“First and foremost, the game is not cancelled,” says our Activision spokesguy. As for the future, “The company is reviewing its options regarding those titles that it will not be publishing.” (We bet he says that to all the media outlets.)
So, to clarify: The statement never said the game was canned, only that Activision was choosing not to publish it under the Activision Publishing banner. It will likely be sold to another publisher, or maybe published by one company and distributed by Activision (much like the three-way dev/pub/dist deals on Guitar Hero and Rock Band). Hey, Activision could even create a new brand for all its movie-game licenses (Shrek, Kung-Fu Panda, James Bond) and do it not under Activision Publishing but as Activision Cinema or Activision Flix or something. You never know.
— Greg Miller as ghostbusters fan 1984-2008
The world of gaming press and Ghostbusters fandom lost a real fanboy yesterday when IGN reporter Greg Miller pretend-ended his own life over the news that Activision was pondering the future placement of several in-production titles, including Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Greg the fan leaves behind an office of giggling co-workers, a dog (we assume) named Portillo, three overdue reviews, and a hole in our hearts. See the not-at-all gruesome video here.
— Variety: Activision not publishing GB game, helping with options
Variety is reporting that Sony has released a statement that the Ghostbusters game will be published in 2009 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the original film, which also gives them time to explore various options for its distribution. Activision Blizzard is said to be helping explore those options with Sony. This doesn’t preclude Activision or a subsidiary being involved in the end, but it does help confirm that the game is pushed back. No word on any delay in the Blu-ray release. Cheers up. The game will see the light of day and appropriately as part of the anniversary.
[UPDATE] Thank you to Mr. Green who sent along this link to a Kotaku article – they just got a preview burn of the game, but it’s impossible to tell if it was sent prior to the Activision announcement or after (which would then help suggest if the disc was sent as part of an old PR plan, or as a post-release PR plan to keep the hype going.) The disc was burnt on the 16th of July, so it feels like it was sent prior to everything shuffling – but, it does mean we’ll see more details on the current state of the game soon.
And a big thanks to Mr. Troy, who scanned the Variety article, for those of us who don’t read the Hollywood trades every day.
[NOTE] I won’t be posting every article out there on this matter – most are rehashes of other articles, who in a lot of cases are sensational and unhelpful. However, when an interesting one pops up, I’ll share. However, that doesn’t mean you guys can’t (and already have been) posting links in the comments (biggest PC discussion yet!) – please though, rather than dumping the long links in there, take the extra step and code it into your post.< A HREF="http://www.link-address.com">my link!< /A>
will get you…
my link!
(take the spaces out between < A and < / or it won't work)
For those of you that posted bit links already, I’ll take care of those, but in the future, if you’ll link as above, I’d appreciate it.
— OXM's Ghostbusters ep of Inside Xbox online
The Official Xbox Magazine episode of Inside Xbox, which was available awhile back to Xbox owners, is now available to all online. Check it out as Dan Amrich flys his GB freak flag as hard as he can on a Microsoft approved digital show, and gets some face to face time with Sierra Associate Producer, Ryan French. Go, Dan! Go!
— Ghostbusters video game cast update: Alyssa Milano
In this month’s issue of German gaming magazine, PC Action, Terminal Reality executive producer Brendan Goss spoke a bit about the game and the cast – the most interesting reveal was the mention of Alyssa Milano as part of the cast. No word on her role, though it’s not hard to assume she will be voicing the new love-interest and damsel in distress. Thanks to Andreas for the heads up and stay tuned for more info!
— PAX 2008
Well, no word that the Ecto-1 appearance has been canceled, which is nice, as it’s a big part of my expo to-do list.
Anybody else attending?
— Confirmed: Activision not publishing Ghostbusters
Thanks to all of you that sent in email. Here’s the break-down. As we’ve known for awhile, Activision was considering what to do with the Ghostbusters video game. One possibility was that they come to terms with Sony and publish it, otherwise, they said, they would work with Sony to unload the project to date and find it a new home.
Well, judging from to Activision’s contact with retail outlets, and their contact with anybody that pre-ordered the game, they have officially passed on being the game’s publisher.
From GameStop;
“Activision blizzard has decided not to publish the ghostbusters game originally scheduled to release in October. For this reason, we have canceled the title in our systems.”
So, this just leaves them working with Sony to find it a new home.
I know that a lot of you will interpret this as a new chapter in the saga, and be mad – this is part of the last chapter. This was always the most likely possibility, as it is a move typical when one company takes over the assets of another. I know most of you don’t believe me when I say that their interest in helping it find a new home is a big deal, but could everyone please try not and abuse the PC comments system. Giant rants are best left to one of the community’s fine messageboards (links on the left.)
Anybody want to start a pool on where the game ends up?
— To Be Announced: Sony has landed new game partner
Those of you who have read PC long enough will know that I despise rumour without foundation – it’s kind of a hard distinction to make, between good rumour and bad rumour. For me to report it here, I have to take into account who’s reporting the rumour (do I know them? do I trust their instincts in this matter?), what the rumour is (what information do we know? does the rumour corroborate other info, or at least seem to make some sense?), and where the source is (“some guy” doesn’t go far, but “someone official” does.)
So, get ready (and those of you who opted to rant, even when it was explained that corporate dealings are weird, lengthy, and make no sense on a logical human level.
Someone at official at Sony emailed me over the weekend – Sony should be announcing shortly (no date, but let’s say in the next two weeks, maybe) that they are in the final steps of locking in their new publishing partner for the Ghostbusters video game.
I can’t use names, or at least I’m pretty certain I can’t, but I can confirm this is from an official track and that they summed up the matter thus;
We are close to announcing the new video game partner. It’s been a wild last couple weeks. Tell the fans all will be okay. The game will have to ship in 2009. Even if we had a partner on board in august, it’s almost impossible to meet the oct date. The game has to go thru various approvals at sony playstation, microsoft, nintendo. Retailers cannot react as well, tv ad space is closed. Lastly, we are also going to use the time to work and fine tune development of the game.
In longhand, that means that as expected, finding a new partner was inevitable – the game wasn’t in serious danger of not coming out. However, by changing dance partners, it became inevitable that the October date would not be met. As a side effect, retailers effectively have to put the game aside until a new official release date is announced. Plus, TV ad space that was lined up has to be dropped, and the process for setting up new ad space started. All of this pushes the game into 2009, though we don’t know when yet – Halloween is a great time to put it out, but is Sony willing to wait a full year? Maybe not. BUT, and this is the silver lining the pessimistic refuse to accept, extra time means extra effort put into the game. This means more refinement, likely more content, and maybe even more features.
Now, remember what I said about info interacting and corroborating other info; well, I didn’t get to see the Ecto-1 (broken down? maaaaaan) and all I got for GB swag was the lanyard strap all PAX passes were given out on, but I did pick up some info that isn’t as solid as above, but it’s still coming from some in-the-know (or at least, way more in the know than you or I), that Sony wasn’t lacking for dance partners in this transition period, to the extent that Sony was able to outright dismiss some suiters as being not right for the task. You want to finally hear a rumour from a guy that tries to avoid them like a plague?…
…Atari or EAP (Electronic Arts Partners) and we’ll know one way or another very soon.
So. What’d you guys do with your long weekend?
OH, HEY!
For those of you that dig the Rock Band, my pals The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets are going to be featured on the PAX Pack, 3-song DDL pack for this Tuesday – Harmonix is donating money from sales of the pack to Child’s Play, which is a big deal for charity. I got to hear the track, in Rock Band (technically, Rock Band 2) at PAX, and it’s as good as it gets for tracks that aren’t “classic” rock tracks. I even got to hear the band belt it out on stage at the Harmonix booth – lead singer scored 100%. Go figure.
So, all you PC rockers out there interested in supporting PAX and digging some rock from a fellow Ghosthead (lead singer – total GB nerd. Dig it), keep an eye out Tuesday!
— Bust a ghost, win a gift?
Michael at the NPIMI sent a screengrab of this flash game ad on MySpace, in which you bust ghosts and win a gift. I’ve never seen the ad, so I’m not sure what you get when you click through, but it’s interesting that ad spots lined up for the Ghostbusters game are still rolling out – it bides the time, somewhat, as we wait for more news on the video game.
Has anyone else seen this ad – if so, send me some links!
On a related note, MinnesotaGhost (like Minnesota Fats, only no pool, just ghosts) spotted these promos on a bag of Doritos – I’ve scoured my local 7-11 with no luck (may be just a US thing.) Anybody else seen one? Key flavours – 4 Cheese and Taco.
— Aykroyd says Atari to publish game – still a year off
Remember back at the beginning of September I mentioned that I had it on good authority that the game was still alive, that a publisher was about to land, and that it would push the game’s release well into 2009? And remember how I said that one of the frontrunners to publish the game was Atari? Well, it’s not official until Sony speaks up, but Dan Aykroyd let the cat out of the bag on morning radio in Dallas (see Dan arriving on motorcycle here), saying that Atari would be the publisher for the Ghostbusters video game. He also cautioned that the game was still a year off because of the change of hands.
Big ups to Brendan for the tip – see, you’re not always late to the party!
— Personally, not officially, confirmed – GB game with Atari
Via the same channels that gave me an unofficial heads-up that the Ghostbusters game had landed a new publisher a month back (but not whom that publisher would be), I’ve been able to confirm Aykroyd’s on-air reveal that Atari was in fact the landing pad. And like last time, since I can’t say who those channels are, I can only say that if anybody would know the deal, it’s them. So, entirely non-official, but for those of you still worried, I thought I should mention something – Dan appears to be right (and why wouldn’t he be – the man wouldn’t sour a deal by talking out of turn.)
Just food for thought for the weekend.
— Old trailer for old GB mobile game
Almost three years ago we reported on a Ghostbusters game for your cellphone – didn’t work on my phone, so I kind of stopped paying attention, but Doodle Vandal spotted a trailer on the official site for the game. This should not be confused with the AWOL mobile game being made by Vivendi Mobile (Is it delayed? Is it dead now that Vivendi no longer has the game license?)
The game, while simple, does look like a good way to kill a little time on the bus. Check the clip to see the gameplay (very similar to the old Gameboy GB2 game), including playing as Slimer.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Vivendi Mobile Ghostbusters game is out!
While the official website still says the game is coming soon, a couple of readers already have the game, which came out last Friday (or there abouts) – with Activision dropping the license, it looks like the already completed cellphone game is being snuck out quietly. If you’ve gotten the game, feel free to comment on how it plays, where you got it, and other details that might be of interest to other cellphone owners! Tony and Lanny, cheers for the alert (you accomplished more in an hour than Vivendi did in weeks.)
The US website says the following carriers were intended to have the game; Verizon Wireless, AT&T;, Sprint, T-Mobile. And we know of at least one carrier in Australia.
I’m no longer a tiny-screen cellphone owner, so I will be unable to provide help in this matter – those in the know, as I said before, comment please.
[UPDATE] Here’s a video clip of the game in action – the art is neat, the text is hilariously PG, and overall, it looks like the videogame equivalent of those water basketball games you used to have as a kid. Pump the button to “float” the ball through the water into a basket. Same principle here.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Confirmed! Atari makes it official! Ghostbuster game in Q2 2009!
Nothing more need be said really – Kotaku, via Variety, is reporting the official word we’ve been waiting for. You heard it here first, but now it’s golden, Atari has picked up the Ghostbusters video game and expects to release it “early Summer” next year (so… June? 8th maybe?)
The basic nature of the deal is that Atari paid Activision an unspecified amount to take the game off their hands (it’s being referred to as a flat fee, which suggests that Activision is cut out of the royalties, but that’s just a guess) and that Atari has arranged a right of first refusal with Sony to make follow-up games, if the first rocks the world.
Nevil and Sean, cheers for the heads up.
— Mystery solved – No money in it, says Activision-Blizzard
For everyone that asked, “Is Activision crazy? Why did they drop Ghostbusters the Video Game?”, we now have an answer. While speaking to Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, a financial analyst asked a similar question. The answer is that the company does not see any way to generate post-release revenue with the game, like they can with Guitar Hero’s DLC.
The games Activision Blizzard didn’t pick up, he said, “don’t have the potential to be exploited every year on every platform with clear sequel potential and have the potential to become $100 million dollar franchises. … I think, generally, our strategy has been to focus… on the products that have those attributes and characteristics, the products that we know [that] if we release them today, we’ll be working on them 10 years from now.”
So, there you go – money.
— Atari-Sony talk game – reveal something cool
Kotaku has gotten the official press release on the Ghostbusters video game, which only confirms everything we already know. But official makes it… official. Right?
They also say they have new screens, which means two images, one of which looks like one we’ve seen before, though I can’t be certain – I’m confident you eagle-eyes out there will let us know.
But what was really interesting came at the end;
To recognize this special milestone, Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc has licensed the property for several new products to commemorate the anniversary, including: video games, toys, t-shirts, comic books, prop replicas, and a theme park attraction.
Reeeeeeeeally? I’m listening…
Thanks to Brendan for the heads-up.
— Atari confirms June 2009
Various release dates for the newly saved Ghostbusters video game have begun appearing on online retail sites, but none were considered official, until now. At a UK press conference, Atari revealed that they would be releasing the game in June 2009 (the most common suspected date), but no actual day was mentioned. But hey, it’s official – June 2009. Mark your calendars.
Thanks to all of you who have been sending in the retail dates, and a slightly bigger thanks to the couple of you who had “secret” info for June.
— New Atari trailer for Ghostbusters videogame
(don’t forget – the play has a full screen button – you may want it for this one)
[UPDATE] – Quicktime HD version can be downloaded here.
Atari has released a new trailer, which features some amazing stuff, when compared to the amazing-in-its-own-right teaser released by Activision earlier in the year. Not only do we get a better look at the boys, we get to hear them quip! Plus, keep an eye out for our favorite EPA bureaucratic. The only thing notably absent (or more accurately, hard to see) in the trailer is The Rookie – I was kind of wondering if they’d keep the original model, seeing as it was based on Sierra producer Ryan French.
Thanks to the TONNES of you that sent in links and a reminder to all of you that opted to post in comments – that’s not the best way to let PC readers know, as PC readers don’t consistently read the comments. Please send that stuff my way, so I can be sure to put it front and center, where it deserves to be.
[UPDATE] The PC Flickr photo-set of the trailer can be found here. The Rookie does show up more than I’d at first thought, but he is still way less Ryan-looking than before, I think. Time will tell.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— TeamXbox interviews Terminal Reality
In no time at all since announcing the deal between Sony and Atari, and hot on the heels of today’s trailer, TeamXbox sat down with Terminal Reality Executive Producer Brendan Goss and Producer Michael Fetterman, to talk about what’s in store for the upcoming Atari title. They also talk a bit about what happened with Activision and the period of transition.
Obviously Rick Moranis comes up a lot since he was the one guy we weren’t able to get in the time frame we had based on availability and everything else, and that certainly open for discussion again now. No guarantees, but the game hasn’t shipped yet.
It’s not very long, but well worth the read, so check it out – and a small note to TeamXbox; anybody writing for an Xbox news website should be very careful tossing the “nerd” label around like that. I’m just saying. (narf)
— Don't forget DS
While the next-gen goodness in the trailer dominated the day, there was plenty more Ghostbusters gaming info that came out of the Atari press conference – a whole bunch of DS and Wii commentary has popped up;
There’s the main quest which is modeled after the plot of the console versions of Ghostbusters (minus the Rookie character), and a series of side quests that help the Ghostbusters earn cash to afford weapon and technology upgrades. Questing also builds up the Reputation score – if this score drops to zero, it’s game over.
To get to a mission, you will actually drive the Ecto-1. Yes, you drive the car in this game! You can even turn on the sirens! The camera switches will be pointed at the rear of the Ecto-1 as you drive through the city trying to reach your destination. You’ll be on a time limit, but there’s a map you can follow on the top screen so you can see the best routes to your objective. The Ecto-1 also has a proton beam on it that you can actual fire while driving. Just tap on the screen and your proton beam will shoot out at where you’re touching. Oh and the Ghostbusters theme song plays every time you drive.
Its developers like to describe it as “X-COM light.” If you haven’t played X-COM, it’s a classic, tactical PC game that splits its time between managing bases/personell and isometric combat. A big difference, though, is that action unfolds in real-time in Ghostbusters, whereas it was turn-based in X-COM.
— Atari Live wrap-up
This past weekend, the Millennium Dome in London played host to Atari Live, where gaming press got some hands on time with Atari’s upcoming schedule of games, including Ghostbusters: The Video Game.
Besides yesterday’s look at the GB game Trailer, and some text only hands-on reports for the DS version of the game, Atari has made available some shots from the Wii version of the game, which give us a great look at how the game uses elements familiar to the next-gen versions, as well as using a new, less art intensive, stylized approach to the game. (click to see larger images)
I think kids of all ages are going to have a ball with this game! Stay tuned for more info on the Wii version of the game in the coming months and weeks.
For those interested, here’s the official press release from Atari;
Title: Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Platform: PLAYSTATION®3, PlayStation®2, Xbox 360®, Windows® PC, Wii™ and Nintendo DS™
Release Date: 2009
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Terminal Reality (PS®3, Xbox 360, PC); Red Fly (Wii, PS2, DS)
Category: 3rd Person ActionPRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
Ghostbusters: The Video Game, based on the smash hit motion picture franchise and featuring a completely new story, is coming to six game systems in 2009. Coinciding with the 25th anniversary celebration of the film’s original theatrical release, the game reunites original cast members to recapture the unique blend of humour and fright that established Ghostbusters as a pop culture sensation.
Penned by original Ghostbusters writers Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd, Ghostbusters: The Video Game brings members of the original cast together for the first time in 20 years. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson lend their voices and in-game likenesses to the original story set two years after Ghostbusters II, with Manhattan once again overrun by ghosts and supernatural forces. Players will have the chance to chase, attack, and catch ghosts in a funny and frightening battle to save New York from its latest supernatural plague.PRODUCT FEATURES:
· Authentic Ghostbusters Experience: The game features the voices and in-game likenesses of Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson in an original story penned by the writers of the original films Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis· Unique gameplay: Experience unique ghost hunting, wrangling and trapping with upgradeable weapons in widely destructible environments and large scale boss fights
· All New Storyline – Set two years after Ghostbusters II, the game will feature an all new storyline as the player battles and captures well-loved and brand new ghosts throughout New York
· Six Game Systems –PLAYSTATION 3, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Windows PC, Wii and Nintendo DS, capitalizing on the graphical and gameplay strengths of the different platforms
· Ghostbusters 25th Anniversary – 2009 celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the original theatrical release of Ghostbusters. To mark the occasion, Ghostbusters: The Video Game will be released, and Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II will be released on Blu-ray™ disc
— Actually, Activision would have been more apropos
Scott Kurtz, creator of PvP, once again shows he’s a giant Ghostbuster nerd in his strip. But While nothing says 80s, like Atari and Ghostbusters, nothing says Ghostbusters video game, like Activision… and that ship, she has sailed. Opportunity for PvP to comment… LOST!
— Wii gameplay footage
Game Reactor has a video of Atari’s presentation of the Wii Ghostbusters gameplay – check it out here! [via GBFans]
NOTES:
-Same storyline as Next Gen systems.
-Unlockable concept art (Wii only)
-2 player split-screen co-op (Wii only)
-Male and Female Rookie character
-Gestural controls during capture to take advantage of the Wii nunchuks.
-A bit more focus on puzzle and exploration in the Wii game.
-You can hear the “That’s your cue, Killer” line Ray has in the Atari trailer.
— Kikizo interview with Terminal Reality
Kikizo has an interview with Terminal Reality dudes, Drew Haworth and the incredibly misidentified Mike Fetterman (not Mike Douglas. Just substitute Fetterman every time they say Douglas.) It’s a good read, particularly for those of you that don’t see the benefit of waiting until Summer 09 to get the game.
Haworth: We’re no exception – we’re very happy with the interval. Some of the cinematics need work, and we’re adding a more fluid animation system for the NPCs, working on the sound levelling, and for the most part just improving the experiential aspect of the game. Pacing can be changed, stuff like that, but we haven’t added any new features, just improved on features.
Douglas: We’re not going crazy with it. At the time the transition actually happened, we were actually pretty close to being near final, so what we’re doing is we’re making a pass through all the levels, taking a good hard look at every single one, to make sure they all have the same attention to detail, the variety of gameplay… not just fighting ghost after ghost after ghost but there will be environmental interactions, puzzles and other interesting things to do that are within the remit of what Ghostbusters are expected to do… We’re just pushing that through all the levels, really taking the time to do it right.
Big thanks to Mr. X for the tip (and pointing out the Fetterman issue – I’m so sleepy right now, I would have started calling him Mike Douglas too.)
— Atari boss – I want to prove Activision wrong
Thanks to Matt R for sending this in – the title says it all. In an interview with MCV magazine, Atari president Phil Harrison said outright that he wants to make Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick regret dumping Terminal Reality’s Ghostbusters video game. There’s a reason to pre-order if I ever heard one.
“What Bobby, perhaps unhelpfully said, was that those games were franchises which wouldn’t make $100m of revenue and generate sequels.
“If that’s his benchmark, then fine – and we’d love to aspire to the same benchmarks. But you know what? I would love to turn Ghostbusters into a $100m franchise, just to prove him wrong.”
2009 (140 entries)
— Press confused on GB videogame release date
Today’s flurry of CES news has Atari announcing officially a June 16th release date for the Ghostbusters videogame. Or, as some of them put it, June 19th. Nice work, press.
Given the June 16th release announcement for the Blu Ray Ghostbusters that was made yesterday, and that the release was intended to coincide with the game’s release, I’m going to assume for now that June 19th is a dumb typo, and other outlets just keep reporting it.
So, until we hear otherwise… June 16th. Mark your calendars.
— Ecto clone haunts Burnout Paradise today
This has been a long time coming – first blood goes to Adam from Rochester and ProtonPack666, who heard about the special car back at the beginning of November! But back then, we could only see pics of the Back To The Future Delorean clone – so while “Manhattan Spirit” was likely a good bet to be an Ecto-1 clone, I wanted to wait until we could see it. And now we can.
Thanks to Kevin for the video link and for some high rez pics of the car, check out this link sent in by RPG. Each car has a special feature – the Delorean can switch between road-mode and hover mode. So we can start taking bets about what the Spirit does, I guess.
The game is out now, and the special cars are available as part of a downloadable content package, which was released today (check your console marketplace for more information.) Burnout has been a fun series, and for anyone wishing the Ghostbusters video game had more driving than it sounds like is intended, this might help curb your urge to run some red lights.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— ars technica covers the history of the new GB game
While most readers of PC will have a pretty good sense of the progression from nothing to almost fully realised game, ars technica has an article walking people through everything from Zootfly’s bold, but futile attempt to win the project right through to now, with the game set to come out this Summer. Thanks Joe!
— New pics and vid of Ghostbusters game
Andreas sent in a couple of links – the first is to a German gaming site that has seven new pics from the next gen version of Ghostbusters: The Video Game. As always, they are excellent.
And Gamesradar has some video of a demo of the game – it’s all shaky-cam, but there’s some good stuff to watch, like the player reviving downed Ghostbusters.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Playstation Universe interviews Terminal Reality
PSU recently sat down with Terminal Reality and Ghostbusters: The Video Game producer, Brendan Goss, to talk ectoplasm.
One of our development pillars is to ensure that every experience is Fun, Funny, or Scary. This drove design and we put significant effort into making sure that we could build and sustain tension and then pay it off with some pretty effective scares.
Mind you, Ghostbusters is a pretty friendly Teen-rated game in terms of content, so we go more for the shock moments and situations than any gore. At times it’s been a challenge to talk some of our team down from the splatter ledge!
Four pages of interview! Check it out.
— IGN posts first look at GB DS screens
DS IGN has posted the first screenshots from the DS version of the Ghostbusters video game. While functionally a much different game, wherein you manage your Ghostbusters team, style-wise it looks a lot like the Wii/PS2 versions, at least in terms of characters. This means we’re getting our first, clear, but small, look at Egon, Peter, and Winston.
Not the cleanest interface I’ve ever seen, but I’m keen to see it in action, particularly the driving (which we can see in one of the screenshots.)
— Atari/Terminal Reality posts game dev diary for GB game.
WorthPlaying.com has posted the first of what we can only hope will be a selection of developer diaries for the Ghostbusters video game. Check it out. The best part is the comparative screenshots of what the game looked like at the start of development and what it looks like now.
[UPDATE] It looks like WorthPlaying took the dev diary from a special IGN blog that Atari created to promote the Ghostbusters game – the diary is NOT exclusive to them. Bad form there.
And again, I invite everyone who posted “isn’t that the IGN blog” into the comments (or even thought it to themselves) to, you know, maybe EMAIL ME ABOUT IT next time. I got a day job that is literally all day long – I can only do so much digging some days. Thanks. You don’t have to get fancy – email a link and your name – I can take it from there.
— Video game website back online
Ghostbustersgame.com is now back online, sporting the Atari logo, but essentially the same. I’m not 100% certain, but it looks as if they removed the account system – previously, you had to have an account to play the games and have your results stored. Now there doesn’t seem to be any login link and the sign-up link (the poster in the top left) appears to be merely a mailing-list sign-up. Thanks to Andreas to the heads up.
[UPDATE] The final scene of the trailer on the site features a new Venkman shot and line. Why is Egon smirking?
[UPDATE] The new clips is at the end of the trailer on the US site. Those of you clicking through to the other, International sites, you will still see the old teaser Sierra made. So if you want to see the new clip, go to the US site.
— Game Reactor posts series of Ghostbusters interviews/clips
Andreas and Santar sent in separate links to a couple of interviews Game Reactor had with various notables at Terminal Reality and Red Fly Studios. The clips have game footage as well!
Creative Director, Terminal Reality, Andrew Haworth
Audio Director, Red Fly Studios, James Barker
One more time – Please try and avoid posting links to new news items in the comments of old posts. Email me. That’s how we keep things organized. I’m looking at you, Santar.
— GB PC game specs released? Yes. Not accidentally.
AJ Quick at GBFans.com has come upon a generally unknown Atari webpage which is being put together in anticipation of the demo release for the PC version of the Ghostbusters video game. Assuming they are the final specs (and not placeholders from a different game, intended to be replaced before going public), they are informative. Support for an Xbox 360 controller is nice, for those not wanting to use keyboard and mouse like a proper old school PC player. Represent!
Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows® XP
CPU: Dual-core Any Intel® or AMD® or faster
RAM: 2 GB
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400 512 MB or ATI®Radeon® X1300 512 MB, Shader 3.0 Required
Sound: DirectX® 9.0c compatible
Hard Drive: 9 GB or more available hard drive space
Disc Drive: DVD-ROM drive.
Input: Keyboard and Mouse or Xbox 360® compatible controller
DirectX® 9.0cRecommended System Requirements
OS: Windows® XP, Windows Vista™
CPU: Dual-core Any Intel® or AMD® or faster
RAM: 2 GB
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 512 MB or ATI® Radeon® HD2900 512 MB, Shader 3.0 Required
Sound: DirectX® 9.0c compatible
Hard Drive: 9 GB or more available hard drive space
Disc Drive: DVD-ROM drive
Input: Keyboard and Mouse or Xbox 360® compatible controller
Direct X:DirectX® 9.0c
Fun PC Direct X tip – there are different versions of 9c, so just because you have a version of 9c, don’t assume it the one you need, and you should install the Direct X drivers when prompted. Also, Direct X 10, which comes on Vista, sounds a lot like it’s more than 9c, but no… it’s not. So, if you have a Vista system with 10, you should still install 9c on the game disc. Fun! Boring! But it’ll save some of you some frustration, I’ll bet.
And no word yet as when the demo will be released, but typically it will be in the month prior to game release, provided they’re not waiting until after release to put the demos out (which does happen sometimes.)
[UPDATE] Paul points out the page (link added above) has a couple of new screenshots as well as the new forum (after the short-lived Sierra forum was yanked.)
— IGN posts Rule #2 trailer
Back when Sierra was still in charge of the Ghostbusters video game, the publisher released the first trailer for the game, warning us of the most important rule – don’t cross the streams. Now, Atari is in charge, and they’ve just released a new trailer, warning us of the second most important rule (though, as it turns out, it’s not THAT important.)
Some good footage, and a style nod to the first trailer (by including footage from the actual movie), but the thing that stands out the most is getting to hear Brian Doyle Murray as the Mayor (Mayor Has A Hat, as I like to call him.) Thanks to Ecto Freak for the tip.
— Atari previews Ghostbusters game on UK Xbox Live
For those of you in the UK, you can hit the video marketplace for Atari Live: We Ain’t Afraid of No Ghost, a short video preview of the Ghostbusters video game. I’m trying to find out if we’ll get it in NA soon – more than likely, we’ll get a similar preview, as the UK video features a UK host. Stay tuned. Thanks to Matthew for the heads up.
[UPDATE] Matthew has a topic on it at GBFans and another UK fan, SlimedPeanuts, as a screen photo as evidence. It should be noted that most free, Xbox Live videos eventually end up on Microsoft’s Live website, usually a week later.
— Atari/IGN blog posts the history of Red Fly in Ghostbusters game
Red Fly Studio’s Director of Production, Jeff Mills, has posted a sizable post at the Atari/IGN Ghostbusters blog, which outlines how Red Fly got the sweet gig of putting the Ghostbusters video game on the Wii, DS, and PS2. Check it out.
— NYCC: new Ghostbusters game screenshots
Item 1 from “NYCC Day Two!”. This mixed-topic post has been separated by subject.
-Worth Playing has 7 new screenshots for the next gen systems as well as the Wii/PS2 build of the game. IGN has two of the same shots, but they have a larger version of the Wii concept art seen yesterday on the Atari/IGN blog (see below.)
— Threewave cat let out of the bag
For a year now it’s been a semi-secret in Vancouver game dev circles that Threewave Software was working on the multiplayer maps for the Ghostbusters video game, but it’s a semi-secret no more, as ShackNews has blabbed. Threewave has little to say beyond confirming they are working on the maps, and not confirming anything about MP modes, leaving that to a planned Atari announcement in a month’s time. Thanks to Ray for the tip.
— Sci-Fi Wire at NYCC – exclusive video
Sci-Fi Wire spoke to some of the gents behind Ghostbusters: The Video Game, and some interesting info abounds. Not only do we find out more about the set-up of this game, there’s already talk within the developers about a sequel. This doesn’t mean anything until Atari finds out how successful the first game is, but it’s nice to know that a follow-up title was at least considered during the scripting of the first. Thanks EDFX for the linkage.
[UPDATE] Wow. I originally embedded their video, but something about their embed system really slows down the loading of the site, so for now, see the video on their site.
— New DS/Wii pics at IGN – Janine!
DS.IGN.com has 5 new screenshots of the DS version of the Ghostbusters game – similar to the shots seen previously (which are also at the IGN gallery), it’s still nice to see more of the game in action.
WI.IGN.com has also posted five new shots from the Wii edition of the game, wherein we get a nice look at some of the boys, Civil war soldiers, and… JANINE! Janine, you’ve changed.
Is it Summer yet?
[UPDATE] Oh, and two new shots for the Xbox 360 as well.
— X-Play NYCC coverage
G4’s X-Play was at the New York Comic Con the weekend before last, and they aired their full-access look at the Ghostbusters video game tonight, which was just now posted online. I haven’t had a chance to watch tonight, so for now, enjoy.
— New Atari dev blog and Germany peeps next-gen Janine!
First up, there’s a new dev blog post at Atari’s IGN Ghostbusters blog – entitled Proving It, the post covers the period just after Terminal Reality was offered the Ghostbusters license, which meant making a proof-of-concept. The post also contains my fav, the Ecto-H20, and a picture of test uniforms.
The result was a playable proof-of-concept that felt, almost eerily, just like a pivotal scene in the movie: a Ghostbuster fought and captured Slimer while brutalizing a ballroom in the Hotel Sedgewick. Everything in the room, from the three-tiered cake on the buffet table to the nondescript bottles behind the bar (they’re labeled ‘Bottle’) to the heavy crystal chandelier on the ceiling could be broken, shattered, or incinerated in blazing flames.
Meanwhile, over in Germany, gaming magazine Games Aktuell had a piece on the game, which included our first-look at Janine on the next-gen systems (tiny image below – click here for full sized scan) and a kick-ass poster! Thanks to René and Timo for the tag-team emails (also, take a moment to peep René’s GB art. Niiice.)
— New PS3 Ghostbuster screens
IGN has 5 new shots of the Ghostbusters video game, including a high quality version of the picture of Janine seen last week in German gaming mags. There’s a fantastic picture of The Sedgewick lobby!
Also, people had been asking about the case with Slimer in it, having seen it in the German photos – it’s a lot clearer in this image, and suggests a holding case, which is consistent with very very very early feature reports on the game, which included a viewable library of captured ghosts. It appears that you can call up ghosts you’ve captured, just to have a look at them back at the firehall.
Thanks Andi
— Atari to host MCV awards reception
Atari has signed on to host the meet-and-greet reception at this year’s MCV awards in London. The evening is being dedicated to promoting the Ghostbusters video game and Atari is promising an interactive evening, with “a few surprises.” Hopefully we’ll get to see some pics or video from the press afterwards.
— IGN – two new pics and an interview
IGN has posted a new interview with Brendan Goss, Executive Producer on the Ghostbusters video game, which also comes with two new screenshots;
We knew from day one that there would be a great deal of pressure to do the franchise justice. There is no middle ground for this title — we will either be hailed for returning a childhood memory to all its glory or be hunted by an angry mob with torches and pitch forks for tainting everyone’s favorite movie. At the same time, everyone on the team recognized what a huge opportunity this is for the company and for each of us to participate in the Ghostbusters universe. It was a massive boost when the talent and Sony pictures gave us the feedback that we had really hit the mark and delivered the experience that they were hoping for.
— New Atari IGN blog post – GB Equipment!
New post on the IGN sponsored Atari Ghostbusters blog – this week, it’s all about the equipment – and not just the standard equipment, but some of the hot new experimental stuff! Specifically, how the were designed with the unique controls of the Wii in mind.
An upgrade to the original proton packs comes in the form of the boson dart, a super de-polarized burst of boson particles that overcharges the beam briefly, sending a miniature sun along the length of the beam to destroy anything it touches. It can drain a ghost’s energy in one or two shots, but it overheats the pack very quickly. It should be used with caution. (But it usually isn’t.)
— Weaver digs GB VG… too little too late
At a press conference today in Stockholm, Terminal Reality producer Brendan Goss spoke about the lack of Sigourney Weaver involvement in the Ghostbusters video game – in short, she passed on the game, only to later see if the offer was still open once she found out Bill Murray was involved, only to find production too far along involving a new female lead.
Speaking of Bill Murray, Goss says that Murray hinged his involvement on the game featuring all GBs equally and not being Peter Venkman – The Game. Which, honestly, I still probably would have bought. But it’s nice to hear that Bill is a mench about the whole affair.
Big ups to Dan et al for the heads up.
— NOT a Ghostbusters video game clip
Some people are really starting to get excited about the new Ghostbusters game. And they have a copy of Team Fortress 2.
— IGN posts more Next-Gen/Wii game details and new pics
IGN continues to maintain its symbiotic position as kings of info related to the Ghostbusters video game – this time they’ve posted a new preview and five new screenshots.
There are some nice details on upgrading your equipment, the types of achievements/trophies you can earn, but best of all are the details on multiplayer play, which sees players working together, yet competing to score the best (basically, who’s Ghostbuster of the Year. Nyuk)
And oh yeah… you can play as the original four;
What’s interesting about these modes is that they provide you with the opportunity to play as both the single-player star known only as the rookie and the four original Ghostbusters. Also cool — or at least sounds like it could be cool — are the six possible job types you’ll face in a multiplayer game. Survival pits you against a “paranormal onslaught;” Containment is all about capturing every single ghost out there; Destruction charges you with destroying a bunch of ghost-spawning artifacts; you’ll need to protect Egon’s devices in Protection; Thief wants you to stop ghosts from stealing artifacts and Slime Dunk asks you to “dunk the most slimers,” which I’m assuming means slamming them into the ghost traps. Helping you tackle these jobs are six power-ups such as the Ghost Shrinker and Ethereal Shield.
IGN Wii also posted their hands-on and 5 new pics for the sub-next-gen version of the game.
Big ups to Justin, Mark, Lila, et al for the heads up.
— Ghostbusters TVG presstour
With only a few months left before the launch of the Ghostbusters video game, Terminal Reality and Red Fly crew have started popping up all over the place.
For starters, Red Fly creative lead, Dustin Dobson took some time out from showing off the game in Stockholm to talk to Game Reactor.
As well, the Giant Bomb podcast sat down with Terminal Reality associate producer Andre Bermudez and Red Fly QA lead Alexis Abere (apologies if I’ve misspelled those – Giant Bomb didn’t write them in the description text, filling it with Ghostbuster quotes instead. Fail!) Thanks to Ego for the link.
— Ghostbusters: TVG multiplayer fact-sheet
Ready?
MULTIPLAYER ON PS3, Xbox 360 & PC
MULTIPLAYER OVERVIEW:
Teamwork is what being a Ghostbuster is all about so Terminal Reality have worked with Three Wave Software, a triple-A multiplayer developer, to create an exciting and original multiplayer component in Ghostbusters: The Video Game for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC platforms.Offering gamers the unique opportunity to play as one of the four original Ghostbusters, an option not available in the single player game, the multiplayer is a fast-paced, co-operative experience. Taking place on an average phantom-packed day for the Ghostbusters team, players will work together to contain supernatural phenomena around the city while competing to earn the biggest pay check.
MULTIPLAYER FEATURES:
Unique Multiplayer Features:
1. Play as one of the Ghostbusters: Choose to play as any one of the four original Ghostbusters or the rookie;
2. Unique Achievements: Players are given scores and ranks for each match that are also applied to their online profile. Difficulty scaling is available according to rank;
3. 6 Unique Power-ups: To help players on even the trickiest of jobs, unique power-ups such as the Ghost Shrinker or Ethereal Shield are available;
4. Limited Ammunition: To ensure teamwork, players must pick up ammunition for each type of equipment with ammunition levels being shown on the proton pack;
5. Unique AI Features: To add another dimension to the hunting, wrangling and trapping experience of being a Ghostbuster, ghosts have unique AI features such as more aggressive behaviour, the power to sabotage traps and the ability to fuse with other ghosts;
6. Full VOIP support: Voice support for both Xbox 360 and PS3 allows for easy communication between players.
Two Multiplayer Co-op Game Modes:
7. Instant Action: players can test their mettle in a variety of Job Types across a selection of 12 different maps to see if they’ve got what it takes to be a true Ghostbuster;
8. Campaign Mode: players work through one of four different environments busting ghosts to earn cash and upgrade their equipment.12 maps across 4 themed environments:
1. Library
2. Streets
3. Cemetery
4. MuseumSix Unique Job Types:
1. Survival: Survive a paranormal onslaught
2. Containment: Capture all the ghosts
3. Destruction: Eliminate mysterious artefacts to prevent spawning ghosts
4. Protection: Protect Egon’s devices
5. Thief: Save the artefacts from being stolen by ghosts
6. Slime Dunk: Dunk the most SlimersOnline Multiplayer Features:
1. Leaderboards and player statistics: have you got what it takes to be the world’s greatest Ghostbuster?
2. Ranking: Skill and rank based matchmaking is available.
3. Most Wanted Ghosts: these ghosts appear are special ghosts that appear mid game based on the experience of the current players – it’s your job to trap them all.
[via Kombo]
— Game Trailers to reveal video game boss Friday NIGHT, 1AM!
Game Trailers is hyping their next show on Spike – something about a spy, and Fallout 3 (OK, I’m starting to listen)… Oh, and an exclusive look at an unrevealed boss from the Ghostbusters video game. Friday at 1AM, with web video post to follow (does that mean Thursday night? Whatever. Get ready.)
[UPDATE] A quick look at Zap2It confirms that “Friday 1AM” is “Friday NIGHT at 1AM” or “Saturday 1AM” in Spike-ese. So, if you thought you missed it… you didn’t.
— Ghostbusters TVG interview with Strategy Informer
The string of European press Atari did for the Ghostbusters video game last week, which started generating returns earlier this week, has resulted in more pre-weekend info, starting with Strategy Informer. In this case, there was a lot of talk about the origins of the game, similar to stuff we’ve heard before. But there is one big revelation.
Brendan Goss:We had phenomenal technology for a complete voice recognition squad command where you could tell Ray to go open a door and he’d do as he was told but that just wasn’t right. As a player, if you tell Peter Venkman to go open a door he’s going to hit you with something, he’s not just going to go over and open the door, so that was something that we had a look at and thought, well this is great, but it’s not a good fit for what we’re trying to do, so we cut it.
— Ray Parker Jr.: We're working on Ghostbusters for Rock Band
Eurogamer has a fantastic interview with Ray Parker Jr. about all things Ghostbusters, from writing the game, to how much money he’s made, to being in the third movie. But for me, the gum-swallowing part was when he revealed that there had been some discussion – discussion that sound young mind you, but doesn’t sound over yet – about getting the Ghostbusters theme song into Rock Band.
Judy: Games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band obviously offer another revenue stream for musicians. Would you like to see your songs in those games?
Ray Parker Jr.: We were just talking about that, we’re working on it now. I think they should have Ghostbusters in Rock Band.
— Gametrailers look at new GB game boss – Spider Witch!
Gametrailers fulfilled their promise last night at gave us a pretty sweet look at an evil, but not final, boss from the Ghostbusters video game; The Spider Witch. She is half spider and half witch, if you didn’t guess. Webs are also involved.
GT’s Daniel Kayser spoke to Terminal Reality’s Glenn Gamble a bit about the game and the boss, who guards a particular portal the Ghostbusters are trying to use to get to the spirit realm.
— Multiplayer gameplay footage and interview
IncGamers.com got to sit down with Brendan Goss and Drew Haworth from Terminal Reality to talk about the Ghostbusters video game and there is some SWEET footage of a multiplayer game being set up and in action. The bad news – the video audio is HOOPED! I’ve tried it in multiple machines and browsers, so please do check out their site and try the video there and let me know if you have the same problem.
In the meantime, here’s a locally hosted, smaller copy. [update] Nope, I’m getting the same playback problems locally – maybe it’s just me. If you have the same problem, skip to 5mins to watch for the Multiplayer video.
Thanks to Secret K for the heads up.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— New gameplay trailer and training level video! With Venkman!
Game Cinema has put up two new videos, one is a gameplay trailer with lots of footage of the game in action and the other is a video showing everything from the start up of the game all the way through your first training bust… with the help of Dr. Peter Venkman. This game is going to be awesome!
The gameplay trailer has some amazing sights, particularly the various weapon types (BOSON DART!), but the trainer level has everything you want – Bill Murray dialog, the destructible environment, using the throwers to wear a ghost down, slamming them to get them into the trap, overheating packs, dodging ghost attacks, the ecto-goggle/PKE combo, and even the suggestion that – as you’d expect – walking into someone else’s stream isn’t a good idea. As well, we get a taste of how the movie soundtrack will be used in the game – it works really well!
Be sure to go to Game Cinema (links above) for the HD version of the clips! Thanks to Timo, Hunter, and Kevin for the heads up!
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— New Atari/IGN dev post: Threewave on multiplayer
Colleague and fellow ex-Rockstar Tony Laborie wrote this week’s developer’s blog post at Atari’s IGN Ghostbuster blog. Tony talks a bit about how Threewave got the contract to produce the multiplayer aspects of the game, and Atari tossed in some sweet shots to boot.
— Atari/IGN official reveal Alyssa Milano as cast member.
The better part of a year ago, Terminal Reality executive producer Brendan Goss revealed in an interview that Alyssa Milano was part of the video game voice talent. While no details were given, it was considered a safe bet that she was the voice of the new love-interest for Venkman.
Well, with an amazing new video (that’s worth it for the new scenes and behind the scenes footage as it is for the interview with Ms. Milano), it turns out… she’s the voice of the new love-interest for Venkman. Dana v.2 if you will (though, to be fair, that’s just a description of her plot role – beautiful woman entangled unknowingly with the supernatural – same as Dana. The character, and Milano’s characterization, should be unique and interesting.) Go check out the video now!
[UPDATE] GBfans has the Variety magazine article on Milano, as well as an image of Milano’s character as seen in the Wii/PS2 version of the game.
ALSO! I just noticed, the game’s rated now – always suspected to be Teen, it’s official once they stamp it on trailers. T for Teen: Comic Mischief, Fantasy Violence, and Mild Language. It’s ESRB-ese for PG-13.
[UPDATE] Atari has a press release on Milano and her character in the game, Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn, Archeologist. The whole thing, after the jump.
ALYSSA MILANO UNVEILED AS LOVE INTEREST IN UPCOMING BLOCKBUSTER TITLE ‘GHOSTBUSTERS: THE VIDEO GAME’
– Alyssa Milano Takes on the Role of Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn, Archeologist and Love Interest, in ‘Ghostbusters: The Video Game’ Coming June 2009 –
LYON, FRANCE – 20 March 2009 – Atari today unveiled Alyssa Milano as the new love interest in the forthcoming blockbuster title Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Alyssa Milano is best known for her roles in long running successful television series “Who’s the Boss”, “Melrose Place”, “Charmed” and most recently “My Name Is Earl” to name a few. Milano joins members of the original cast from the beloved Ghostbusters movies to recreate the unique blend of humour and fright that established Ghostbusters as a pop culture sensation.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game prides itself in staying true to the Ghostbusters universe, so it just wouldn’t feel right if Bill Murray’s character, Dr. Peter Venkman, wasn’t turning on the charm. In Ghostbusters: The Video Game, he’s chasing one in particular: Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn is a smart and sassy archaeologist who doesn’t take too kindly to Dr. Venkman’s advances.
In the game, Milano’s character, Ilyssa Selwyn, is an expert in Sumerian and pre-Sumerian cultures and is visiting New York City as guest curator for the highly anticipated ‘World of Gozer’ exhibition opening in 1991 at the Natural History Museum. In the story line, Gozerian mythology has attracted a wide popular following since the still-unexplained events and attacks that occurred in the city in 1984. Ilyssa is working late at the museum the night before the opening when a cataclysmic force is unleashed and summons an ancient enemy back to New York City. Strange events continue to erupt around her: what secret does she know? It’s up to the Ghostbusters to help Ilyssa find the key and stop the forces of evil that threaten the balance of the universe. That’s if they can keep Peter Venkman from hitting on her every three minutes.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game, based on the smash hit motion picture franchise, is penned by original Ghostbusters writers and stars Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd. The other original Ghostbusters, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson, lend their voices and in-game likenesses to the original story set two years after Ghostbusters II, with Manhattan once again overrun by ghosts and supernatural forces. The player joins up as a new recruit with the original team, testing a variety of unique equipment and gadgets, to track, wrangle and trap this wide range of awe-inspiring phantasms in an all new funny and frightening battle to save New York City from its latest paranormal plague.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game will be available on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Games for Windows®, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ in North America on 16 June 2009 followed by worldwide release on 19 June 2009 to coincide with the 25th anniversary celebration of the film’s original theatrical release. For more information on Ghostbusters, please visit www.ghostbustersgame.com, and for Atari’s entire line up, visit www.atari.com.
Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II combined to gross over $500 million world-wide at the box office. The film spawned some of the most memorable comedic catch-phrases and scenes in motion picture history. To further celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary milestone this year, Sony Pictures Consumer Products has licensed the property for several new commemorative products including: toys, t-shirts, comic books, prop replicas, and a theme park attraction. In addition, the original Ghostbusters car (Ecto-1) has been fully restored with plans for special promotional appearances throughout the US and additional replicas touring across Europe. The Blu-ray Disc release of Ghostbusters will see unsurpassed picture and audio quality and advanced new bonus features including Slimer Mode, a picture-in-picture graphical viewing experience, a featurette on the refurbishing of Ecto-1, and more.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Wait… wha… so, Moranis is IN now?
The Escapist made a post on all the new happenings with the Ghostbusters video game today, including the following paragraph;
In addition to the original four (Venkman, Egon, Stanz and Zeddmore), Rick Moranis will be reprising Louis Tully. Unfortunately, Sigourney Weaver (Dana) won’t be coming back. Instead you’ll just have to deal with Alyssa Milano as the love interest.
The emphasis is not mine, it’s theirs – they made a specific point of saying Moranis will be in the video game. I’m looking for additional confirmation now.
Of additional interest is the fact that over 70 people are testing the game (that’s, like… a lot of testers, though spread out over so many different systems, and effectively three different games, it’s not outright crazy), that wrangling ghosts is no longer annoying button mashing, but simply automatic after wearing the ghosts down (reminds me of taking out ghosts in the role-playing game a bit), and players have infinite traps, because the logistics of having only three traps is no fun!
[UPDATE] Atari has stated on the record that Rick Moranis is NOT in the game, as was originally understood and reported here at PC.
— False alarm – Moranis is still absent
An Atari representative has confirmed that Rick Moranis will not be in the game.
So, that’s about it then. I have no idea what The Escapist has in mind, but they’re incorrect regarding the voice participation of Rick Moranis.
— Graveline Ghostbusters interview at GDC
The Intel station they talk about is the build I got to play (more on that later), and as they explain, Intel has worked with them to get the most performance possible out of the game on Intel machines. Thanks Matthew!
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Ghostbusters game coming to iPhone!
Not much in the way of details, but Sony has apparently announced that an iPhone Ghostbusters game is on its way, due this June.
Sony says the Ghostbusters iPhone game will see you playing as the traditional team from the Ghostbusters movies, tackling New York borough by borough, trapping pesky poltergeists and stopping innocent citizens from being slimed. Think Halloween Harry, only with Ghostbusters’ Peter Venkman deadpanning it all the way through.
One wonders if that means the game will be similar to the DS title in certain respects. Stay tuned!
— Ramis overwhelmed by GB game script
MTV Multiplayer got their buds at MTV Movies to ask Harold Ramis a couple of questions about the upcoming Ghostbusters video game – mainly, he says he helped Aykroyd shape the dialogue they wrote, but when it came to recording the game, he was surprised at the sheer volume of recording that has to be done for a game (tell me about it!)
Ramis also did voice work for his character, Egon Spengler. That proved to be a surprise challenge: “Fortunately the voice still fits,” he joked. “The uniform unfortunately doesn’t it. It was a little weird. I had no idea because I’m not a gamer. The game scripts are like 250 pages. You need all these alternatives so it took forever. A lot of it is just yelling, ‘Look out! Throw that trap, rookie!’ Stuff like that.”
Thanks to TPolk for the heads up.
— Gamestop offers bonus Xbox 360/PS3 in-game uniform!
While it initially seemed that fans ordering their copy of the Ghostbusters video game through Gamestop were only getting a t-shirt (a nice t-shirt mind you), Gamestop has sweeted the deal, according to their online store;
Reserve Ghostbusters and receive an exclusive in-game Ghostbusters 2 Flight Suit. The new suit updates your ghost busting look for the rigorous fashion standards of 1991, is more breathable than ever, and makes a statement of individuality without saying a word. This feature is available in single player and multiplayer modes. Available for online and in-store customers while supplies last.
Online Customers / Store Customers: Exclusive Flight Suit will come packaged with the game.
The bonus uniform appears to be available only for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Thanks to Jokercard for the tip!
— Atari secures ESRB rating for Ghostbusters PSP title
While a PSP version of the Ghostbusters video game has long fallen, officially, under the catagory of “maybe, we’ll see”, Atari has if nothing else taken the precaution of securing ESRB certification for a PSP SKU – and as suspected, it would be similar to the PS2/Wii build. Hey PSP owners, fingers crossed.
— Gamestop.com posts pic of exclusive GB2 uniform
[UPDATE] The pre-order bonus t-shirts got updated to, from a plain logo shirt, to a videogame specific shirt with the Wii characters on it.
— Atari/IGN post Wii 2-player co-op dev blog
Atari’s Ghostbusters The Video Game blog at IGN has a new developer diary today, focusing on the 2-play, splitscreen co-op on the Wii. It’s a good discussion of how it came together and how it plays, but it’s most notable for the INSANE amount of images that go with it – not only is there a lot of mid-game action, but there’s a lot of looks at the male/female Rookie figures.
— Rule #3 trailer appears online
This hasn’t yet showed up on many North American sites yet, but a lot of European sites have started posting the third rule trailer, which is devoted to the best way to do the most damage – split up.
[UPDATE] YouTube has a copy of the trailer, with an HD version. Thanks Matthew!
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— More tools of the trade in the Ghostbusters game
HolyFragger.com has an article looking at the gear, old and new, featured in the Ghostbusters video game, complete with a nice selection of concept art that picks up where the IGN dev blog left off. Check it out!
— IGN posts big progress report on GB game
IGN writer and fellow ghosthead Greg Miller attended the New York junket and not only has he filed a big write-up report on the progress in the game, but he put together an around-the-town video feature too! And, as always, there are new screenshots!
Readers will remember when poor Dan couldn’t cope with Activision dumping the Ghostbusters game, with tragic results. He’s looking much better now. Rosey cheeks and all. Thanks to Dan for the link!
[UPDATE] IGN also posted a quick impression report on the Wii/PS2 build of the game.
— Gametrailers post series of game trailers.
The kids at GBFans have posted a series of links to Gametrailers.com – GT has gone Ghostbusters crazy with a feature interview with Atari’s marketing team, an Xbox 360 walkthrough, and not one, not two, but THREE Wii walkthrough videos.
— Atari releases new box art to retailers
Starting today, online retailers such as Amazon and Gamestop are showing new art for the various Ghostbuster video games – gone is the “enhanced” logo on black, replaced with the logo, with the guys in front (the style depends on the version – Xbox has the photoreal and the Wii has the stylized, for example), and a halo of green boss monsters in the background.
Not all retailers have replaced all listings with the new art. Gamestop doesn’t have the new art for the PS2 box, while Amazon only has the new PS2 art. Combine all that together and one assumes that all versions get the new art.
NOTE TO COMMENTERS!
I’ve said before that people are welcome to post links directly related to a post are welcome to include them in the comments, but with links for new stories please do not post them in comments, but to email them to me – castewar [at] gmail [dot] com – if you’re not sure if a link is related or not, email it to me. I get to my emails more often than I get to read the comments, so it’s the fastest, surest way to get links and info to me. Sorry Ares – I appreciate the link, but putting it in a comment of an earlier post doesn’t help me.
— Giant Bomb Ghostbusters game interview
More from the New York press junket – This time Giant Bomb got to talk to the developers a lot, as well as show off some amazing footage. The few things that I noticed the most where;
– Slime tethers = awesome ghost-to-trap tool.
– Games, particularly the PS3 was mentioned, will have lots of cool extras (ie unlockable art, making-of videos.)
– Suggestion that the Gamestop GB2 uniform won’t be the only multiplayer exclusive out there.
And best of all, The Answer – what happens if you cross the streams?
Cross two or three, get a warning. Cross four or cross two or three for too long…
…total protonic reversal. Which is to say, game over, screen goes white.
Alright, important safety tip. Thanks Product Marketing Specialist Eric Monacelli.
— High-Rez look at next-gen box art
Big thanks to the Doodle Vandal for pulling together this higher-rez look a the box art for the PS3/Xbox/PC – Click for the full, big image.
— Save your money – Amazon.com selling Exclusive Slimer Edition for PS3/Xbox/Wii
Details are exactly zero, other than the fact that Amazon.com is listing Exclusive Slimer Edition’s of the Ghostbusters video game for PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii. No box art yet, no details on what’s inside, but it’s not cheap.
Exclusive Slimer Edition PS3
Exclusive Slimer Edition Xbox 360
Exclusive Slimer Edition Wii
Big ups to DaveFrehley for the spot!
— New dev diary at IGN – What didn't make it in.
Atari’s Ghostbusters game blog at IGN has a new dev diary post, this time with Drew Haworth, Creative Director at Terminal Reality talking about the things that you won’t find in the final game and why. An interesting read, if still very backhanded at Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis for not being involved.
Thanks to ShadowSt. for the link.
— Ghostbusters video game Slimer Edition – more details
Amazon has updated their listings on what comes in their Exclusive Slimer Edition. It’s unclear if the Minimates are meant to be generic ghosts or ghosts from the video game (though one would hope they’re from the game.) Thanks to Jordin and the comments peanut gallery for the spot.
Included in the Slimer Edition:
* An exclusive Slimer bust designed and created by the original movie sculptor, Steve Johnson. Comes complete with a certificate of authenticity signed by the sculptor himself.
* Exclusive Ghostbusters Minimates. Only be available with the Slimer Edition.
* Exclusive Ghostbusters Gamer Graffix Console Skins.
* Exclusive Ecto 1 Key Chain with lights and sound.
2009 is the 25th Anniversary of Ghostbusters the motion picture. To keep up to date on everything that’s happening, follow Proton Charging on Twitter!
— New York press gameplay clips of Ghostbusters videogame hit YouTube
A gentleman going by ProtonGame has posted to YouTube the various gameplay clips that were handed out to the press at the New York press junket. Want some spoilers? In HD? You’re in luck!
— 1UP's Retronaut look at Ghostbuster gaming wraps up.
1UP.com’s Retronaut series on Ghostbuster gaming – a 7 part magnum opus – wraps up today with their look at the “secret” Ghostbusters game.
– Part One: David Crane’s Ghostbusters
– Part Two: The Real Ghostbusters Arcade Game
– Part Three: Ghostbusters II NES
– Part Four: Ghostbusters (Genesis)
– Part Five: New Ghostbusters II
– Part Six: The Real Ghostbusters (Game Boy) and Extreme Ghostbusters
– Part Seven: Luigi’s Mansion
— Aykroyd talks Ghostbusters video game on G4
G4’s XPlay aired their sitdown with Dan Aykroyd at last week’s New York press junket and the clip is online now. Thanks to Clay for the heads up.
[UPDATE] Turns out, this is a Sneak Peek at the interview BEFORE it airs tonight. So, you didn’t miss it last night – it wasn’t on last night. But you can see it online now.
— Final Box Art for Ghostbusters game – High rez!
Here are the official box art from Atari – memorize them! Be ready to spot them across a Wal-Mart on a busy Sunday afternoon!
First off, click here to see the full rez, flat image of the Next-Gen covers. Click here to see the full rez, flat image of the Stylized covers. The most interesting thing, looking at the Stylized covers is that it appears that the boss monsters from the Next Gen versions, are heavily downplayed in the box art (they are, presumably, still in the final game, as their Minimates are still part of the Wii Slimer Edition.)
All the other boxes can be seen in all their glory, after the jump!
— IGN posts Wii trailer for Ghostbusters game
Ever wanted to see what the Stylized game will look like on the Wii. And not just as static images? Well, now you can – IGN has posted a Wii specific trailer that makes it look like a whole lot of fun! Thanks to Clay and Adam for the heads up!
— Target offers gift card incentives on pre-orders of Ghostbusters game.
This is a little odd, but it could work.
Instead of just taking your pre-order money, Target is offering collectible pre-order cards. The cards feature the game you’ve pre-ordered, look rather spiff, and cost you $1. So, you basically pre-order for a mere buck.
Then you pick up your pre-order within 7 days of release at full price – the $1 from the card doesn’t count towards the game – and you get a $5 gift certificate for more games. So, everybody getting this so far?
Pre-order for a buck, get a spiffy card. Pay full price within time limit, get gift certificate. All told, you basically earn $4 for buying a game. If you’re into cards, and you have something else you want to buy, it’s a slight win. AND the gift certificates are cummulative, meaning if you pre-order a number of games, you can put all your gift certificates towards another purchase. Like, say, a copy of Ghostbusters for the DS.
No confirmation if there are cards for all the formats, though it sounds like Target is offering cards for everything they sell.
[via Kotaku]
— Playstation Home to offer Ghostbusters content?
If these vague, but telling Tweets from LootGear are to be believed, they are a third party putting the finishing touches on a host of Ghostbusters content for Sony’s Playstation Home – please bear in mind this is entirely unconfirmed, but NOT unlikely, given that Sony owns Ghostbusters and the developer speak is very authentic. The tweets and their interpretation after the jump;
The tweets suggest that customers will get a chance to own Ghostbuster jumpsuits for their avatars, there will be a firehall space, a drivable Ecto-1, some sort of flying Slimer gizmo, movies (the actual movie or just short clips, like game and Blu-ray trailers?), and collectible virtual memorabilia. The movie and the game aren’t quite enough to make me want to buy a PS3, but this might push it over the edge – provided it’s true!
# Rich: I am totally blown away by Remi’s Female GB Avatar costume and Christian’s new GB event space.
# Rich: Making Slimer talk… after a fashion 😀
# Rich: Tuning up Ecto-1’s engine…
# Rich: Going to make sure that the memorabilia pedestal menus are set to the proper items.
# Rich: Just finished implementing instructions for the Ecto-1 seats. Now I’m making sure the movies are playing correctly.
# Rich: Copying and pasting my way to glory.
# Remi: Going to put together some screenshots of GB avatar costumes for approval.
# Danilo: Creating the instructions display for the flying Slimer.
# Rich: Setting up Flying Slimer Spawn Point.
# Rich: Placing the final objects into the GB Event Space memorabilia pedestals.
# Danilo: Changing the history of PlayStation Home. Also, finishing up the 3d Concept of virtual item commerce points for the GB Event Space.
# Remi: Creasing folds in the Female Ghostbusters Avatar Costume.
# Christian: Choosing great screenshots of Ghostbusters: The Video Game for the GB Event Space.
# Rich: Adjusting GB Event Space memorabilia stations to a simpler format.
# Rich: Taking a break to check out our promo trailers for the Loot Stage Set: Apartment. These things are awesome!
# Rich: The GB Firehouse Apt looks AWESOME. Going to set up the flying Slimer spawn point in the GB Event Space.
# Rich: Loading up the new Ghostbusters Firehouse Apartment for a look-see.
# Rich: Ecto-1 is completely set up and functional.
# Rich: Setting up the Ecto-1 passenger-side door.
# Rich: Just got done presenting Stageset and Ghostbusters Event Space to SPHE.
# Rich: Updated account with our sweet logo while waiting for our presentation to begin.
# Rich: Setting up for a presentation to SCEA.
# Rich: Reinstalling Stageset objects in preparation for a visit from our legal folks!
# Rich: Downsampling Ecto-1 sounds to bring down the main memory budget.
# Rich: Going to implement and adjust opening and closing sounds for Ecto-1 back door. Mmm Nestle Frozen Lemonade Cups are DELICIOUS.
# Rich: Backing up old objects in preparation for localization xml export.
# Rich: Just completed adjusting opening and closing sounds for Ecto-1 hood.
# Rich: About to port the Ecto-1 driver-side door code over to the passenger door.
— DPad gives their two-cents on Wii version
The title says it all – it’s a nice run down of everything you need to know about what makes the Wii version different from the next-gens. Check it out!
— OXM gets hands-on with Ghostbusters game, talks with Ramis
The new issue of OXM, which will be hitting subscriber mailboxes this week, and retail shelves by next week, features a four-page feature on the Ghostbusters game. And if you think it’s just the same old stuff recycled, think again. Their hands-on time includes;
– Playthrough of the first 1.5 to 2 hours of the game. Starting at the firehouse, through the Sedgewick, through the library, to patrolling the streets of NYC during Stay-Puft’s attack. It’s most of what they have teased up until now, but finally in linear orderm with full voice-overs.
– Played four-player multiplayer for the first time, in which co-op is similar to Gears of War 2’s Horde. That is to say, four of you working together against waves of ghosts.
– Exclusive interview with Harold Ramis, wherein he teases Egon’s fate in GB3 and says he regrets Egon “loosening up” in GB2
– And lots and lots of screens!
And as always, for those who don’t get the magazine, we’ll all point and laugh, and then after a few weeks, you’ll get to read it online at OXM’s website.
A gentle reminder – please do not send in scans of the article, or links to messageboard threads with scans of the articles. Sent links I’ll ignore, and posted links I’ll delete. OXM hustled hard to get this access – it’s only fair to pick up a copy if possible. Otherwise, wait for the online story.
— Gametrailers to show opening Ghostbusters game cinematic Thursday
So, if you don’t want to see the opening cinematic, avoid Spike TV this Thursday night. My local listings say it’s on at 9:30PM Thursday night, on the West Coast. The website says 12:30AM. Which I’m assuming to mean Spike doesn’t time shift for the time zones, and they do in fact mean Friday morning 12:30AM if you’re on the East coast (but, for simplicities sake, it’s on Thursday when sun set in sky.) Or hey, check your local listings.
To make it official, I’m not interested in seeing the cinematic – there’s something sacred about watching the opening cinematic the first time you start up a game. So, I’m skipping it. And by extension, that means you won’t find it here when it goes up on the Gametrailers website. But for those of you that aren’t worried about such things, tune in on TV, or keep an eye on the website – you’ll get a peep.
— Wired posts 6 new DS screens
At least, I’m pretty sure they’re new. I don’t think I’ve seen them before.
— Atari hosts MCV awards reception – guests get special cover shot with Ecto-1
— Gamespot posts Wal-Mart trailer with Aykroyd intro.
Well, that’s what it looks like – the video opens up with a personal intro from Dan Aykroyd (hearkening back to his old radio-spots for the original movie) which says it’s for Walmart.com. Regardless, there’s some good footage (a bit spoilery, I will say that), and hearing Dan promote his baby is always heartwarming. For those that want to hear Dan, but not fiddle with video, or see more of the gameplay, you can listen to it below.
Dan Aykroyd for Walmart.com
[audio:dan_walmart.mp3]
And yes, I finally updated the ten year old Proton Charging audio bumper. Hopefully you all like it. Thanks to Clay for the link.
[UPDATE] Red Wes points out that the video is up on YouTube now. Niiiice. Again, be warned – spoilerific.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Gametrailers to air Aykroyd interview from New York junket
This Thursday night (Friday morning at 12:30AM PST – but please, check your local listings) GameTrailers TV will be showing their interview with Dan Aykroyd at the New York press junket from a few weeks back. And as always, it’ll be online by end of day Friday.
— TWiG – Exclusive look at the Ghostbusters Video Game! Behind the scenes and cinematic!
While Mike is down in Texas this week, he along with The Game Heroes crew got a chance to tour Terminal Reality’s studios in Dallas Texas to take a behind the scenes look at Ghostbusters: The Video Game! Including a look at gameplay footage, interviews, and an absolute first look at an exclusive in-game cinematic never before seen!!!
Check it out in the video below, and also check out http://thisweekingeek.net, http://thegameheroes.com, and of course, here (or on Twitter!), as we head to the game’s release on June 16th!
Highlights;
– The pole still works.
– A chat with Glen Gamble, who’s concerned we’ll lynch him.
– The proton pack animation (sharp eyes will notice the other GB equipment as well.)
– The Texas fans game in with their gear to be recorded as foley!
– Hilarious cinematic at the Sedgewick.
NOTE: The guys at This Week in Geek worked hard to get us this story, including international travel and all-nighter editing. So, be sure to spread the word, either though your favorite social network (use the handy AddIt button below) or give it a Digg, eh?
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Walmart offers in-game exclusive
Boxes for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the Ghostbusters game at Walmart.com have a special call-out, saying buyers get an in-game downloadable proton pack, exclusive to the massive chain. If the picture accompanying the item is any indication, the exclusive pack is slightly bronzed – which is to say, all it means is that everyone you play multiplayer with will know you shop at Wal-Mart. Still, perhaps it’s your thing. Do whatcha wanna do.
— IGN posts new Wii dev blog – Faithful to the Source
The Atari Ghostbusters video game blog has posted a new developer diary by Jeff Mills, technical design director at Red Fly Studio. The entry is highly informative, as usual, and contains a whole bunch of new Wii in-game screenshots, including Wii Stay-Puft (which is to say Mr. Stay-Puft on the Wii, not, you know… tiny.) Thanks to Whisk J for the linkage!
— Gametrailer interview with Dan Aykroyd online
Gametrailer TV’s interview with Dan Aykroyd, conducted a couple of weeks back at the New York press junket for the Ghostbusters video game, is now online (having aired on TV just a couple of hours ago) – warning – more boss spoilers, so… you’re warned.
— Playstation Home Ghostbusters content confirmed!
You’ll recall awhile back that PC found a Twitter account talking about a company called LootGear and their work making what sounded like Ghostbusters content for Sony’s Playstation Home.
We contacted Sony and got the word back – ithe official press release is not out, and specifics on the content were not available at this time, but it’s true. Playstation Home will be offering Ghostbusters content, a fact confirmed by LootGear on Twitter this morning.
The tweets suggest that customers will get a chance to own Ghostbuster jumpsuits for their avatars, there will be a firehall space, a drivable Ecto-1, some sort of flying Slimer gizmo, movies, and virtual memorabilia you can display in your virtual pad.
We figure you can expect that somewhere around June 16h, when the game and Blu-ray movies are released. To quote the latest Tweet from LootGear;
It is going to be a Home Space of Biblical Proportions.
— Retronaut's Ghostbusters addendum
Having successfully played his way through the history of Ghostbusters gaming a few weeks back, 1UP’s Retronaut recently attended a screening of Ghostbusters, and the experience left him with some follow-up thoughts about Ghostbusters as an experience, and the things various game designers took away from the films.
— Sony releasing Machinima tool with Ghostbusters Home content
IGN has posted a short blurb on a Machinima (movies created using video game environments and assets) creation tool, created by Loot Gear, which will be available as part of the Ghostbusters Home content pack – they even have a YouTube video from Loot Gear that says the creation tool is out in May 2009. So, by extention, I guess the Ghostbusters content is out this month as well. I guess we can expect a lot of Ghostbusters videos in the near future.
And just to make things interesting, Loot Gear has deleted all their Twitter posts, leaving just one;
Team: Soon..
about 24 hours ago from web
[UPDATE] Loot Gear’s Rich Bisso spoke a bit about the creation tool to Machinina For Dummies, which places the release of the tool at two weeks from now – assuming IGN is correct, PS3 owners should see the Ghostbusters Home content then as well.
— Sony strikes surpise deal to publish PAL Ghostbusters game.
Well, I can honestly say I didn’t see this one coming.
According to the UK office MCV Magazine, Sony – owners of the Ghostbusters IP – has struck a last minute deal to publish the Ghostbusters video game in all PAL territories – this means you, Europe.
A Sony spokesperson told the magazine that Sony will be publishing the PS3 and PS2 versions on June 19th, to coincide with the Blu-ray movie release a few days earlier – Atari will publish the Xbox 360, Wii, and DS versions “later in the year.” And if that’s not shock enough, the article claims a PSP version will follow from Sony in the Fall.
I will clarify, because I just know someone isn’t going to understand – as reported, this means Sony has struck a deal to ensure that the Sony SKUs of the game – PS3 and PS2 – are released this Summer in Europe and get a jump on the competitor platforms. As reported this DOES NOT affect North American releases, so until we hear otherwise…
Also, up is down. This just in; dogs and cats, living together. Let the mass hysteria begin. Thanks to Eric and James for the linkage.
[UPDATE] Atari sent out a press release on the matter today, and the facts at spelled out right at the top (emphasis mine);
– Published by Atari Inc. in North America and Coming to Xbox 360®, Wii™, PLAYSTATION®3 system, PlayStation®2 system, PC and Nintendo DS™ on June 16th, 2009 –
– Coming Exclusively to PLAYSTATION®3 system and PlayStation®2 system in Europe and PAL Regions on June 19th 2009 Published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe –
– PSP™(PlayStation® Portable) Version Coming Worldwide Autumn 2009 –
The short version is “Everybody gets in in North America on June 16th. PS3 and PS2 owners in PAL territories get it June 19th, everything else comes later. And PSP version is out in the Fall.”
[UPDATE] Some notes, based on comments;
-PAL is “Phase Alternating Line”, but without getting too technical, all you need to know is that it’s a format for how TVs produce their pictures, used by a big chunk of the world, including Europe. North America uses NTSC.
-“Timed Exclusive” has a literal meaning. For Sony, they are releasing the Ghostbusters game on PS3 and PS2 exclusively, but there is a time-limit – by Fall, Atari will get to release the other formats and Sony’s exclusive period will be up.
-No, the Xbox/Wii versions are not pushed back in North America. Mind you, yesterday I didn’t think there’d be an exclusive anywhere, and here we are – but this has to be considered in territories and prestige. As popular as the franchise is around the world, it’s biggest fan-base is in the US, hands down. And it’s not to Atari’s advantage to strike a similar deal here. It IS to Atari’s advantage to strike this deal for other territories, as it means they aren’t footing the entire bill for distribution. So, today, I’m not surprised by much of anything, but I still find it unlikely any versions of the game will be pushed back in NA – if they were, that deal would pretty much have to be locked by now.
Stay Tuned. (what, nobody’s curious about the PSP comment?)
— Autralian game release details
Chris (yes, there are many of us) at Blues Brothers Central sent in some pics and details from EB Games Australia, regarding the Ghostbusters video game. According to their website the PS3 and PS2 versions will be out June 25th, with the rest to follow November 2009 (which gives us the first hint at just how long Sony’s timed exclusive period is, as well as when we might expect the PSP version.)
Those pre-ordering through EB Games will get a Stay-Puft stress toy and a DVD copy of Ghostbusters (no mention of the GB2 jumpsuit offered by EB Games/Gamestop in the US.) Not a big deal for fans, but a smart way to get more people hooked on the film.
The best part is that EBGAU uses the doomed Zootfly promo art in their store signage! Thanks Chris!
[UPDATE] Amazon.co.uk is reporting November 30th. We’ll use that as a tentative release date for the Xbox 360, Wii, DS, and PC versions of the game in PAL territories. Thanks John.
[UPDATE] Amazon in France is saying November 7th and in Germany, October (no specific date.)
— New Dev blog post at IGN – Storyline and Characters
Drew Haworth, Creative Director at Terminal Reality, is the latest developer post at Atari’s IGN Ghostbusters blog. This time, it’s all about the story and the characters, with a couple of pieces of art for colour.
You’re going to develop the first modern Ghostbusters videogame, a truly authentic experience. This is something no one has EVER done before. You can set the story anywhere in time or place, and it can pretty much be about anything, as long as there are some ghosts and plenty of chaos.
So where do you start?
— Atari EU ops bought out by Namco-Bandai – Ghostbusters game unaffected
Namco-Bandai, part owners of Atari’s European distribution arm since last fall, is picking up the rest and transitioning the company into their own distribution network, according to MCV. Atari has been the latest front name applied to the long-sickly Infogrames, and the speculation that last week’s surprise deal with Sony was because Atari couldn’t properly fund the production, marketing, and distribution of the Ghostbusters game world-wide appears to be true, as Atari unloads its European operations.
The new company will publish Atari titles throughout Europe until 2014, leaving the Ghostbusters release currently untouched. It is unlikely that this change alters the length of Sony’s timed exclusive. Thanks to Miles for the link.
— Atari releases multiplayer trailer
Big thanks to Ryan LeClair, Carlos, and everyone else that’s been sending in video this week – as we head towards the release of the game, I’m not sure how much more video Atari will release and how much I want to post (gotta keep some mystery, right?), but this multiplayer trailer is a must-see. I don’t know that there will be much replay to the single-player game, but the MP game looks like endless awesome.
— Achievement / trophy list for Ghostbusters game revealed
Who says you can’t post from a mountainside?
The in-game mini goals, achievements on the Xbox 360 or trophies on the PS3, have been revealed, and as expected it’s a big list of movie quotes.
Full post after the Queen Victoria is Awesome weekend. In the meantime, a gentle reminder that Proton Charging Twitters constantly (@protoncharging).
— Annie Potts talks about the Ghostbusters video game
GiantBomb has a video of Annie Potts talking about the upcoming Ghostbusters game – I can’t view it currently, in my mountain retreat, but that doesn’t mean you can’t!
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Xplay look at Wii Ghostbusters game posted online
G4tv.com has posted Xplay’s look at the Wii version of the Ghostbusters game, along with some comments from Atari producer, Todd Slepian, at the New York press junket. Thanks, Clay!
— The reviews start rolling in: Eurogamers.es 9/10
With four weeks to go until the game starts hitting shelves, Eurogamer has posted their massive four page review and a rating of 9/10. A strong start for perhaps THE most anticipated videogame of the year (oh sure, serious gamers might be anticipating Prototype and Batman more, but the mainstream only has eyes for this game right now.)
I suspect we’ll see more soon – at a certain point, I’m going to link TO Metacritic, rather than attempt to BE Metacritic, but for the first few reviews, PC will be keeping tabs. Thanks to Clay, et al. for the link.
— Peek inside the firehall – Q-Bert?
Destructoid has posted a single image from their playtesting of the Ghostbusters video game and it goes a long way to support what’s been talked about in hushed tones, behind the scenes – exploring the Ghostbusters HQ is practically a game in an of itself. And if that’s not enough, there’s a game inside?
If you don’t want to know the small, spoiler details DON’T jump on over to Destructoid, or read beyond this point.
If you’re cool with it;
– It’s been 9 days since someone got injured. Slipped in mood slime? Proton pack calibration mishap? The possibilities are endless.
– Peter is employee of the month 9 out of 12 months. Winston earned a month in July. Obviously Peter run the board (and the selection of shots of Bill Murray’s head from the two movies is awesome.) That October is the last month filled suggests the gag was put together with the original October 2008 release date in mind.
– Q-Bert appears to be playable, but according to Destructoid, it’s only “interactive.” Whether that means it just beeps at you is not clear. (Monstrosity X isn’t, according to Destructoid, as a GB is always playing it.) Q-Bert is an Atari game, and it would have been a nice touch to get, essentially, a free arcade game with your purchase. I wonder how final their “preview build” is?
– Who the heck is Pomegranate Fire Truck, and will we get to hear them?
— IGN posts video of Wii gameplay
While my reluctance to show any more footage from the next gen systems, the Wii gameplay was so under-represented in previous months, I’m more than happy to share this IGN video, which features two and a half minutes of Wii gameplay – it’s very early game and really shows off the destructibility of the game world, even on the relatively lower-powered Wii system. Thanks, Clay!
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Greg Miller continues to haunt IGN with Ghostbusters equipment feature (video)
Greg Miller, who tragically passed on last year, and then returned to haunt Atari’s New York press junket for the Ghostbusters videogame, has posted a feature look at all the equipment in the Ghostbusters video game, including a smashing video of all the proton pack upgrades!
Avert yer gaze if ye not want to be spoiled. Otherwise, click here!
— Atari and Intel to release Ghostbusters:TVG web widget!
Atari and Intel have come together to produce a widget designed with a dozen functions to achieve one simple goal – tell the world about Ghostbusters the videogame. And trust me, I’ve been reading Twitter, there are still people not in the know. Or maybe you just want to show your friends that you’re no mere fan. You are a fanatic…
Well, get ready. Soon, perhaps next week (the widget is undergoing final testing), Atari will be releasing the widget, which will feature excellent game art, a photo gallery, trailers, links to places to buy the game, and a host of other little features, like how to post your GB love on any number of social networks and a countdown clock (WOOHOO!) Check out the full-size version of the image above and stay tuned for more information on where and when you can grab the widget.
Also, keep your ears on. Atari has something else in the works, besides this widget, but I can say no more.
* On Facebook, we are launching a Virtual Ghosthunt where users earn points for posting ghosts to their profile, finding ghosts on their friends’ profiles, and even sending ghosts to infect their friends’ profiles and walls. At the end of the competition, highest scorers will be awarded prizes like an ultimate gaming PC rig with a custom Ghostbusters paint job, Dell Laptops, Intel Processors and Free copies of the game.
After users enter the application, fans will earn points for selecting and posting a ghost in their profile, inviting friends to use the app and slime their friends, which posts a ghost in their profile… similar to a facebook poke type function. The highest scoring players will be awarded prizes like an Ultimate Gaming PC with a custom Ghostbusters paint job, Intel core i7 Processors and free copies of the Ghostbusters game!
* We are also launching an Ultimate Fan Widget that will allow Ghostbuster fanatics to show their support by posting to one of 60 different sites like their Facebook/MySpace pages or even to their iGoogle homepage to receive Ghostbuster updates as soon as they’re released.
— Gamespot video preview of Ghostbusters game – SPOILERIFIC
You have been warned – this Gamespot video is 6 minutes of gameplay footage. It will give a lot of stuff away. It will lessen the impact of the first few levels of the game. So, if that’s important to you, DO NOT WATCH! And if you do, you can blame me for tempting you. Ryan LeClair and Chris M. should not be blamed for submitting it – it remains a tough call right now, how much to share and how much to ignore. You’ll have to decide for yourselves.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Atari releases DS trailer – gameplay footage! (Update with HD trailer)
Gamespy has posted a pre-E3 trailer for the Ghostbusters DS videogame. The biggest surprise is that the screenshots we’d seen thus far didn’t do the game justice, as the action is carried out in 3D (albeit very simplified 3D.) And when you get to drive the ecto, that’s a big deal.
[UPDATE] Game Trailers has posted the larger, HD version of the trailer.
[VIA Ghostbusters.net]
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— Ghostbusters Playstation Home assets out May 28th!
Loot Gear, creators of the upcoming Ghostbusters asset package for Playstation Home, have posted a YouTube video, giving people a ghostly taste of the machinima tool that comes with download. Not a lot of Ghostbusters art to be seen (like the firehall, Ecto, or outfits previously mentioned), but the video finally gives us a release date – May 28th. No pricepoint as yet.
So, PS3 owners, get ready to start creating some Ghostbusters mini-movies!
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— 1UP to stream Ghostbusters gameplay.
1UP is playing the Ghostbusters video game as part of their Game Night, Tuesday May 26th (that’s tomorrow), and you can watch along (if you’re fine with some serious spoilers) via UStream. Better yet, you can interact with the players on their chat board and via Twitter.
I’ll be skipping it – that’s way too much of a surprise killer for me, but for you… (shrug)
— IGN dev blog provides concept art overload!
While previous blogs on the IGN hosted, Atari Ghostbusters developers website were supported by an illustration or screenshot here and there, we haven’t had just a treasure trove of art as in today’s new post, A Unique Style, by Red Fly Technical Director, Jeff Mills.
I’m not kidding. TONNES of art. Thanks to Clay.
— Playstation Home Ghostbusters fan kit out – more GB still to come
Sony released its Ghostbusters fan kit for Playstation Home today. For those who were grumbling about having to pay for any Ghostbusters content, the fan kit costs a whopping $1.99. See if you can take out a loan. The kit includes;
This fan kit includes:
For Avatar:
Stay Puft T-shirt
Slimer T-Shirt
Ecto-1 T-shirtFor personal space:
Ecto-1 Toy
Stay Puft Figure
Slimer Figure
PKE meter on display stand
Ghost trap propAll of the personal space items are for display purposes only, and the PKE meter is the only object that has working lights. There are flashing lights on the screen and the lights on the wings flash as well.
The kit is currently only available to US Home accounts. No word on release date or price on the full Ghostbusters kit coming out with the movie maker, previously reported, which was originally assumed to be part of today’s release.
Thanks to Dave for the heads up and excellent report.
[UPDATE] I did some digging, and it sounds like The Living Room Stage Set, with all the interactive movie-making tools, is already out – it’s $4.99 and can be bought at the Estates store in PlayStation Home Mall. I can’t confirm this though, as I’m not a PS3 owner. If it is out, and then the bigger Ghostbusters assets kit isn’t included with it, then that’s the only piece that’s left to be released (or possibly released in a series of kits – so many things aren’t clear.) Stay Tuned.
— Confirmed: More Ghostbusters assets for PS Home throughout June
LootGear has posted another video of their Playstation Home Ghostbusters goodies, this time showing the 11 items released today, as well as giving us a look at all the big goodies to come (like the jumpsuits, Ecto-1, and firehall.) These items, plus additional shirts, are due
for release “throughout June”. Stay tuned.
Of important note – the Ghostbusters items currently out are only available for a limited time, according to the video, so if you think you might want them later, even if you don’t want them now, you might want to toss in that two bucks.
[UPDATE] Sony just sent me more details on the assets – One we didn’t know about? A Stay-Puft costume head! It sounds a lot like the additional assets will be released the same week as the Blu-ray and video game. And we have more pricing, with individual items being as low as 49 cents and all the way up to $4.99. It definitely sounds like fans won’t have to buy a full cost set, just to get one or two items, if that’s their preference.
CULVER CITY, CA – May 28, 2009 – The cult-classic sci-fi movie Ghostbusters is coming to PlayStation®Home, thanks to “Loot,” a group of innovative developers dedicated to creating branded interactive entertainment products and experiences for Sony Computer Entertainment America’s PlayStation Home, and Sony Pictures Consumer Products. Loot (http://www.twitter.com/lootgear) will provide PlayStation Home with an array of interactive Ghostbusters-branded items – such as figurines, t-shirts, costumes and more – in conjunction with the worldwide release of Ghostbusters on Blu-ray the week of June 16, 2009 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the simultaneous launch of “Ghostbusters: The Video Game,” the highly anticipated videogame from Atari, celebrating the film’s 25th anniversary.
“Ghostbusters is one of our most popular franchises and, thematically, it was a natural fit for the social gaming world of PlayStation Home,” said David Sterling, VP of Business Development for Sony Pictures Digital Authoring Center and General Manager of Loot. “We’ve created an experience where fans can virtually participate in the movie environment.”
Starting today, Ghostbusters figurines – including mini-Stay Puft Marshmallow man, Slimer ghost, Ecto-1 car and ghost trap – go on sale individually or as a Fan Pack, followed by Ghostbusters regular and logo T-shirts and Ghostbusters Proton- Pack Costumes in the coming weeks. Among the products to be released is the Ghostbusters Firehouse On-Location, which is a replica of the three-story firehouse from the movie featuring a fireman’s pole, a full-size Ecto-1 car, a flying Slimer ghost and exclusive furniture as well interactive stage set cameras. With the purchase of the Firehouse, users get a bonus Stay Puft Marshmallow man costume head.
All of the Ghostbusters-branded interactive items, created by Loot and offered in conjunction with Sony Pictures Consumer Products, and selected by Sony Computer Entertainment America will be available for purchase in the coming weeks from the PlayStation Home Mall. Prices range from US$.49 to US$4.99.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Dallas GBs! Terminal Reality to demo at A-Kon
Live in the Dallas area? Like Ghostbusters? Want to see or even try the Ghostbusters game a few weeks early? Well shucks! You goin’ to A-Kon?
Attending the 20th A-kon Convention this Sunday from 12:45-1:45 in State Room 2 are Terminal Reality and their Lead Character Artist, Jesse Sosa who is more commonly known as the forum member “skankerzero”. At the convention they are hoping to offer attendees a special treat: A sneak preview demo of Ghostbusters: The Video Game, taking place in the New York Public Library from the first movie.
Members of the public attending the convention are free to participate in the preview, and are encouraged to dress up as the boys in grey so you’ll really be in the spirit whilst busting pesky poltergeists on the 360. So spread the word, pull out the flightsuit and strap on your Proton Pack.
— Aykroyd chats with the New York Times
The New York Times has an excellent interview piece with Dan Aykroyd, with additional commentary from Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis. Thanks to Ali for the tip!
Mr. Aykroyd is no gamer, but he was at least as impressed by Terminal Reality’s grasp of the Ghostbusters’ lingo and style as he was by their prowess with special effects. (There have been other Ghostbusters games, but none since the early 1990s.)
“In the beginning they came to me, and I said, ‘I encourage you, go ahead,’ ” he recounted. “They gave me the script. I took it. I rewrote it doing little tiny structural things, mostly bringing back the tone of the original dialogue and the vernacular — the terms, the idiom — but they really had it. Two-thirds of it was there. Then they gave it to Harold. He did the same thing.”
The game is being hawked by Atari as having been written by Mr. Aykroyd and Mr. Ramis, but both men, in addition to the real writers at Terminal Reality, readily acknowledge that is mostly marketing bunk. “They were happy to have our involvement at all,” Mr. Ramis said. “The crassest way I can put it is that they couldn’t have paid us enough to give it the time and attention required to make it as funny as a feature film.”
— North America PSP release of Ghostbusters game confirmed – by X-mas is hoped.
While Sony’s announcement earlier in the month that they would be publishing the Playstation versions of the Ghostbusters video game, and that a PSP version was coming, it was never clear what the release scope of that PSP port would be. Gamespot spoke to Atari CEO David Gardner, and confirmed that the PSP would make its way to North America, hopefully before Christmas 2009. For the whole article, read here.
— New game trailer for E3!
Atari has released another trailer for E3, and it’s lots more stuff we haven’t seen (but is short enough it’s fairly harmless, spoilier-wise.) Nods to Ron Daniels and Winston18 at the GBfans.com forums for the heads up.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Wii Radio Minute posts Wii E3 trailer
Thanks to SchottGun for this one – besides the E3 trailer in the last post, Atari has released an E3 trailer for the Wii version of the game.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Who ya gonna call? Ghost Widget!
With two weeks until the release of the Ghostbusters video game, Intel and Atari have released their Ghostbusters widget! Help spread the word – add the widget to your website. Tell the world through Twitter, Facebook, and more!
[UPDATE] The parts of the widget for social networking won’t go live for awhile yet, in conjunction with the Intel contest, so stay tuned.
Simply click the embed code button at the bottom of the widget, copy, and paste onto your website!
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Joystiq photoblogs Ghostbusters at E3
Joystiq’s online arm has posted a big old swatch of photos from E3, starring the Ecto-1 and Mr. Stay-Puft – check them out here. Thanks to HijackThePants for the initial photos – keep an eye out on Twitter and Flickr for tonnes of pics over the coming days.
— Ghostbusters uniform live on Playstation Home US
Dave has some good news for anyone who was waiting for Sony to release the next Ghostbusters goodie on PSN;
Just wanted to pass along the news that PSHome in the U.S. has the GB uniform live and available for purchase.
In the store “Threads” you can find the full GB uniform for 1.99.
You can either purchase everything together for 1.99 (Uniform top, uniform bottom, boots, gloves & ecto goggles)
or if for some reason you only want part of the uniform you can purchase each component separately. (it’s cheaper to buy the whole set together for 1.99)
Uniform top: 99 cents
Uniform bottom: 99 cents
boots: I believe they were 50 cents
Gloves: 25 cents
Ecto goggles: 99 cents(I believe those prices for individual items are correct, but they may not be accurate as i’m doing it from memory. After i purchased the whole set it doesn’t let me view the prices for the items anymore. It simply reads “error” where the price used to be.)
So far that looks like all that is live now. The GB firehouse space doesn’t seem to be up for sale yet, and the free shirts they mentioned in the video are not live either. It’s just the GB uniform for now.
— Angry Video Game Nerd gets hands-on of new Ghostbusters game
James “The Angry Video Game Nerd” Rolfe was with Screw Attack at E3, and gave his thoughts on the new game. Does he like it? Find out below (pre-emptive NSFW. Just in case.) For his previous exclaimation on the history of Ghostbusters video gaming, go here.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Atari rolling out Ghostbusters videogame wallpaper [UPDATE]
I nearly forgot about these! Atari has been feeding the video game Facebook page some wallpapers!
[UPDATE] high-rez, widescreen versions of the images have been unearthed. See below for links.
1920×1200 version of images here
1920×1200 version of image here
— Xbox 360 Achievement icons revealed! [UPDATE]
Xbox360Achievements.org has posted all but a handful of the icons that go with the videogame achievements we’d previously posted about (I’m not familiar enough to know if these carry over to PS3 trophies, or if they are different art / 3d models.) As you’d expect, they’re a hilarious collection of variations on the no-ghost – a few are in colour, while the rest are greyed out.
Even more interesting is that this list includes, but does not detail (as it typical) the existence of 8 secret achievements! Mystery!
[UPDATE] Some readers filled in the blanks on the mystery achievements – they’re just for finishing each level. Kinda boring. On the plus side, we now have the PS3 trophy listings as well, except for the Platinum on PS3. It’s not clear yet if Ghostbusters will have a Platinum trophy.
Thanks to Istvan for the heads up!
 |
We Came, We Saw… | Silver / 50  |
| Complete the game on ‘Casual’ or ‘Experienced’ difficulty. | ||
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Are You A God? | Gold / 100 |
| Complete the game on ‘Professional’ difficulty. | ||
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Slam Dunk! | Bronze / 15 |
| Slam dunk a ghost into a trap. | ||
 |
Slime Dunk! | Bronze / 15 |
| Trap a ghost using the Slime Tether. | ||
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Stasis Dunk! | Bronze / 15 |
| Trap a ghost using the Stasis Stream. | ||
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I Ain’t ‘Fraid of No Ghost! | Bronze / 10 |
| Trap a ghost. | ||
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Aim for the Flat Top! | Bronze / 10 |
| Eliminate a creature. | ||
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Heat ‘Em Up | Bronze / 20 |
| Purchase all upgrades for the Proton Gun. | ||
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Mother Pus Bucket! | Bronze / 20 |
| Purchase all upgrades for the Slime Gun. | ||
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We be fast! They be slow! | Bronze / 20 |
| Purchase all upgrades for the Dark Matter Generator. | ||
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I Don’t Want My Face Burned Off | Bronze / 20 |
| Purchase all upgrades for the Meson Collider. | ||
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We Have the Tools! | Silver / 40 |
| Purchase all available equipment upgrades. | ||
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The Destructor | Bronze / 30 |
| Complete the game with more than $3,000,000 in property damage. | ||
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Nice Shootin’, Tex! | Bronze / 30 |
| Complete the game with less than $100,000 in property damage. | ||
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…And You Want to Keep It? | Bronze / 20 |
| Collect a Cursed Artifact. | ||
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Spores, Molds, and Fungus | Silver / 40 |
| Collect all Cursed Artifacts. | ||
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I’m Picking Up A Signal… | Bronze / 20 |
| Obtain a 100% PKE scan on a paranormal creature. | ||
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Back Off Man. I’m a Scientist | Silver / 40 |
| Obtain 100% PKE scans for every paranormal creature. | ||
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I’m a Ghostbuster, Not a Doctor! | Bronze / 20 |
| Revive your teammates 20 times. | ||
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I Feel So Funky | Bronze / 5 |
| Get slimed by a charging ghost. | ||
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Total Protonic Reversal | Bronze / 5 |
| Knock yourself down with your own weapon. | ||
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You Gotta Try This Pole! | Bronze / 5 |
| Slide down the fire pole. | ||
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It’s Slime Time | Bronze / 20 |
| Use the Slime Tether on 15 ghosts. | ||
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I Looked at the Trap, Ray! | Bronze / 20 |
| Recover 20 of your own full ghost traps. | ||
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Kosher! | Bronze / 10 |
| Remedy a dubious food choice to make the bar mitzvah as orthodox as it can be. | ||
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I Love You When You Rough-House! | Bronze / 10 |
| The tidy arcitectural office could use some Proton-based humbling. | ||
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But the Kids Love Us! | Bronze / 20 |
| The children’s reading room has a story to tell, but it will take more than your eyes to see it. | ||
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You Never Studied | Bronze / 10 |
| Keep your ears open to learn everything you can about the Civil War. | ||
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I’ve Quit Better Jobs Than This. | Bronze / 20 |
| Some ghosts had a real blowout in the Coat Room. Clean it up? | ||
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Hedgebuster | Bronze / 10 |
| The hedge maze is a real eyesore; do some Protonic pruning. | ||
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One down, on the Ground! | Bronze / 20 |
| Airborne coffins are an affront to gravity; use your Proton Pack to avenge Mother Nature! | ||
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Ghostbusters Drinking Game | Silver / 40 |
| Quench your thirst wherever possible to avoid being scared spitless. | ||
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Loans Paid Off | Bronze / 10 |
| More than $100,000 earned in Xbox LIVE. | ||
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On the Payroll | Bronze / 10 |
| Successfully complete one Xbox LIVE campaign. | ||
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Egon’s Guinea Pig | Bronze / 10 |
| Use one of every pickup (both power-ups and equipment). | ||
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Payday! | Bronze / 10 |
| Be the overall top earner in each Xbox LIVE campaign setting. | ||
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It’s a Living | Bronze / 10 |
| Trap over 50 ghosts in your Xbox LIVE Ghostbusting career. | ||
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Wanted! | Bronze / 10 |
| Defeat three Most Wanted Ghosts. | ||
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Employee of the Month | Bronze / 10 |
| Be top earner in each Xbox LIVE job type. | ||
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No Job Too Big | Bronze / 10 |
| Defeat all Most Wanted Ghosts. | ||
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Gozer’s Most Wanted | Bronze / 15 |
| Successfully complete each Xbox LIVE job in every location. | ||
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Overachiever | Bronze / 15 |
| Get over $2,500,000 in Xbox LIVE, over 30 post-job awards, 50 jobs completed. | ||
|
Secret Achievements
|
||
 |
Secret Achievement | Bronze / 20 |
| Continue playing to unlock this secret achievement. | ||
|
Secret Achievement | Bronze / 20 |
| Continue playing to unlock this secret achievement. | ||
|
Secret Achievement | Bronze / 20 |
| Continue playing to unlock this secret achievement. | ||
|
Secret Achievement | Bronze / 20 |
| Continue playing to unlock this secret achievement. | ||
|
Secret Achievement | Bronze / 20 |
| Continue playing to unlock this secret achievement. | ||
|
Secret Achievement | Bronze / 20 |
| Continue playing to unlock this secret achievement. | ||
|
Secret Achievement | Bronze / 20 |
| Continue playing to unlock this secret achievement. | ||
|
Secret Achievement
Continue playing to unlock this secret achievement. |
Bronze / 20 |
— Atari/Intel Facebook Ghosthunt is underway!
Atari and Intel have just launched their ghosthunt on Facebook – everything you need to know about finding and busting ghosts, as well as sliming your friends, can be found here!
— Atari gives sneak-peak of Ghostbusters game TV ad
If you’re on Facebook, and you’re a fan of the Ghostbusters video game, and you’re not entirely wrapped up in amassing points, you can sneak a peak at a screengrab from the TV spot for the game. If not, no sweat, here it is;
— Ghostbusters video game — review roundup
Item 1 from “Ghostbusters Summer: The Reviews (game and Blu-ray)”. This mixed-topic post has been separated by subject.
We’re officially at the point where it’s time to start corralling the reviews for the game and the Blu-ray. This is a low-priority post, meaning I’m not going to scour daily for new reviews, or as I like to call it, “reading the entire Internet.” Feel free to add links into the comments, and they will be added to the main post where there’s a chance.
The Video Game (not sorted by format)
OXM – 8/10
IGN – 8/10
IGN UK – 8.5/10
Nintendo Power – 75/100
Eurogamer Spain – 90/100
Pelit – 84/100
LEVEL – 80/100
Level7.nu – 70/100
Edge Magazine – 70/100
CVG – 7/10
WothPlaying (DS) – 6/10
— Good news! Xbox 360 region-free! Bad news! Demo out on 24th (maybe)
Good news for European Ghostheads – Destructoid is reporting that the Xbox 360 version of the game is NOT region locked, meaning, in theory, that copies bought from American retailers can be played on UK and EU machines.
The bad news for everyone – as reported to PC, but as yet unconfirmed, the word via channels is that the demo for the Ghostbusters game will not be released until June 24th, meaning that its release will be intended to win over fence-sitters, post-release. Stay tuned as we find out more, but for now, with a week until release, it just doesn’t make sense for Atari to release the demo now.
— Oh well it's ladies night, oh what a sight, June 24th
The GamerchiX community has their regular Wednesday meet ups, and Wednesday June 24th, the game du jour is Ghostbusters. Bear in mind, this is grrl gamers only – no dudes (they recommend the guys check out Frag Doll Fridays. Provided you like getting your ass handed to you by a woman. I’m not judging – some people dig that. Frag Dolls have not announced a Ghostbusters night as yet.)
Wednesday nights are for the ladies! Each Wednesday, Xbox GamerchiX gather to play together on Xbox LIVE®. This isn’t a chance for the guys to find girls to play with, fellas. GamerchiX is strictly for the girls. (If you’re a dude looking for a chance to game with girls, check out Frag Doll Friday!)
GamerchiX, here’s how it works: You can play the suggested Ladies Night game, or you can choose one of your own! Synch up with other members in the GamerchiX forum, or use the MyGamerCard.net Chix Tracker, which Morgon turns on every Wednesday. With over 9,000 members in 32 countries, you’re sure to find an XGX girl who plays your favorite game in your time zone!
— Greg Miller IGN video review is up
For those of you that want more than his written review of the Ghostbusters game, you might want to check out Miller’s video review. For those of you that don’t want any spoilers now that we’re in the last week before release, don’t check it out – there are a couple of them.
— Ghostbusters Summer – The Midnight Game Release Parties! [UPDATE June 12th]
Thanks to cooperative shop owners across the continent and a little semantic loophole wherein retailers aren’t allowed to sell the Ghostbusters video game until Tuesday, June 16th… but not specifically when on the 16th, thus making it possible to open up the tills at 12:01AM and selling game to anyone willing to stay up late Monday night.
Here is the current list of Midnight Release Parties – if you know of more, or have more details on the events below, please do send them in!
Vancouver, BC – GameStop #1886
CANCELED!
Well, that bites. With approximately 30 people, minimum, planning to attend an evening of prizes and playing the game, GameStop head office couldn’t figure out a way to send extra copies to the event, meaning nobody that didn’t pre-order, could pick up the game at the event. Effectively, killing the event. Nice. Still, the GameStop manager at that location was awesome, and Proton Charging’s big event is June 20th at The Rio. Sorry, Vancouver, the midnight game release just wasn’t meant to be.
Lewisville, TX – GameStop #688
The restored Ecto-1 will be on hand, and likely some of the lads from Terminal Reality that worked on the game. Ernie Hudson will be visiting local shops throughout the day Tuesday, but will not be at the Midnight party.
[UPDATE] – Store Location corrected! 40 members of Terminal Reality will be in attendance, as will 20 Ghostbusters from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and possibly Arizona! Media will be in attendance and GS is working to ship extra copies to the store, so there will hopefully be lots of copies for walk-ins!
[UPDATE] Ernie Hudson has had to remain in New York and will not be able to attend the release day appearances. This is disappointing, I know, but both Ernie and the various organizers worked hard to make it happen, and bad luck got in the way. It was a nice try regardless!
Waynesville, NC – GameStop #5911
The WNC Ghostbusters will be on hand!
Glendale, AZ – GameStop #2279
The Arizona Ghostbusters will be on hand for a meet and greet and to help collect donations for the Salvation Army. Raffles and trivia for prizes benefiting the Salvation Army, Free Popcorn, Face Painting and screenings of “Ghostbusters” 1 and 2
Central Park/Yonkers NY – GameStop #601
No details.
New York, NY – GameStop #1363
No details.
Salt Lake City, UT – GameStop #2736
“games and contests everything is going to the United Way”
Pinellas Park, FL – GameStop #3097
The Real Tampa Bay Ghostbusters will be hosting a Ghostbusters Video Game release party on Monday June 15th from 9:30pm til Midnight at the Gamestop in Parkside Mall. Everyone is invited and we will be doing a charity raffle for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, trivia, psychic tests, and on display will be the Ecto Truck as well as our containment unit and tables set up with Ghostbusters memorabillia. Email us for more details (tampabayghostbusters@hotmail.com).
WHEN: Monday June 15th from 9:30pm til Midnight
WHERE: Gamestop in Parkside Mall, 3720 Park Blvd., Pinellas Park, FL 33781 (727-522-1374)
Seabrook, NH – GameStop #2863
No details. UNCONFIRMED ADDRESS (call before going)
Cranston, RI – GameStop #6145
No details. UNCONFIRMED ADDRESS (call before going)
Sioux City, IA – GameStop #3261
Prize give-aways.
Clarksville IN – GameStop #763
“The Manager’s name is Brian. When you make/switch your reservation just tell him the Louisville Ghostbusters sent you.”
Certain Wal-Mart 24 Hour Stores (check local store to confirm)
Certain 24 Hour Wal-Marts have been displaying posters saying that gamers can get a demo CD if they come by and pick up the game Monday night at midnight.
— Terminal Reality head mugs Dallas Ghostbuster for photoshoot
Mark Randel, CEO of Terminal Reality, is featured in an Intel ad in this month’s issue of Game Developer Magazine. A charming ad over all, the big boss is seen wearing a uniform, wielding a proton pack, and sporting a funky amount of slime, care of the Slimer from the video game. The best part is that the uniform (and presumably the pack) belongs to one of the Dallas Ghostbusters, who lent themselves and their gear to the making of the game – you can tell if you compare the name tags.
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— Game TV commercial and Ernie Hudson video
This is the shorter version of the TV commerical – here’s Ryan LeClair’s description of the longer commercial running on Cartoon Network;
it starts with the Ectomobile from the game (Ecto-1B) rolling up next to a house. While someone with a “green glowing arm” (Slimer) sits in a chair with his hand on the remote. He’s watching the ad of the three GB’s from the start of the video game on his TV. The door busts open, and we see a silhouete of a GB w/ a pack. Probably the player’s character. He pulls his Proton Gun, a few shots of the game ensues and Slimer fly’s at the screen, sliming it, revealing the GB game cover art for the PC, 360 and PS3.
[UPDATE] The longer video is on YouTube now.
Big thanks to Matthew for both video links!
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Dan Aykroyd personally robocalls all GameStop pre-orderers.
Today everyone, at least in the US (I’ve pre-ordered here in Canada, and thus far, no call), that pre-ordered Ghostbusters: The Video Game, got a robocall (a pre-taped phone message) from GameStop, voiced by Dan Aykroyd, telling you all about the game being in stores tomorrow. Thanks to Tyler, Ryan, et al for the heads up.
If you’re not one of those people, have a listen and pretend. But you’ll still know, inside, that it’s a lie. Dan didn’t call you. And you’ll have to live with that forever.
(snicker)
Greetings fellow paranormal enthusiasts
[audio:aykroyd_gamestop_phoner.mp3]
[UPDATE] If you’d like to hear the message directly, you can call (888) 212-7672 – I MAKE NO GUARANTEE THAT THIS CALL WON’T COST YOU MONEY, SO DIAL AT YOUR OWN RISK!
— Ghostbusters game PC version – DRM and no online [UPDATE]
The long and the short of it is is Spook Central posted some overview details on the games last week, including the sad news that the PC version has DRM (practically a given in PC gaming these days, as publishers desperately try and minimize pirating in the first three months after a game’s release) and there is no multiplayer gaming. At a guess, given Atari’s recent belt tightening, maintenance of a matchmaking servers was cost to be cut, whereas Xbox and Playstation have that infrastructure already in place, constantly.
I haven’t confirmed this, but Paul’s a solid source, and it’s an important fact to keep in mind if you were considering choosing between the PC and console versions. It would also explain why the PC version is so ridiculously cheap to buy (like, nearly DS cheap.)
[via Spook Central]
[UPDATE]
Multiplayer developer, ThreeWave comments on the lack of multiplayer action in the game.
“Then we looked at the resources necessary to pull off multiplayer on the consoles and the PC, it became a question of what could we do and still be excellent in our execution. We couldn’t do all versions with multiplayer simultaneously with the resources that we had available – there was simply too much to do.”
— Ghostbusters coming to Steam [UPDATE]
[UPDATE] Ghostbusters: The Video Game is now available through Steam!
PC just caught wind that Ghostbusters: The Video Game might be available on Steam shortly. While the details aren’t confirmed, it’s looking like Atari is working to place the PC version of the game on the DDL service – this is good news for those against DRM, as it likely means the SecuROM system used on the disc versions will be replaced by Steam’s own system, which is much more invisible.
Stay tuned as we try and find out more.
[UPDATE] Sources say, yes, it’s coming to Steam. Now all that’s left is to wait for an official announcement and a date.
— Xbox Live down temporarily, starting at midnight.
This may have little to no impact, as early buyers head home to play through the single player campaign, but a week back Microsoft announced system maintenance on Xbox Live, starting tonight at midnight. I didn’t want to post it early and have it fall off the front page.
So, don’t expect Multiplayer to work on your Xbox copy until tomorrow morning, with luck. I’ll update when it’s back up for sure.
— Ghostbusters: The Mobile Game hits iTunes store – US only!
For those of you with an iPhone or iTouch who have been waiting for the Ghostbusters mobile game previously mentioned on PC, well, wait no more (launches iTunes.) Mostly overshadowed by the countdown to its bigger brothers, the Ghostbusters mobile app went live on the 12th – the game looks like a lot of fun and is a mere $4.99. Here’s the bad news – it’s US only, so far. Not that I’m looking for another Ghostbusters game right now. I’m having a tough enough time making my way through the three others right now. But still, it would have been nice to have standing by. Stay tuned for more info about availability. Thanks to Lucas for the spot.
The game is essentially a port of the mobile game Vivendi released last year, with adjustments made to the iPhone’s taller screen aspect.
Big ups to Joseph for sending in screengrabs (love that iPhone screengrab feature!)
— Complex.com goes behind the scenes with Terminal Reality
Marc Ecko’s Complex.com (oh Marc, don’t make me look up that accent over the O) has an exclusive sit down with Glen Gamble, senior artist at Terminal Reality – it’s a nice talk about the making of the game, and appropriate on today, release day for the game. Check it out!
Complex: The proton beam is pretty sick.
Glenn Gamble: I spent over a month and a half getting the proton beam to look the way it does, with programmer’s help—he did all this crazy math, did it all wild, shooting every which direction. The proton beam originally was just as wild and crazy as it was in the movie and that’s really frustrating to a player when you aim at the crosshair and it goes five, ten feet to the left of the crosshair. So we had to control it in, but it’s that fine line of making it look like the proton beam, but at the same time it still have to hit somewhere around the target so people don’t get frustrated with it. Crossing the streams is absolutely bad—you can do it if you want, but you get a blowback and it’s a very damaging thing.
— Playstation Home Ghostbusters firehall goes live on June 18th! [UPDATE]
Budding electro-directors and Ghostbusters fans – the Playstation Home Ghostbusters Firehall set is coming this week!
From Sony;
GHOSTBUSTERS FIREHOUSE ON LOCATION LAUNCHES IN PLAYSTATION® HOME: Interactive Ghostbusters’ Movie Set Available Starting Tomorrow to Fans in Popular 3D Social Gaming Space
June 17, 2009 – In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Ghostbusters and its worldwide release on Blu-ray tomorrow, Loot, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s PlayStation® Home developer team, and Sony Pictures Consumer Products, together with Atari and Terminal Reality, are releasing the Ghostbusters Firehouse On Location for the PlayStation Home environment.
The Firehouse personal space is a detailed replica of the three floor Ghostbusters’ headquarters from the original movie. It comes complete with the ghost containment unit in the basement, the garage and office areas on the 1st floor, plus the living room, laboratory, fire poles, bedroom and bathroom areas. The space can be customized with Home players’ own furniture and picture frames as they host parties and create Ghostbusters: The Video Game strategies with friends.
Ghostbusters Firehouse On Location comes with the Loot’s Stage Set camera functionality, movie props and portable blue screens. Users can, through the use of an external special effects/compositing programs, create images of their avatar driving the Ecto-1 in their own machinima movies (capture and editing hardware/software not included). Fans can realize the dream of getting inside the historic Ecto-1, playing with the siren, turning on the engine, opening the trunk and checking under the hood. They can also fly around as Slimer and spook friends by passing right through the walls!
The Firehouse is available starting Thursday, June 18, along with Ghostbusters’ costumes, ornaments and t-shirts by Loot, which are already available in the PlayStation Home Mall.
And they sent pictures!
[UPDATE] Sony’s Playstation blog has posted a video walkthrough! Thanks to TheGeekNile
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Ramis talks about game in official Atari video
Joining the video interviews with Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and Alyssa Milano, a new video has gone live, featuring Harold Ramis talking a bit about the game (while working in a sly plug for his new movie, Year One.)
Thanks to Angel of Chaos for the heads up.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Totally Rad Show reviews Ghostbusters game
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— TeamXbox has video dev diaries for Ghostbusters game [UPDATE]
Provided as two videos, TeamXbox has an exclusive video look at the making of the Ghostbusters videogame. Check it out! Big thanks to Clay for the tip.
Part three is now up. Thanks, Clay!
— Xbox Exclusive content codes should work now
Thanks to the massive maintinance overhaul of Xbox LIVE, people with exclusive codes from their Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and GameStop pre-orders found them invalid.
This was only temporary and Atari says the codes should be working again today.
— Follow PC on Twitter & win digital Prima Guide for GB game! LAST CHANCE!
Prima has sent PC some strategy guides to the Ghostbusters video game, for the 25th anniversary contest, including some codes for digital versions. I had a look and it’s the full meal deal – hundreds of pages of tips, tricks, and info about the Ghostbusters videogame.
I’ve got some spares, so I think I’ll offer them up to the Twitter masses!
If @majornelson gets to give out codes all the time, why can’t I? Right? You guys deserve codes too!
Here’s what you do;
New Followers!
Anybody new that follows Proton Charging on Twitter (@protoncharging) between now and this Friday, at NOON PST (June 19th) is in a draw for one copy.
Existing Followers!
Anybody that is already following PC, send a tweet saying;
“Follow @protoncharging for all the Ghostbusters news that’s fit to print! I sure hope I win a Prima Guide for the Ghostbusters video game!”
between now and this Friday, at NOON PST (June 19th), and you’re in the draw for the other copy. Simple.
—
And don’t forget to email me your entry for the big PC give-away contest, where you can win more copies of the digital guide as well as the print guide, console skins, t-shirts, and even a copy of Game Informer signed by everyone at Terminal Reality!
— Wii Ghostbusters animation test footage
For those of you curious about what the Wii version of the game plays out like (there hasn’t been a lot of video released) or if you’re just one of those people that likes to peek behind the scenes, then check out this video posted on YouTube by one of the animators. The scenes are mid-development, with the characters animated, but the backgrounds still placeholder.
Possibly the best part of the video is that it gives a sample of the dialogue from the game, a lot of which is unique to the Wii/PS2 versions of the game – including a look at a villain not included in the next gen versions (could it be an alternate storyline?) It’s the widow ghost. Duh. Still, I can’t place some of the dialogue, those the rest I remember from the next gens.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Ghostbusters tops weekly sales charts
Gamasutra’s weekly sales column shows Ghostbusters the Video Game putting on a strong show for its release week – Ghostbusters took the top spot on the Xbox 360, and top five positions on PS3, PS2, and PC. Surprisingly, the game made no impact on either the Nintendo Wii or the DS. That the game didn’t crack the top five in those consoles, typically considered more for kid gamers, suggests nostalgia is the main driving force behind sales. Thanks to Hayden for the link!
— Busting makes me feel gutmutik!
Liel Leibovitz, fellow Columbia alumnus with the Ghostbusters, and Doctor of video games (ok, Communications, but he did his doctorate on video games), wrote about a surprising moment in the Ghostbusters video game.
A practicing Jew, Leibovitz spotted the ham on the table at the Rodriguez bar mitzvah, and unlike me – who reacted as a Gentile who’d been reading the achievement list – zapped the ham because it literally wasn’t kosher to him. Imagine his surprise when he was rewarded with an achievement for keeping things clean.
I froze in my tracks. It was time, I realized, to make a major decision about my identity. Was I a Jew first and a Ghostbuster second? Or was it the other way around? Do I catch the ghost? Or do I take care of the treyf? My heart beat fast. Then, suddenly, I knew just what I needed to do.
I love this blog post – I love that game devs thought to essentially hide an achievement that only achievement hounds like myself or the faithful like Liel would even notice. Seriously, in the mess you make in that room, who’s going to think, “hey, shoot the ham!” if they didn’t know about the achievement already or take sure things seriously?
I wish games did stuff like this more often.
— Ghostbusters iPhone game on sale for 99¢
The Ghostbusters mobile game, recently released for iPhone, is now temporarily on sale for a buck minus a penny. Which is great news for those of you in the US that have been sitting on the fence about it. Still no word about the game availability in other countries.
— Dapper Dan and Red Fly sound-off over game credit
It’s already an established fact that Dan Schoening’s distinct art style was used as concept art for the Wii version of the Ghostbusters video game, when Sierra producers gave his art to Red Fly Studios as examples of what they were looking for. And having contacted them, it was generally understood that he would be credited for the use of his art. That was a year and a publisher ago, however, and when the game hit the shelves last week, his name wasn’t include.
Dan, understandably wanting recognition, took to his blog, and in response, Red Fly took to their blog. Somewhere in between (click here to read JoyStiq’s summation of events) is the sense that either side wishes the other had handled it differently in the first place, and that taking it public isn’t cool, but it’s done, and here’s why;
Too Many Cooks – The credit situation for the Ghostbusters game is nightmarish. Two publishers, two developers, a license owner, and a whole host of third-party companies are involved in the production of the games. With all those names, “special thanks” is the first to suffer. This isn’t unusual – I did a whole year of direct design on a game, and I’m not in the credits. It sucks. And it happens.
Head Chef – Atari, as publisher, is responsible for the credit gathering. There’s a small truth to the fact that in the final credits, timing was an issue, but a little tweaking could have scrolled text faster. On the other hand, you thank on person, then you have to thank the hundred others. But I’m digressing – the point is Red Fly’s lead artist talked to Dan and said he would receive credit. And then publishers changed, and it wasn’t his call. I’m surprised he opted to take the hit publicly, except that he did genuinely want to do what he could to affirm Dan’s involvement, even if he does have to be the fallguy.
Why am I saying all this?
Well, it’s simple. Dan totally deserves credit for the involvement of his art in the production of the game. And in a perfect world, Atari, and all publishers, make it a point to thank everyone involved. And Red Fly shouldn’t take too much of the heat on this, particularly when they did what they could within their own powers, to acknowledge Dan (and you have to trust me on this – publishing contracts have whole big sections that say, “keep your yap shut – publicity is run through the publisher” – that they said anything is a surprise).
And at the end of the day, everybody’s had their say and in the long run, Dan’s work will be better known in the public because of this slight than if he’d been properly credited.
Mostly I’m saying it because the one side effect of the recent increased interest in Ghostbusters on this site is the negativity and arguing. It erodes the soul, honestly.
I’d rather declare this done (because, practically, it is) and focus on Dan’s secret project!
— Xbox gets a taste of Ghostbusters DLC!
Thanks to Chad at Ghostbusters.net for the spot;
Gamers can now buy a Ghostbusters Gamer Pictures pack through Xbox Marketplace – 240
for a half meg download of profile pictures. I think this may be the beginning and the end of Ghostbusters DLC on Xbox however.
— Terminal Reality releases Ghostbuster sound files
Microsoft’s Xbox community manager, Major Nelson, has posted that Terminal Reality have released a set of WAVs and MP3s from the Ghostbusters video game, for use at ringtones or system event sounds.
You can download the sets – consisting of a Ghost capture sequence, a PKE scanning sequence, and two Stay-Puft roars – via Major Nelson’s Blog. Nod to Ghostbusters.net for spotting the article.
— Ghostbusters Xbox case mod!
Not content with the badass console skins from Gamer Graffix, LostMindz took it upon himself to create his own, custom, Ghostbusters Xbox case. The alterations go so far as to cut the no-ghost logo into a side panel! Thanks to Dan for the link!
— Play Ghostbusters with OXM this Wednesday
The Official Xbox Magazine crew will be celebrating Canada Day (aw, who am I kidding – they don’t care) by playing Ghostbusters multiplay with anyone that cares to join them. The busting will take place between 4-6PM PST – for more info, check out the Facebook event page.
— Lore of the Spiderwitch trailer
Well, press release FAIL! Atari released this great trailer featuring the creepiest, man-eater ghost on the day of the release of the Ghostbusters video game, but it’s only popping up now. I have access to the Atari press site, and I didn’t know about it! It should go without saying, that if you have not played the game, this will be a big spoiler for you. Consider yourself warned.
Archived media references; playback may be unavailable.
— Radio GTN podcast foolishly let's PC talk videogame
The guys at Radio GTN just posted their latest podcast with the topic of the week being… Ghostbusters the video game! And because that’s the topic, the guys invited me on to talk about it with them.
I’m normally mush-mouthed and Skype decided I should be 8bit sound, so if I’m tough to hear at times, don’t blame Grim and co., blame the internets. Or me. Whatever.
As it turns out, I’m a giant apologist for game devs. Which, you know, makes sense. Thanks for having me on, gents!
— LittleBigPlanet to get official Ghostbusters content? [UPDATE]
Or at least that’s what this teaser image (after the link, not the image here on PC – I just made that up) on the Media Molecule website, developers behind LittleBigPlanet, would have you believe. It’s not a big stretch mind you, as LBP is exclusive to the PS3 and Sony is pulling out all the stops this year to promote Ghostbusters on their system as much as they can. Also, the US Playstation blog is carrying the news as well, which adds some weight to the news, but it is still short of an official press release.
As you’ll notice, they are releasing a Statue of Liberty sack costume set for the 4th of July – it’s not Ghostbusters, but when a Ghostbusters pack does come out, it’ll add some unintended GB2 flair.
Stay tuned for more information. Thanks to Brandon and Kevin for the heads up!
[UPDATE] Media Molecule have updated their Ghostbusters poster to reveal a Sackboy in no-ghost costume. An excellent hint of things to come. Thanks to Juan, Kevin, Chris, Grim, and Eric for the heads up, nearly simultaneously.
Related entries in other timelines
These entries also touch on this subject. Follow the link to their main archive entry.
- 2007-03-05 — GB3 = video game
- 2007-04-06 — Ramis clarifies situation – GB3 not so much, video game, yes.
- 2007-11-29 — NGamer magazine has more on Wii-DS Ghostbusters games
- 2008-03-12 — Aykroyd talk about video game, third movie, and wine
- 2008-05-16 — Official Xbox Magazine UK Ghostbusters preview
- 2008-07-22 — Nintendo Power article on Wii Ghostbusters game
- 2008-08-02 — Ghostbusters video game to have strat guide
- 2008-09-26 — Murray talks Ghostbusters 3 and video game
- 2009-04-10 — Blu-ray shows off full art – will have feature about video game.
- 2009-05-29 — Intec designs neutrona wand acessory for Wii – not confirmed