Ok, lots to cover this morning, so let's get right to it. About a month ago I opened up the Ghostbusters: The Video Game Information Archive page. Since then I have made lots of unannounced updates to it. In fact, you'll find a big new one right now as I have vastly updated practically all aspects of the page. You'll find a few new links in the info box at the top (on the Buy The Game and Additional Resources lines), lots of new links in the Images sections (check out the awesome IGN Gallery), and everything in the News section from November 16, 2007 to the present/bottom of the page has either been overhauled or newly added.

Although I probably won't be making any more updates to it until 2008, as I have to spend the next few weeks working on something else (possibly offline), rest assured that there will be lots to add over the coming year. That'll probably be the most updated page on the site for quite a while. So keep checking that page every now and then because unless I add a lot at once (which would certainly warrant a mention in this journal), you never know when I'll add something new to the page.

And if you'd like to pre-order the game, Amazon.com has begun accepting them. Here are the relevant links: DS, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360.

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VH-1, the former music channel that now specializes in wacky tacky has-been celebrity reality crap and occasional nostalgia trips (sometimes in the same program) has a new show coming out next month: Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. Set to debut January 10 at 10 p.m., the series hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky, will follow the progress of nine celebrities over the course of eight one-hour episodes as they undergo intense treatment at a Southern California treatment facility for a variety of addictions, then have the option of residing in a sober-living community for a few months. According to TV.com one of the nine celebrities is Jaimee Foxworth, former Family Matters star-turned-porn star (briefly). In case you don't know Jaimee's connection to Ghostbusters, she was one of the Kiddie Funk Singers (think children's chorus) on the song "Movie Star" that appeared on The Real Ghostbusters soundtrack and an episode or two of the series.

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Recently I have come across a few really cool multimedia items hidden around the internet that I plan to eventually add to my site. Since that won't happen any time really soon, and since the holidays are upon us, I thought I'd give all of you a present and give you the links now.

Paper Proton Pack Template
Yes it's exactly what it says. Created by "MMPR-TheGreenRanger" (The Paper Prop Maker), this is a 100% printed Proton Pack in the style of The Real Ghostbusters blue life-size proton pack toy! You can download the 1.5 Mb file which contains 11 PNG files and 1 Instructions TXT file, though if you don't like the blue toy look, you can view and download additional black templates on Page 2 of this message board thread. There are some photos of the final product there too.

Ghostbusters: Legion Issues 1-4 (Regular Covers)
If you missed out on buying the set when they first came out three years ago, and you're sick and tired of waiting for the non-existent hardcover edition; or you just want to have a readable copy on your computer so you can keep your printed copies in mint condition, then you'll love what I found. Someone actually scanned in every page of all four issues and compiled them into nice, neat files - then zipped them up into one 67 Megabyte file. Inside are four .CBR files (one for each issue). You can either rename the extension of the first four to RAR and the last one to ZIP, then extract all of the JPG images inside each one and view them with your favorite image viewer. Or, you can extract them as is and use this program to view them. Since this program is only for Windows, and I do not know if there are ones for Macintosh and Linux, you might have to resort to the rename and extract method if you use a non-Windows system.

Xentrix - Ghostbusters EP/Record
Chances are you've heard Xentrix's awesome cover of Ray Parker Jr.'s hit song, even if you didn't know it. Well, now you can download the entire album that it came from, complete with large cover art, in a 14 Megabyte file (RAR Password = slimer). Of course the album only has three songs (it's more of a single than a full-fledged album), and personally I didn't care for the other two, but it's worth a download just for the Ghostbusters tune and cover art as this is the best quality copy I've ever heard - just based on specs alone: 192 Kbps bitrate, 44100 Hz sample rate, Joint Stereo. The track listing and individual file sizes are as follows:
1. Ghostbusters (2:48) (3.86 MB)
2. Nobody's Perfect (3:48) (5.22 MB)
3. Interrogate (3:14) (4.45 MB)

Ghostbusters & On Our Own Music Videos
You're probably thinking that you've seen these before, but you've never seen them like this - specifically Ghostbusters. This large 76.4 Mb file contains two Near-DVD-quality AVI files (encoded from DVD-ripped VOBs according to the source I copied the url and data from) that may be the cleanest, clearest, and highest-quality copies of both videos in existence online! Both videos are free of station logos and other such crap, with only brief text in the lower left corner at the start and end giving the song title, artist name, record label, and "Promo Only" information. This is comparable to MTV back in the 1980s before they started stationbugging. In fact, the only problem - and sadly it's a BIG one - is that the Ghostbusters music video does not contain the original audio track with the celebrity shout-outs. If we can get the original music video audio track in crystal-clear stereo, we can match it up to this video and have a perfect copy. Here are the spec for each file, in case you like technical information:
Ghostbusters
   Video: XVID 640x480 29.97fps 1131Kbps.
   Audio: MPEG Audio Layer 3 48000Hz stereo 128Kbps.
On Our Own
   Video: XVID 640x480 29.97fps 1134Kbps.
   Audio: MPEG Audio Layer 3 48000Hz stereo 128Kbps.
I shoud note that I compared this new copy of On Our Own to that unaltered copy I found last year (which was backed-up by Rich over at GB International - I think he took it down temporarily). Although fantastic quality, that unaltered copy is slightly better in terms of the specs (see below). This new copy has sharper and brighter picture and clearer audio, but those aspects may have been artificially enhanced. So right now I'm keeping both copies in my collection.
Unaltered Copy Specs:
   Video: DivX 5 640x480 29.97fps 1808Kbps.
   Audio: MPEG Audio Layer 3 48000Hz stereo 224Kbps.

Michael The Turtle - Ghostbusters Music Video
Another old music video that I found an ever better quality copy of. This 35.2 Mb MPG video file has the following specs:
Video: MPEG1 Video 720x480 (329:240) 29.97fps 1700Kbps.
Audio: MPEG Audio 44100Hz stereo 224Kbps.

Universal Studios Florida: The Magic Of Movies (1991)
This 60 minute promotional video hosted by actor John Forsythe shows all of the various attractions at Universal Studios Florida in 1991, one of which is Ghostbusters of course. YouTube user ETAndElliot was kind enough to upload the entire video, albeit in 9 parts (file sizes range from 14 to 23 Mb each), for everyone to enjoy.
Part 1: Streaming / Download
Part 2: Streaming / Download
Part 3: Streaming / Download
Part 4: Streaming / Download
Part 5: Streaming / Download
Part 6: Streaming / Download
Part 7: Streaming / Download
Part 8: Streaming / Download
Part 9: Streaming / Download
(when downloading, save the files with a .flv extension)

Ghostbusters Deleted Scenes & Alternate Footage
No, sadly there's nothing here that the die-hards haven't already seen a million times over, but since I don't have any video files of these on my site (only audio files), and some of these are fairly high-quality (the non-YouTube links, natch), these are still worth a look - if not also worth a place in your digital collection.
-- Nobel Prize (laserdisc exclusive) (1.0 Mb): Streaming / Download
-- Did We Do It (1.0 Mb) (from the DVD): Streaming / Download
-- Ghostbusters Alternate Footage Collection (12.5 Mb)
Six avi files inside: Pure Fun, Funny Face, Oh No, Keymaster, Wally Wick, Stuff.