Atari recently caught the Ghostbusters game in its ghost trap, and has now revealed a release date for the title -- the once-shaky project will escape its Ecto-Containment Unit in June 2009! There's no word yet on which region that date is for, though Atari's press gathering is taking place in the UK, for what that's worth.
Who's excited, then? We noticed a few naysayers in the comments of our last Ghostbusters post, but the involvement of (Mushroom Men creator) Red Fly gives us confidence!
When your game's alone With no publisher Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! Atari!
For a while, the merging of Activision and Blizzard looked like it might spell a grisly end for the Ghostbusters game, but now HERO OF THE PEOPLE Atari has stepped in to save the day, confirming previous assurances from Dan Akroyd and Variety. Once caught in development limbo, Ghostbusters is now due to release in 2009, and will feature the film's original main cast and a storyline penned by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. We never imagined ourselves saying this, but let's all raise a glass to Phil Harrison.
Missing Fatal Frame IV at E3? Some news about the Nintendo-published, Tecmo/Grasshopper Manufacture-developed horror sequel would have been welcome in an E3 characterized by screaming about a lack of "core" games. Fatal Frame, with its long history of making you want to keep the lights on while playing, would certainly have stood out. Late is better than never, however, especially when there's a lengthy Creator's Voice segment up on the Japanese Wii site featuring Fatal Frame IV's producer and director, Keisuke Kikuchi and Makoto Shibata.
They've got a lot of interesting things to say about the series, and particularly this installment. It sounds like the Wii control scheme allowed them to realize a lot of things they've always wanted to do with the games, without completely revolutionizing the title. Instead, they've taken a few very solid steps forward, while keeping the staples that have been scaring the pants off gamers for years.
If you click through on the video above to watch it at YouTube, you can read subtitles from the interview (provided by NeoGAF poster Stormbringer). The subtitles unfortunately don't show up here, but the video is still fantastic. Or, to read a recap of the whole thing, check out the version at IGN.
While you're in the video-watching mood, you might also want to check out these Fatal Frame IVcommercials, which are hilarious(ly accurate) and worth a few minutes of you're time. They're the videos with the nightvision lighting, which you may have seen in the middle of a longer video here, but if you didn't ... go watch them.
Ghostbusters could be good, but the antics of Slimer and the gang might not make a smooth video-gamerial transition. If you watch the above trailer, peruse the new gallery and your head doesn't explode, there's a chance for success in an otherwise disappointing scenario.
While "cartoonish" graphics might not be everyone's cup of tea, Red Fly still stood up to defend the game, with fun a priority. Realistically, that should be the goal for all games, but somehow adding the word "party" when describing a Wii title actually results in negative fun levels.
After reaching for the lightswitch and squinting over Fatal Frame IV media, Nintendo has updated the official website by adding new screens and character profiles. It seems Fatal Frame just isn't scary unless it stars tiny, innocent-looking girls, and this latest installment has three of them. The only prominent male is wearing a tight shirt with a neck that's a little too big, so he could be classified as the fourth girl in the ghostbusting team.
Fatal Frame IV is hiding in the shadows, ready to pounch on unsuspecting customers when it hits the shelves in Japan on July 31st. Hit up the website to examine the rather impressive character renders. One question - why is it always night time, and why are they always holding torches?
The ESRB ratings website is a veritable treasure trove of nuclear launch codes, CIA secrets, and unannounced Virtual Console games. Recently, ratings have popped up for Mighty Bomb Jack, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire. While not all of the ESRB rated games have yet arrived on the console, it's fairly certain that they'll get here eventually.
In addition, Super Ghouls n' Ghosts was announced not only for the Wii, but for the 360 and PS3. This would make it the first game to be released on all three systems' classic download services, which then brings up silly flame wars and pointless arguing.
But seriously, the Wii version will totally be the best.
(Note: The GameSpot article mentions that Galaga was also tagged for release, but we actually caught this back in January. We rock.)