Wizards in training will love Electronic Arts' 3-D adventure, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Instead of creating a standard video game with levels, developer EA UK used blueprints from all of the movies to recreate Hogwarts, capturing every minute detail and allowing gamers to explore at their leisure. In addition, it licensed the music as well as hired most of the cast to voice their characters, delivering an authentic and enjoyable experience.
A former lead designer at EA Bright Light has revealed that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was supposed to compete with Gears of War as "it was quickly established that this was the visual quality we had to beat".
It's safe to say that Harry didn't enjoy the same success on the video game scene as Marcus Fenix, but we'll give him good marks for trying.
Movie tie-in video games are generally made much too quickly, since they need to come out simultaneously with the movie. The result is short, shoddy games. So the developers of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince game lucked out when the movie's release date was pushed back eight months. Those eight months gave developers a chance to make something that comes very close to being a good game."
If you want to turn your lady friend into a gaming fan, here's some advice from Xbox Live community manager Christa Phillips: Don't be a jerk.
Sounds obvious enough, but the statement earned knowing laughs and enthusiastic applause from the standing-room-only crowd gathered for the "How to Get Your Girlfriend Into Gaming" panel at the Penny Arcade gaming convention in Seattle recently.
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