I’ve posted more of our videos from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter celebrations. This time we have Warwick Davis conducting the Hogwarts Chorus to Something Wicked this way Comes. There’s John Williams conducting the Orlando Philharmonic Symphony. The cast show up in the Knight Bus and the Ford Anglia to help open up Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with some magic and a lot of fireworks! We also have more of the interviews from the press conference with the cast. Check back tomorrow for videos and photos from the public grand opening of the Wizarding World!
Don’t forget to check out the rest of our videos on our YouTube channel here!
UPDATE: Here are the rest of my videos, including the Public Grand Opening with Dan, Rupert, Phelps Twins, Tom, Bonnie, Matt, and more! I’ve also added the rest of my photos. Check them out starting here!
We’ve got our promised review for you of the LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 game. Our correspondent, Justin Milgate, had the chance to test the game last week. Now mind you, HP fans, I know how to play some games, but I felt it would be better that someone who’s a true gamer and who knows nearly everything about Harry Potter would be better than me at reviewing the game.
There’s also some new interviews with the game’s producers, Loz Doyle and Arthur Parsons. They talk about the different characters in the game, how you can use them, Quidditch, flying lessons, Hagrid’s Hut, the troll attack, and Voldemort with the unicorn.
First off, our review:
June 25 marks the release of the long awaited 7th installment in LEGO’s movie-to-game adaption series, Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4. The developers at Travellers tales gave the game a realistic feel with its smooth scenery in and around the grounds of the school of witchcraft and wizardry. Harry Potter fans will be happy to hear that the music comes straight from the original movie soundtrack. Like the previous LEGO installments, LEGO has kept true to their formula with squeaks instead of voice acting and has also maintained their style of a platforming adventure game with RPG elements; such as, the ability to learn and cast new spells and make them stronger throughout the game in order to advance further through the storyline. Xbox 360 and PS3 owners will be glad to know that they will have the option to play online with a friend via Xbox Live and PSN (Playstation Network). There are over 100 characters to unlock, including fan favorites: Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Hagrid, Neville Longbottom, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black. The unlockable characters add a complexity to the game that will make it highly replayable. If you were concerned about it being too short, no worries; 3 hours of gameplay will not even get you through the first year at Hogwarts. Characters have their own specific talents according to their written personalities; for example, Harry is the best broomstick flyer and Ron can use scabbers to get into small crevices to collect items and/or assist in solving puzzles.
If there’s one thing I’d like to see in the future edition(s) of the game is the use of the Wii Speak. Wii Speak would give players the chance to actually say the spells along with using the Wiimote.
Whether you are a serious gamer or a novice who simply enjoys a little break from the summer sun, the simplistic controls and humorous cut scenes will be sure to entertain.
Here’s the videos:
You can pre-order the regular editions of LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 on the different platforms at our Amazon store at the following links:
We told you last week that J.K. Rowling would be reading from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone from the White House as part of their annual Easter Egg Roll event.
UPDATE: She read from the portion of the book when Harry and Hagrid are at Ollivander’s and Harry is getting his wand.
She answered a few questions as well. Here are some of them:
Why did fireworks shoot out of the wand? It’s a sign that the wand matches with the person. The wand matching the person is an important feature of the books
Do you think the movie producers did a good job with the motives? Yes, I do. They have to cut somewhere, but on the whole I think they did really great. The actors are very like how I imagined them.
Why did you decide to write about witches and wizards? Like a wand, I felt like it chose me; I had the idea very suddenly. I’ve always been interested in folklore. It was exciting to write something like this.
How did you get the idea? I was on a train traveling from the North of England to London and it just came to me. The idea was that a boy got a letter from a wizard school and he didn’t know he was a wizard.
What is your favorite Harry Potter book? My favorite book is the 7th. But the first has a very important place in my heart.
How doe Harry Potter get his lightening scar? When he was a very young an evil wizard tried to kill Harry but it didn’t work. This makes him very famous and no one knows why he survived.
Why did he survive? That’s the best question, but I can’t really answer it without giving away the end of the books.
How do you make up the characters? They develop as you write them. You may have to go back, because they might change as you write.
Who is your favorite character? It’s impossible to choose. If I set aside Harry, Ron, and Hermione, I’d choose Dumbledore. He’s the character I miss the most. I also love Snape. I wouldn’t like to meet him but I really like him.
Warner Bros have provided fansites with a video and loads of new photos from the LEGO Harry Potter Years 1 - 4 game. The photos are specifically from years 1 - 2 (Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets). They include some great screen shots of Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, Platform 9 3/4, the Troll, Hermione, Dumbledore, Harry, Ron, Draco, and much more. Check out the many new photos in our gallery beginning here. And here’s the video (thanks to MN):
Thanks much to WB for these awesome photos and video!
IGN have posted an article that is a first look at the LEGO Harry Potter Years 1 - 4 video game. The article gives many kudos to the game, stating it’s slick and colorful. The writer, Greg Miller, also stated the game feels more like a traditional game than any of the LEGO games he’s played before.
…you’re going to play through the events of Harry’s first four years at Hogwarts, covering the events of Sorcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, and Goblet of Fire. As you do, you’re going to mature just like the young wizard. You’ll need to go to classes to learn spells, those spells will get more and more powerful as you keep studying, and you’ll gain access to otherwise inaccessible parts of Hogwarts as the years go by.
Basically, you’re playing Harry’s life… but it’s all told via LEGO blocks.
The article also includes six new screen shots from the game and a new trailer. You can see the screen shots in our gallery beginning here.
Warner Bros Online have posted five new videos from the Ultimate Editions of Harry Potter and theSorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets. They include interviews with director Chris Columbus, Dan talks about his reaction to Alan Rickman’s acting, Emma Watson reading from Philosopher’s Stone and reflecting that young Hermione was seriously like herself, and the last is one we’ve seen before with Chris Columbus again talking about casting. The last is an interview with Dan who talks about the first time he met Richard Harris (Dumbledore in the first two films).
The first footage of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is now online. It comes from the ET Canada interview we told you about yesterday. The footage is only four seconds long but gives us a quick glimpse at the film. Check it out!
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I will be in theatres on November 19, 2010, and Part II will be released on July 15, 2011.
UPDATE: More footage from Deathly Hallows! This time we get to see many scenes, including the trio running Griphook, the cottage, Sirius, the graveyard, forest scenes, and more! See it below:
UPDATE 2: We now have the entire trailer and more scenes from Deathly Hallows. The video shows dancing scenes, fight scenes, and more.
More videos are online, some of which will be included with the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince DVD, and one that will be included with the Ultimate Editions of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone or Chamber of Secrets.
The Half-Blood Prince videos are hosted by Matt Lewis (Neville Longbottom) and Alfie Enoch (Dean Thomas). They include stunt training with Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), editing with Dan Radcliffe (Harry), one minute drills with the Potter cast, and art with Bonnie Wright.
The video from the Ultimate Edition set shows David Heyman during a press conference in 2000 in which he reads a letter from J.K. Rowing expressing how please she is with the actors who were cast for the parts of Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
There are also two extremely hilarious videos that are a Part 1 and Part 2 of Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) asking some rather invasive (not really) questions of his fellow Potter actors. Enjoy!
Those in the US can pre-order their DVD or Blu-Ray on Amazon (release date December 8th) here:
Pre-order the Ultimate Edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone set on DVD here and Blu-Ray here, and the Ultimate Edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets set on DVD here and Blu-Ray here.
We previously told you that collector’s editions of the Harry Potter films would be released. Warner Bros have now released a few clips from the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone collector’s edition. They include some behind-the-scenes clips of the cast, including Dan Radcliffe, Sean Biggerstaff (Oliver Wood), interviews with director Chris Columbus, producer David Heyman, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. You can see one of the clips on WB’s website here and here is the other (thanks to SS):
I’ve posted more of our videos from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter celebrations. This time we have Warwick Davis conducting the Hogwarts Chorus to Something Wicked this way Comes. There’s John Williams conducting the Orlando Philharmonic Symphony. The cast show up in the Knight Bus and the Ford Anglia to help open up Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with some magic and a lot of fireworks! We also have more of the interviews from the press conference with the cast. Check back tomorrow for videos and photos from the public grand opening of the Wizarding World!
Don’t forget to check out the rest of our videos on our YouTube channel here!
UPDATE: Here are the rest of my videos, including the Public Grand Opening with Dan, Rupert, Phelps Twins, Tom, Bonnie, Matt, and more! I’ve also added the rest of my photos. Check them out starting here!