Ghostbusters may slime 360s

A weekend of leaked Internet videos leads developer to confirm prototype of Xbox 360 game based on 1980s sci-fi comedy; development currently at standstill.

If there's something strange in your neighborhood, it's probably just Ray Parker Jr.

Over the weekend, a handful of YouTube videos began circulating the Internet, showing the geeky fantasy of just about every gamer who was a kid in the 1980s. The footage apparently showed a new game based on the 1984 comedy Ghostbusters, which was about a group of nerdy paranormal scientists ridding New York City of an influx of specters.

The Gears of War-style camera angles and gritty New York City environment (as well as one cutscene featuring Bill Murray's Peter Venkman) left many fans of the movie with hope that they would be busting ghosts on a home console soon. Others believed that the game was just a Half-Life 2 or Gears mod and would never see the light of day.

The videos were uploaded by an employee at ZootFly, a Slovenian game studio that previously worked on more than a dozen titles, including Panzer Elite Action: Fields of Glory.

Today, the company updated its Web site and confirmed that the footage was indeed real, was not a mod of another game, was in-game footage, and was running on the Xbox 360. However, the game is merely a prototype and development has "hit a bump on the road."

That "bump" is apparently copyright issues with the Ghostbusters name. A post on ZootFly's Web site says, "Everybody here at Zootfly is working actively on resolving the challenges with the owners of the Ghostbusters IP." If ZootFly can manage to resolve the IP issues, development on the game will continue.

In the meantime, ZootFly is working on an original game called TimeO, which also deals with a spooky New York setting. In TimeO, an "urban explorer" and an investigative reporter open up a portal to a parallel New York, "where the city itself is a war machine threatening to wipe out our world." No other details on the game have been announced. [UPDATE] ZootFly has told GameSpot that TimeO is being developed for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and "probably for [the] Wii."

157 Comments

  • ashuncc2

    Posted Nov 15, 2007 12:42 pm PT

    I remember something about Ghostbusters about a year ago. That's cool that it is actually solidifying.

  • Lostboy1224

    Posted Nov 15, 2007 10:22 am PT

    About time freaking time the Ghostbusters make their next gen debut ! If they can get the Bill, Dan, and company to do the voices and likeness then I am in.

  • ColdfireTrilogy

    Posted Nov 14, 2007 6:06 pm PT

    Um cool, and those videos have been re-hosted on youtube like 4 trillion times just search it ......

  • Bourbons3

    Posted Feb 5, 2007 8:57 am PT

    Yeah the videos have been removed

  • Faroon

    Posted Feb 3, 2007 7:49 am PT

    Looks like the videos have been pulled. Shame.

  • Spaceoffz

    Posted Feb 3, 2007 4:33 am PT

    Looked OK, not something i would buy, even if it turned out real rather than a fake.

  • Theseeus

    Posted Jan 19, 2007 6:47 am PT

    I hope this does come to something, and if they do a good job, this could be awesome.

  • GreggD

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 9:12 pm PT

    Well, hopefully it won't get stuck in limbo like the Ghostbusters wad modification for Doom 2. That is, if that footage was real.

  • thefjk

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 5:47 pm PT

    That footage looked fake, and it didn't resemble anything that should be put out. Maybe becasue its in very early stages of work, but it just looked horrible!

  • acu02151

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 1:57 pm PT

    Man i'm going to have the ghost busters theme in my head for days now

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 1:40 pm PT

    I love the Ghostbusters movies, so a game would be great...if it doesn't suck.

  • KingMyro

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 1:24 pm PT

    I personally love the enviromental destruction. It really immerses you. It reminds me of the ballroom scene in the first movie where they are blasting everything in sight to get slimer. I simply cant wait. I AM a little concerned about the ecto 1 being replaced with the crappy ecto 2, and the horrible new ghostbusters symbol. Hopefully the crappy spraypainted logo is just a placeholder until they get the rights to the original one but who knows.

  • sean_de_retro

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 12:42 pm PT

    The sonner it get the licence the better

  • grave_rob

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 11:48 am PT

    GB is probably my favorite movie of all time...huge fan of the 80s...just hope they do it justice.

  • PattyL_uk

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 11:46 am PT

    Hope they get licence!

  • andypipkin85

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 11:06 am PT

    OH MAN THIS LOOKS AWESOME!!!

    I really hope they settle the licence issues as this would be a crying shame to see go into development hell!

    Although i aint too sure on those proton packs they are using nor the Ecto2, that stupid chrysler estate looks lame!

  • sean_de_retro

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 10:18 am PT

    Who are you going call Ghostbusters

  • Doolum

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 9:14 am PT

    Provided its released.does not matter on what paltform it is.

  • snarple_basic

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 8:14 am PT

    Kind of weird that they didn't get pomission to do this before starting it. Any idiot knows about copyright laws, but still interested..... Now hopefully they make a new movie.

  • diablos101

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 8:13 am PT

    wow that looks really cool... shame about the licence

  • imortiferus

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 7:32 am PT

    The graphics arre UNBELIEVABLE! The scene with Venkman talking is amazing, the textures and the model are AWESOME!!!

  • Timstuff

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 7:31 am PT

    It'd be really sweet if they can get this game back into production. Who knows, maybe when they do it'll end up coming to PS3 as well.

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 6:39 am PT

    the NES one was kinda cool....

  • Sanguis_Malus

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 5:35 am PT

    Money !

  • Sanguis_Malus

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 5:35 am PT

    Money !

  • twoism

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 4:08 am PT

    It would be a total shame to see all this work go to waste as it looks incredible.

  • GrimBee

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 2:47 am PT

    Hit a bump in the road alright, they need the freakin liscence!

    Heres the deal, the game NEEDS to produce the feel of the movies, actual scenes from the movie - Not based on any NEW cartoon scripts or characters, the classic characters.

    Heck, SURELY someone can get a bill murray voice impersonator on there, i am sure dan akroyd would lend his voice to the game and hopefully see the project develop, too as its his liscence more than anyone else's (but you know, there is that crap about Sony not buying the franchise...).

    Things they need to correct for this game to be any good - They need to replicate ecto 1 from the movies, not that crappy "men in white" lookalike car.

    They need to properly face model the actors.

    They NEED to get a decent soundtrack on there, with the official theme song and a soundtrack very similar to the original score (It's not going to work with a "My Chemical Romance" version of "Ghostbusters"... heck, get all the liscenced songs from the movies, that would work, with an ambient score, too.
    This game is going to be a BIG release, so it needs to get these things done exactly right.

    For it to work, it needs to replicate the movie feel completely, oh and have superb boss battles, co-op ghost catching (up to four players of course), maybe easy on the Ecto 1 driving scenarios as they will probably be awful anyways, but the idea of upgrading things throughout the game like the first movie -

    As in, you start out as a mere ghostbuster, and you then bust ghosts to earn cash, then this upgrades your ecto 1 so you can access different routes which you couldnt before.
    As the plot thickens (I guess, like dead rising, you could have a nice progression of the story, filled with side missions to upgrade). Then, you also upgrade your firehouse....

    Man, the concept of a Ghostbusters game is one I have been thinking of for many years. Seeing it in the flesh in those videos is good. But it needs to be a lot better. Remember, there is no ghostbuster 3, but there ARE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of ghostbusters fans who will definately pick this game up if it is very close to the movies' look, feel and sound.

    A potential million selling title, microsoft should buy this one up ASAP, and also I hope the company takes notes from its fans. Coz that ecto 1 sucked!

  • DrCLos

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 1:24 am PT

    The graphics look really nice.
    I hope it comes out and and turns into a great game.
    I love the Ghostbusters and I wouldn't mind seeing the franchise resurrected.

  • MasterAsh42

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 10:33 pm PT

    Ouch. . .That "[probably]" marks the first potential for the Wii to lose a multiplatform release. TimeO doesn't sound like something I'd play, but I'll keep my eyes peeled regardless if a Wii version doesn't see the light of day due to development issues.

    Anyhow, I've got mixed feelings about a new Ghostbusters title, not so much about the "license curse" than about the license being. . .less than fresh. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed we don't see another Jaws. . .

  • doolindesperado

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 10:21 pm PT

    I hope this happens. Ghostbusters was my favorite movie as a kid and I remember the Atari 2600 game very fondly. If it happens, I getting it on the first day for my PS3!

  • ketsuatama

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 9:08 pm PT

    I feel funky already!

  • Shtinky

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 9:08 pm PT

    Looks like it's running on the unreal engine, nice.

  • UltraWoody

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 9:06 pm PT

    Take a look at this morsel! Games like this are going to make people like me buy an XBox 360. PS3 and Wii have NOTHING that compares to the crazy and exciting games that are on the XBox 360. I'm no fanboy, but if they keep this up I just might turn into one. Wii has potential, but the PS3 is a disaster. Wow, keep up the great work Microsoft and ZootFly, I can't wait to get my 360 now that I just bought an HDTV...

  • jcloverboy

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 8:24 pm PT

    I loved the Ghostbusters game on Genesis. I'd definitely get this - hopefully they get back to work on it soon.

  • OmegaDark

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 6:59 pm PT

    OMG! I can't wait to see more of this...

  • DoubleAxe

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 6:24 pm PT

    why isnt this for the Wii ????!!!??? HMMM ! HMMM ?!?!?

  • Game_Analyst

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 6:20 pm PT

    Reliable sources are indicating that this Ghostbusters game will be released exclusively for the Xbox 360.

    A Ghostbusters Xbox 360 game will be AWESOME!!!

  • bildo2020

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 6:08 pm PT

    there not making A Ghostbusters 3 because of bill and i heard the the plot was really good

  • Ninjitsu_Gamer

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 6:05 pm PT

    Ooh. Some possibe Ghost Bustin' action on the Wii.

  • GoddBless

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 5:38 pm PT

    I think filming is supposed to start soon on Ghostbusters 3. I wish they wouldn't though.

  • strahd01

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 5:37 pm PT

    Keep in mind people that this was a prototype of a game that haven't even started on yet who knows what this game will end up like

  • mhder

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 5:30 pm PT

    Doesn't the control scheme suit the Wii more? And you could throw out the ghost trap with the nunchuck.

  • ocdog45

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 5:26 pm PT

    OMG please get the copyright to this game. looks vicious

  • drlove06472

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 5:16 pm PT

    The game looks good. I hope there's no bad movie remake of Ghostbusters in the making.

  • damned_beast

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 5:12 pm PT

    The videos look awesome. I really hope they work everything out, because that game... looks awesome

  • boocreepyfootdr

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 5:10 pm PT

    Awesome news, I hope they get the 'busters IP.

  • Kaizen4

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 4:39 pm PT

    This game has already annoyed me - Where is Ecto 1!? I've seen the new pimped out, phat rimmed, cruisin' wagon they've designed and called "Ecto 2" I simply cannot stand by and watch the greatest movie car in history get wiped aside. And if they even THINK of using a different siren sound, well I'll have to kill someone. In fact, just stick a picture of Ecto 1 with the siren playing over and over again on a disc and charge me the same £50... I'd buy it.

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 4:39 pm PT

    it would be kinda neat if there was a ghostbusters game

  • ColoradoKindBud

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 4:38 pm PT

    So all geeks want a Ghostbusters game??? I consider myself an old-school geek, but I wouldn't run out & buy a Ghostbusters game just because it's Ghostbusters.

  • Waskallywabbit

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 4:33 pm PT

    From the video, I don't have that much hope for this. While I love the Ghostbusters movie (s) I would hate to see some sort of updated take on the concept fall flat (Ghostbusters...Xtreme! or some crap)
    Why not just make a game true to the movie. First person perspective, have it be XBL for four players. Two would track, then two could capture while the others set the trap...it would be some great co-op gaming. What I saw was a typical third person shooter with a GB theme...but then again, who knows?

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