It's amazing how Sony can make us hate them even further...

But what's this mysterious new game coming from Zootfly, "Phantom Trappers?"

Screw Sony for trying to protect their licensees!

Yeah.. give me a break already and find something else to hate Sony on....

It seems likely that Zootfly would like to license Ghostbusters for their game...but if they can't have the real Ghostbusters (not to be confused with The Real Ghostbusters a pretty shite cartoon) then they'll just make their 'shooting up the supernatural in NYC' game anyway.

FUCK SONY!

thats too bad, that game looked great/fun/entertaining. It's not like Sony wouldn't have gotten its royalties off of the name anyway. Loosen your grips Sony, collect your money and let the people have what they want(if the people want this anyway). This crap didn't happen with the Spiderman games...

SAD FACES FOREVER!

GODDAMMIT! SONY, THAT WAS THE LAST STRAW!!!!!

....among many of the last straws that seem to be continually coming.

I like the way user KaneRobot
thinks..

PHANTOM TRAPPERS it is

or

Ghost Hunters

woooo cant wait.

Let us review....

The masses are loosing their excitement over the PS3 due to very few interesting titles...at the same time, many gamers get excited over just the IDEA of a next gen Ghost Busters game...a property that Sony owns.

What does Sony do?

Kill the game! Of coures!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sony really aren't doing themselves any favors.

Didn't they mention in an interview that the game would be coming out [in a different form] regardless of whether they were able to get the Ghostbusters license?

I bet Sony is latching on to this after seeing the demand. So perhaps we can look forward to all laughing at a Sony-produced Ghostbusters game soon.

If the game had been based on a movie property belonging to Universal or Dreamworks, do any of you seriously believe that the EXACT same thing wouldn't happen?

Sony was protecting its intellectual property, just as every other corporation in the world does.

Can we start banning people whose only response to threads is "FUCK XXXXX"? It seems a good place to start for a little quality control around here...

Or... did they put the Ghostbusters branding on it solely to build hype in all of us children of the 80s, knowing that Sony'd shut them down?

Which propagated the studio's name, and the concept of their game, since they knew all the news outlets would report on evil Sony stepping on the little guy as usual?

/adjusttinfoilhat

If a developer showed interest in creating revenue from a practically dead IP, I would be very nice to them.

I seem to recall Zootfly themselves saying that if Sony didn't allow the Ghostbusters license then they would produce a game that was a homage to the GB's. "TimeO" I believe it was going to be called.

From another game site (sorry Kotaku): "The good news is that regardless of how that battle turns out, we may be seeing the game anyways in the form of TimeO -- a homage to Ghostbusters as opposed to the real deal itself. Less appealing to the mainstream, but quite interesting nonetheless."

That was from a direct correspondence with Zootfly.

Likely modeled to promote to Sony, but then projects changed because of the rights. Then it leaked, and now we see Sony has ZERO interest in providing support for this franchise.

MiB could also use some reworking, but is another they are justing sitting on. Odd.

Can't blame Sony on this one, it is intellectual property. But if Luigi's Mansion didn't cause a problem, then neither will "New York Ghost Rustlers".

Sony is like that friend's parent who's house you would go over to but you could never do anything fun.

Zootfly is making a really cool game called "TimeO" check out these 2 videos here:

http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2007/01/16/360-ghostbusters-i...

Looks like it's gonna be really cool, and their engine looks really great as well.

In news next week :
Sony Stabs kittens in the eyes
Sony doesnt got to church ! (omg)
Sony sells crack to 4 year olds!

I distinctly remember reading an interview just a day or so ago where they made it perfectly clear that they made the demo in question knowing fully that they didn't have the ip rights. They made the demo public so that everyone would go "OMG! That game looks awesome!" which they could take back to the negotiating table and jump start the talks again (which had just lost steam and the felt fully comfortable could be worked out).

I wish I could find it now.

So after killing Lik-Sang they've moved on to killing promising Ghostbusters games? For shame.

Oh wow, you mean Zootfly's publicity stunt didn't gain them Sony's IP on a silver platter? Big shocker!

Even bigger is that of course people will blame Sony somehow...

From the very CVG article:

CVG contacted the developer and was told that the videos were indeed removed at the request of Sony Pictures and all references to the game have been removed from its website while negotiations over the rights continue behind closed doors.

Seems to suggest the fat lady isn't singing just yet... or at least made of marshmallow and stepping on churches in NYC.

Wow. I remember a time when the Sony Defense Corps came out in full steam protecting their Corporate Identity... Guess when you have to deal with a series of non-stopping blows your steam finally evaporates.

What's the harm in having some buzz for a game that if granted rights might actually make for a compelling IP Sony hasn't done anything with in almost 15 years? Chances are they could convince the company to make it a PS3 exclusive giving the system something it desperately needs, a good game.

Thanks Meldy!

How the hell does these guys start developing a game based on someone's IP without licensing it first?

If Sony started developing a Halo game for Ps3, whithout licensing, I bet all the fanboys above would be bashing them too.

Besides their stupidity, all the bad luck and bad press, Sony's gotta deal with all the hatred in people's hearts.

They really are doomed, or at least getting there.

To the pro-Sony lot: I agree that the blame against Sony would be misplaced if the Ghostbusters game were released without ever getting permission from Sony. The issue here is that Zootfly has a product that clearly has the potential to be something great, and Sony just completely smacks it down. It's not like Zootfly was going around Sony's back on any of this; they were just waiting for their game to be at a presentable state before they went around attempting to procure permissions from all the copyright holders.

There will be a Ghost Busters game, but Sony will make it & suck it will:(

This isn't a matter of "Pro" Sony, they're just protecting their IP. It's neat that Zootfly was interested in making the game, but come on! You're an idiot if you think this is the right way to do business or get rights to a company's IP.

Well dammit.

First they stop making Ecto-Cooler and now this!

id put my money on a theory like;
the specialFX guy at ZootFly made a "twisting beam" like we see in Ghostbuster then they made some crap videos using the franchise as a publicity stunt. That would be quite a success since nobody knew about them few weeks ago and now they got free publicity for the game theyre really making. That doesnt mean that im ok with sony but the move theyve made is quite understandable.

@Thaddeus

They still make Ecto Cooler, it's just called Crazy Citrus Cooler now.

Darn, you mean some company tried to make a game for the 360 using a license owned by Sony without securing their permission? Sounds like a terribly smart move on their part. You go Zootfly!

lol @ trying to use someone else's IP without permission. noobs

I feel that Sony has the right to protect its licensed properties, and is just in its cause, however, it could have easily become a publisher to the game if it wanted the game to be given the green light.

On the other hand, wasn't this merely a concept demo? Just because something looks great on an internet video clip does not mean the final project would end up the same, nor would it be good after the initial "Wow, it's Ghostbusters back on my TV!"

And having already admitted to wanting to develop a GB game, should Zootfly want to go ahead with further development of this project, even under a different name, Sony knows the original intentions. I think that could lead to potential lawsuits if ZF doesn't try and make the game different enough from Ghostbusters, in which case, it could render a game that's NOT GB and wouldn't be what everyone came to expect.

Seeing the demand? What demand? If you call internet hype demand then what happened to Snakes on a Plane? That movie received a lot more internet hype than these trailers did.

FUCK Sony for trying to protect their licenses.

I kinda forgot about it already, though.

boo! just rename it, change a few little things and release it! just to piss sony off :P

No, seems to me what the article is saying is that while the game isn't canned yet, the videos were merely leaked and taken down at Sony's request. They were already negotiating for the rights--they just didn't have them yet.

Hmmm... all this excitement over a movie license?
Don't you people know anything about video games?

Let's count all the good movie license games:

1. Riddick for XBox
2. Goonies for the Atari 800

Ok, I'm done.

I'd buy grovberg's line of reasoning, but DirtyDebutant may not be far off either. Guerilla marketing is such an unpredictable beast; it's hard to tell what the original intent of a "leak" was once the net gets finished with it. However, if Zootfly is trying to play hardball with Sony over licensing terms (like, not having to make the game for PS3), then the video release makes sense. Never hurts to have the hype on your side when going to the table. The Ghostbusters vid looked more like a finished product than the Timeo preview. I think Timeo is the backup.

I`ll say like some people said because it was really full of wisdom

FUCK SONY!

In other news, head of Sony kills last unicorn on Earth, source of all dreams and wonder, drinks blood. PS4 in development.

3. Goldeneye for the N64.

@dowingba

yes. pwned. ;)

Two words: Screw Sony !

I'll crush the head of Sony, with my bare hands.

No other company phucks with its gaming community in so many ways.

That's it, I had enough, no more evidence needed.

Phuck. Sony.

Seriously, keep your shit, I'll get a Wii/Xbox360.

Sony: "We Hate Games"

I find it more fitting then "This is Living"

Adam W, if you're right. This development team are freakin' genuises. What a great way to draw attention to ones product than releasing mysterious badass videos on youtube and get shut down by the man.

AdamW is right. The whole thing was just a way to try and force Sony's hand and, barring that, to get people familiar with a company that has up until now released mostly crap. It was a brilliant move.

Excuse my language but

FOR F*CKS SAKE, SONY!

Sony is just turning into that kid that no buddy wants around.. and when we get bored we call him up to hang out then realize we really didn't want to do it in the first place..

I can see the very likely situation where SONY wants them to make it a PS3 only game, and Zootfly doesn't want to risk taking the possible hit to sales. Or some similar deal breaking issue....just my 2 cents...

Wasn't this game supposed to be a 360 and PC exclusive ? How azhat does a developer have to be to try to leave out Sony from their own IP ???!!!! Someone should try using an MSoft IP without a licence to benefit a competitor and then we'll see how fast the law suits fly. I was disappointed that Ghostbusters wasn't coming to the PS3, but three days later it turns out that Sony actually owns it. Ha !

Sony likes to ruin everything huh? First their very own console, now this. Come on.

For all the people suggesting that the developers are idiots for making the game without Sony's permission or that it was a move designed to force Sony's hand, understand that when an Indy developer approaches a publisher or licensee, they basically have to have the entire finished product on display in order to be taken seriously; large corporations have better things to do with their time than to bicker over details of IP licensing with everyone that calls them up and asks for it.

So no, it isn't stupid. It's business, and apparently Sony doesn't want any of it. And that's a damn shame.

Oh my god people...