Ghostbusters The Video Game Review: I Ain’t Afraid Of No Ghosts

Much like a lot of the geeky things from the late 80s, and early 90s the “Ghostbusters” movies hold a very dear place in many gamers’ hearts. They may not have been as nerdy as “Tron” or “War Games,” but they were still part of the culture that birthed today’s dorks, nerds, and fanboys, and, while the size of the role that it played is different for everyone, no one can deny the fact that the movies weren’t an ingredient in the recipe. It’s this nostalgia that could have ignited a firestorm over the franchise’s latest game released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (also the Wii, but that’s a whole different story) if the game wasn’t treated with the love and respect it deserved. Fortunately, once gamer’s knew that Harold Ramis and Dan Akyroid signed on to write the script for the game, it seemed like it could actually head in the right direction, but did the finished project continue down that path, with the finished product living up to the “Ghostbusters”’ name? Thank God it did. [Continue Reading]

Play Theater: The NY Library In Ghostbusters

It’s a good thing the Ghostbusters are back, or else you wouldn’t have anyone to call when there’s something strange in your neighborhood. Atari made a lot of fans of the films very happy last week when they released the first “Ghostbusters” game worthy of the title. Check out an hour of ghost busting fun as part of our ongoing Play Theater series. [Continue Reading]

Red Fly CEO Responds To Ghostbusters Credit

Earlier today Sir-G posted posted an article about one concept artist’s struggle for credit for the role that he played in the Wii release of “Ghostbusters.” However, later in the day, Kombo.com posted a comment from Red Fly Studio’s CEO Dan Borth stating his side of the story. In all fairness to both parties, we have included Mr. Borth’s comments below. [Continue Reading]

UPDATED: Talented Character Designer For Ghostbusters Wii Gets The Shaft

UPDATE: Red Fly Studio’s CEO Dan Borth has responded to the claims of not crediting Dan Schoening. Read what he had to say here.

This one kinda hits it close to home. It’s not uncommon for an artist to get the short end of the stick in the industry. But, every time it does happen, it’s really disappointing. The latest in such situations deals with the recently released “Ghostbusters” on the Wii. If you hadn’t noticed, it uses a stylized take on the famed characters instead of trying to replicate the look of the HD versions of the game. The Wii’s style was inspired by an independent artist by the name of Dan Schoening. His Ghostbusters renditions laid the foundation for the Wii’s stylized look. If you take a look at some of his original work, you’ll see the inspirations all throughout his pieces, and personally I feel his work is miles better than the final look they settled on for the game. Below are his words posted from his deviantART blog about the whole matter of not getting recognized… all he wanted was his name in the games credits! Also of note, he is a very accomplished artist as he has worked on hit shows such as Cartoon Network’s Ed, Edd, & Eddy. [Continue Reading]

Are You Excited For Ghostbusters? Are You $129.99 Excited?

If this trend is likely to continue, I’m going to guess that we will be paying as much for collectors editions as we are for Wii’s by the year 2012. Amazon is giving “Ghostbusters” uber-fans the opportunity to shell out $129.99 for the special, collectors edition of the game. The entire package includes:

- The game

- 1 light-up Ecto-1 keychain

- 1 pack of Ghostbusters minimates

- Ghostbusters-themed console skins

- 1 bust of Slimer designed by the movies original sculptor

It should be noted that along with a different art/gameplay style, the Wii version of the game will retail for a considerably less $109.99.

So what do you think, gamers? “Batman: Arkham Asylum” had a hefty price tag of $100 smackaroos, but now “Ghostbusters” trumps that by $30. I was excited for Atari’s take on the franchise but I doubt I’ll be willing to spend that much for a collector’s edition. How bout you guys?

Dev Box Interview: Atari’s Producer Todd Slepian

It usually takes a small army to create the video games that we play, and, most of the time, all of the focus gets put on the game itself, and not on the people that came together to make it. Our Dev Box interview feature takes a look at some of the unsung heroes that have committed their lives to entertaining all of us. This week we are letting Atari Producer Todd Slepian take a break from working on “Ready 2 Rumble Revolution” and “Ghostbusters” and give him a chance to stand on the Dev Box and tell us a bit about himself, and what he thinks about the industry.

Name: Todd Slepian
Title: Producer
What you do: I make sure everyone working on the title both internally and externally are working on time and on budget and try to solve any problems before they become major issues.
Most recent games worked on: “Ready 2 Rumble Revolution” and “Ghostbusters”

1. What game has most influenced you, and why?
I have always loved the “Zelda” series. It’s a great combination of Action, Story and Puzzle Solving. [Continue Reading]

New Ghostbusters gameplay footage!

Quite possibly one of the best franchises to come out of the 80’s and my personal favorite, Ghostbusters is finally getting the proper videogame treatment. Hot off of the recent Sony gamers day press event comes new footage of actual gameplay from the new Ghostbusters video game. It’s still quite early, but it’s looking pretty good. I will admit the camera seems to get kinda funky just a bit. But other than that, I very much like what I see. I am also very happy to hear they have the original movie score in the game as well. So far the sound effects are ever thing we want from the title(the same as the movie) and the visuals are looking pretty damn tight. If there is one game that screams eye candy, this would be it.

Not much has been unveiled about the overall plot, but what is known is that the game is a sequal to the second movie and this time around features a fifth Ghostbuster(you the player). A baddie favorite seems to be making a return as well. Yup you guessed it, the Stay Pufft Marshmellow man. And as you can see in the video, he’s pretty much up to no good scaling buildings like Kong himself. I for one like the approach of a fifth character as this opens the universe up to something new as opposed to going through the usual movie licensed routine. The game will offer a varitey of weapons which have been integrated into your new and improved proton pack. The also have implemented an overheating feature which limits you to how much you can use your new weapons(as seen in the video). What appears to be a leftover from the second movie is a new weapon that uses slime. This time around the slime acts more like a tethers and allow you to move and lift heavy objects or obstacles. I’m sure there are to be some clever puzzles abound. Ghostbusters is slated to be released around the fall for all platforms(Wii and Ps2 will be different versions). Take a look at the vid below and please do not pay attention to the cheesy ass voice over. I didn’t think anyone could still sound like that in this day and age!

and here’s a little treat for ya…..