I have been a fan of Ghostbusters even since I saw the first movie on TV. I must have seen it over 30 times and it’s still one of my top favorites. I was overjoyed when I heard that they are soon going to be releasing a game based on a new storyline written by Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis, the original writers and actors of the movies. I hope that they pull it off and make an interesting game out of this. Here is a sneak peak:

I have always been what I refer to as a “bargain gamer”. While I love playing games, I am not willing to pay the full price to get them when they first come out. I am also not one to always try to keep my PC up-to-date to be able to play the latest and greatest of game titles.

This approach is paying off right now since I just got myself a new mid-range computer for home and am now looking at all of the titles that I’ve missed over the past four years. The first thing that I did was to pull out a few games that I had bought as part of a collection but had never even played (yes, kind of lame, I know!), namely:

• Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, a wicked remake of the classic action puzzler that got my hooked immediately.

and Splinter Cell

I have also been looking at the Best PC Games Compilations from the past few years and am currently looking at getting the following titles to augment my game collection:

• Orange Box: A collection of Half-Life 2, HL2 Episode 1, HL2 Episode 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. Since I have never even played or seen Half-Life 2, let alone all the other titles, this should be hours of fun.

• Company of Heroes: I’ve always loved RTS games and this one seems to be quite amazing from everything I’ve read. I have also tried out the demo version and am already hooked.

• Sam & Max: Season 1: Another type of game that I have also been fond of is adventure games (Full Throttle, Syberia). The return of Sam & Max in an episodic format seems like it would be a lot of run to play through.

You can click on any image to see a higher resolution version of them.

If you can think of any other memorable game titles that you’ve played in the last 3-4 years that you think that I should check out, just leave a comment or drop me an e-mail.

After talking about some cool adventure games that will be released this year yesterday, I wanted to mention that the Action-RPG front is also looking promising on the Nintendo DS for this year, starting with the release of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - Ring of Fates. This new title is a continuation of the GameCube title that is really more action-based than RPG based. You basically control your character in a 3D environment and fight monsters in real time instead of a turn-based mode. After reading a hands-on preview on IGN, I think that this will definitely be a title to get this year.

I have always been a big fan of adventure games on the PC. Titles such as Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango were just amazing games to play through with their creative content, great graphics, and funny situations.

The adventure game dies off a bit for a number of years and then came back more recently with titles like Syberia and Runaway. Both of the companies producing these games have recognized that the Nintendo DS, with its two screens and stylus, is a perfect platform to play adventure games. So, in 2008, we will see at least 3 great adventure games on the DS.

• Last King of Africa: A DS version of Benoit Sokal’s Paradise
• Sinking Island: A DS version of the Benoit Sokal game with the same title
• Runaway: The Dream of the turtle, available April 1st, a DS version of the second game from spanish company Pendulo Studios

I’m going to have fun this year with my DS

I stopped my Best Buy two days ago and got to try the new Nintendo DS Lite that I have been about a few times on the site already. The new unit is everything that they advertised. It is smaller, fits better in the hands, and has two amazing screens with very strong backlights. With these characteristics and its internal rechargeable, the DS Lite is looking like a very nice upgrade from my first-generation GameBoy Advance with no backlight and standard batteries. Since it plays all GBA games, it would be perfect.

However, I’ll sit back and wait some more before making a move. I first want to see if prices will go down before Christmas or if they bundle the system with a game (the new Super Mario Bros. would be awesome). I also want to see if they release new colors such as the cool-looking black version that has been released in the UK. If prices don’t go down by Christmas, then they will probably do so in the month or two following the holiday which would be right in time for my birthday. So, let’s wait and see

When the Nintendo DS (Dual-screen) came out with its first games, my first thought was that it was very bulky and would only have 3D Games that I don’t like that much. However, a few factors are changing my mind.

• A new version of the DS is coming in a month or two that will be better looking, thinner, lighter and have brighter screensgame
• A lot of new upcoming games are going to mix classic 2D playing style with 3D graphics.

Here are a couple of screenshots of the new Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. and Final Fantasy III over which I have been drooling for a few days.

For a while, everyone was saying that season 8 of Stargate SG-1 was going to be the last one. However, I just learned today that both SG-1 and its spin-off series Stargate:Atlantis have been renewed for next year. Personnally, I have gotten much more attached to Atlantis since I have seen all episodes as opposed to SG-1 where I’ve not even seen a quarter. The beginning of Atlantis was a bit slow but the second half of the season was explosive and the characters keep getting more attaching.

As well, I just saw that a video game is being made set in the Stargate universe. It is a first-person game (probably a shooter) and will be called Stargate SG-1: The Alliance.

After creating the excellent games L’Amerzone, Syberia 1 and 2 for Microïds, Benoît Sokal has created his own video game production company called White Birds Productions with two colleagues. Their first project is a new adventure game called The Lost Paradise. The game play seems similar to Syberia, with lush pre-rendered 3-D backgrounds and nicely animated 3-D characters with a point-and-click interface. There is no release date set for this project yet. For the beginning of the new year, a series of wallpaper calendars have been posted on their web site on the news page. These are really nice renders with sketches of the characters and locations of the game. A nice way to decorate your desktop.

Back in February 2003, I mentioned that an original Zelda game was being developed for the Game Boy Advance. Well, this game is not getting very close to its January 10th 2005 release date. The Minish cap will find Link on a new adventure trying to help the Minish, a race of tiny people. The game is being developer by Capcom and released by Nintendo. This will be a fun game to play after the multiple Zelda remakes that were released on the GBA.

Syberia II, the sequel to the amazing 2002 adventure game, has gone gold and will be released in stores on March 24th. I can’t wait to try it out.