Thanks to Atari for picking up the Ghostbuster franchise, 2 new screens were leaked to the press.

While many of us thought Ghostbusters: The Video game was lost due to the release of Activision-Blizzard, Atari saw the potential. It seems that many developers only invest in games that have sequel potential ie. Guitar Hero etc. Coming to PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, DS and PS2 in 2009, the release will coincide with the Ghostbusters movie’s 25th Anniversary.

“Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a fantastic addition to Atari’s global line-up in 2009,” said company president Phil Harrison in a prepared statement today. “The title has built considerable anticipation and excitement among game fans.”

written by Juan Perez \\ tags: 25th Anniversary, Anticipation, Atari, Blizzard, Company President, Developers, excitement, franchise, Game Fans, Ghostbusters, Global Line, Guitar-Hero, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Phil Harrison, Prepared Statement, sequel, Sony PS2, video-game, Xbox

Games On Fire

Love it or hate it, Madden NFL 09 has been another crushing success for the EA franchise. Perhaps that’s because there’s no competition whatsoever, but we could sit here and speculate all day.  According to VG Chartz, the current #1, #2 and #3  American top-selling game is Madden 09.

Does this surprise anyone?  I’d hope not.  The Madden franchise will continue to dominate the market each year until they have some kind of competition.  With the current deal they have with the NFL, I wonder if the day of competition will ever come…

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: anyone, Chartz, competition, day, Fire, franchise, game, kind, love, Madden, market, NFL, success, surprise, year

Chad Lakkis of Ripten recently posted information on the Joker’s fatality move in the new Mortal Kombat vs. DC game. Lakkis mentions the creativity of the fatality, but I’m not all that impressed with what I saw. I loved Mortal Kombat back in the day, but really need to see something mind blowing if they want to suck me back into the franchise. So far, things just seem average. I will say that the fatality is creative yet predictable but better than what I expected.  I’m sure some people will complain about someone getting shot in the face in a “T” rated game, but it wasn’t that shocking to me.

Via Ripten

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: Chad, creativity, day, DC Fatality, fatality, franchise, game, information, Joker, Kombat, Lakkis, mind, Mortal, move, ripten, something, Suck

Regardless of what people might say, Banjo-Kazooie has been a good series that, while definitely inferior to the Mario franchise (but which isn’t?), showed off what a great developer Rare was. They’ve had their fair share of duds (i.e. Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo), but this year might be good for the British team.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is due November 18 to the tune of a surprisingly cheap $39.99. As an incentive for pre-ordering the game, buyers will get a code to download the original N64 Banjo-Kazooie two weeks prior to the release of the XBLA re-release…for free.

We kind of like the idea of getting free stuff when we pre-order games around here, especially when the full game is $20 cheaper than the bloated regular price of other titles.

You guys plan on taking Rare up on their pre-order offer? Here’s a video of what you can look forward to if you do:

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: Bolts, dark, developer, franchise, Friendly, game, isn, Kazooie, Mario, Nov, Nuts, Perfect, price, series, share, Zero

My interest in the Tomb Raider series has dwindled over the past few games, but Underworld might be enough to suck me back into the franchise. The following clip is the first official gameplay video. After watching the following video, I’m sure your interest will be peaked as well. Underworld promises to bring many new aspects to the franchise and that’s exactly what we needed.

Via Destructoid

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: clip, Destructoid, following, franchise, Gameplay, interest, Raider, series, Suck, Tomb, Underworld, Via, video

In the following video, John Madden talks about the history of the Madden franchise. One interesting comment towards the beginning is how it was their goal for the video game to look like the actual game on television and now the television guys want real football to look like the game. He also mentions how the game will either go up or down and how he believes they keep going up each season. Personally, I think Madden has been having some off years for the past 4-5 games, but it looks like they may have gotten it all together with 2009.

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: beginning, comment, football, franchise, game, goal, history, John Madden, Season, television, video

Was Brett Favre’s decision to return influenced by his Madden 2009 Cover Photo?

As you may already heard, Brett Favre is trying to make a comeback.  He currently has not reported to any camp yet, including his former team the Green bay Packers.  The couple of teams that have shown interest are the New York Jets and the Tampa Bay Bucs.  Since April 24th, when Brett was announced the new cover athlete for Madden 09, minor rumblings began about his return.  Could the video game football franchise have possibly influenced his return?  If he DOES play this upcoming year, I say it helped!  We have new screens of Madden 2009, and boy do they look good.  Here are some of the new features you can expect to see this year:

New Features

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written by Juan Perez \\ tags: ability, Brett, Brett Favre, Camera, carrier, Cover, Cover athlete, Favre, franchise, game, Gameplay, Madden, New York, New York Jets, Player, return, Style, system, Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay Bucs, year

Special three-pack includes fan favorites: Mortal Kombat: Deception®, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon® and Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks® for $29.99.

I’m not a fan of putting K’s where all my C’s go when it comes to Mortal Kombat, so you won’t see me do that here.  What you will see is a lot of pointless MK phrases being thrown around like beads at Mardi Gras.

So, “Get Over Here!” and read the description on what Mortal Kombat Kollection comes bundled with.  I’ve always like the word ‘bundled’.

Exclusively for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Mortal Kombat: Kollection features Mortal Kombat: Deception®, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon®, and Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks®. Packing more punch, fatalities and characters into one box than ever before, Mortal Kombat: Kollection is expected to be available this September for a U.S. MSRP of $29.99, just in time for players to refine their skills before the scheduled release of the highly anticipated Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe this holiday season.

About Mortal Kombat: Deception

Mortal Kombat: Deception takes martial arts-style fighting and the Mortal Kombat franchise to new heights with an innovative fighting system, unparalleled depth and brutally intense action that will appeal to long-time Mortal Kombat fans as well as current-generation gamers. The game features lightning-fast, hand-to-hand and special weapons combat; secret and returning characters; new moves and combinations with death-dealing battles, and all-new life-threatening environments.

About Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is an Action/Adventure title driven by intense single- and multi-player gameplay that is set in the period between the franchise’s original title, Mortal Kombat, and Mortal Kombat II. As in Mortal Kombat: Deception, background interactions e.g. acid pits, spiked ceilings, etc., multiple new fatalities, and action-based puzzles play an important role in the player’s quest for an “outstanding” victory as they maneuver through remodeled, classic Mortal Kombat environments. In franchise tradition, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks also features an impressive line-up of well-known characters that make frequent appearances as enemies, in boss battles and during several additional in-game interactions.

About Mortal Kombat: Armageddon

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is the latest chapter in the award-winning and Midway’s best-selling video game fighting franchise. With the most complete character roster ever, including every character from the Mortal Kombat fighting universe, revolutionary create-a-fighter and create-a-fatality modes, plus a brand-new Konquest mode, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is the most complete, intensely lethal, fighting experience ever!

written by Juan Perez \\ tags: action, Armageddon, character, DC Universe, Deception, fan, fighting, franchise, game, Kollection, Kombat, Midway, mk bundle, Monks, Mortal, mortal kombat bundle, mortal kombat kollection, Shaolin, system, title, U.S. MSRP

I was actually burnt out on Tomb Raider a long time ago, but ‘Underworld’ may be enough to bring me back to the franchise.  The above video is the latest “teaser” for the upcoming game.  If you are looking for something new in the series, they have certainly tried to add many new aspects to gameplay including environments that are more interactive and more intelligent than anything we’ve seen from past installments of Tomb Raider.  You’d think they’d run out of ideas by the time they got to the 8th game, but it looks like this fall, we’ll be enjoying a new Tomb Raider.

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: anything, fall, franchise, game, Gameplay, Raider, series, something, teaser, time, Tomb, Underworld, video

We expect an exciting press conference this Monday from Microsoft at E3. There are plenty of rumors out there, so we’ll try to only report the ones we feel are credible. The biggest rumor we expect is the announcement of Halo 4. Word on the street is that the game will NOT feature Master Chief as the main character. If this is true, it could possibly hurt the franchise. I just hope the lead character will be up to snuff.

Other things we expect:

• ‘Rock Band 2′ will be featured.
• ‘Dragon Age: Origins’ should be talked about.
• Microsoft will add some hype to ‘Dead Space’
• Perhaps we’ll hear something about Fable 2 having online co-op.
• Xbox 360 price cuts and new SKU!

With any E3, it’s hard to say exactly what will happen, but we’re fairly certain that at least a few of the things I mentioned above will take place.

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written by Will Snizek \\ tags: announcement, character, Chief, Conference, E3, franchise, game, Halo, master, Microsoft, Monday, NOT, press, Rock Band, Rumor, Street, word