I have both the 360 and Wii versions.. Beat the fuck out of the 360 version when it first came out, and only recently did I start playing the Wii version. To my shock, the game is actually a lot more charming than the more "Realistic" older brother. Def digging the art style. PSP owners should be in for a treat if this version maintains that art style (which I think it may).
To be honest, I don't really care about Ghostbusters now. It was released for the PS3 amid a lot of hype that quickly died out and now I have no desire to buy it for the 360 or PSP or anything else. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling this. It'll be funny to see how the PS3 exclusivity deal affects the sales of the other versions that are only now getting a release. I predict relatively low numbers.
@-MasterDex-: The European PS3 exclusivity. If it wasn't for Sony propping the EU release up with a big wedge of cash it wouldn't be in Europe on any console not yet and possibly not ever.
The other versions are out in other territories, just not Europe.
I've heard that but I just don't believe it. Why would you ignore one of the largest markets in the world?
No matter what, it all damn well stinks we still haven't got the game, the release date was put back again to November.
@ThursdayNext: I don't believe that for one second. Ghostbusters is a big name, even now after so long. If Atari had put the word out that they were looking for a European publisher then I'm sure someone, somewhere would have taken them up on their offer and it would have been released by now. This isn't the first time that a game didn't have publishing secured for Europe and it won't be the last and since so many other developers have found ways around it without resorting to an exclusivity deal then I don't see what the big problem for a large company like Atari would have been.
The other versions are out in other territories, yes but not in Europe and since I'm living in Europe, that's the only territory that matters to me.
@-MasterDex-: I don't get what you and Weirdwolf "don't believe".
Activision dropped Ghostbusters, they're bigger than Atari and they didn't want to take a risk on it, Sony should be commended for bringing the title that no one wanted to gamble on to Europe early, not lambasted for stopping other publishers from doing so.
@ThursdayNext: I'm not lambasting Sony for taking up the offer. I'm just saying that now, after this long wait, any desire I had for the game is gone.
I'm also of the opinion that Atari should have looked for someone to publish the multiple versions simultaneously rather than sign the exclusivity deal with Sony.
It's hardly a "gamble" this is a game based on a massive film loved by geeks, with extremely positive press coverage before the release which is also being released in other regions.
The resolution for this port is going to be way inferior to the resolution of the X360 version. This always happens when they start with the 360 and then port to the PSP.
@grantanamo: .............So the resolution of a hanheld game on a device that has a max resolution of 480x272 will be way inferior to a game on a console that "supports" 1080p.
@-MasterDex-: LOL, you made my day :D, I wouldn't have taken it personally anyway. For taking it seriously you could have been a bigger ass about it too, so I commend your restraint.
@Kyolux (Corsair): I never understood why retailers are skipping on carrying the PSPgo. Sure you may not make huge margins on the Go, but if you are a videogame store, you will still see traffic into your store as a result of carrying the thing. For instance, no gas station on the planet makes big bucks from selling gas, they make it by selling everything else in the store. The gas pumps just assure you that people will keep visiting your store.
@Slagathorian: The problem is that you only have to go into the store that once. When you sell petrol you have lots of foot traffic from people who keep coming back because they need to refuel. It's not the case for the PSPgo the customers only need to go in once as Sony has the monopoly on games sales and a single customer buying a case or some cables at the same time he purchases his go isn't going to keep the store afloat.
Edited by Weirdwolf Is Restared To Glory! at 09/30/09 9:35 AM
Weirdwolf Is Restared To Glory! was starred
Weirdwolf Is Restared To Glory! was unstarred
@Weirdwolf Happy Blasphemy Day!: Yeah, think about it like this. If someone made a new fuel that when put into a normal engine, would last forever, do you think a petrol station would stock it?
@Cptn.PaxtonAstypalaea(Corsair): Then the same argument could be said of any system then. Why stock, wii's, 360's and PS3's then? The profit margins are very tiny on those systems and they take up a lot more storage space.
They stock them because people keep coming back to the store for games. While there they buy other stuff like peripherals and second hand games.
With the PSPgo you don't need to go back into the store and you can't buy the games and second hand games that keep these shops afloat.
Say they make 5% on a go and 25% on games, 50% on second hand games and peripherals. When they sell the go that may get a couple of peripherals sold but that's it. The real money is in the games and they see nothing of that on the go, you have to think of the long term not just that one day. There won't be enough go's sold with a 50% profit on a couple of $15 peripherals to keep them open over time.
I've got 34 DS games sitting on the shelf in front of me, for most of them I've gone into a shop something I wouldn't have to do if I had a PSP, that's why they are complaining.
@Weirdwolf Happy Blasphemy Day!: My whole point was, that not every thing you sell in a store will reap the same profit margins. The go obviously won't make a ton of money for retailers, but there will still be people walking in who would like to buy one. And how about refurbished PSPgo's? Retailers make a ton of money on their refurbished system sales. They probbaly make somewhere sin the 30-40% profit margin on a used PSPgo. It worth it to stock then.
@Weirdwolf Happy Blasphemy Day!: You've got to feel for the retailers. They are right to be afraid of the Go. It's the start of a slow death for the packaged goods games industry. I for one will not mourn the passing of games extortionate policy of marking up used games by 50% and not passing any of that sale to the publisher.
Yes, there is a risk that once Sony/Msft have a monopoly that they will abuse it (Msft certainly have form for that), but there will be direct pricing competition between the two platforms, we've seen how aggressive Microsoft can be when paying for exclusive's be it games or content, surely the competition will be equally as fierce when it comes to pricing.
Why bother having that shelf space taken up by an item that you may get say 5% profit on the 1000 you may sell in a year when you could use it to stock used games that you have a bigger profit margin on and sell more of.
Refurbished is a different story, you may only need one on display and a sign saying refurbs available her for x.
@ThursdayNext: Exactly as you say. There will still be competition.
As far as the image goes (hehe)... it's probably to portray how the character doesn't really know what it is, since it's South Park inspired and stuff.
And seriously, if every retailer in every market was acting like that, a whole lot of things wouldn't get sold in store. The stores just need to follow the trend and adapt by giving you other reasons to go there.
Oh anybody who has watched the games markets for as long as I have will warn you against a monopoly. Just look at the mistakes Sony made with the ps3 when they were in a more than comfortable first place.
There will not be any competition for the exclusives, they can set any price they like as they have complete control of the market. The competition is in part driven by the shops without them it will be the Sony/MS price for the whole length of most games. Look at the RRP of most games now, they are fairly equal despite the competition from shops, it's there that the mark downs come.
I like second hand games, I like being able to go to a shop and pick up something I might not have otherwise paid full price for knowing that if I hate it I can get some of my money back in trade ins. The publisher has been paid, no other industry has bitched about it like the gaming industry has. If the game or book or car or record is good I'll keep an eye out for the next thing they do. That is where this war they have on lending/second hand games is failing, the understanding that most people just wouldn't bother if you had to pay full price.
@Slagathorian: ... Wha? No you missed the point entirely, the Wii, 360, and PS3 need, to run most smoothly, and injection of a new game disc regularly, which can easily be brought at the same store it was first brought at. Sure you could just play Download games, and now the 360 has On Demand service meaning you have less reason to go to the store to get new games, but you are still more likely to buy new full games on disc rather than download them to your hard drive.
How on earth did you get a point about profit margins and storage space from what I said?
Yes, they probably don't get a big profit margin off those actual consoles. But they do off people buying Games for those consoles. The PSP-Go is effectly a system that never needs another visit to the store, as well, they're not going to be selling the latest games there, at least not in any real form that you and your PSP-Go can use.
Plus Game stores are in the business of recycling people's used Video Game System Fuel, I mean, Disc based games, something, as pointed out time and time again, the PSP-Go rather effectly cock-blocks.
The point is, Video game stores make most of their cash from the Sale of Video games (New and Used), not the systems. Thus a Console that doesn't have any games for them to sell isn't a very attractive prospect.
Point in case, what's the first thing I'm going to do when I buy a PS3?
Finally, a hardcore developer comes to its senses and realizes the Wii is for 1st party games, mini-game collections, and fitness titles only. The Wii is like poisonous uranium to hardcore third parties.
@FeaturePreacher: Why can't people like you just accept, there is no 'hardcore'/'Wii-owner' distinctions, there are simply different types of game that appeal to different people. take pac-man for instance, by 'modern' standards it is a casual game. There is no plot, no real objective. Just rinse, lather, repeat. I hate all this 'hardcore' spewing by folk who like nothing other than the latest WW2 shooter, something strewen with gore, or Halo based. Which for the record, sucked...Halo the original repetative corridor based shooter. Try something different like De Blob, Braid, World of Goo, or Klonda. Great games that aren't 'hardcore'
I think "polishing off" several other projects is a bit of a stretch seeing as "Grinder" and the roman combat game were just announced around E3 and are probably still in Alpha/Beta.
jayislost promoted this comment
GameBuddy - Doesn't like tomatoes on his sandvich. was starred
GameBuddy - Doesn't like tomatoes on his sandvich. was unstarred
@voth: This article is a little misleading. The real story is the engine's lifetime license, rather than a per game one.
And Joe Kreiner is the one who has a problem calling Wii next-gen, not HVS. Take this from Gamasutra last March: "When you go to build out the particular platform that you want, then we do the texture creation for that particular platform. It makes it very powerful; it gives the developer the ability to share assets amongst their next-generation titles and their previous-generation titles -- or the Wii, however you want to fit that in."
I'd be surprised if they started off making full retail games for PS360. I'm expecting their first several offerings on the HD consoles to be downloadable affairs.
That said, I also wouldn't be surprised if they tried to fill in PS3 and 360's weak spots like they did with the Wii.
heh- maybe we'll end up seeing some generic platforming games or something.
Considering how much I enjoyed the Conduit, and the fact that I was pretty impressed by the graphics of Ghostbusters, I'd say this makes for a good combination.
But shouldn't they call it a leap to CURRENT generation consoles? The Wii is more like last gen.
@Face Imploder: The Wii doesn't need HD eye candy to be current gen. It just needs to be the console released after the Gamecube, which it is. Current gen and next gen are chronological terms. The Gamecube was the console from the last gen. The Wii is the next generation console after the Gamecube.
@Ferkner: Hey, we'll have none of your "logic" around here, mister! The Wii is last generation because it's graphics aren't as good, see! The fact that it has more advanced controls and vastly better sales than the other current generation consoles is irrelevant!
@Ferkner: I only meant the Wii was last-gen because it sits in the same category with developers. Every time a new multi-plat game comes out, the Wii and PS2 build are the same while the PS3 and 360 builds are usually far superior. Not just in terms of graphics, but in gameplay and quality as well (Ghostbusters, X-Men Origins, Call of Duty, etc...).
I found the game to be the best movie tie-in in the last 10 years, possibly better than Goldeneye (though that technically is just a movie game).
It did a wonderful fan service to those that have loved Ghostbusters for 25 years (or even a few less in my case) but it also wasn't forgetting about the people who were new to the series.
The gameplay was solid, if a little repetitive. The game was short, but it was fun the entire time. The online is great and has a lot of replay value, especially with friends.
If it opens up the path for more Ghostbusters games, there is nothing wrong with that and in fact I think it'll be amazing to start getting some free roaming versions set in different cities. Remember what Venkman said at the end - it's still set up for more to follow.
Of course people think it didn't sell well. The gaming press keeps presenting any game that hasn't sold a million copies on its first day as a bomb.
I mean it's great this article finally used the phrase "long tail", but most games this gen that did well have sales like that. The press just gets bored and ignores them and declares them "failures" without ever following up on it.
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then I think reviewers lost their nerve and started just spewing: "HD rules!" when the release date came and went.
whatevs... I know which version I'll be getting eventually....
09/30/09
09/30/09
The other versions are out in other territories, just not Europe.
09/30/09
I've heard that but I just don't believe it. Why would you ignore one of the largest markets in the world?
No matter what, it all damn well stinks we still haven't got the game, the release date was put back again to November.
09/30/09
The other versions are out in other territories, yes but not in Europe and since I'm living in Europe, that's the only territory that matters to me.
09/30/09
Activision dropped Ghostbusters, they're bigger than Atari and they didn't want to take a risk on it, Sony should be commended for bringing the title that no one wanted to gamble on to Europe early, not lambasted for stopping other publishers from doing so.
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09/30/09
I'm also of the opinion that Atari should have looked for someone to publish the multiple versions simultaneously rather than sign the exclusivity deal with Sony.
09/30/09
Fair enough that you are over Ghostbusters, I've got a PS3 and not picked it up, probably never will now.
Atari were in a hole, so, in my opinion they can be forgiven for grabbing the first life belt they were thrown.
09/30/09
It's hardly a "gamble" this is a game based on a massive film loved by geeks, with extremely positive press coverage before the release which is also being released in other regions.
10/01/09
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Now way man! That's crazy! I don't believe you!
09/30/09
You completely missed the joke man. Remember when people where bickering about the 360 vs PS3 versions when it came out...
09/30/09
It can be so hard to distinguish wit from stupidity on the interweb sometimes.
@grantanamo: My bad man, good joke though...just next time add a smily face or something, lol.
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I don't know, I think they may be over reacting.
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They stock them because people keep coming back to the store for games. While there they buy other stuff like peripherals and second hand games.
With the PSPgo you don't need to go back into the store and you can't buy the games and second hand games that keep these shops afloat.
Say they make 5% on a go and 25% on games, 50% on second hand games and peripherals. When they sell the go that may get a couple of peripherals sold but that's it. The real money is in the games and they see nothing of that on the go, you have to think of the long term not just that one day. There won't be enough go's sold with a 50% profit on a couple of $15 peripherals to keep them open over time.
I've got 34 DS games sitting on the shelf in front of me, for most of them I've gone into a shop something I wouldn't have to do if I had a PSP, that's why they are complaining.
09/30/09
09/30/09
Yes, there is a risk that once Sony/Msft have a monopoly that they will abuse it (Msft certainly have form for that), but there will be direct pricing competition between the two platforms, we've seen how aggressive Microsoft can be when paying for exclusive's be it games or content, surely the competition will be equally as fierce when it comes to pricing.
09/30/09
@Slagathorian:
09/30/09
09/30/09
Why bother having that shelf space taken up by an item that you may get say 5% profit on the 1000 you may sell in a year when you could use it to stock used games that you have a bigger profit margin on and sell more of.
Refurbished is a different story, you may only need one on display and a sign saying refurbs available her for x.
09/30/09
As far as the image goes (hehe)... it's probably to portray how the character doesn't really know what it is, since it's South Park inspired and stuff.
And seriously, if every retailer in every market was acting like that, a whole lot of things wouldn't get sold in store. The stores just need to follow the trend and adapt by giving you other reasons to go there.
09/30/09
Oh anybody who has watched the games markets for as long as I have will warn you against a monopoly. Just look at the mistakes Sony made with the ps3 when they were in a more than comfortable first place.
There will not be any competition for the exclusives, they can set any price they like as they have complete control of the market. The competition is in part driven by the shops without them it will be the Sony/MS price for the whole length of most games. Look at the RRP of most games now, they are fairly equal despite the competition from shops, it's there that the mark downs come.
I like second hand games, I like being able to go to a shop and pick up something I might not have otherwise paid full price for knowing that if I hate it I can get some of my money back in trade ins. The publisher has been paid, no other industry has bitched about it like the gaming industry has. If the game or book or car or record is good I'll keep an eye out for the next thing they do. That is where this war they have on lending/second hand games is failing, the understanding that most people just wouldn't bother if you had to pay full price.
09/30/09
How on earth did you get a point about profit margins and storage space from what I said?
Yes, they probably don't get a big profit margin off those actual consoles. But they do off people buying Games for those consoles. The PSP-Go is effectly a system that never needs another visit to the store, as well, they're not going to be selling the latest games there, at least not in any real form that you and your PSP-Go can use.
Plus Game stores are in the business of recycling people's used Video Game System Fuel, I mean, Disc based games, something, as pointed out time and time again, the PSP-Go rather effectly cock-blocks.
The point is, Video game stores make most of their cash from the Sale of Video games (New and Used), not the systems. Thus a Console that doesn't have any games for them to sell isn't a very attractive prospect.
Point in case, what's the first thing I'm going to do when I buy a PS3?
I'm going to buy games for it.
£..$
\__/
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And Joe Kreiner is the one who has a problem calling Wii next-gen, not HVS. Take this from Gamasutra last March: "When you go to build out the particular platform that you want, then we do the texture creation for that particular platform. It makes it very powerful; it gives the developer the ability to share assets amongst their next-generation titles and their previous-generation titles -- or the Wii, however you want to fit that in."
08/12/09
That said, I also wouldn't be surprised if they tried to fill in PS3 and 360's weak spots like they did with the Wii.
heh- maybe we'll end up seeing some generic platforming games or something.
08/12/09
But shouldn't they call it a leap to CURRENT generation consoles? The Wii is more like last gen.
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07/23/09
It did a wonderful fan service to those that have loved Ghostbusters for 25 years (or even a few less in my case) but it also wasn't forgetting about the people who were new to the series.
The gameplay was solid, if a little repetitive. The game was short, but it was fun the entire time. The online is great and has a lot of replay value, especially with friends.
If it opens up the path for more Ghostbusters games, there is nothing wrong with that and in fact I think it'll be amazing to start getting some free roaming versions set in different cities. Remember what Venkman said at the end - it's still set up for more to follow.
07/23/09
I mean it's great this article finally used the phrase "long tail", but most games this gen that did well have sales like that. The press just gets bored and ignores them and declares them "failures" without ever following up on it.