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Harry Potter Gets Azkaban Game, Stone Brickbats

Posted by simoniker on from the overexposed-schoolboy dept.

Thanks to TotalVideoGames for its article revealing EA's announcement of the Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban game adaptation, due some time in 2004 and giving fans "the first chance to play as friends Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, along with Harry Potter, switching between characters and utilising their key attributes and skills to resolve challenges." An interview with the game's producer over at IGN Cube further reveals players "will also get the opportunity to control Hedwig and to fly Buckbeak, the Hippogriff", and this internally-developed EA title will hopefully work better than the recent Warthog-developed Sorceror's Stone adaptation, of which 1UP commented it was "a mystery why anyone would want such an imaginative world filtered through trappings as bad as these", and IGN PS2 lamented was "strangely nowhere as compelling or refined as Chamber of Secrets."

9 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. Movie ports... by indros13 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    ...always bring up the following question for me:

    Are there any good ones, for PC or otherwise?

    In my, admittedly limited, experience with games based on movies, they all too often really suck. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that we're paying money to simply interact with on-screen characters as opposed to having a creative and innovative plot and interface. The Star Wars franchise, for example, seems to be so focused on porting every movie and book story to video game that they don't bother with the kind of inventiveness and follow-through that mark pure video games, such as Wolfenstein, Warcraft, or Simcity.

    Anyone else have similar experiences with movie ports? Were either of the first two Harry Potter games any good?

    --
    Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
    1. Re:Movie ports... by musikit · · Score: 4, Informative

      you know when i went to gdconf i attended a session on building video games off of movie/tv IP and the person who ran the show often complained that the company they purchased the IP from was always cutting ideas/game concepts/money/time from the video game in the interest in getting it to market before the IP wasn't "interesting" to people anymore.

      i only say this because often the game maker wants to actually make a cool and interesting game but is cut off by the publisher or IP owner. as far as movie/tv related games go rent them from blockbuster if they suck you wasted $5 if they're cool go out and buy them.

    2. Re:Movie ports... by molafson · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Are there any good ones, for PC or otherwise?

      People seemed to like GoldenEye for the N64.

    3. Re:Movie ports... by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64 was probably the best game ever published for that system.

      Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a very good RPG based in the Star Wars universe (but not on any specific movie.)

      Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force (and Elite Force II) are very well-done Star Trek games. (TV, not movies, close enough.) They even had the cast of the show do the voices.

      So yes, they do exist.

      --
      Comment of the year
  2. The Slashdot favorite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    We're waiting for the "Order of the Phoenix" game, where we Slashdotters can play the fat smelly house-elf who grumps about everything. It's hardly a stretch at all.

  3. Swapping characters... by mrpuffypants · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...reminds me of the old Day of the Tentacle game where you could swap between characters as the game progressed. I'll assume that the only difference between Maniac Mansion/DotT will be that they were great and the Potter games...well...will suck for sute :(

  4. Um... by Decaffeinated+Jedi · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "the first chance to play as friends Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, along with Harry Potter, switching between characters and utilising their key attributes and skills to resolve challenges."
    So, uh, what are Ron's special skills again? ;)
    --
    DecafJedi
    my weblog: apropos of something
    1. Re:Um... by JFMulder · · Score: 3, Funny

      He's really good at wizard chess. And he has freckles. That's about it.

  5. Re:What's a mystery? by Gothic_Walrus · · Score: 3, Interesting
    If you're really looking for a Potter RPG, try the Game Boy Color (not Advance) Sorcerer's Stone / Chamber of Secrets games.

    They're relatively simple RPGs, but they are RPGs. Leveling up, item collecting, fighting battles against random rats...it's all there.

    I know that's not quite what you want, but it's your best option as of now.

    --
    Goo goo g'joob.