Harry Potter
Latest
Rumor: Lego Harry Potter in the works
We don't think we're being too controversial when we say that Harry Potter has never been at the center of a high-quality game. It would make sense then that, according to a CVG report, The Boy Who Lived could be brickitized for a Lego adventure à la Batman and Indiana Jones. Heck, something has to work eventually, right?No further details were reported by CVG, but we imagine you can probably fill in the blanks yourself. Here's hoping the boy wizard works better in game form when he's two inches tall.
Blu-ray releases on November 11th 2008
Just when we thought there wasn't another comic book movie this holiday season until The Dark Knight, along comes Hellboy, which we somehow forgot about. It's available both in regular and extra geeky, the latter will set you back another $20, but while both include a digital copy, only the Collector's Edition includes a scary looking figurine and we're not sure what else. Also this week, Weinstein has the made for TV movie about the NASCAR legend, Dale Earnhardt, which is sure to be a popular stocking stuffer for Blu-ray NASCAR fans -- not sure how many of those there are. Star Wars fans can look forward to the animated feature Star Wars: The Clone Wars, while WW2 junkies can can relive Band of Brothers for the first time on Blu-ray. That isn't the only TV show series this week though, as Warner has both the first season of Chuck and the third season of Supernatural. And finally, Fox offers up the first, and regrettably, the only season of Firefly. Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Universal) Hellboy II: The Golden Army Collector's Edition (Universal) 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story (Weinstein) Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Warner) Band of Brothers (HBO) Chuck: The Complete First Season (Warner) Supernatural: The Complete Third Season (Warner) JFK (Warner) Firefly: The complete series (Fox) Harry Potter Years 1-5 Giftset (Warner) This Christmas (Sony)
Latest Harry Potter game pushed back to coincide with movie, will cost EA $120 million
The new video game based on the movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, won't be meeting the public this year and is instead set to play in your living room and on the big screen at your local theater during the summer of 2009. This could be a good thing for fans, as it will give developers plenty of time to add some polish to the title. And from what we've already heard, some things were shaping up nicely, so we're extra excited that the game will get some more TLC before it hits retail shelves everywhere.But, as good as this sounds to us (more time spent creating a game makes for a better game), it's not all peaches and creme for EA. The company projected that the game would bring in $120 million within its 2008 fiscal forecast. With the game being bumped back to 2009, it looks like EA will be relying on your future Boom Blox money a bit more.%Gallery-27617%Source - Harry Potter game gets delayedSource - Delay will cost EA quite a bit of money[Via Joystiq]
Harry Potter delay cost EA $120m this year
Profitus Reducto! In an SEC filing yesterday, Electronic Arts revealed exactly how much stock it put in the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince game, which was delayed until Summer 2009 alongside the movie (both were originally slated for November 2008): The publishing giant was expecting the Boy Wizard to pull in $120 million in revenue for this fiscal year. The filing offers no indication as to its new fiscal forecast for this year nor how much it now plans to profit from the game in its new release window of next Summer. As to the latter, we're guessing oodles of monies is still a proper metric.[Via Edge]
Next Harry Potter game pushed back to coincide with film
Much like taking a swim with a block of concrete tied to your feet, developing a video game that's inseparably linked to an impending blockbuster film can often lead to less than satisfactory results. Not only do creators face the challenge of converting two hours of overproduced non-interactivity into a considerably more engaging experience, they have to do it within a time limit that's much more conducive to synergy than quality. So, here comes your silver lining, Harry Potter fans.EA has confirmed that the delay of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince applies to the coinciding video game as well, leading us to imagine the developers reveling in the gift of several more calendar pages, raining down upon them like confetti. "We're excited about the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince video game in development and its high level of authenticity and playability," says EA Casual Studios vice president Robert Nashak. A high level of playability? Boy, they really are going all out with this one.Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which, much like every other movie in the franchise is sure to be the darkest one yet, is out in Summer 2009.
Analyst: Potter movie delay could push back release of EA's game
Fans of J.K. Rowling's uber-successful series of wizardly novels received some heartbreaking news Friday -- the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been delayed from its initial release date of November 21, 2008 to a distant July 17, 2009. Electronic Arts has yet to announce how this major delay will affect the release window of their similarly titled video game adaptation of the film/book, though many gaming industry analysts, such as Signal Hill's Todd Greenwald, are predicting that EA will follow suit, with hopes that the film will whip up a Half-Blood frenzy that will boost sales of the game.The repercussions of a Potter game delay could be bad for Electronic Arts, as both their holiday profits and fiscal 2009 revenue could take a hit without the title -- however, it could mean good news for those waiting on a truly stellar Harry Potter video game. Greenwald claims the title is "pretty much done and ready", meaning a delay would give EA an extra eight months to perfect the movie tie-in. We'll let you know what EA decides to do once they make an official statement.
E308: Half-Blood Prince goodies obliviate memories of the previous Harry Potter
We're absolute suckers. We'll be the first ones to admit it. After Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was, well, pretty terrible, we thought we'd shy away from the next game in the series. License-based drivel isn't exactly our favorite genre of video game, after all. Seeing video action (and screens) of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, though, is just too much for fans like us to ignore. Especially since the books are over and done with (sniff sniff), we have to find something longer than a movie to hold onto the magic.What say you? Are we complete fools, or are you hoping for some improvements in Half-Blood Prince as well? (On second thought, maybe you shouldn't answer that one.) %Gallery-27617%
E308: EA: If it's in the game, it's in these galleries
During their E3 press conference, EA released assets for a bunch of upcoming games. We showed the new SimAnimals earlier today -- these are the assets from the games we already knew about. More Sim stuff of a sort (SimCity Creator), more animal-related stuff (the utterly terrifying Littlest Pet Shop), and ... other stuff. We've posted the gallery of the nice-looking MySims Kingdom below. Wait, why does the medieval MySims game have rocket rides? After the break, you can find the rest of the galleries, including Pet Shop, Creator, FaceBreaker KO Party, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It's at least an excuse to break out old EA slogans.%Gallery-22830%
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the debut trailer
We would love to get excited for the upcoming video game adaptation of the sixth installment in J.K. Rowling's wildly successful series of books -- unfortunately, our ambitions of striding through Hogwarts' hallowed halls have been sullied by previous lackluster Harry Potter titles from Electronic Arts. To make sure Half Blood Prince is as faithful and entertaining as it can possibly be, we've written up a quick cheat sheet for the game's developers to inform them which elements from the source material should be included when the game hits store shelves in November. Epic wizard duels -- Awesome. Magical puzzles -- Entertaining. Exciting quidditch matches -- Compelling, if handled properly. Collecting "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans", "Chocolate Frogs", "Fizzing Whizbees", or any other form of magical confection -- About as enjoyable as catching a faceful of Avada Kedavra.
Harry Potter paves the way for bartending on the Wii
Who would ever think of Hogwarts as a glorified bartending school? Well, Jason Cipriano from MTV Multiplayer, for one. After getting his hands on the Wii's upcoming Harry Potter title, he was impressed with the potion-mixing minigame portion of the demo. The game works as you might imagine; simply enough, you tilt the Wiimote downward as if you were pouring liquids. The key is in applying the right amount of force to the motion, otherwise your potion might explode (making the new Potions teacher, Horace Slughorn, none too happy). There are some other motion-controlled mixing actions you have to perform as well, to keep the minigame from feeling too basic.Harry Potter aside, though, Cipriano points out that this type of liquid mixing gameplay could work well in a title like Cooking Mama, where Mama kicks back with a few G & Ts, or perhaps even an original bartending title. Imagine a game like Order Up!, only instead of pleasing customers in a restaurant, you had to serve your patrons drinks. We think we could dig it, though we're not sure Nintendo would be so keen. Then again, we are seeing a Beer Pong game come to WiiWare sometime in the future, so you never know.
The likelihood of a matured Harry Potter MMO
We can all agree that the concept of a Harry Potter MMO has probably been shopped around the gaming industry a few times by this point. This has of course lead to rumors of such a game being in development. Recently these rumors -- and they are just that for the time being -- have popped up again after Turbine received 40 million in funding from various sources, which included some links to the Harry Potter franchise.Being a topical blog, Mystic Worlds tossed its hat into the Harry Potter MMO ring, saying that the game may not be what some people are expecting -- if it's actually being made. The theory being that because the books are focused primarily on a younger audience the games will follow a similar path. If Turbine was to make a Harry Potter MMO chances are likely it would be a fairly straight-forward -- and well made -- adaptation that would be tailored towards a younger audience. It would be nice if the game was set after the original books and in a slightly more grown-up world, but somehow we doubt that's going to happen. Either way, we'll be playing such a game regardless -- it's just what we do.
Is the world of Harry Potter Turbine's next MMO project?
There has been a good deal of press lately about the $40 million in funding Turbine recently received. But what didn't get looked into deeply was who gave them that cash and why. If you follow the money, we think you'll find all roads lead to Hogwarts.Turbine is a privately held gaming company that specializes in launching and maintaining games from well-known brands, Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online, specifically. Time Warner is one of the new investment partners in this latest round of financing for Turbine. They also own Warner Bros. Studios which owns not only the film rights to The Lord of the Rings (and upcoming Hobbit prequel), but also holds the video game publishing rights to the Harry Potter franchise which also just happens to be the biggest movie franchise in box office history.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is summoned to the Wii
You probably won't be stupefied to know that EA announced the next video game in the Harry Potter series, based on the sixth novel by J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will come out later this year, so that it coincides with the movie's release.In case you are unfamiliar with the games, though, the series puts you in a GTA/Bully-esque sandbox-style world, only you're spending your time at Hogwarts and aren't issuing magical commands to give people wedgies (accio underpants!). When Order of the Phoenix was announced for the Wii way back when, Potterheads everywhere salivated over using the Wiimote as a wand. Upon playing the game, though, it turned out the controls weren't very well-executed. We're too jaded to get our hopes up again, but EA made mention of the company's focus on waggle this time around. If there's any license-based series that we want to like, it's this one, so hopefully EA can deliver.[Via press release]
Upcoming Harry Potter film gets games for all platforms
EA have announced that the next film in the Harry Potter series will be getting an army of new games to coincide with its release. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth book in the overarching Potter world will get games on all platforms; more interesting to PS Fanboys, the titles will be on the PS3 and PSP. Details on the Half-Blood Prince games were scarce; all that's really known right now is that they will follow the events of the upcoming movie. Speaking of which, the film is expected for a November 21, 2008 release. It follows that the games should be ready by November as well.[Via press release]
Brace yourself: EA is making Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Are you sitting down? Really? We don't mean that in the figurative internet sense, we mean it in the "please put your butt on a flat surface and brace yourself" sense. Ready? ... EA is making Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Don't worry, we'll give you a second to return your eyeballs to your head after they comically extend three inches from their sockets. Guess which systems it's coming out for. Did you guess everything from 360s and PS3s to microwave oven readouts and pocket watches? Then you're totally right. Did you suspect that the game would be released around the same time as the movie of the same name this November? Alright Professor Trelawney, where are you hiding that crystal ball?Our one hope, and we know that this won't happen, is for the games to evolve in their maturity level and tone just like the books grew progressively darker. But we'll probably just end up waving our Wiimotes around using magic to make Hagrid a sandwich or something.
Warner planning to release "book-like" Blu-ray sets for collectors
Now that all studios can focus their efforts on cranking out titles for a single format (well, almost), it's no surprise to hear that Warner is already planning a few special sets for the hordes of collectors out there. Early reports are suggesting that the aforementioned firm will debut a series of "book-like" Blu-ray packages on March 25th with the unveiling of Bonnie & Clyde. Apparently, at least nine other films will follow suit, offering movie buffs a "handsomely bound volume containing rare and never-before-seen archival material." As for exact titles, we're hearing that Dirty Harry, Woodstock, Gone with the Wind and North by Northwest could be among those chosen (no Matrix?), but Warner could re-release hits such as Blade Runner and certain Harry Potter selections as well. Interestingly, it seems as if HD DVD followers will also get the chance to indulge with the red release of Bonnie & Clyde, but there's been nothing said officially either way just yet.[Via The Leaky Cauldron, thanks Kellan]Read - Warner Plans Ten Blu-ray "Book" Releases for 2008Read - Warner to Bow "Ultimate" Dirty Harry
All the World's a Stage: Inspiration
All the World's a Stage is a source for roleplaying ideas, suggestions, and discussions. It is published every Sunday evening.You've probably heard that no story is completely original, that everything is copied from somewhere, and nothing anyone ever thinks or says is really unique. It's an awfully pessimistic way of looking at the creative endeavor, but there's a degree of truth in it.Any time you make up a new character, you are sure to be inspired by something you observed somewhere else. Perhaps you wondered, "What if there were a dwarven rogue, whose personality was a mix between Sherlock Holmes and Jack Sparrow?" or "My undead warrior is a lot like Frankenstein's monster, not evil so much as tragically neglected and rejected. He also likes to play with dolls." All this is fine and good for roleplaying, as long as you recognize the essential differences between your character and his or her inspirational anscestors. After all, every creative endeavor basically consists of mix-and-matching pre-existing knowledge in new and useful ways. In the same way a painter doesn't need to invent new colors, color palettes, or even new color matching techniques to make an beautiful, a storyteller doesn't need to create entirely new characteristics for each character in his or her story, only mix-and-match qualities real people already have in order to create someone compelling and interesting for other characters to interact with. Jump on in to find some great inspirations for WoW characters.
Bourne, Potter dominate sales charts
We knew sales of Universal's The Bourne Ultimatum and Warner's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix would be closely eyed, and sure enough, the web is ablaze with discussion surrounding initial reports. Reportedly, Potter topped the DVD sales charts for the week ending December 16, 2007, but 'round these parts, it's the high-definition iteration(s) that we're concerned with. Regrettably, it seems that the actual breakdown of HD DVD vs. Blu-ray sales on the latest installment of Potter has yet to be divulged, but we were told that Bourne outsold the wizard and his posse by a margin of "nearly 2-to-1" on HD DVD. Furthermore, Order of the Phoenix managed to slip in at number two on the Blu-ray charts, falling shy of leader Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Hopefully we'll hear a few more specifics on all of this soon enough.[Thanks, Ali]
Warner sets up hotline to replace Potter HD DVDs with Blu-ray Discs
If you were one of the many who received an HD DVD version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in your limited edition Blu-ray box set, take heart. Apparently, Warner Bros. has established a hotline for affected customers to call up, and when they're connected, they will be issued a single-disc BD edition of the aforementioned film. Reportedly, the studio will eventually mail out replacements that match the artwork on the other discs in the collection, but as of now, Warner has yet to release a statement on this either way. Ready to get yours? Phone up 1-800-553-6937 -- oh, and be kind to the uninvolved CSRs, will ya?[Thanks, domerdel]
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix giving Xbox 360 HD DVD players fits?
It seems a little early to tell if this issue is widespread, but judging from the amount of tips we've received to go along with the growing complaints on the 'net, we're starting to wonder if we do indeed have a problem. Apparently, the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix HD DVD has been problematic when used in the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on, with quirks ranging from lockups to an outright lack of playback. It has been suggested that the non-combo version actually plays fine while the HD DVD / DVD combo iteration presents problems, leaving some to wonder if it's a format issue rather than the title itself. So, what say ye? Anyone experiencing these difficulties? If so, have you found a workaround / solution?[Thanks, Winston E.]Read - AVSForumRead - Amazon complaint
