I guess when you have billions of Dark Knight money you can go around saving floundering video game companies and still comfortably run a major comics publishing house. But hey if you have Superman and Bugs Bunny under your belt, you’re probably good enough to weather any storm.

It would seem that the DC Universe/Mortal Kombat venture were larger signs of the future than anyone would have ever imagined. This year Midway, a games company founded in the 50’s, went under and had their properties, including the Mortal Kombat franchise, put up for bid and were finally picked up by Warner Bros. Interactive.

So this may not be the last time we see the likes of Scorpion and Sub Zero squaring off against Batman and Superman. Sonya Blade in a Green Lantern book? Extrapolate that and think Mortal Kombat rebooted on the silver screen with a shiny new WB logo. I had been concerned with whose hands they would fall in to, but am comforted with the outcome. Having a happy home at Warner could lead to interesting possibilities for the MK license.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a Ghostbusters fan. I’ve probably watched the original Ghostbusters more than any movie in existence. Back during the VHS days, I wore two copies of Ghostbusters out and finally the Moms said I’d watched enough of it.

It has been 20 years since we’ve seen a ‘live action’ Ghostbusters story. With Ghostbusters: The Video Game, it might not be live action but it definitely can be considered the third movie. Everything that entails is alright by me.

When you first load up Ghostbusters, you’ll be treated to an intro video that feels just like how the previous movies start. The story kicks starts in grandiose fashion, and the entire sequence has such a cinematic feel to it. In fact the entire game is rampant with cinematic elements. I’ve yet to play a game that feels so much like a movie experience as this one does. Which might sound like a negative, but believe me it adds to the experience.

Once you’re actually into the game, you’ll have the option to choose ‘Career’, or to go ‘Online’. I admit that I haven’t tried multiplayer which is why this is a first impression and not a review.

In Career Mode, you’re playing through the storyline that was written by Harold Ramis and Dan Akroyd. If you’ve been worried that the story for the game would be watered down or lacking compared to the movies then put your worries to bed. The script is fresh, and the story exceeded my expectations. Which is quite a feat indeed, considering the scrutiny I put it under.

One of the most obvious elements you’ll notice is how linear the game is. Depending on what kind of gamer you are this can be a good or bad thing. I’m glad Terminal Reality kept the game linear, as everything is focused around the story. I’m all for sandbox settings for certain titles, but it seems like the market is saturated with them. So, the linearity of this game helps its cause.

After a quick tutorial the game gets underway and really doesn’t let up until the end. Terminal Reality has done a wonderful job of making different sections of the game have a unique style and play through. You’ll take to the streets of New York, then have to track a ghost through eerie hallways. The ghost themselves are just as varied as the stages. I was surprised with the amount of spectres that Terminal Reality added to the experience. Needless to say you won’t feel like you’re fighting the same ghouls over and over.

An element of the game that really surprised me is how spooky it actually is. If this wasn’t Ghostbusters but something original, I’d probably call it a survival horror. To be honest, there were more unsettling moments during this game than my entire play through of Resident Evil 5. Ghosts will pop out at you from nowhere. There’ll be times the environment unexpectedly changes, and you’ll jump in your seat. Most of the stages just have a frightening presence themselves. The developers did a great job of making the environments feel dreadful. This is one game where having the speakers turned up, and sitting in the dark makes it all 10x better.

Besides the story, the other aspect of the game you’re curious about is how it plays. I can say without a doubt that Terminal Reality has captured the nature of the Ghostbusters more than I expected. If you’ve had an image of what it would be like to be a Ghostbuster, you won’t be disappointed playing this game. Most of the ghosts you’ll be busting has you wrangling them into a trap. You have to wear down their health, then you throw out a capture stream. Slide your trap out and then guide them into the trap. Luckily, not every ghost battle plays out like this so it’s never repetitive.

Some of the smaller ghosts can just be vaporized. There’s also Proton Pack upgrades, and some of those are used on certain enemies. Just like the actual number of enemies, there’s a good amount of strategies that keeps everything from being bogged down in repetitiveness.

One aspect of games that can keep them from feeling cinematic is ‘interface’. How can you feel like you’re having a cinematic experience when there’s 4-5 HUDs on screen? Well, Terminal Reality has solved that problem as there isn’t one HUD to be found during gameplay. They’re able to pull this off by showing all the information you need on the Proton Pack. You’re health is shown off as a green bar on the side of your proton pack. Also, your ‘ammo’ or heat monitor for your Proton Pack is tacked on as well. Sometimes it can be difficult to keep up with everything, but the trade off is a screen that is completely dedicated to the action.

There has been some controversy surrounding the graphics present on the PS3 version of the game. While the comparison made with the Xbox 360 definitely make the game look lackluster, it really isn’t as big a deal as people are making it. I believe that Terminal Reality sacrificed much of the game’s textures for the physics. When the game is standing still, it’s really not much to look at. However, once you find a ghost flying around and fire your Proton Pack it’s gorgeous. The animations are smooth, and the ghosts move fluidly. Also, almost everything you’ll find surrounding you is destructible. Most of the fun I’ve had with the game is just decimating everything in sight.

I’ve put nearly 8 hours into the game, on the hardest difficulty which was a huge mistake. Easily, the most frustrating aspect of the game is the knockback and revive system. Whenever you run out of health, you’re partners have an oppurtunity to revive you. And vice versa if they are knocked down. This becomes a problem if you want to play on a harder setting, because so much of your time will be reviving your partners. This in turn can lead to you being knocked down, so sometimes it feels like a vicious cycle that doesn’t end. Take my word for it and play on the medium difficulty.

With my time playing the game so far, I can definitely recommend a purchase. If you’re still iffy, but want to experience the story then give it a rent. Either way, if you’re a fan of Ghostbusters then you need play this game. If you’re not a fan of Ghostbusters, then if you do play you’ll be privy to a satisfying survival horror experience with some well executed dialogue. Either way, not too shabby of a performance.

In this economy, it’s hard to not buy that used game even if Gamestop marks down a chincy 5 dollars from the full price. The thing is, when you buy that used game with your hard-earned cash, it all goes to Gamestop. You might as well put on that eye patch and head to the Pirate Bay for all the good it’s doing the developers. I admit I may have exploited the magic of the internet in the past a time or two, but I actually do enjoy supporting the creators of my entertainment media. As a working adult, I would like choose to purchase games that send some money back to the developers that enlighten my life with all of this worthwhile entertainment. I’d rather it not be the monopolizing monolith that Gamestop has become.

But what can you do? It’s hard to blame them because their business plan is a perfect money-making machine that also aids budget conscious gamers. Which in this day in age is pretty much everyone. That is until one considers how it shortchanges the game makers themselves. Studios that are balancing on the edge of a sword can have their fate determined on sales that would have gone to them, but went to Gamestop. How many of your favorite games that never came to be got snuffed out because of this prevalent business model?
And what’s the cure?

Games like Left 4 Dead and Valkyria Chronicles saw ridiculous spikes in sales when they chopped their prices nearly in half. But if you started a trend where games saw these kind of price slashes it may create more new games sales across the board in your Best Buys and your Wal-Marts or what have you. Better to see half that dollar than zero cents due to a used game sale. The full $60 is a tall order for your avid gamer that enjoys a variety of titles.

Gamestop seems aware of this issue and seems to be attempting some form of damage control to at least attempt to appear concerned. But it would seem there will need to be some other trend shift to control the used-game monster that is only growing hungrier by the day.

The 360 snags Tekken 6 and Final Fantasy 13 and the gaming world turns upsidedown. After those two games go multi-platform everyone says the PS3 has no exclusives. Oh on the contrary.

Featured at E3 2009:

The Agency
Agent
DC Universe Online
Final Fantasy XIV
Free Realms
Gran Turismo 5
God of War 3
Heavy Rain
The Last Guardian
Massive Action Game (MAG)
Mod Nation Racers
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
Quantum Theory
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time
Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll
Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves
White Knight Chronicles

For you readers I performed the arduous task of searching the net and cherry-picking the best boothbabe shots of E3 2009. You can check out my boothbabe E3 Exposé, Dr. Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Booth Babe, which expounds upon their return after being banned from the past couple of Electronic Entertainment Expos. From the looks of things the EverQuest girl seems to be a showstealer. People still play EverQuest? The way I see it, even if the game is decades long dead and buried,”The EverQuest Chick” will always have a place in the pantheon of boothbabedom. While not the most classically beautiful, the 2009 PS3Pub Winner of the lot goes to the gal ballsy enough to rock the Ninja Gaiden Sigma Rachel outfit. And be able to actually pull it off.

Super cute, Super bubbly Koei gals.

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Milla Jovovich Resident Evil movies provided zombie slaughter faire and DOA even brought some eye candy and action to the table. Hitman, Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat and Silent Hill took decent stabs at the genre. In the CG realm Final Fantasy: Advent Children and Resident Evil: Degeneration really brought the quality control up a notch. In this day and age there a some video game stories that haven’t been adapted and if done right, could be epic in cinematic and box office proportions.

With Tekken, Metal Gear, Tron 2 and Prince of Persia coming to a theater near you, it’s no surprise that video game movies are going to stick around. These stories have the potential to be great and Hollywood is fast learning comics and video games are material worth taking seriously. But if they knock those out of the park, what next? Since this is a PS3 site let’s keep the list to a least titles that have appeared on a Sony system. And we’ll stick to original IPs, games not based on movies naturally, and envision what kind of imagery might be truly epic on screen.

5. NINJA GAIDEN

There aren’t many high budget films about ninja that come to mind. When you consider how many high production films actually use wirework and martial arts it becomes an even more surprising fact. Take Ryu Hayabusa here and follow his mystical journey accompanied by adversaries’ heads popping off in an ultra violent manner, I think you may have a winner on your hands. Highly stylized cinematography may even allow a buxom Rachel with her impossibly huge and impossibly heavy hammer (yes, hammer) swinging around popping enemies into the air. Just imagine everything in the Matrix except it’s like a ninja fantasy world.

4. DEVIL MAY CRY

DMC is a perfect candidate for a screen adaptation because you have a cooler than ice hero private eye that has a hotter than hell partner in crime, Trish. Capcom, known for their outrageous character designs have brought us Dante: a flaming sword, twin pistol-wielding demon hunter that can morph into a demon himself. Tell me that that’s not a righteous special effects extravaganza waiting to happen.

3. FALLOUT

Do this post-apocalyptic story that’s part Half-Life and part Resident Evil. Go through this ruined landscape facing hordes of mutants and give the camera plenty of slow-mo opportunities to watch the armaments fly into their torsos and have them explode into a wondrous gelatinous blood bomb. A definite R rating. Let’s steer clear from Dwayne Johnson’s Doom, and think more Clive Owen’s Children of Men in terms of depth
…except with mutants.

2. SOUL CALIBUR (direct-to-video cg animation)

Even though we have a live action Tekken feature coming up, I think a cg film would accommodate the Soul series best as possible. It doesn’t take too much imagination to get the visual feel of it since most Soul Calibur games have had gorgeous CG in their games already. Just take that quality animation and make it a full length feature about Siegfried’s quest for the Soul Edge and how it turns him into Nightmare and have him face the robust cast of characters the series has garnered throughout the years. Here are some stills of the outrageous Ivy that could be easily implemented.

1. GOD OF WAR

There was heavy internet buzz awhile back that Brett Ratner was going to try to ruin a God of War film. Thank every god in the pantheon that that was aborted or was simply a cruel joke taken way too far. A movie starring Kratos needs to be a slaughterfest somewhere in between 300 and Clash of the Titans. Stylized blood effects and mythological beasts with the scale of Lord of the Rings. Testosterone heavy with harems and goddesses wearing far too little just as the game does to appeal to anyone with heavy affinity to male juvenile subject matter.

Yeah this is totally an excuse to post drawings of girls in bikini’s but an objection to this is like an objection to art. In fact it may very well be an objection to awesomeness. Kicking off our Spring Break Edition is artist Greg Horn of Marvel Comics who did this PSM magazine of Cassandra from Soul Calibur. Click her for the rest of the pictorials.
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Check out these pics of Nina and Jin Kazama! Granted they look like they were taken by a crew member’s phone camera but it puts many of my fears to rest. Tekken has never even really had a much of a storyline to stay true to: A bunch of badass lookin’ people get together for some sort of “Iron Fist Tournament” thing to get whipped by an 80 year old man and his demon son. From the looks at those cell phone pics the character costumes look like they pulled every stitch straight out of the video game.

There’s absolutely no reason visual faithfulness and serious storytelling have to be mutually exclusive when it comes to adapting properties like video games and comic books. My unending gratitude to the costume designers of Spider-Man, Iron Man, Watchmen, Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat and now Tekken.

Bryan Fury, Anna Williams and Marshall Law


Tekken Force!

I’m a long time Nina Williams and Bryan Fury fan. Here’s a bonus pic from a Maxim pictorial of Candice Hillebrand who’s playing my girl. (more…)

So booth babes are coming back to the Electronic Entertainment Expo. I long pondered E3’s Hitlerian Booth Babe Prohibition Act of 2006. I mean, why? This was a pathetic attempt at making the convention more professional and businesslike. What they forgot is that it was a party to celebrate that which was fun: video games! It’s OK to not have to take it too seriously. They took away all the glitz and glamour and left a husk of an event now a completely sterile environment.

Who wants that in a video game expo? Bring the fireworks, fog machines, laser lights, skimpy shorts and celebrity appearances.

The whole time I was disappointed in the booth babe ban I thought that it was just me being a perv. But that’s not the case. Well, I am a perv, but the point is that they took away the hype that we Westerners have that can anywhere near compare to the Tokyo Game Show. It wasn’t just girlies they took away, it was the spectacle of it.

A once hot hype machine reduced to a cold turkey that used to serve as a launching pad for so many developers now just foldout table with coffee and doughnuts. Something tells me the massive hit the gaming industry took last year has convinced the E3 overlords to possibly bring back some fun to the event. To bring back every bit of promotion back to the gaming biz and forget these foolish notions of professionalism. Integrity’s overrated anyway.