Nintendo Wii Fanboy

The final release of Harry Potter, one of the most widespread, wonderful literary series ever written, is coming to a close come July 21st. We'd like to take a moment and salute J. K. Rowling for reintroducing the better part of a world to the joys of reading, because hey, if no one read, we'd be out of our jobs. Pick up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as soon as you can, guys. Trust us.

Harry Potter and the Japanese Hardware Sales

"Harry," said Ron, slightly out of breath, "Snape'll go nutters if we're late again. Remember what he did to Neville?"

"Yeah," replied Harry, throwing himself down a shifting staircase and sprinting through the corridors. Snape had used a particularly nasty hex on the frequently tardy Neville, turning his hands into N-Gages. Harry allowed himself a momentary shudder.

They rounded a corner and began the descent into Snape's dungeon of a classroom, Harry's least favorite place at Hogwarts. Even disregarding his immense dislike of Severus Snape, Harry had never had much of a knack for Potions; it was always his lowest grade of the term.

Suddenly, Ron stopped dead ahead of him. Harry slammed into his back, nearly toppling the two down the hard, stone stairs.

No, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is not really going to feature murder and robbery. That's just a bit of fun sensationalism from your responsible journalist friends at Wii Fanboy.

We're really invoking the GTA name because EA UK's new game is going to feature the sandbox-style gameplay made famous by Rockstar's series. Mission triggers will be hidden all over, and you are free to explore and take on side missions. This means that you'll potentially have more choice to explore Hogwarts and the surrounding areas than Harry Potter ever did, as he seems to get railroaded from situation to situation without any choice at all. Uh, not that we ever read ... or saw ... any Harry Potter stuff. Oh, never mind-- we're all about children's books. That's right.

Also, one of the most obvious Wiimote uses ever has been implemented: Wiimote as wand. Wiimote gestures will allow you to cast spells and manipulate levitated objects. No word on any microphone stuff, though.

It's all a bit hushed and secretive, but reports out of GDC say that the new Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix game will use the upcoming Wii microphone attachment in some fashion-- the most obvious use we've heard is incanting spells. People are under non-disclosure agreements about some aspect of this game, but not the microphone.

People are getting really excited about the Wii mic, it seems. Excited enough to forget that Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban covered the mic thing back on the PS2. This one will just be better anyway.

We're just glad the Wii mic is getting use outside of licensed Disney karaoke games. It's covering the whole range of licensed games!

[Via digg]

EA has announced a new Harry Potter game based on the upcoming movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The movie, which is based on J.K Rowling's fifth book, has Harry returning to Hogwart's only to be questioned about his previous year's encounter with Lord Voldemort. With the wizarding community questioning that Lord Voldemort has returned, as well as the Minister of Magic doubting Dumbledore, it's all up to Harry to set things straight.

In coming to the Wii, what should we expect? More than likely, mini-game scenarios where the player will use the Wiimote as a wand (maybe zapping bats coming at you?). Nothing specific has been said regarding the Wii version of the game, so it's all speculative right now, but we will update you as news develops.