Who you going to play? "Ghostbusters" back as game

NEW YORK  – It's been 25 years since the Ghostbusters first saved Manhattan from the giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Now, they're back in virtual form and talking about a third movie.

Actors Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson stepped into the recording studio to breathe life into their virtual characters for a new "Ghostbusters" game from Atari, which will be released June 16.

The setting is New York around 1991, two years after the events of the second movie in the series, "Ghostbusters II."

Players step into the role of a replacement prototype equipment technician and work with the Ghostbusters to resolve strange paranormal happenings that unfold just before the Museum of Natural History opens its "World of Gozer" exhibit.

Aykroyd and Ramis, who co-wrote the 1984 and 1989 films, worked with developer Terminal Reality to create the adventure, which both actors consider a third film in virtual form.

The game writers prepared the story line and the actors gave them feedback to make sure the dialogue was realistic for their characters.

They also checked out the new ghost-busting technologies introduced in the game, such as a beam for immobilizing ghosts and a slime launcher upgrade for the trustworthy proton pack.

"I was always taught ... to respect the writer, and I think we respect the programmers and engineers in this trade as creative people, which tends to result in the best product," said Aykroyd, who has championed the game through multiple publishers.

Sierra Games, a division of Vivendi, originally was slated to release the game last year, but after Activision purchased the company it passed on releasing "Ghostbusters" as well as "Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena."

Atari, however, stepped in and picked up both titles. Atari is owned by French game published Infogames.

POSSIBLE THIRD MOVIE

Todd Slepian, a producer for "Ghostbusters: The Videogame" at Atari, said the additional time gave the teams the opportunity to get the actors back in the studio for more dialogue.