Variety’s video game blog, Cut Scene, was able to extract a quote from a Sony Pictures representative regarding the recent refusal on behalf of Activision to publish Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

I got some answers today from Sony Pictures, which of course owns the rights to “Ghostbusters” and licensed the IP to Vivendi last year. The studio gave me official word that it is working with Activision Blizzard “to evaluate various options surrounding the release of the ‘Ghostbusters’ video game.” That’s obviously vague, but it does contain an important nugget: it wants the game to be released, one way or another.

Sony goes on to state that “this has presented [Sony Pictures Consumer Products] with an opportunity to reevaluate the game release marketing strategy to potentially coincide with the 25th anniversary of the original film in ‘09.” 

Ghostbusters.net member Jason Lundy has produced something that ghostheads have been dreaming about for over a decade.  A 12″ Ghostbusters action figure based on the likeness of the characters from the original film.  Starting off with Ray Stantz, Jason has built the ultimate 12″ Ghostbusters figure.  Just look at it, this fan-crafted marvel glows in the dark!

As we have pondered in the past,  Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis, and Hudson are on board together for the first time since 1989, and Sony Pictures is heavily investing in the revival of the franchise through several products coming out later this year / early next.  It is certainly a possibility that we could see the real thing at some point.

Until then, why not give Jason a shout for his great work at the Ghostbusters Message Board.

Ghostbusters.net member Bativac illustrated and inked versions of the Kenner Real Ghostbusters Fright Feature Figures.  If you are a child of the 80’s and you loved Ghostbusters, you had these!  I don’t know about you guys, but me and my friends (circa 1987) had a real problem with Egon’s tie breaking off.  Nice work Bativac!

This post is going to sound lame, but I’ve spent 13+ years wading through Ghostbusters III rumors online, trying to do my part as a fan of the franchise, contributing the only way I know how. From running this website for over 11 years to recently building my own replica of the Ecto-1.  So, if that wasn’t lame enough for you, here goes nothing.

The online Ghostbusters community may not be as big as the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Star Trek fandoms.  In reality, we’re a whole different group all together.  It is easy to typecast and dismiss us all as nerds, geeks, dweebs, etc.  Want to hear something strange?  I haven’t seen any of the Star Wars films, nor have I ever sat through an entire episode of Star Trek.  Yes, that’s right folks!  I’m a 27 year old white male, born and raised in the United States and I have never seen Star Wars.  I’m a different kind of nerd, I suppose.  I listen to NPR, collect vinyl, enjoy working at a tech startup, and I really enjoy Ghostbusters.

When Ghostbusters was released in 1984, it was a blockbuster success on so many levels.  Sure, it had innovative special effects, science fiction / fantasy undertones, and a huge budget.  But it was also a well written comedy, executed on behalf of a very talented and bright cast.  It had the magic formula. There is just something about the film, it transcends any stereotype, pigeonhole, or label you could possibly fathom.

The online Ghostbusters community, in a similar fashion, is comprised of a healthy amount fans who were touched by the franchise in many different ways.  We have grown together as a tight knit community, not because of sequels, spin-offs, and licensed merchandise, but because of the adversity we have collectively faced over the years.  We have all waded through years of Ghostbusters III rumors, we witnessed a new cartoon and toy-line awkwardly come and go after just one season, and we have, in recent years, dealt with rumors regarding a Ghostbusters remake.

Each member of the community expresses themselves in their own way. For example, Chris Stewart of Proton Charging is passionate about finding and distributing Ghostbusters news to the masses, exploring and chronicling the fandom, it was one of very first Ghostbusters sites to come online. AJ Quick of Ghostbusters Fans has been building props, identifying and selling prop parts and recently expanded his website earlier this year.  Paul Rudoff of Spook Central has been faithfully documenting many aspects of the franchise for over 13 years!  There are tens of thousands of ghostheads all over the world in the community who contribute in their own way, with hundreds of websites dedicated to Ghostbusters in one form or another.  Ghostbusters.net, which will be coming out of hibernation soon, has focused on user-generated content, fan fiction, and collaborative documentation, piecing together the small tidbits of information we’ve been fed over the years.  There are many facets of this fandom and we all congregate because we love the franchise.

This is our year to soak in all the cool new stuff coming our way.  We have a lot to be thankful for. In light of what some reactions were to the recent Activision pull-out.  We really aren’t “ungrateful little yuppie larva”.

Thank you Dan Aykroyd for keeping the franchise alive with your passion and big heart.  Thank you Terminal Reality for building the next chapter of the Ghostbusters series with with your phenomenal game engine.  Thank you Sierra Entertainment / Vivendi Universal for picking up the license and believing in the franchise.  Thank you Sony Pictures for moving the franchise forward.  Last, but certainly not least, thanks to the original cast for coming back and lending their voices (Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and William Atherton).

We are grateful and excited to not only watch, but experience the next chapter of Ghostbusters, which Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis so lovingly penned.  What more can you ask for?  Did you ever think you would have the opportunity to trap a ghost with Dan Aykroyd?!

In short, cheer up folks.  We have something very special coming.. and it’s real!

There are many rumors swirling around the blogesphere regarding Activision’s latest release schedule and the fact that Ghostbusters: The Video Game is nowhere to be seen.  The rumors range from the possibility of Ghostbusters being shopped around to other publishers to the game being canceled for good.

As we reported earlier this month, Activision recently finished their aquisition of Sierra (the original publisher of Ghostbusters: The Video Game) and has stripped their release schedule to “increase efficiency”.  We will post more on the topic as new information comes available.  Until then, cross your fingers and — whatever you do — don’t cross the streams!

UPDATE: Our friends at Destructoid were able to extract the following quote from a Sierra PR representative.

It is not cancelled and will not be cancelled

Looks like the question is whether or not the game will be delayed.  Well, as they say, better late then never.

UPDATE 2: Proton Charging (THE authoritative establishment for Ghostbusters news) cites a CBS Marketwatch article which reveals the possibility that Activision may publish the game after all.

UPDATE 3: What a complete mess of discombobulated information!  Thanks to all the ghostheads who wrote in with information tips, etc.  If I did not post your article, I apologize.  I wanted to get the story straight before I posted another update.  So, here it is.  Ghostbusters: The Video Game is not and will not be cancelled.  That said, it looks like Activision won’t be publishing it.  I think I made this clear all along, but I just wanted to reaffirm.

Newcomers: parts one, two, and three.  Now on to the next chapter… Peter Venkman.

As we move towards the final two characters left on the list, we start to find that the designs look less and less like their live action counterparts, yet capture more and more of the character’s traits. With Peter Venkman (and lastly, Egon), we see animation character design at its best. They show us that a character can be interpreted many different ways, yet still retain the soul that everyone relates to.

Those traits being:

• Charismatic
• Humorous
• Witty
• Extroverted
• Mildy Sleazy
• Kind Hearted
• Business Savvy (always thinking of the dollar)
• Flirtatious

These traits are manifested in two ways within the translation of the face. First, the literal cross overs from Bill Murray. They kept the hair line, cheeks,  nose, the tired / jaded eyes, the smirk, and the flat “butt chin” . Secondly, they created traits from scratch that best represented the character. Most notably, his hair. Dana put it best when he said said “you look more like a game show host”. And what do all game show hosts have? Nice hair! Which is why the cartoon Venkman has much more styled hair than Mr. Murray…especially with the nice pseudo cow lick bangs with the lovely curl at the end. But the hair is just messy enough, and just long enough in the back, to pay a little homage to Murray’s hair while still taking it into the TV show host / ladies man realm. Another significant change is the head shape. Murray’s head is shaped like a rounded square. Problem is, in animation, a round head suggests innocence or youth, while a square head suggests someone is dense or dim witted. Venkman is neither. So they narrowed his face into more of a tapered rectangle. The narrow shape and slight “V” angle makes him both witty, and more attractive. Which plays well into his womanizing routine.

Venkman’s body shape fits Murray pretty well. But the main changes come in the suit colors. Again, these colors were chosen because they represent his character traits. Venkman is no doubt the most popular character associated with Ghostbusters and fans are going to want him to remain true to the movie. But alas, the classic Tan suit is already used for Ray, as his character best represents the heart of Ghostbusters. Venkman also represents the heart…but a slightly darker, more cynical heart. What is a darker version of tan?…brown. Also, people who prefer brown, tend to not be impulsive. And as we all know, Venkman rarely likes to just dive into a situation head first….he lets others do that for him. “Go Get Her, Ray!”

Now Venkman also has dark blue-green accents to his brown suit. People who prefer blue-green tend to be discriminating (dismissed Walter Peck right away), poised (always appears composed and self assured), as well as attractive and charming (both play into the lady’s man routine). And of course, blue-green is an opposite on the color wheel with brown. Contrasting colors always go well together.

So there you have it! By taking some of Bill Murray’s features, adding some classically attractive physical features over top of that, as well a dash of TV host hair, and colors that reflect those character traits, you get a timeless Peter Venkman animated design that doesn’t “look” like the live action Venkman, but sure as hell feels like him!

In the next and final chapter, I will be discussing Egon.

Too Zuul For School

Sierra associate producer Ryan French gives Dread Central a guided walkthrough of Ghostbusters: The Video game at San Diego Comic Con last week.  Another insightful look at the game!  Thanks to Sandy for the tip.

As the great Norman Gagnon once said, Greetings and Hallucinations!

We’re all waiting on tender hooks for Ghostbusters: The Video Game to be released, and as such, I know that most (if not all) of you have seen the many screen shots and gameplay videos the internet has to offer on the subject; I sure have.

Those of you who recognize my name will also know that my thing has always been the Ghostbusters’ equipment (and subsequently prop-making). I devoted a lot of time to knowing all there is to know about the Proton Packs in the hopes of one day building one of my own. One decade and 5 packs later, I consider myself not an expert by any means, but yet still extremely well versed.

Okay, I promise I’ll get to the point now. I was watching the latest video with all of that new, exciting in-game footage when I noticed two lights on the proton pack in the game that aren’t supposed to be there in the movie. Now, before you start to throw roasted marshmallows at me, I know as well as the next ghosthead that there are MANY differences between the movie packs and the game packs. One glance reveals this obvious fact. From what I understand, the myriad of added lights and whatnot on the right hand side of the pack will be used to indicated health, pack heat, or whathaveyou. I can totally dig that.

Note the semantics of my assertion: I noticed two lights on the game pack that aren’t supposed to be there…in the movie.

In the first film, during the first call at the Sedgewick hotel, observant fans have undoubtedly noticed that there’s something slightly wrong with the pack Dan Aykroyd is wearing. The “power cell” (read: the little box on the left side with the blue lights) was either damaged by a careless stage hand or painted improperly, because the lights from inside the box - which are actually white lamps that shine through a blue gel of sorts - are prominently visible shining out of the front and sides of the box, as seen in the pictures below.

Clearly, this wasn’t by design, because nowhere in either of the two films do any of the other shots exhibit this detail. One viewing of the scene makes it obvious to anyone who has had the pleasure of constructing a proton pack that they simply didn’t paint the inside of the pack 100% thoroughly, allowing some light to spill through. Surely, this must have been noticed during viewing of the dailies, but what director would let such a minor inconsistency spoil a perfect take by these three comedic legends? I sure wouldn’t.

At any rate, the designers of Ghostbusters: The Video Game, in their thorough and amazing quest for ultimate attention to detail, very well might have gotten this production gaff confused for an intentional nuance, because these same two accidental lights appear quite intentionally in the in-game pack, as seen below.

How interesting! It’s much more noticeable if you actually watch the gameplay footage itself. Now it can be told, to those who might have had reservations before.

Alas, I am a huge nerd.  Hope to share more insight with you all soon.

- Astantax

IGN recently posted three new videos of Ghostbusters: The Video Game in action from the San Diego Comic Con.

As Proton Charging noted last week, today is the day ghostheads should be running to their Xbox 360 and firing it up.  OXM editor, ghosthead, and overall great guy Dan Amrich sat down with Sierra associate producer Ryan French in an interview only available through Xbox Live.  

For those of you with an Xbox 360, just sign into Xbox Live and click on Inside Xbox to watch. If you are without, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

OXM Report Highlights

• The Ecto-1 plays a part in the game.  There are a few missions during the story where you will be escorting the Ecto-1 and catching ghosts in the open streets of New York.
• Multiplayer is competitive co-op, allowing you to play with friends online while competing for points while you collaborate by busting ghosts together.
• During online multiplayer, each member of the team gets to choose from the original four Ghostbusters (Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, and Winston Zeddemore).