Ghostbusters on the Chopping Block?

Hey everyone out there in Gamerland. I’m Wizard Staff Writer Steve Sunu and I’m the newest contributor to Slash Played. Unfortunately, my first post contains some rather sad tidings.

Nobody more than Wizard has been excited about the upcoming Ghostbusters video game, and it’s beginning to look like it may not even see the light of day. Publisher Activision purchased Vivendi, the publishing studio set to release Ghostbusters, and has since released a list of titles that will be released from Vivendi’s project list. Ghostbusters is not among the titles on that list. Don’t despair, though. There is still hope that Ghostbusters will get published, it may just be a matter of time. Until then, we’re keeping our fingers crossed to join the Ghostbusters crew on another adventure.

-Steve

Column: What E3 means

Another E3 has come and gone. The sense of impending obscurity hung heavy this year and in the usual deafening media roar that surrounded the event there could be heard a yawn. If you’re looking for further summarization I recommended this take.

But among the mostly minor announcements come one that stung me right to the core. Square’s long-promised RPG epic, “Final Fantasy XIII” will no longer be home only to the Playstation 3. Yes, initially touted as something that would display the raw graphical power of the PS3 and proof that no other console could match its cell-powered processing might, the game apparently can also run on Microsoft’s little upstart.

A grim day to be a fanboy, indeed.

I wouldn’t consider myself as such, and I understand that development costs sometimes require cross-platforming. Still, the sense of betrayal is palatable. I like(ed) Sony because their product has treated me well in the past, the “Final Fantasy” series in particular. Like many my age, “Final Fantasy VII” introduced me into the world of RPGs. Its success primed US audiences for the genre, bringing other adventures of swords and sorcery to our shores. In that sense, I felt a certain amount of pride in upholding Square’s tradition and believing in the platform they chose. Now, well, I just feel like (warning: overwrought simile ahead) I’ve been playing the game with the controller upside down.

But more than betrayal, there is also an overwhelming surge of pity. Poor, poor Sony. Through the whole bloody slog that has been the console war thus far, the company has been riding on what it will, eventually, offer. At the outset, they had a proven track record that led many (including me) to believe they were “good for it.”

However, the game library lacked any standout titles. “Liar” took down the touted six-axis controls with its clumsy performance. The marketing campaign was so misguided as to fail completely (the firm responsible later given the boot). In the midst of this meltdown, “Halo 3” emerged with a roar and the Wii found a comfortable place in people’s living rooms.

All along, consumers were assured of the blockbuster, exclusive games sure to come down the pipeline, along with the eventual promise of a robust online service with Home. “Final Fantasy XIII” stood out chief among these titles. While its exclusivity on the PS3 influenced me somewhat, I don’t directly suffer from the fact that it will now be available on both consoles. I can still buy and play the game. So can 360 owners.

And therein, as Shakespeare would say, lies the rub. The people who have lost the most are not the consumers, but the executives at Sony HQ. Their mantra that they could deliver a unique, graphically superior product just lost one of its keynotes. What do they have left, Home? Gamers prize quickness and ease in joining online matches; Home just seems like it will transform that space between into MySpace.

Sony’s failures, such as they are, are well documented at this point. In this console war, they went in unilaterally, armed with the wrong weapons and briefed with bad intelligence. The real message from this year’s E3 has nothing to do with Sony as such, but rather signals the last call for first-party exclusives.

The day when one exclusive franchise would corral consumers is over. There’s no money in it anymore.

(Bonus: This long interview from 1up.com contains Sony’s Vice President Scott Rohde toeing the party line. Scroll down about halfway to see Rohde completely deny that “Final Fantasy XIII” was in any way important to the Playstation 3 or crucial to the company’s overall strategy. Just be careful to not get dizzy from all that spin.)

-Frank Johnson

A Long Wait and the Long Awaited

Last week, I mentioned that I felt a sense of relief from the red-hot anticipation that has been plaguing me since the trio of next-gen consoles was released. I also predicted that the lull would not last, and, damn, sometimes I hate to be right. This Saturday at an event in Paris, Blizzard decided it wasn’t enough to have people frothing at the mouth for “Starcraft II” and announced the release of hell-bent action RPG “Diablo III.” Since then, the story has been the dominant talk around the ‘net, along with a long-awaited but apparently buggy PS3 patch. Let’s take each in turn shall we…

Item #1: Just for the Hell of it

In some respects, I guess it’s good to know that the people at Blizzard are using all the phat lootz from “World of Warcraft” for more than just lighting cigars and are actually making more games. Last Saturday Blizzard held its Worldwide Invitational event in Paris, which included competitions, “Wrath of the Lich King” info and a 20-minute gameplay video of *gasp!* “Diablo III.” Don’t even ask when the game’s coming out yet, don’t even begin to guess, estimate or speculate. You will only make your life miserable ‘cause this is Blizzard, a company about as notorious for its tendency to push back release dates as it is for the quality of its games.

I found the gameplay video quite appealing but others did not. As with “Starcraft II,” some fans feel the colorful high fantasy feel of “Warcraft” is seeping into Blizzard’s other franchises. Those disgruntled claim D3 is not keeping with the series dark, satanic tradition. In my view, the problem with this opinion is that it exaggerates on both sides. The originals were hardly horror games (a la Silent Hill) and the footage shown in Paris isn’t exactly Disney. If you really think the game would be better if it was simply less bright, than turn down the gamma on your screen. Moreover, the violence that typifies the series seems still in place, enemies die in bursts of gore and the giant boss at the video’s end rips someone’s head off. Hardly sounds like it’s getting watered down to me.

The graphics engine used to render it looked lush, fluid and detailed, particularly the backgrounds in the outdoor area. The Havocs-adapted physics added even more satisfaction to cutting down a swath of enemies. Still, if you disagree with me you can always be lame and go sign this petition.

Item #2: PS3 Firmware starts, stops and then gets pulled

Speaking of things promised and then long delayed, Sony also took the spotlight this week as it announced that it would finally implement in-game access to the XMB and an Achievements-esque Trophy system with its latest firmware update. While, I downloaded the update, installed it and found everything working as promised, many others begin to experience significant problems, so much so that the patch has now been pulled and is unavailable.

It begin when PS3 users started reporting a variety of problems, large and small, after installing the update. The most egregious of these causes the start-up screen to stall and effectively bricks the system, with the only solution being a hard drive reformat. Sony has stated they are aware of the issues and are currently working to fix the problems as soon as possible, etc.

On top of that, there have been a variety of conflicting reports concerning the availability of Trophies. Initially, some sources reported that Sony was pushing developers to make Trophies available for previously released games, overriding an earlier statement that only a few games would be retro-fitted in such a way. However, almost as soon as this story started popping up online, Sony come forward and denied ever promising such a thing.

Between the bugged release and the poor message management, what should have been a milestone week for the company has become an unsightly mess. Still wondering why Sony is in third place behind Microsoft and the unstoppable Wii?

-Frank Johnson