Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix In 2007 // UPDATE

Shame on EA for missing out a whole year withough milking another Harry Potter game in 2006! That's right, we're off the hook this time, after five years of non-stop pottering. But the book-to-film-to-game series will be reborn in July 2007, when Electronic Arts plans to release Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The game was just announced today for all next generation consoles, and then some: Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PSP, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, PC - they're all going to receive this new Harry Potter game, currently in development at EA's UK Studio (the same one that handled the previous titles in the franchise).

The release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is set to coincide with the premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures' film based on J.K. Rowling's fifth book of the same title, all the while marking the series' debut on next-gen consoles. In it, players will be able to explore the many key locations within Hogwarts in minute detail, each one a visual match to its film equivalent, while being engrossed in the thrilling adventures outlined in the rich narrative of the book. Or so they say...

"In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry returns for his fifth year of study at Hogwarts and discovers that much of the wizarding community is in denial about the teenager's recent encounter with the evil Lord Voldemort, preferring to turn a blind eye to the news that Voldemort has returned. Fearing that Hogwarts' venerable Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is lying about Voldemort's return in order to undermine his power and take his job, the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, appoints a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to keep watch over Dumbledore and the Hogwarts students. But Professor Dolores Umbridge's Ministry-approved course of defensive magic leaves the young wizards woefully unprepared to defend themselves against the dark forces threatening them and the entire wizarding community, so at the prompting of his friends Hermione and Ron, Harry takes matters into his own hands. Meeting secretly with a small group of students who name themselves "Dumbledore's Army", Harry teaches them how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts, preparing the courageous young wizards for the extraordinary battle that lies ahead."

You will of course get to play multiple characters in this latest installment, including Harry Potter, Dumbledore and Sirius Black, and experience "one of the most exciting and dangerous years in the life of the Boy Who Lived". But let's face it: aside from the next-gen graphics on the PS3 and Xbox 360, their single best shot at making a great Harry Potter game (for once) is to work miracles with the wand in the Wii version.

UPDATE: And here are the first screenshots. [22.11.2006, 15:42]

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)