I’m not a big fan of peremptory rants – you know, that very Internet need to publicly demand that mistakes not be made. This is because, from long experience, a) wishing doesn’t make it so, and b) it’s demoralizing to those carrying the burden to accomplish. In things like personal electronics or movies, “b” isn’t as much of a factor, but when a team is making a video game, it’s a big factor.
For the next year, maybe a dozen dozen game devs are going to be eating and breathing the Ghostbusters video game. There will be various forces exerted on the project, from the movie’s original creative team, to the publisher level producers, to Sony itself. It’s tough enough to herd a dev team in one direction as it is, let alone keep that team moving forward while dealing with feedback from within and without.
It’s understandable that hopes are high – and it’s also understandable that we can be concerned that those hopes will be dashed. And I’m all for expressing the hopes – “I hope we get to design our own character.” “I hope there will be lots of multiplayer action.”
What I’m against is expressing the concerns – like in posts like this.
By no means am I a game designer or developer of any sorts. I am merely a critic, and I certainly don’t mean to make demands contrary to your own vision for the game.
And it certainly didn’t stop the man from writing 1400 words about how much he’ll hate Sierra if the game, still a year out, sucks. Of course, this preemptive, passive-aggressive spite is targeted at Sierra, which is pointless – Sierra is essentially a logo these days. He should be targeting Vivendi (who are massive, and won’t pay much attention – any attention is good attention, and all that) or the respective developers (who, as I said, don’t need the hassle when trying to hit a bullseye 11 months away.)
Regardless, the appropriate targets (in this case, Red Fly – seeing as they’ll be the ones developing the Wii, PS2, and DS titles) responded.
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that holding the Wii remote should feel like you’re holding the proton gun. That is the first thing everyone says when we mention “Ghostbusters” and “Wii” in the same sentence.
That’s all they need to say, right? Yes and no.
Firstly, I applaud the fact that they took a moment to comment – they could have ignored the post, but took a moment to set the record straight. But I winch a bit inside, knowing that they felt that the ramble was representative enough of fans everywhere (or that it had the potential to become representative) that it needed a response. They weren’t just responding to Derek* – they were responding to all of us. And I’m kind of embarrassed by that.
A poster on a messageboard recently voiced his opinion on the massive and excited thread regarding the news of the video games. It was, to paraphrase, “Take your hands out of your pants – I don’t think these pictures are that hot and the game is still a year away.”
Screw that.
1984, movie drops. I’m excited. It takes five years to get a sequel. I get excited. It takes nearly a decade to get a new cartoon series and more than a decade to get a comic series. You better believe I’m excited. And after all this time, we’re getting a video game that’s more than just buying a ghost vacuum for the roof of the car – I’m putting my hands down my pants and grabbing hold for all I’m worth.
Let me share an uncomfortable truth before we start this march to October 2008 in earnest; the games will not be everything you want them to be. No game ever makes everyone happy. A few people may be disappointed, but most will find a lot to enjoy – focus on that, because I guarantee there will be things you wish they’d have done, but didn’t. Or that you wish they’d done differently, but didn’t. And they didn’t do it because they’re idiots, and they didn’t do it out of spite, or because they’re not big enough fans, or any of that. It’s because at the end of the day, they have a finite formula of people and resources and time. And as a result, the game cannot be everything to everyone.
But all it needs to do is let me feel like a Ghostbuster – everything else is a bonus.
*In this modern age of computers, it’s very likely to expect the aforementioned Derek to see this post – I’d like to make it clear then that he’s not entirely wrong. As a Nintendo fan, he has the legitimate concern that the Wii sku of the game will get the lowest level of priority over the 360 and PS3 versions, or that whatever fits on the PS2 is then slapped onto the Wii. What I don’t agree with is the tone set in the post title – Don’t fcuk this up. Which is pretty strong from a self-confessed critic, non-dev. And as I mentioned, Red Fly took notice, so that kind of makes Derek the natural figurehead for fans everywhere. I’m not singling Derek out, though I am taking him to task a certain amount. It’s not personal, I just don’t happen to agree with the idea of calling devs out before there’s a fair chance to see what they’ve got in mind.
As a longtime GB fan, I am cautiously optimistic about this game.
Yes the track-record of the studio doing the PS3/360 version of the game isn’t so great, and yes, they may just be cashing in on all of us 80s kids being twenty-somethings now, with xboxes in hand and cash to spend.
On the other hand, Ghostbusters on a next gen system, f’ing sweet.
Personally I will wait for some reviews, and if it gets a metascore over a 40 on metacritic.com, I will be buying this game.
Prime example is Halo 3, the US went crazy over it, more media for that game than any other game, but so many people expect so much, there are tons of people saying it sucks just because it doesn’t meet their expectations. I just want a good story out of the game, that makes it feel like the sequeal they are saying they want it to be.
Yes, a good story is most likely the best thing we will get out of this game. With Aykroyd and Ramis doing the writing, I hope this game allows us to interact with and learn more about the characters we all love so much.
However, gameplay wise, I expect it will not be on par with the next-gen games we are seeing these days.
(Claps) Well Said Sir! I Had noticed on Ghostbusters.net that there was a lot of complaining about the power bar color and such… can’t we just be happy that they are making a new Ghostbusters game. Could I care less what color the energy bar is? or, whether or not the walkie talkie looks the same? Heck no! but, I do care that all the cast members are returning and that they are making (from what I have seen) and excellent video game. Oh, and it’s GHOSTBUSTERS people! This is happy times for sure and personally I will enjoy the ride up to Oct 08 as much as playing the game when it hits. This is probably the last time now we get to enjoy this feeling that we’ve all waited so long for.
I’ll buy the game even if it gets bad reviews.
I think this a valid concern to address. While, like you said, devs may not take all that is said straight to heart, it is evidence they are listening. So while compliments are of course met with appreciation, the criticism, this early, contributes to making a difficult scenario that much harder. I think we should, as you put it, focus on the core of the game aiming to please. Aspects of it will disappoint some, no doubt. But, at its core, it is a very true to form Ghostbusters game. End of story. I think its also worth noting to the unfaithful of unsure… that we should all remember who is co-supervising this project, DAN AYKROYD AND HAROLD RAMIS, and as someone who works in the design field, albeit not games, a project at the end of the day, NEEDS that final approval from the highest ups, the brass.
So let us all place a bit of faith in not only the developers, but Dan and Harold as well, this is their baby remember? Im sure they will set it through to the best of eveyones ability.
i totally agree with you.. and thats the reason why i’ll be as far away from forums til october of next year reviewing said game
No, I am not the Derek that wrote the article,
-_- so no angry emails please,
but what the hell?
Seriously why does every expect games to be awesome, yeah Terminal Reality (developers of the PC/360/PS3 version of Ghostbusters)
dont have the greatest of track records, but still I enjoyed Bloodrayne and Bloodrayne 2, largely because they where fun, that ultimately what it comes down too, do you have fun playing the game?
Now, from what I have seen of the game, I think its going to be at the very least enjoyable, and it looks like TRI is targeting the game at the fans,
so I look forward to October 2008.
regardless of good the game does in the reviews.
-Derek “Lord_Kane” no-i-am-not-that-derek.
Even with the publicity so far we haven’t even begun to see what Red Fly has in store for their version of the game. There have only been 3 screen shots for their version, right? How do you get to criticize anything gameplay-wise on that?
“Could I care less what color the energy bar is? or, whether or not the walkie talkie looks the same? Heck no!”
The game(s) are basically Ghostbusters III according to Dan Aykroyd. I would be disappointed if they didn’t change anything.
With a GB3 movie pretty unlikely (and even if there was it would also never live up to expectations of fans) this GB game is the next best thing.
I used to be in game development; I spent about 15 years in it. And from what I’ve seen so far, it looks like the games have a really good start. They’ve obviously spent a lot of time working on these early demos and the whole look and feel is great. And the info about the next-gen physics engine is REALLY encouraging.
Rather than criticizing the developers based on limited information, we should just give them encouragement and do our best to wait until Oct. 08.
I think one big point we all to understand is that WE did not create Ghostbusters. Dan Aykroyd did. And somewhere along the line, Terminal Reality convinced HIM that they would be the best parent to foster this thing along. So regardless of how any of us feel WE think the directions should be going, again I think that things should be left to those who know it best — there weren’t message forums or blogs when first buzz of a Ghostbusters MOVIE was circulating, and my, how THAT turned out. Relax people, were getting something most people can’t hope for (sorry BacktotheFuture fans) AND if you don’t like where its headed, maybe you were content with the Atari version? EGB for gameboy? Yeah… lets just wait and see eh?
I am just excited that Ghostbusters is getting some attention.
Amen
Well, like it was stated above, I just want to bust ghosts with my little boy. Is he going to care how many lugnuts are on Ecto’s wheels? Am I? We will probably get the Wii since the Missus wants the Wii. But, I’m not a “Hard core” gamer (whatever that is. I own Macs, the last “game console” I had was a Commodore 64 with Ghostbusters on a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk. I am excited about the BUZZ this will create, and maybe we’ll get a cartoon and some new cool stuff out of this (Gentle Giant laser scanned props, anyone?) I’ll wait anxiously, get the Wii for our 8th wedding anniversary/b-day gift, practice on Mario whatsits game, and then bust in the Fall.
The thing that I see that always frustrates me is that no matter how cool an announcement sounds, there’s always someone there saying “It’ll suck” or “This isn’t as good as you think.” But, I mean, that’s just part of the Internet. For some reason, someone always feels like they need to rain on everybody’s parade.
I’m extremely optimistic about the game and I’d be more vocal about it, but I figure most of these negative Nancies are just trolls looking to pick a fight just to pick a fight. I’m concerned the game will have some serious flaws, but I’ve only liked what I’ve seen so far, so I’m going to keep being optimistic until I see or hear something that makes me go “Oh no, that’s not good.” The fact that there is a game and the possibility of it sucking is not enough for me to pitch a fit over when all I’ve seen so far has been stuff I like.
I really appreciate the attention to detail they’re giving the equipment. The PKE meter and Proton Packs/Guns look identical to the film. They really could have sluffed that research off.
Just be thankful that a near-25-year-old franchise is receiving this kind of attention once again. I welcome it. The voicework sealed the deal.
Very well said, Chris.
What a lot of people don’t know (and neither did we GB fans until recently) is that preliminary work on the game started in September 2006 (over a year before the official announcement of the game’s existence was made) as evident by concept art that would eventually appear on the Game Informer website in November 2007. So it’s not like they just started to undertake this project recently. By the time the game is released, it would have spent TWO YEARS in production, which is more than a lot of games get these days – especially movie-based games. Because there is no recently-released movie that this game needs to be marketed with, there is no specific release date that needs to be met. They could spend five years on the game if they wanted to.
This isn’t a game simply created just to make some dough off of the name. I think it’s pretty clear that the game is being made because someone high up at Sierra/Vivendi loves Ghostbusters. THEY went to Sony to get the rights, not the other way around. Sony would not undertake a huge Ghostbusters project all by themselves, even if it would rake in lots of money, otherwise we’d all have Ghostbusters II Special Edition DVDs and box sets of The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters right now.
The fact that a mainstream video game company is making a game based on a franchise that is dead in the mainstream, says a lot about how much they care about the game. So it would have to take a disaster of biblical proportions for a game that is even a labor of love to the companies developing and publishing it to get f’ed up to the point that no one likes the final product.
Oh, and by the way, the one really cool feature I’d love to have in the game, but know that will never be included (due to rights issues) would be all of the previous Ghostbusters games. It would probably be too costly to pay Activision, LSP, Hal, and Data East (and whoever else) for the rights to include emulated copies of their respective GB games as unlockables (find hidden icons in the game to unlock them). I’ve always wanted a “Ghostbusters Game Collection” to play on my PS2, but I know that the interest simply isn’t great enough to have it by itself.
I couldn’t agree more. I am currently attending school for CG rendering and animation, and believe me when I say that this game looks great for a year out, people. Just the fact that they have a functional, playable demo for the press is a very, very hopeful sign. And personally, as a student of 3D design, I have to disagree with the afforementioned Derek*. I think it looks pretty good.
It’s stil got a year to go, everybody. Terminal Reality has a sweet game engine, and just look at how much expense they went to to not only acquire the license, but they went the extra step and paid for the original cast and writers. Terminal Reality is a good studio, and Sierra has deep pockets. I think we should expect good things.
Also, remember we’ve only seen, like, 3 levels. And I’m pretty sure that was without the final anti-aliasing, shading, lighting, and textures. I think they got it just good enough to show the game press and whip up some excitement.
And finally, hey, it’s coming out on the PC as well. If there are things you don’t like about it, take it into your own hands and mod that sucker. But give the game a chance before you criticize it. Remember how underwhelming the Halo 3 Multiplayer Demo looked? Then the game out 4 months later, and it looked like an entirely new game.
Don’t be a hater, be a motivator.