Bustin' DOES make me feel good

Most people have stuff they like doing, and then they have work. I'm really super fortunate to have those two things overlap. But when a third thing -- like, say, an obsessive fandom for a mid-80s supernatural comedy movie franchise -- suddenly sneaks into the situation, well, my mind aspoldes wif joyz. This week's announcement that a Ghostbusters game is coming next year -- and then the arrival of screens and video to prove it -- pretty much sent me into megafan overdrive.

Nice shootin', Tex!

Now, I can recite the movie, I've got a Stay-Puft doll on my desk, and I recently got Ernie Hudson's autograph, but I won't go into full detail of just how massive a Ghostbusters fan I am -- it's kind of disturbing. But from the early screens and video, this is the game that I've had in my head for a long time. I have been saying "You know what would be so cool?" for literally ten years to anybody who would listen, including game publishers! And I thought I'd found a kindred spirit in Zootfly, the developer that snuck out some test footage of their version of "You know what would be so cool?" earlier this year. We interviewed them on the podcast and everything, in part because we really wanted to see a game like that happen. But ultimately they didn't get the rights; instead, Sierra and Terminal Reality are working on it together.

He's an ugly little spud, isn't he?

Terminal Reality is the developer behind not one but two of my other favorite guilty pleasure games -- BloodRayne and RoadKill -- but I also have to point out that they developed Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run and Aeon Flux. So this is far from a sure thing. However, how can you not be encouraged when you see video footage like this? (Congrats to G4 for getting the first evidence.)

I was most relieved to that Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis are writing the script. Now, there's been a really awesome concept for Ghostbusters 3 floating around for years that Columbia would not greenlight because it was too expensive. The setup is that Hell is full and it starts to spill over into NYC -- that required immensely expensive effects shots of Broadway turning into a river of fire and things that Columbia didn't want to bankroll. So I'm expecting that this game will be the movie sequel we never got. GB was always Aykroyd's baby -- "Ray Stantz, the heart of the Ghostbusters" was more than just a throwaway ad-libbed line -- and he's always wanted to revisit the franchise.

If you want to keep up on all the Ghostbusters news of note, head to Proton Charging. Ghostheads have been organized online for years and we look out for each other. My only fear now is that Ghostbusters will be trendy-cool again, and we'll lose our special little thing. But then again, if it brings new people to the franchise and makes people happy, is there really a downside?

Maybe I should preorder now.