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Games
- Video Games
By
Marsha Walton
CNN Science and Technology
LOS
ANGELES, California (CNN) -- It's a school millions of youngsters
will be thrilled to enroll in this fall: "Hogwart's School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry." But will Harry Potter, the
video game hold a candle to the incredible success of the
books about this young magician-in-training?
Electronic
Arts has no doubts the rollout of "Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone" this November will be huge.
"I
think this is a phenomenon that is really still peaking,"
said Erik Whiteford, director of marketing for EA Games.
"Kids
and adults everywhere around the world are still enraptured.
So I don't think we're overhyping at all," he said from
the "castle" of the company's exhibit at the Electronic
Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.
But
game publishers and developers at this "show of shows"
for the video game industry know there is no magic potion
for a successful title.
"You
have many games that are movie tie-ins or book tie-ins that
historically have not done well because you haven't been able
to translate what was good about the book, what was positive
about the book, into an entertainment environment," said
Chris Taylor, who covers the industry for Time Magazine. The
Mario Brothers characters, "Street Fighter," and "Wing
Commander", while huge in the game world, did not do as
well as hoped at the box office.
There's
been tremendous secrecy surrounding development of the Potter
game from EA studios in Seattle and London. A couple of details
the company will confirm: no matter how much players stumble
over a spell or mangle a magic potion while they're playing,
they cannot "kill" 11-year old Harry. That contrast
to the carnage of so many other video games is due in large
part to the intense involvement of Potter author J.K. Rowling,
who must approve all aspects of the game.
"She's
given us a lot of feedback to ensure authenticity, to make
sure that we're representing her vision of the Harry Potter
universe in the video game world," said EA's Whiteford.
More than 43 million Harry Potter books are in print worldwide,
according to NPD Group and Scholastic Magazine. And the adventures
of this young sorcerer are credited with sparking a huge interest
in reading that crosses both age and gender lines. You could
almost hear parents, teachers, and librarians cheering about
that phenomenon. But will the game take away from the page turning?
Not
likely, said some of the hundreds who tried out a demo of
the game at E-3. It's designed so the player "becomes"
Harry at the Hogwart's School.
One
software company president who says he's read all the Potter
books said the EA developers have nailed the Potter spirit:
"I think the image I had in my head from the book --
they've captured it."
"Just
like Harry you have to learn your way around," said EA's
David Lee. "You have to go to classes, learn spells,
and interact with evil counterparts," he added as he
showed off one of Harry's first broomstick flying lessons
through the Forbidden Forest.
The
Potter game will first release for Game Boy Color, Game Boy
Advance, Sony PlayStation, and the PC. In fall of 2002 it
will be available for PlayStation 2, the Gamecube, and the
Xbox.
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