Ghostbusters Articles

Last updated Wednesday, July 1, 2009

As interesting articles appear concerning Ghostbusters, they will be posted here.

As always, you can find up-to-the-minute info about all things related to Ghostbusters (not just the videogames) at dedicated fan sites Proton Charging, Spook Central and GBFans.

July 2009

Raging Gamer Mave, a long-time Ghostbusters fan (just like the rest of us) had a blast playing Ghostbusters on the Wii.

June 2009

In addition to the positive words of reviewer Daniel Share-Strom at VGChartz, check out the first week of Ghostbusters sales. Between our version and TRI’s HD version, Ghostbusters is topping the charts!

Game Knights’ Kwing produced an extensive video review of Ghostbusters the Videogame for the Wii. Enjoy it on You Tube.

Scott Bartle at Nintendo Life ranks Ghostbusters for the Wii 8 out of 10 saying:

“Ghostbusters: The Video Game is without a doubt the best attempt at capturing the thrill of the movies in digital form to date and a real service to fans who grew up watching the films and cartoons.”

Katrina “ShadokatRegn” Pawlowski posted her review of Ghostbusters Wii on Co-Optimus, a site dedicated to multiplayer gaming. Our version of the game scored quite well, earning a 5 out of 5 rating.

Tony Capri at Cheat Code Central enjoyed his time among the “boys in beige.”

“”On the whole, Ghostbusters is an impressive production most fans should eat up.

Dustin Chadwell at Gaming Age wrapped all of his Ghostbusters reviews into one, giving high praise to both versions of the game.

Jake Metcalf of 8BitJoystick praises Ghostbusters. As a child of the 80’s (like most of us who developed the game) he was a huge Ghostbusters fan from the very beginning, but he notes:

“Even if you’d don’t know or don’t like the Ghostbusters there still is a pretty good game here.”

GameZone’s review is shiny and encouraging.

“This title will be considered one of the better games for the Nintendo Wii.”

Marc Normandin at BlastMagazine.com had a great time playing Ghostbusters on his Wii. And instead of comparing the Wii’s graphics to that of its sibling Xbox360/PS3 version, he focuses on what’s important and unique to the Ghostbusters experience on the Wii.

“Well, if you’ve ever wanted to strap on a proton pack… the Wii Remote is the closest you are going to get.”

Alex Riviello from CHUD really enjoyed his experience with the Wii version of Ghostbusters.

Outblush, a shopping weblog for women, speaks highly of Ghostbusters for the Wii.

Play’s Matt Cabral ranks Ghostbusters as an 8.5 experience. His verdict:

Bustin’ makes me feel good, even on the Wii.

Gamespot’s Kevin VanOrd could only find one major complaint with the Wii version of Ghostbusters: Not enough!

“It’s not just good: it’s great. “

David Ellis at 1Up gives Ghostbusters a B+, saying:

Instead of being a hashed-together port, the Wii version of Ghostbusters shows that when a developer puts real effort into tailoring the look and gameplay of a port to the system, the results can be every bit as enjoyable as the original.

And for those of you who haven’t seen it, check out the Wii-specific commercial for Ghostbusters at IGN.

ars technica’s review of Ghostbusters for the Wii is very encouraging.

“Making a game that took advantage of the Wii as a console and taking the time to make sure the graphics were unique and had their own character paid off.”

News about a Ghostbusters game isn’t limited to the gaming sites.

LA’s ABC affiliate includes Ghostbusters in their Tech Bytes segment.

Best.com includes a write-up of the title, as well.

WiiNintendo got their hands on the game and posted their initial impression.

G4’s X-Play seemed unaware of a few critical details (like the Wii’s unique co-op multiplayer mode) and they only seemed to play the first two levels. Regardless, they sing the praises of the game (except for the last few seconds of the review).

Brian LeTendre, writing for Comic Book Resources, received a first-hand demonstration of Ghostbusters from our Lead Programmer James Clarendon. He seemed to enjoy the game quite a bit.

Screw Attack’s Farmhouse played through our version of Ghostbusters: The Videogame. Watch it in action!

Greg Miller at IGN reviewed both TRI’s next gen version as well as our build of the game for the Wii, fully recognizing the unique features of each.

Our very own Josh Parker spoke to Raymond Carsillo of Examiner.com about our experiences developing Ghostbusters.

May 2009

1UP’s Game Night looks at both the Xbox360/PS3 and Wii versions of Ghostbusters.

Our little game made the front page of The New York Times!

The final developer’s diary for IGN discusses the very unique art style with which we built the Wii version of Ghostbusters: The Videogame.

This IGN trailer focuses on one of the key features of the Wii version of Ghostbusters: co-op multiplayer. The game was designed from the get-go to be enjoyed with your friends.

The Wii version of Ghostbusters got some attention from G4’s X-Play. Morgan Webb tells you all about it.

April 2009

This month’s developer’s diary talks about how Red Fly Studio and Terminal Reality developed Ghostbusters with a great deal of respect to the source material. We all grew up fans of Ghostbusters–like most of you reading this–so we knew that certain details could not be skipped when putting the proton wand into the hands of the fans.

Jon Christensen at /gamer is quick to point out that the version of Ghostbusters we’re developing for the Wii hasn’t gotten nearly as much attention as its high-poly Xbox360/PS3 counterpart. That changed today when an official Wii-only trailer hit the internet.

The user comments accompanying GoNintendo’s report of the video are very, very encouraging.

I love posting links to mainstream media outlets like Newsweek that mention our game. Such gravitas! Dan Aykroyd talks about our upcoming release of Ghostbusters in this interview on Newsweek.com.

Kotaku’s reference to the article points out that Mr. Aykroyd actually prefers the stylized art in our Wii version of the game.

Giant Bomb has a great interview complete with action shots of both version of Ghostbusters.

IGN features a write-up by Greg Miller who has first-hand experience in the improvements made to the controls since ATARI took over the project.

Designer Herbie Piland sat down with GamePro to talk about Ghostbusters for the Wii.

Another new Developer’s Diary has posted on IGN. This one focuses on the unique aspects of multiplayer co-op in the Wii version of Ghostbusters: The Videogame.

Nicholas “bapenguin” Puleo at Co-Optimus focuses on the multiplayer aspects of Ghostbusters on the Wii. Creative Lead Dustin Dobson gives the scoop.

March 2009

Tim McDonald at IncGamers got his hands on Ghostbusters for the Wii and enjoyed it.

alber at The Wii Genius talks about his experience busting ghosts.

When ATARI picked up Ghostbusters, not only did it save our bacon by providing us with a publisher, it also gave us a few extra months of development time. And beyond that, ATARI seems to recognize just how much potential our unique Wii version of Ghostbusters has.

They’re really pushing that fact as they take the game around to show it to the media. And the media is listening! More and more we’re seeing reports that praise the fact that our Wii version of Ghostbusters: The Videogame is not just a watered-down port of the Xbox360/PS3 version of the game. It is a stand-alone gaming experience that provides the player with a new point of view on the ghost busting experience. With the Wii’s motion- and pointer-based controller and our bright, amusing caricatured cast, we have transposed the Aykroyd/Ramis script into a completely different realm.

I get a real kick out of watching our little Pixar-ish versions of Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd banter back and forth. And thanks to some superb hand-crafted animations, scenes that start out funny by their audio alone become hilarious when paired with the visual performance Crazy Pixel has created for our virtual actors.

Where the heck did that little joyful rant come from? I guess I just get really excited when I see articles like this one at Giant Bomb that totally understand what we’ve doing here.

Creative Lead Dustin Dobson just returned from a week-long media junket across Europe promoting Ghostbusters. Expect to see lots of new previews and features over the coming weeks. First up: Game Reactor.

Next up, Mark Bozon at IGN got his hands on the game and had a blast (pun intended) letting his proton stream fly, wreaking havoc and snatching ghosts.

Since ATARI has provided us with a few extra months of polish time, we’re confident That VideoGame Blog is right: Ghostbusters is going to be a hit!

A new Developer’s Diary is up on IGN. This one lists all the neat gadgets and gizmos at the Ghostbusters’ disposal in the Wii version of Ghostbusters: The Videogame.

February 2009

Kotaku posted some new screenshots of Ghostbusters for the Wii and DS. Have a look-see.

Even though the Wii version of Ghostbusters is pretty specifically not high-def, the HDRoom recognizes that the unique control scheme might render the reduced graphical statistic not that big a deal.

The Wired Blog highlights the specific details of each image.

We can always count on GoNintendo to point people to our games.

Co-Optimus prefers our flavor of Ghostbusters because it features true multiplayer co-op.

Derrick Sanskrit at 61 Frames Per Second on the Nerve blogs posted a superb write-up of what he saw of Ghostbusters at the New York Comic Con.

The article by David Oxford at Kombo.com is a nice companion piece to Derrick’s article.

Tracey John reports extensively on the NYCC showing of Ghostbusters for MTV Multiplayer.

Jim “txshurricane” McLaughlin points at the MTV Multiplayer article, specifically showing enthusiasm for the multiplayer aspect of Ghostbusters on the Wii.

A couple of additional, extensive articles about Ghostbusters have posted.

Infendo dug in deep and got the full hands-on Ghostbusters experience.

Alex Riviello at CHUD enjoyed the demo he played.

Marc Normandin at Blast enjoyed his experience with Ghostbusters.

Atari showed off Ghostbusters at the New York Comic Con over the weekend. Here are some highlights:

Early news about Atari’s line-up for the con featured Ghostbusters prominently, like this article on 411mania.

BuzzFocus talked to Programmer/Designer James Clarendon about what makes our version of Ghostbusters different than TRI’s Xbox360/PS3 verison.

Tom Endo at the Escapist is looking forward to living out some of his childhood fantasies of wrangling ghosts.

As always, GoNintendo offers their heart-felt support of our efforts.

IGN’s report of the event speaks highly of the potential of Ghostbusters on the Wii.

A developer’s diary I wrote for IGN went live today. It tells all about how Red Fly Studio got this gig working on Ghostbusters. It feels a little odd blogging myself, but check it out!

January 2009

Audio Director James Barker tells all in this interview focusing on what makes our version of Ghostbusters for the Wii unique from the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions.

Eurogamer got the play Ghostbusters and had very nice things to say about it.

GoNintendo agrees.

Matt Cabral at AtomicGamer got his hands on our Wii verison of Ghostbusters and was very impressed. He recognizes and appreciates that we’ve made a Wii-specific Ghostbusters experience instead of simply down-porting the next-gen build.

Word of Ghostbuster’s release date spread across the internets like wildfire.

Gamespot wrote up a comprehensive preview of Ghostbusters.

Mail Online is eager to play Ghostbusters in the coming year.

December 2008

Videogamer.com featured a great preview of Ghostbusters, giving equal time to the next-gen and Wii versions.

Atari has released an extensive playthrough video narrated by Creative Lead Dustin Dobson showing off a lot of the neat features specific to the Wii version. Watch it on Gamereactor.

I’m very pleased that Boing Boing’s Offworld site picked up the story, as well.

/gamer also picked up the story, adding their own commentary which is quite favorable.

Michael DePalma, Long Island Movie Examiner from Examiner.com, talks video games as he focuses on the Ghostbuster’s move from the big screen to game console.

The Awesomest Thing on the Internet today is Ghostbusters the videogame. TBT posted the high-res trailer for the Xbox360/PS3 version of the game.

Randy Nelson at Joystiq got his hands on both versions of Ghostbusters recently, and he shares his impressions in an extensive article on Joystiq.

If you’ll allow me to swell a bit with pride:

“At this point, our pick for the best-playing version goes to the Wii, hands down.”

Nice!

We knew from the start that Ghostbusters would draw a big crowd. Not just gamers, but most of the people we grew up with fell in love with Ghostbusters as kids. The release of the Ghostbusters trailer featuring some funny lines written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis pleases everyone.

Perhaps the best example is this posting from a blog dedicated to movies. The author Christopher Campbell freely admits that he hates games, but he’s such a huge Ghostbusters fan, even he is looking forward to seeing what comes from the minds of the original cast and the hands of developers Terminal Reality and Red Fly Studio.

Following yesterday’s big announcements and the release of the new trailer from Atari, Ghostbusters has received a ton of press these past couple of days.

My favorite headline:

Confirmed: Ghostbusters Video Game to be Greatest Thing Ever

High expectations, indeed. We won’t disappoint.

Even though our fellow developer Zen implemented Ghostbusters DS, the original design came from us, so we’re proud when people enjoy the handheld experience.

Jared Rea at The Escapist is the first journalist I’ve seen give equal time to all three versions of Ghostbusters, DS, Wii and Xbox360/PS3, as they are all unique in their own ways.

This trailer features all the high-res graphics from the Xbox360/PS3 version of the game. It’s pretty cool.

AJ Glasser at Kotaku got his hands on the Wii version of Ghostbusters and recognized that we made it specifically for the Wii. Art, layout, controls: everything about Ghostbusters for the Wii is custom-designed to take maximum advantage of the Wii and target the Wii-owning audience.

… Luckily, Ghostbusters: The Video Game on Wii isn’t a port of the PS3/360 version, so much as a reimagining of the same game from the ground up…

Thanks AJ. We’re glad someone is finally paying attention to that critical detail.

Kotaku and many other sites are reporting on Atari’s official statement about next summer’s release date for Ghostbusters.

November 2008

Take your pick of news sources to read about Atari’s acquisition of the Ghostbusters games.

Kotaku ran a brief story about Atari executive Phil Harrison discussing their acquisition of the Ghostbusters game.

Gamasutra reports that Atari has picked up the title from Sierra and will publish the game next year to coincide with the re-release of the original movies.

GameInformer also has a nice write-up.

July 2008

Jonathan at movie blog site Row Three plans to pick up a copy of Ghostbusters when it comes out.

E3 coverage:

EuroGamer has just posted a superb interview with Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters’ Winston Zeddemore). It’s quite good.

June 2008

Ghostbusters progress report, featured on IGN.

May 2008

Andrew Clark at The Wiire breaks it down properly, actually mentioning our half of the upcoming Ghostbusters title. Seems like the Xbox360 and PS3 version have been getting all the love lately.

April 2008

Sierra showed off its upcoming line of new releases last week. Featured prominently was Ghostbusters.

Joystiq remains cautiously optimistic.

Kotaku had nice things to say as well.

GBFans.com posted many, many photos of a neat event Vivendi held in Minnesota promoting the upcoming Ghostbusters game. Behold: The Ecto-1.

Let the nerdgasms erupt!

Tech and game sites like Boing Boing and Kotaku and several others were all over it.

January 2008

Gamespy lists Ghostbusters as one of their Most Wanted games for 2008.

December 2007

This is my favorite article so far!

Australia’s Couriermail.com.au wrote up an article. International!

CVG posted a bunch of new screenshots of TRI’s PS360 build. Excitement for the title builds!

The guy from IGN Australia was very excited to play our demo.

More mainstream press on Ain’t It cool News.

AMC reports the details on the Wii/PS2 version.

Worth Playing did a full write-up.

Bit-tech reports on the games. Ping their forums for more.

A cool aspect of working on this project is how the enthusiasm extends from the game world into the mainstream movie world. There have been countless movie-to-game projects, but few have as massive a following as Ghostbusters.

We’d like to remind everyone that the Wii version of the game will have every single line of dialog from the PS360 version of the game. Just because we’re putting a heavy emphasis on multiplayer doesn’t mean we won’t be using every asset provided by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis and the other cast members. It would be pure folly to not integrate every line of genius dialog into our game!

TVG reports on the DS version.

Next Generation reports on the DS version

Kotaku and the fanbase sound off on the DS version. (We love the Kotaku crowd. Such love! Such hate! The gamers’ passion is awesome!)

Games Radar reveals a little more about the Wii version of Ghostbusters (albeit alongside a screenshot of the Xbox36o/PS3 version).

DS Fanboy has high hopes for the DS version of Ghostbusters. Zen Studios won’t let them down.

The Blogosphere is abuzz with excitement about our game!

This isn’t directly related to the game, but check out this article on Proton Charging to see how much excitement there is for Ghostbusters stuff.

Australia’s Herald Sun wrote up a nice article summarizing the game.

PocketGamer and Nintendic reported the announcement of the DS version.

As always, feedback on Kotaku is passionate! Even though this article is focused on the PS360 build, I’d like to take this opportunity to point out that multiplayer (co-op, competitive and adversarial) are the key features focused on in the Wii build.

November 2007

Further information

UK’s OXM revealed more information about multiplayer, as reported online by CVG.

More impressions

Infendo writer Derek pleads his case for Ghostbusters.

N-Europe wrote up a nice little piece about the game.

This one seems to be Dutch.

Screenshots have been released into the wild.

It’s always encouraging to hear people share their enthusiasm for the project.

Kotaku brings the fans out. Their comments sections are always lively.

Teaser Trailer

Sierra released a brief teaser trailer the day of the formal announcement. Reactions:

Games Radar wrote up a very nice article in reaction to the announcement.

Initial Announcements

The videogame world reverberated with the news when Game Informer dropped their cover a few days early. It was just a little tease with very little actual information, but the implications woke up the internet with chatter.