“Ghostbusters” video game slated for June release
By Michael Knox, mknox@modernfilmzine.com
A video game featuring a new “Ghostbusters” story is slated to be released by Atari on June 16 in North America with a worldwide release on June 19.
The video game is a tie-in to the 25th anniversary of the “Ghostbusters” movie. The game is also a precursor to the announced “Ghostbusters 3″ movie, which has a scheduled 2010 release date, according to the Internet Movie Database. Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky wrote the screenplay for the planned third installment in the popular franchise.
Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis wrote the scripts for “Ghostbusters,” and “Ghostbusters II,” and provided the story for the new video game.
Atari worked closely with Sony Pictures Consumer Products and development studios Terminal Reality and RedFly, to develop “Ghostbusters: The Video Game.”
“Ghostbusters: The Video Game,” reunites the original cast of Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson who lend their voices and in-game likenesses to the original story.
The game is 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 phantasms in an all new battle to save New York City from its latest paranormal plague.
The game will launch Tuesday, June 16, with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s worldwide debut of the original motion picture on Blu-ray Disc.
The Blu-ray Disc release of “Ghostbusters” will see bonus features, including “Slimer Mode,” a picture-in-picture graphical viewing experience, a featurette on the refurbishing of the original “Ghostbusters” car, Ecto-1. The Ecto-1 has been fully restored with plans for special promotional appearances throughout the US and additional replicas touring across Europe.
The video game will be available on the PLAYSTATION3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC. The PlayStation2 computer entertainment system version and the Wii version are being developed by Red Fly Studios, and the Nintendo DS version, in which the player takes the role of one of the Ghostbusters themselves, is developed by Zen Studios.
The PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and PC versions of the game are developed using Terminal Reality’s proprietary Infernal Engine technology.
For more information on Atari’s entire line up visit www.atari.com.
“Ghostbusters,” was released in 1984, and is one of Columbia Pictures’ highest grossing films, according to a news release. It spawned a hit sequel in 1989 and three successful animated television shows.
“Ghostbusters” and its sequel grossed more than $500 million world-wide. The two films were produced and directed by Ivan Reitman, and starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson as ghost hunters for hire, cleaning up Manhattan’s buildings of slime-spewing spooks.
