Ghostbusters The Mobile Game - video game comes to iPhone and iPod touch

Ghostbusters: The Mobile Game for European mobile handsets. Drawing on the enduring popularity of the two Ghostbusters films and their cartoon spin-offs, Ghostbusters: The Mobile Game features the team we know and love capturing ghosts across New York City.

Sexy Alyssa Milano to play Ilyssa Selwyn in Ghostbusters video game - Who you gonna call? With video...

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, PlayStation2 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.

Ghostbuster on PC has no Multiplayer option as developers concentrate on console versions...

The developers of Ghostbusters have defended the decision not to include multiplayer in the PC version, which came out in the US this month.

"Multiplayer for the PC version of Ghostbusters is something that Threewave and Terminal Reality always wanted to do," Dan Irish, CEO of multiplayer developer Threewave, told Big Download. "However, our focus was on making the console version the best that they could be."

As a result, said Irish, compromises needed to be made elsewhere. "We couldn't do all versions with multiplayer simultaneously with the resources that we had available - there was simply too much to do," he explained. "Something would have to suffer."

Ghostbusters is due out for PS3 and PS2 tomorrow, 19th June, with a PSP version to follow in the autumn and Xbox 360, PC, Wii and DS versions due out later this year - the latter versions having been held up after Sony stepped in to publish the game for Atari at the 11th hour.

Ghostbusters video game Exclusively on Two PlayStation Platforms in June for the 25th Anniversary of Original Hit Movie

Original Cast of the Hit Movie Come Back Together to Do Battle With the Supernatural on the Streets of Manhattan

PSP Version Coming Autumn 2009 - Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Pictures Consumer Products, and Atari Europe today announced that Ghostbusters: The Video Game for PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) and PlayStation 2 is to be published in PAL territories by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe in June, meaning that owners of PS3 and PlayStation 2 will get their hands on the game that reunites the cast of the hit movies.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the well-loved franchise, the game will launch in coordination with the Blu-ray release of the original hit movie and licensing programs from Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc. Ghostbusters: The Video Game will launch in Europe and PAL regions on June 19th 2009 exclusively for PS3 and PlayStation 2.

“We’re committed to bringing the PlayStation family the biggest and best gaming experiences first,” says Mark Hardy, European Product Marketing Director at SCEE, “and it doesn’t get any bigger and better than this blockbuster title. This summer, PlayStation owners will be the first to grab their proton packs and fight the spirit world. We’d like to wish them the best of luck in their ghostbusting endeavours and, of course, to remind them not to cross the streams!”

“With our colleagues at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe publishing Ghostbusters: The Video Game, we are thrilled by the dynamic new Ghostbusters game. We think it will have tremendous appeal to gamers and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of this beloved franchise.” said Mark Caplan, Vice President of Licensing-Interactive for Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc. “With this superb game launching alongside the Blu-ray release, we will reach existing fans and the next generation, bringing them all into the irresistible Ghostbusters universe.”

“Atari is committed to maximizing the launch of the Ghostbusters videogame across Europe,” Said Jim Wilson, VP Worldwide Marketing, Atari. “In partnership with both Sony Pictures Consumer Products, Inc and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, we have a unique opportunity to add new game products and expand marketing opportunities to reach Ghostbusters fans in Europe.”

In Ghostbusters: The Video Game, players can grab a proton pack and turn their ghostbusting fantasies into reality as the new recruit to the Ghostbusters team in a story set two years after the Ghostbusters 2 movie. Once again, the city of Manhattan has been overrun with ghouls, ghosts and all things foul – and it’s down to the Ghostbusters team to capture them all and regain control.

The game has been written by original Ghostbusters writers Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd and reunites members of the original cast 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 game, which also features performances from favourites including William Atherton (Walter Peck), Annie Potts (Janine) and Brian Doyle-Murray (Mayor Jock Mulligan).

Developed by Terminal Reality and Red Fly Studios Ghostbusters: The Video Game will arrive on PS3 and PS2 this June. PSP version of the game is scheduled for launch in autumn 2009.

Ghostbusters video game latest update

It's Crazy Enough that it Just Might Work...

When I first heard about doing the Multiplayer for the new Ghostbusters game, I was excited but very cautious as well. Movie licensed games are not something that Threewave, being a group of mostly hardcore shooter fans, usually get excited about. We were proven wrong.

If you don’t know, Threewave Software has made great shooter content for a long time. Threewave developed the original Threewave Capture the Flag (“CTF”) mod for Quake, and followed it up with work on top brands as Quake III, Doom 3, Jedi Academy, Soldier of Fortune, Turok, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Army of Two.

When we were about the Ghostbusters franchise, our ears perked up. Ghostbusters certainly wasn’t our typical first-or-third person shooter fare; we were up for a change after finishing up a particularly difficult project.

We went to Dallas to check out Terminal Reality’s demo of Ghostbusters and were amazed; the physics system, ghost AI and proton stream tech totally captured the feeling of the movies. But how on earth would we make it work in Multiplayer where technical limitations (on number of physics objects, enemies and bandwidth restrictions) can be very strict? TRI had very simple Multiplayer technology at the time with a competitive “Ghosts vs. Ghostbusters” design that had problems. The timeframe in which to finish the project was very short as well. It was a long flight back to Vancouver.

Over the next month or so, however, we got more and more excited about the possibilities. Co-op gameplay was first and foremost in our minds; everyone wanted to play as the “actual” Ghostbusters team. We came up with a co-op design that maximized teamwork while allowing players to also compete among themselves, framed against the theme of “a day in the life of the Ghostbusters Team.” Players would travel around the City, doing Ghostbusting jobs to make the most cash. “Job Types” (modes) such as Containment and Survival were designed to appeal to all sorts of gamers, not just hardcore shooter fans. And of course the game needed to be replay-able; no game would play exactly the same way twice.

With a solid design, and a lot of hoping on the technical side (!), we started in earnest on maps and gameplay prototyping.

Serving All Your Supernatural Elimination Needs
For Ghostbusters Multiplayer we wanted to include featured locations from the Single Player game, but adapt them for Multiplayer use. All of the maps are designed to suit a majority of job types; it was critical that we allowed enough space for more enemies, more players, and more action! Threewave has some of the best level designers in the business and their expertise was critical in this regard.

Refining the different Job types took a long time. We had a good idea of how we wanted each to play but since we had no real network code for several months, our prototypes changed a lot over time. Once we were able to test the different Jobs, we quickly iterated on the rules and came to some solid decisions on what we felt was the most fun.





We also soon discovered we needed a few extra things to keep players challenged in Co-op Multiplayer as compared to the single player game. Four “live” Ghostbusters ended up completely destroying the AI ghosts! Teamwork was something we needed to focus on; in the Single Player game the other Ghostbusters help you, we wanted to make sure players did better by working together in Multiplayer.

Over the course of prototyping and development we decided to introduce limited ammunition and powerups; this choice really allowed us to reward teamwork and create some unique Multiplayer “Ghostbusters” technology items, such as the Proton Accelerator and the Ghost Shrinker.

We also added some unique Multiplayer AI “aggro” behaviours to challenge players even more. Some of these include ghosts that go berserk or even split in two when angered.

Persistent online ranking, automatic difficulty scaling and Most Wanted Ghosts to find and catch were added to keep players coming back to play again and again.

In Ghostbusters, ghost wrangling and trapping is one of the key elements players do over and over. The first time we tried Multiplayer wrangling, we knew we were on to something fun. In the Single Player game, if there are more AI players holding a ghost, the less the ghost struggles. We emphasized and added to this feature for Multiplayer Ghost Wrangling. If players work together, ghosts go down faster, and everyone gets a better score.

I Ain’t Afraid of No Code!

As our gameplay became more focused and successful, our tech team overcame what had earlier seemed technically impossible.

We developed interaction rules to limit (and hide!) the number of active physics objects to maintain network traffic and performance without sacrificing gameplay. An AI spawning and Job type system was developed to reduce the amount of hand scripting we needed to do while complying with Multiplayer requirements. Our programmers worked hard with our internal QA team to really make the Multiplayer game shine.
Call the Professionals

We knew about the pending merger; we never thought that Ghostbusters was in real danger of being dropped. We had completed some great focus tests and were well on our way to finishing up our portion of the game when we got the news that the game was actively being pitched to a new publisher. As an independent developer, the next few months were very challenging. We knew the title would be picked up eventually, but not knowing 100% when was not a good place to be in.

When Atari was confirmed to be the new publisher and the news surfaced that the release date was to be pushed out, we were very relieved. Not only would Threewave and TRI have more time to polish the game, but the game would have extensive marketing support to coincide with the Blu-Ray release of the Ghostbusters movie.

I’m proud of the team here at Threewave; we’re excited to be a part of the Ghostbusters game and look forward to playing online this summer!!

Ghostbusters video game gadgets and gear

Ghostbusters - Tools of the trade

Since Ghostbusters Wii follows the storyline written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, a specific stockpile of gadgets and devices are required to match the dialog and story elements. The default Ghostbusters gear (proton pack, trap and PKE meter) were a no-brainer, but some of the newer, cool gadgets developed by Terminal Reality and Dan Aykroyd for the Xbox360/PS3 version weren’t specifically tailored for the Wii. Therefore, we decided to focus on the Wii's one-of-a-kind controller that offers more natural-feeling control options not only through a few simple, well-placed motion-based gestures but also by aiming directly into the game with an on-screen targeting reticule.



Standard equipment
Of course we couldn't make a Ghostbusters game without the most basic tools in the paranormal investigators toolset. Anyone who has seen the movies will recognize the proton beam, the default tool for any Ghostbuster. Its signature orange and blue lightning spills uncontainable from the tip of the Neutrona Wand and destroys just about everything it hits. Against ghosts, it weakens their spectral energy. Once the ghost's energy is exhausted, the beam wraps around it like a lasso, giving the player a chance to wrangle the ghost into a trap.

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.)



The ghost trap hasn't changed much since it was last seen in the movies. It still performs its intended function admirably. Any time a weakened ghost is dragged above it, it automatically triggers, opening its tiny gate and emitting a ghost-pulling cone of energy that can suck any ghost into its mysterious core.

Every Ghostbuster is equipped with the standard PKE Meter and Ecto-Goggles (also called Para-Goggles). The distinctive handheld ghost-sensing device alerts the player when ghosts are near and can be used to track ghosts. The Goggles are a separate view mode, giving the player a first-person perspective through his avatar's eyes into the ghost world beyond. Ectoplasmic residue and other details, hints and clues are visible only through the lenses of this paranormal tracking device.

"He slimed me"
The player's upgraded prototype proton pack has a slime-launching mode that not only harms negatively-charged enemies but also coats targeted objects with positively-charged slime. He can then "wrangle" the goo-splattered object in much the same way ghosts are wrangled. This gives the player a certain level of control over the environment in ways that don't involve just running and gunning. Using the Wii's pointer, the player can manipulate elements in the world to solve complex puzzles that challenge the mind as well as the reflexes. Adding to this mechanic, the player can also fire a boson dart into a wrangled object to launch it like a missile across the environment, so the player can expect some challenging dual-stage puzzles which require him to not only find and acquire a critical object but also line up a shot like a billiards ball to plug his wrangled object into a distant socket.

The secondary mode of the slime blower traps an ever-expanding gob of positive slime at the nozzle of the modified proton wand. The player fills that wobbling lump of slime as much as he can before releasing it as a slime mine. One well-placed slime mine can splatter an entire area with positive slime, washing away any traces of the negative black slime that protects certain enemies.

Hold still
Another new device Egon invents during the course of the game is the Stasis Beam which allows the player to immobilize specters. When swarmed by ghosts, the player can lock all of the ghosts in place temporarily while he deals with one specific threat at a time. The stasis beam's effect is short-lived, so players must cautiously juggle the tasks of keeping some ghosts immobilized while trapping others.

If the player is feeling overwhelmed by swarming wisps or other small, non-trappable monsters, he should activate the secondary mode of the stasis beam: the Shock Blast. Not only does this concentrated pulse of stasis energy blast ghosts back, it deals tremendous damage to any nearby monsters or the highly destructible environment. Simple wisps pop like balloons when caught in the blast radius of this tool, and it also eliminates the small objects (furniture, appliances and the like) that phantoms will otherwise possess and use as weapons against the player.

Ready to roll
Equipped with all of this gear, the player is ready to take on any supernatural challenge thrown at him. The PKE meter and Ecto-Goggles lead him to the ghosts. His proton beam and other tools weaken and stun the ghosts. His trap finally locks the ghosts away for good. It's simple in concept, but utilizing the right tools at the right time in the worst of conditions is more than challenging enough to keep the player's pulse racing. It's a good thing he's not going in alone!

Ghostbusters Origin and the Making of the video game

Proving It

Now, and to be completely candid about this, as a game developer Terminal Reality had something to prove. At that time our most recent titles, Aeon Flux and Spy Hunter, each featured some great elements but neither of them exactly set the world on fire.


We had recently undergone extensive management changes and company reorganization. We firmly decided that we no longer want to be known as a developer that ships decent games on time, but instead one that focuses solely on top-quality entertainment. This had been the central message of our ‘reboot’ publisher tour in LA.

We had just proven our commitment to quality (to ourselves, anyway) by reluctantly turning down the offer of an extremely high-profile project that we felt just didn’t offer enough development time to really perfect the game.

A few months prior to that we had gone out to pitch an (different) original game IP. We had a strong document, a gameplay concept that everyone was dying to play, and even a development partnership with a high-profile, stellar, and very cool movie director who worked a room like no one I have ever seen. But what we didn’t have was a demo, and thus we never got out of the talking stages.

We learned from that experience that we have to put everything onscreen. Given this opportunity, that’s exactly what we did for Ghostbusters.


We rushed back to Texas and told the team, who was as excited by the news as we had been. Everyone jumped into making the proof-of-concept with full exuberance. This was the first official next-gen effort for the newly combined ‘big team’ at Terminal Reality. We had been dying for the chance to really show off what we can do.

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.

Getting the look and functionality of the proton/capture stream right was absolutely crucial to gameplay and authenticity, so that was our first order of business. Properly scarring the walls was the second.

Within three weeks we had implemented both of these elements, as well as a fully breakable ballroom, fully animated Slimer, a ghostbuster character with working proton pack, slime and hurt reactions, a functioning ghost trap, and both blasting and rudimentary ghost-trapping gameplay.

This was the demo that we showed to our publisher, then Sony Pictures, and then to Dan Aykroyd. Everyone that saw it said that while the quality was definitely there, it also showed the team’s passion for Ghostbusters and getting it just right. Once Mark Caplan from SPCP selected a publisher, we had proved to all the parties involved that we were the right developers for this game.



Authenticity

There’s really only been one goal for this game from the very beginning: create and present a 100% authentic Ghostbusters gameplay experience. That meant the perfect Ghostbusters game would have mainstream appeal, would be action-packed, and would need to masterfully blend elements of fun and funny and scary, just like the original movie had done.

“Fun, Funny, Scary,” in fact, became our mantra. Anything that didn’t fit those criteria had to go.

We knew from the outset that lot of people would automatically assume this game was nothing but another licensed cash-in gimmick. This happens a lot, and that’s mostly a result of the fact that good movies are usually made much faster than good games can be, and tie-ins pretty much have to be released within two weeks of each other.

A tie-in rip-off is the exact opposite of anyone’s intent for Ghostbusters. We seized on the idea to embrace the property’s icons, and present them in new, fresh perspectives, as a way to convince the player that we’re on the up and up.

It’s funny, considering that almost every really enduring element from the property comes from just one movie. Ghostbusters is seriously hip-deep in icons. You’ve got the proton pack, Slimer, the Hotel Sedgewick, the PKE meter, the paragoggles, the Ecto-1, the Firehouse Headquarters, The Public Library, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Janine, that incredible logo, and the city of New York itself, which is as important a character in the Ghostbusters universe as any of the others.

For most people, the only really strong memories from the second movie tend to be mood slime, the walking statue of Liberty, and Vigo the Carpathian (we’ve got two out of three in the game).

We hit the ground running. We watched and re-watched and dissected the movies, and endlessly speculated and debated the gameplay-relevant functionality of proton streams and ghost traps and how the PKE meter works and exactly how fast four not-especially-athletic middle-aged men wearing very heavy proton packs should be able to move.



Should the player take the role of one, or any, of the Ghostbusters? We decided early on that tampering with the near-perfect dynamics already established between the Ghostbusters was flirting with disaster, so decided to introduce a cipher player character: a rookie that could both play alongside and be a Ghostbuster while still getting to sit back and enjoy the interplay between the original cast—like playing a movie and watching it at the same time. A few of us (including myself) originally wanted him to talk, but when it came time to manage the dialog for all the characters, we were very relieved there wasn’t an additional voice in the mix!

We knew the story had to be set in New York City. Trying to go anywhere else would have been coloring too far outside the lines for Ghostbusters, especially for our first time out.
We wanted the game to synch with and progress Ghostbusters canon, so we placed it just a few years after the events of the second film.

We all agreed that the sad-sack beginning of GB2, in which the city had abandoned the Ghostbusters, was too much of a downer, and you couldn’t retread that same patch anyway. So when we open the city loves the Ghosbusters, who have become New York’s official, contracted Paranormal Investigations and Eliminations experts (we ended up going heavier on the ‘Elimination’ than the ‘Investigation’, as a result of focus-testing). The new Mayor was even elected as a result of the Ghostbusters’ endorsement.

One really cool thing we’ve heard is that the overwhelming public interest in the game played a pivotal role in prompting the studio and talent to move forward on a Ghostbusters 3 movie! We’ve also heard rumors (completely unfounded allegations, and it’s irresponsible to repeat them here) that some elements from the game, and even some of the ideas we weren’t able to use, may be showing up in Ghostbusters 3, if it comes to pass. It’s hard to imagine anything much more gratifying than that. And if it doesn’t happen, we still have played a part, however small, in helping get the movie made.

Ghostbusters video game Nintendo Wii developers diary

How Red Fly Studio Started Busting Ghosts
Jeff Mills - Director of Production - Red Fly Studio - Stars Align (again)

At GDC in March 2007, Red Fly Studio had only been in business for about three months. Studio founders Dan Borth and Kris Taylor knew that we had to start immediately preparing for the future beyond our first title (Mushroom Men). We set out for the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco where we met with the top brass of half a dozen of the biggest game publishers in the industry.

The one publisher who seemed surprisingly uninterested in our demo was Vivendi Universal Games. They sat impatiently through our presentation, and as soon as the standard demo spiel was done, they drew us away from the screen and quickly got to the point. They had a job, and they wanted Red Fly Studio specifically to do it.





Before I left Terminal Reality to help Dan and Kris start Red Fly Studio, I had been part of production on Ghostbusters, the project TRI had been developing in utter secrecy for the previous year. Because of my foreknowledge of the project, the publisher could cut right to the chase: The publisher wanted TRI to focus their entire attention on the Xbox 360 and PS3 version of Ghostbusters without concerning themselves with producing a separate Wii version as well. We were already licensing Terminal Reality's Infernal Engine to produce Mushroom Men, and our close ties to TRI (Dan and Kris worked there along with me back in 1999) made us ideally suited to produce Ghostbusters for Wii. And it was Ghostbusters, after all: a dream job. Right?

"No way!" came the unanimous response from Red Fly Studio.

If the release date for Ghostbusters had been after Mushroom Men's release date, then maybe we could have done it. But the publisher required that we ship this new title at the same time as our current project. Pushing a single title to completion is challenging enough, but shipping two titles simultaneously is a monumental undertaking. The veterans at RFS had seen a dozen studios explode by growing too quickly, taking on jobs that they couldn't handle. We knew better. We sadly but politely declined and bade them farewell, wishing that the timing had been better.

A couple of hours later, we received a call requesting a follow-up meeting immediately. So we met with four executives from the publisher as well as TRI's top brass. It was a crowded meeting. Apparently that's how many people it takes to force the stars to align when they don't quite match up on their own. With the publisher's combined executive influence and TRI's pledge to increase their support, we agreed to join the project.

Rapid Development

The first three milestones of Ghostbusters were accomplished without a dedicated staff. Thanks to the proven workflow and universal, modular code developed for Mushroom Men by hotshot programmers James Clarendon and Kain Shin, we were able to split our time to prototype the completely unique gameplay of Ghostbusters. Everything about the two games was different (camera, combat, interface) but the Infernal Engine is versatile, and every improvement we had made during the early production of Mushroom Men was forward-thinking, allowing us to enjoy the benefits of that technology in future game development. (Or, as it turned out, tandem game development.)

Our concept artists Frank Teran and Thomas "TAS" Szakolczay went to work right away twisting the studio's unique art style to wrap around the Ghostbusters franchise. Characters and environments for the Wii version of the game would have to be built from scratch. Instead of making the same fatal mistake made by most developers when porting games to the Wii, we wouldn't even attempt to make our game look like TRI's visually. Photorealism on the Wii is not practical to attempt, especially in such a short amount of time. Red Fly Studio was built on the strength of our artistic vision, and we applied that to this beloved franchise from our youth.

When the time came for in-game art assets, we were fortunate to be joined by Bill Daly, with whom we had worked as far back as 1996 at 7th Level. Not only is he a fine artist, he was also able to quickly and completely wrap his head around the methodology we would have to employ in creating art for Ghostbusters.

We designed Ghostbusters to be highly modular, knowing that our staff and time would be limited. We prototyped the entire game with just two environment artists, several man-months of outsourced character art and a small portion of the programmers' time to accommodate the changes to camera, combat and other systems. The whole time, we were constantly interviewing new talent to bring the Ghostbuster team up to full size by the time we completed pre-production.

The publisher had agreed back at GDC that the Wii version of Ghostbusters should be its own unique product, standing on its own apart from TRI's next-gen version in more than just art style. It was exciting to develop Ghostbusters for the Wii properly from the ground up. We devised an art style that maximized the Wii's potential without overwhelming it or seeming reduced, filtered or watered down. We built the most obvious control scheme that makes players feel like members of the movie's cast, wielding the erratic proton packs to direct that distinctive orange lightning across the screen.

Miraculous Tragedy

Every developer's lament: "If only we had a couple more months to polish this!" It doesn't matter how long you've worked on a project, there's always some little tweak or additional content or wishlist item that you want to squeeze in, but schedules are what they are, and we wrapped up production on Ghostbusters mere weeks before The Merger. We were satisfied with the results of our hard work. We had made a fun game.

Every developer's nightmare: Ghostbusters was punted out the door because it didn't fit into the business model of its newly-merged mega-publisher. Every veteran at the studio had suffered such tragedy at some point in their career. It's just something that happens in this industry. But we took it in our stride, knowing that a property as awesome and popular as Ghostbusters wouldn't be left to gather dust for long. Sure enough, in a double-whammy of good luck, Atari swooped in to rescue the discarded title. But just as fortunate as the resurrection itself was the date at which it occurred.

Every developer's dream: Instead of rushing the game out the door to compete with the dozens of other top-tier games flooding the market for the holiday season, Atari wisely extended the schedule. With the 25th anniversary of the movie coming up in just a few months, Atari recognized that working with Sony Pictures Consumer Products on a combined Blu-ray/DVD and videogame release would maximize the potential of the product . By picking up Ghostbusters when they did, Atari blessed us with the one thing every developer wishes for at the end of a project: More time.

Ghostbusters the Videogame has a new publisher who understands what it is about and what it's capable of becoming. Their excitement for the game is unmatched. Dustin Dobson, Creative Lead, drives the team on to success after the brief terror of floating in limbo before Atari saved the game.

The story of the Wii version of Ghostbusters is enveloped in good fortune and lucky timing. We were given opportunities that most studios are not. We're continuing production on Ghostbusters right now: fixing, polishing and improving. As they did when the project was born, the stars have aligned once more to see to it that Ghostbusters the Videogame sees the light of day and satisfies everyone who saw the movie in their childhood and wished to be part of that story.

Ghostbusters video game - sexy Alyssa Milano talks about her role in 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

Atari thave 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.

First Ghostbusters developers diaries - Origin and the making of part 1

It Begins

So he looks across the conference table over his impressive beard at us. Pauses. Then he says, “It’s Ghostbusters. We’re going to make a Ghostbusters game. The first really good one.”

And the other one, who for the first time since we met has paused talking for almost two consecutive minutes, adds this: “And we think you’re the right guys do it. You up for it?”

Nobody says anything for a long time. They think that after all the buildup and mystery maybe we’re disappointed, that maybe we’re trying to assess the fastest way of out of the room. But that’s not the case. The fact is that Brendan is sitting in stunned silence and I’m just trying to keep from swallowing my tongue. Mark Randel (Terminal Reality President & Chief Technologist) is taking it better: he’s just near-catatonic.

It was January 2006. We arrived at the publisher forty minutes ago, one of a few stops on a tour to show off our Infernal Engine next-gen technology demo and an original game IP we’d been developing (‘the publisher’ at this time being Vivendi, before Atari took over the title in 2008: look up ‘Activision Blizzard merger’ on Wikipedia for more info). In addition to cutting-edge lighting, materials, and rendering, the tech demo depicted squad gameplay action, heavy emphasis on chaotic environmental destruction, and extremely realistic physical interaction.

It was the massive destruction is what really got their attention. Seriously: fiery explosions & debris will get your foot in any door.

Vivendi Executive Producers John Melchior (tall, quietly fast-talking, awesome), and Pete Wanat (beard & soda also awesome) introduced themselves and let us know immediately that they were the two most hated men at this publisher. John O’Keefe (Terminal Studio Director) asked if maybe there was someone else there we could talk to.
They watched our demo politely, exchanged mysterious raised eyebrows, asked a few pointed questions, and then left for a private discussion in the hall.

When they came back they seemed to have agreed on something. They told us they’d been working on developing a movie license IP. Brendan Goss (Terminal Reality Executive Producer) shot a look my way: Uh-oh. Here we go again. But this was a really big one, they continued: a really great one. And it wasn’t tied to an upcoming theater release in less than twelve months.

Then they dropped the G-bomb.

There it was, out in the open. Ghostbusters. Maybe one of the greatest movies made. Definitely one of the funniest. We were getting a crack at it. To say we were thrilled is a lazy understatement. Pleasantly electrified is closer to the truth. It wasn’t until later, after the shock wore off some, when we realized the depth of the responsibility we had staked ourselves to when we finally stammered, “Y-yes! Of course we’ll do it!”

Stars Align

The Ghostbusters game finally happened as the result of a fairly rarefied confluence of elements, a sort of Hollywood fairy tale.

Sony Pictures Consumer Products (Mark Caplan & Keith Hargrove) knew that the time was ripe for a Ghostbusters revival, and wanted to wrap it around a centerpiece game. Sony felt that game technology had finally arrived and were looking for a developer with the right mix of passion and skills to do the project correctly. First, Sony knew they needed to do two things: 1. Make sure all IP holders—which includes the director, three of the original Ghostbusters stars, and Sony Pictures itself—would be totally on board; and 2. Find a publisher that could make the game happen with as much of the original talent involved, as possible (i.e. the Ghostbusters).

Across town at the publisher, John and Pete had been talking about doing a GB game for quite a while, and had started talking to the owners of the property. They were also trying to sell their own upper management on the concept. Some reluctance is certainly understandable. The reason we jumped at the chance was the same reason the finance people were shy: a major movie-license game that’s not actually attached to a theatrical release can be a tough sell. There’s no built-in multi-million-dollar studio-financed marketing campaign. With a high-profile title, securing the license can be very expensive, especially when that license is one of the highest-grossing and most beloved films of all times (market research by Vivendi revealed that the enduring ‘no-ghost’ logo ranks just behind Coca-Cola and the Nike Swoosh stripe in order of worldwide recognition). Securing the talent can be both cost-prohibitive, if not impossible to do: Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis, and Reitman haven’t worked as a group for years, and each has his own successful career to manage.

In the meantime, Dan Aykroyd had been trying to get a Ghostbusters film sequel off the ground for years, but was having a hard time reassembling the cast and generating studio interest. He had decided that a CG-animated movie would be the best way to go, since the GB III script called for a daunting budget if shot practically. A few voice-acting sessions would require a much smaller time commitment from the cast. And the now almost-sixty-year old principals wouldn’t have to strap those brutally heavy proton packs back on and run through NYC streets. So, from his perspective, moving to a game format for a true sequel wasn’t too big a leap for him.

The three sides found one other and liked what each was bringing to the table. They worked on pulling the rest of the group back together. And the snowball starts to roll. We jumped on as soon as we could.

Ghostbusters - The Video Game in June 2009 - PS3 Xbox 360 PC PS2 Wii and DS

Ghostbusters: The Video Game is set to release across North America on 16 June 2009 followed by worldwide release on 19 June.

Watch HD game trailer here...

Working closely with Sony Pictures Consumer Products and acclaimed development studios Terminal Reality and RedFly, Atari will bring this completely all-new chapter of the blockbuster Ghostbusters saga to advanced gaming platforms coinciding with the 25th anniversary celebration of the film’s original theatrical release.

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 and reunites many of the original cast members to recapture the unique blend of humour and fright that established Ghostbusters as a pop culture sensation.


The game’s launch on 16 June 2009 coincides with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s worldwide debut of the original motion picture on Blu-ray Disc.




In addition to Aykroyd and Ramis, 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.

Atari will release Ghostbusters: The Video Game for the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, PlayStation 2 system, the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Games For Windows, Wii and Nintendo DS. The launch will also leverage Atari’s worldwide distribution network to maximize the presence of Ghostbusters: The Video Game around the globe as Sony marks the film’s upcoming 25th anniversary. For more information on 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.

About the Game
When Manhattan is once again overrun by ghosts and other supernatural creatures, players will take on the role of a new recruit joining the famous Ghostbusters team. Developed by acclaimed studio Terminal Reality, Ghostbusters: The Video Game will make its debut on the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC. The PlayStation 2 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 phenomenal proprietary Infernal Engine technology.

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