In a web-only interview with Newsweek, Aykroyd justifies his love for the Wii's hated-on visuals.

Honestly, I love the way we look in the Wii platform, because it resembles the animation that was done in "The Incredibles." Anybody who looks like an Incredible is automatically a superhero. And I was so pleased that they shaved off at least 60 pounds from my current bulk. The boys look good. We resemble the actors who were in the first movie. You wouldn't want us out there looking as we do today.

That's right, Nintendo can slim you down with more than just Wii Fit. Because fewer polygons also mean fewer lovehandles, jowls and mantits.

You really should read the rest of the interview, even if you're not a fan of Ghostbusters. It's always interesting to hear a longtime, accomplished actor's take on the differences in performing for screen or for video game. "Our effort was in really providing the volume of audio work that's required for a videogame. A screenplay's 120 pages, and a videogame is 600," he says. Also, because his face was mo-capped for dialogue, there were no opportunities for improvised dialogue, which is what helped Bill Murray make the original franchise so zany.

Whatcha Gonna Play? [Newsweek, thanks VileMethoD and elpierce]

Soon we moved to an outside street scene where we observed some of the amazing crowd technology that will be employed in the game, particularly in a Thanksgiving Day parade that we unfortunately didn't get to see previewed. I will say though that the crowd technology in Ghostbusters is the best I have ever seen. With a camera perched high above an intersection, we were able to see fifteen hundred people at once, all moving with their own individual AI, moving aside if they bumped into each other and never passing through or getting stuck all jittery in a corner. We came down to ground level and were shown some crowd reactions which were also impressive. Some ran screaming into the night while others gave you a wide berth to do your ghostbusting and yet even others stayed around to watch.

After the engine demo we got to check out some of the actual gameplay, but it skipped around quite a bit, showing various stages and enemies including the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man who looked both awesome and terrifying as he peered through windows looking for a victim. Anyone who has seen the films will be familiar with the ghost catching mechanic employed in the game. The PK emitter is used to detect the ghosts and once you've detected them your handy dandy Proton Pack comes into play with its various powers such as Dark Energy, Freeze Beam, Shot Blast, Neutron Generator and the Slime Tether. Once the ghosts have had some of the fight taken out of them you can begin the process of grabbing them with your beam and capturing them in the ghost traps. Here was where the PS3s Sixxaxis controller came into play. Utilizing a mechanic similar to that of Folklore, you use the controller to capture to grab the ghosts and then by shaking the remote, slamming the ethereal enemies into the ground until they can finally be trapped. Some enemies require multiple Ghostbusters to bring them down and often your AI buddies will not only help you by throwing down the ghost traps for you but can also help by adding their steam to yours (don't cross them!). Just remember the three steps: Wrangle, Slam and capture.

Your fellow AI Ghostbusters aren't the only ones who can help you. You real life friends can join you as well with online co-op play and specific co-op missions and mini-games. Some competitive play missions will also be available for you ornery types. Each mission will of course yield you a fee which will allow you to then make improvements to your beam pack. For all of you who were hoping to tear up the streets of NYC in the ECTO 1, I'm afraid you are out of luck as the game will contain no driving levels although the infamous vehicle does make quite a few appearances. Since the build we saw was pretty early on, the voiceover recording hadn't been done yet, but we were assured that all the original cast members would be providing their voices for the game including Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Annie Potts, Harold Ramis and the rest of the gang.

As a huge fan of the original Ghostbusters, I was quite taken and duly impressed by what I saw of the game and will be waiting rather impatiently (as I'm sure most of you will) for it to rear it's head later this year. Ghostbusters will be coming to the Wii (with no online play), PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, PC and DS this October and if the developers have their way, will come out right around Halloween. Perfect.

Now, it appears that the game is indeed on, regardless of whether current developer Zootfly is at the helm. According to Dan Aykroyd (aka the Ghostbuster's Dr. Ray Stantz):

Universal purchased the rights from Sony for a game. I'm actually going to have to perform and do some motion capture for them. That will be next year.

Well, that about wraps that up. A Ghostbusters game is coming, but not before some time next year, if Aykroyd's dates are to be believed. Michael McWhertor

Dan all about blues & booze [Edmonton Sun]
Dan Aykroyd to appear in Ghostbusters game [Gamespot]