Ghostbusters: We're Finally Ready to Believe You

[Timby]

"It wasn't me this time, I swear."

So, June 16, 2009, we finally get our grubby mitts on our Ghostbusters game for the PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS and PSP!

However, in Europe, Sony has bought the exclusive rights for PS3 and PS2 release on that date. Release dates for the other systems are up in the air, and are only given a vague 'late 2009' date. (Fuckers.)

So, what's the rundown? The script was edited by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis (initial marketing materials, and a Game Informer article, said that they actually wrote the script, but that is not the case), and characters are voiced by all the original cast (only Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis didn't return); the game takes place 2 years after the events of Ghostbusters II. You play as the new member of the team, the 'experimental equipment technician,' AKA the rookie, and you fight alongside the other Ghostbusters as you save the world.

You get the proton pack, the PKE meter, the trap, and as the game progresses, these get upgraded into new versions which are jury-rigged together.

Official site: http:www.ghostbustersgame.com

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyVGSGynYpg

List of achievements/trophies: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/983/983585p1.html

And yes! There's multi-player!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV8MK4--0sQ

 

[The Evil Dead]

WE GOT ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm looking forward to this, I'm planning to pick it up asap...Perfect summer game.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Fuck you Sony, Fuck You!
I may very well not bother buying this at all now. On the other hand, if it's region free (probably not) I might import it.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I love Ghostbusters more than any man should, but I'm still waiting for the reviews on this one. Movie based games have a rather poor track record.

 

[TheGodBen]

It has been my dream for a long time to control Bill Murray, but Sony has scuttled my plans once again. This from the company that "doesn't do exclusives". Hypocritical pricks.

 

[Servo]

I find it hilarious that people are pissed about this being a PS3 exclusive for the forseeable future, yet when a PS3 owner grumbles about a 360/PC exclusive (timed or otherwise) they're told to get over it, and then are promptly jumped on by every 360 fanboy in the vicinity and told how shit their console is.

Good on Sony. They've been getting beaten to the punch by MS on exclusives for ages now, it's about time they put their hand in their pockets and gave 360 owners something to bitch about.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I find it hilarious that people are pissed about this being a PS3 exclusive for the forseeable future, yet when a PS3 owner grumbles about a 360/PC exclusive (timed or otherwise) they're told to get over it, and then are promptly jumped on by every 360 fanboy in the vicinity and told how shit their console is.

Good on Sony. They've been getting beaten to the punch by MS on exclusives for ages now, it's about time they put their hand in their pockets and gave 360 owners something to bitch about.

It's not that it's a timed exclusive, it's that it's not anywhere else in the world, and wasn't meant to be, then sony got their hands on it and made it a timed exclusive in Europe.
I wouldn't have really cared if it was a PS3 exclusive all along.

 

[Servo]

I find it hilarious that people are pissed about this being a PS3 exclusive for the forseeable future, yet when a PS3 owner grumbles about a 360/PC exclusive (timed or otherwise) they're told to get over it, and then are promptly jumped on by every 360 fanboy in the vicinity and told how shit their console is.

Good on Sony. They've been getting beaten to the punch by MS on exclusives for ages now, it's about time they put their hand in their pockets and gave 360 owners something to bitch about.

It's not that it's a timed exclusive, it's that it's not anywhere else in the world, and wasn't meant to be, then sony got their hands on it and made it a timed exclusive in Europe.

Like I said, good for Sony. PS3 owners have been getting screwed over by MS on third-party exclusives for ages. I'm only sorry that they couldn't secure worldwide exclusivity for the PS3. That would have been a real coup, and would have been even funnier to see every 360 fanboy on the net go into meltdown.

I wouldn't have really cared if it was a PS3 exclusive all along.

If it was a PS3 exclusive from the start, then it wouldn't have been an issue cause you'd have known from the off that you weren't getting it.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I find it hilarious that people are pissed about this being a PS3 exclusive for the forseeable future, yet when a PS3 owner grumbles about a 360/PC exclusive (timed or otherwise) they're told to get over it, and then are promptly jumped on by every 360 fanboy in the vicinity and told how shit their console is.

Good on Sony. They've been getting beaten to the punch by MS on exclusives for ages now, it's about time they put their hand in their pockets and gave 360 owners something to bitch about.

It's not that it's a timed exclusive, it's that it's not anywhere else in the world, and wasn't meant to be, then sony got their hands on it and made it a timed exclusive in Europe.

Like I said, good for Sony. PS3 owners have been getting screwed over by MS on third-party exclusives for ages. I'm only sorry that they couldn't secure worldwide exclusivity for the PS3. That would have been a real coup, and would have been even funnier to see every 360 fanboy on the net go into meltdown.

I wouldn't have really cared if it was a PS3 exclusive all along.

If it was a PS3 exclusive from the start, then it wouldn't have been an issue cause you'd have known from the off that you weren't getting it.

Exactly, if I'd have known it was going to be a timed exclusive then it wouldn't be a problem, then I wouldn't have ordered it months ago, expecting to get it soon. And I suppose if it was a worldwide exclusive then at least it wouldn't seem like us Europeans were getting shit on by the games companies, as usual. But as it stands now it just seems like Sony are being cunts to Europeans, since everyone else is getting it just fine.

 

[Timby]

Actually, after doing a little more research, the venom directed at Sony (including that in the OP) is misplaced. Atari, already in dire financial straits as it is (it desperately needs Ghostbusters to do well in order to maintain solvency), was shutting down its European publishing operation and getting ready to transfer the publishing job to a new company called Distribution Partners (which, I believe, is a shell game, as Namco Bandai is taking over Atari's European operations); because it's a brand-new publishing operation and will need time to spin up, this would have meant that Ghostbusters wouldn't have made the June date over there. Sony didn't want that to happen, since it owns the Ghostbusters franchise in the first place and wanted the game to come out at the same time as the Ghostbusters Blu-ray Disc, so it snapped up the European publishing rights for the PlayStation versions.

So it's not so much a dick move as it is Atari being out of money and Sony not wanting to market for the competition, instead wanting to get something out of its investment, as opposed to footing the publishing bill for Microsoft and Nintendo (and, shit, Sony isn't even a licensed publisher for either company and doesn't have the machines to do it). Sony's the good guy here, for once, as it rescued the PlayStation versions from coming out as late as the other platforms.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Hmm, all I'd seen on the subject was that they'd snapped up the rights, and put back the release date in Europe. And thinking Sony are bastards, I assumed that was the whole story.

 

[Timby]

Yeah, so did I, until I looked into it more -- I hadn't realized that Atari Europe has essentially ceased to exist. The PlayStation versions were scheduled for the same late '09 release in Europe as all the other ones through Distribution Partners, until Sony stepped in and elected to publish the game itself on PS3 / PS2. If anything, criticize Microsoft and Nintendo for not doing the same thing.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Yeah, so did I, until I looked into it more. The PlayStation versions were scheduled for the same late '09 release in Europe as all the other ones, until Sony stepped in and elected to publish the game itself. If anything, criticize Microsoft and Nintendo for not doing the same thing.

What's even more stupid is the fact that they haven't made this widely known...

 

[TheGodBen]

I find it hilarious that people are pissed about this being a PS3 exclusive for the forseeable future, yet when a PS3 owner grumbles about a 360/PC exclusive (timed or otherwise) they're told to get over it, and then are promptly jumped on by every 360 fanboy in the vicinity and told how shit their console is.

Only the lame fanboys act like that, most of us would prefer no console exclusives at all so that the consoles could compete in bringing better services. I was originally going to buy a PS3 but Sony screwed over the European market by releasing the console here later than the rest of the world, they charged us more for it and then they gimped the console by cutting out hardware-based backward compatibility (which they later cut in the rest of the world, but we never got the chance to have the "full" console). Combine this with GTA IV's DLC being exclusive to Xbox and I reluctantly purchased a 360 instead, and only because it was on sale at half price. I feel bad for the PS3 owners who can't play that DLC or the immensely fun Crackdown.

I was looking forwards to Ghostbusters, but only a few months before release Sony acquired the publishing rights for Europe and suddenly I'm unable to purchase it when every other 360 owner outside of Europe can. I'm as pissed at Sony as I was when I heard about GTA IV's DLC, only moreso because back then I hadn't already committed to one console. All I wanted was to interact with my hero Bill Murray, now I'm going to be forced to resort to my original plan and kidnap him.

 

[Timby]

I was looking forwards to Ghostbusters, but only a few months before release Sony acquired the publishing rights for Europe and suddenly I'm unable to purchase it when every other 360 owner outside of Europe can. I'm as pissed at Sony

Did you not read any of the last several posts in this thread?

 

[CommodoreKong]

I think it's actually pretty funny it's coming out for the Wii and 360 at all. It shows how little the different divisions in Sony work together and care about each other. Ghostbusters would of been a decent exclusive for the PS3 and yet the Sony movie division doesn't sell them the rights to the movie.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

At last a Ghostbusters game for the next gen consoles, looking forward to getting my hands on a proton pack and crossing the streams.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I've been considering getting a PS3, but at the moment there's only a handful of games on it I want to play... I don't see it as worth £289+ ($464+), if it were £100 cheaper than I wouldn't really think about it, I'd buy one. So anyone who wants to donate one to me, feel free...

 

[MyCylon]

Ah, this game looks so sweet! It's a shame it won't be out on XBOX 360 in Europe anytime soon, but I certainly hope it will get here eventually.

Two brief questions:

- Do US 360 games play on (un-modded) European consoles?
- Does Amazon.com even allow you to import US games from Europe?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Ah, this game looks so sweet! It's a shame it won't be out on XBOX 360 in Europe anytime soon, but I certainly hope it will get here eventually.

Two brief questions:

- Do US 360 games play on (un-modded) European consoles?
- Does Amazon.com even allow you to import US games from Europe?

Depends on the game, some distributors region lock them, some don't.
I don't believe Amazon exports games, but there are other sites who do. Movietyme.com, play-asia.com and cd-wow.com are ones I've used from time to time.