We think that Atari and Ghostbusters would make pretty good friends (despite the former being older compared to the latter) as both brands has had their best days behind them – or could it be that less turbulent times are ahead of them? Well, Atari has just announced the highly anticipated Ghostbusters: The Video Game’s release date in North America – take a moment now and mark June 16, 2009 on your calendars, while folks living on other continents will have to wait for three more days before they can get their hands on it. This could see a renaissance in the Ghostbusters franchise which basically died as its fans grew up to other more mature fare without capturing the imagination of the next generation. Coincidentally (or was it on purpose?), the video game will be released on 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 humor and fright that established Ghostbusters as a pop culture sensation. 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.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game will be available for most of the popular gaming platforms out there, including the PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, PC, Wii and Nintendo DS. Hmmm, for some strange reason, it isn’t going to haunt the PSP system – perhaps Atari does not have enough time to focus on that platform – what do you think? For fans of the franchise, a Blu-ray Disc release of Ghostbusters will also happen then, featuring unsurpassed picture and audio quality and advanced new bonus features such as Slimer Mode, a picture-in-picture graphical viewing experience and a featurette on the refurbishing of Ecto-1 among others. Image courtesy of Slashfilm.

Press Release

You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Add to Del.icio.us