Until then, beware of ghosts

Jan 12, 2009 21:51 GMT  ·  By

Atari, who emerged as the publisher of Ghosbusters: The Video Game after the downfall of Sierra games following the merger of Activision and Blizzard, is announcing that the title now has a clear release date. It will arrive in North America on June 16 and in the rest of the world on June 19. The idea for the dates is to coincide with the anniversary of 25 years since the first movie in the series was released in theaters. Sony will use the occasion to release a Blu-ray reconditioned version of the movie, complete with commentary and exclusive features.

The game will be playable on the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii and the DS, plus the PC. In Ghostbusters: The Video Game, players will fill in the role of the new recruit to the team specialized in fighting supernatural threats just as an army of ghosts and other evil manifestations come in Manhattan.

All of the equipment seen in the movie and the likenesses of the actors that made up the original team will make an appearance in the game and the voices of Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson will create an atmosphere that aims to completely reproduce that of the Ghostbusters movie. The developers are also promising a few surprises, mainly new gadgets that will make battling phantasm easy.

The development of the game seemed to grind to a halt in the final half of 2008, as the Sierra brand disappeared. When Vivendi Games and Activision merged, with the resulting company concentrating on those titles that could spawn a franchise, Ghosbusters, alongside other titles like Brutal Legend or the expansion for World in Conflict, was dropped and landed in development limbo. Atari saw the potential of the title and decided to pick it up for release.