Form 8-K for ELECTRONIC ARTS INC. [Yahoo, via Variety]

Or they'll just sit on it and move on to the next one. One of those.

EA and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Confirm Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Video Game to Ship with Film in Summer 09

Harry Potter Video Game is THE Place for Fans to Live the Thrills, Action and Excitement of Harry Potter Next Summer

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:ERTS) and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today confirmed that the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince™ video game will be released globally Summer 2009, alongside the Warner Bros. Pictures’ film based on J.K. Rowling’s sixth Harry Potter book.

“We’re excited about the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince video game in development and its high level of authenticity and playability,” said Robert Nashak, Vice President EA Casual Studios. “We are creating an immersive game experience that Potter fans around the world will really enjoy playing as they fly and duel their way through the story of the film. The game will feature new Wii gestures and increased gameplay capabilities across all of the platforms.”

“The Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince game will be an excellent interactive extension of the film and all of the new action that comes with it,” said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “EA is creating the Harry Potter video games that fans will love, and this game will deliver new gameplay elements and the magic players are looking forward to.”

“We have enjoyed a wonderful partnership with EA in collaborating on the videogames for all of the Harry Potter films,” said Harry Potter film Producer David Heyman. “The visual look of the game for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is incredibly authentic to the film and will provide a truly compelling experience for everyone who plays.”

In the game of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, players will return to Hogwarts to help Harry survive a fraught sixth year. They will also have a chance to engage in exciting wizard duels, mix and brew magical ingredients in Potions class and take to the air to lead the Gryffindor Quidditch team to victory. Players may even get sidetracked by Ron’s romantic entanglements as they journey towards a dramatic climax and discover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince.

Developed by EA’s Bright Light Studio, the team behind the worldwide success of the Harry Potter library of games including the most recent game released in the summer of 2007, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is scheduled for release Summer 2009 for the Wii™, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, Nintendo DS™, Windows PC, Macintosh and mobile devices.

So what did I expect from Half-Blood Prince on the Wii? Certainly not all the fun I had.

The events demoed at EA’s Showcase were Potions class, Quidditch and Dueling. Before we got to try the game ourselves, we got to watch two cute EA kids go at it in Dueling. They shook the Remotes and mashed the A buttons and bobbed and weaved their heads in time with the motions on screen. Harry dodges Malfoy’s Stupify, Malfoy gets off a freezing spell that knocks Harry off his feet. Back and forth went the magic spells until Malfoy ran out of health icons and the Duel ended with Harry winning best two out of three.

I got spanked at it when I tried it myself, but I was pleased that the controls handled pretty well. Dodging was what I did most, mashing A while moving the control stick in the direction I wanted to go. I was really getting killed until Executive Producer Jonathan Bunney finally bailed me out by showing me how to block, which also reflects spells. I redeemed myself in Potions – but that’s easy to do with such simple controls. The cauldron already has a potion in it and your job is to follow the instructions icons that hover to the right of it. Fan the mixture by moving the Wii Remote and Nunchuk up and down until it turns the right color. The control vibrates in your hand when you’ve nailed the right shade. Point at an ingredient and hold A to pick it up and hold it over the cauldron; tilt your wrist to pour it in.

“The controls are very smooth,” said Mr. Bunney. “We don’t want to break anybody’s wrists.”

I completed the potion and got an A ranking, stepping back to let someone else go at it in Quidditch. Playing as Harry means you’ve got to play as the Seeker and find the Snitch – but there was a hint that you could unlock other characters to play (probably just for the Dueling, though). To win at Quidditch, you’ve got to fly after the Snitch, going through star-shaped hoops to gain speed bonuses as you hurtle along. Like the Potion and Dueling controls, Quidditch looked pretty smooth – with no frantic flailing or extreme flicking to get the on-screen action to occur.

While that was going on, Bunney informed me that this Harry Potter game was built around the Wii instead of the PS2 (like the last one). The Wii Remote looks like a wand, so it was a logical choice; and now that they’ve got the technology of the Wii down, things are looking a lot better for the Potter series.

Let’s hope it works out well for the other consoles.

I had it demoed for me by executive producer Jonathan Bunney and producer Justin Manning, and it came down to a fight.

Actually, the first part of the demo let me try out the potion-mixing minigame; you've got a bubbling cauldron and a desk full of ingredients like little vials, bottles, leeches and caterpillars, and symbol-based instructions for each step of the potion-making scroll up in a little wheel to the screen's right. A potion-making sim was a first for me, and I exploded the thing a few times, but it was mostly pretty fun, especially when you can tilt the Wii remote to spill a beaker's contents into the cauldron and then make a stirring motion to whirl it up until the color changes. It's all timed and ranks your precision, which was pretty fun.

Then, Bunney and I went at it with a Wii remote wand duel. He was playing Draco Malfoy and I was Harry. We faced off at either end of a long room, and you hold up the Wii remote to charge your wand for a powerful attack (leaving you undefended), or simply shake the remote in your opponent's direction to fire off a series of quick bursts.

You use the Nunchuk to move side to side, and swinging both Wii remote and Nunchuk across your body causes you to produce a deflection shield that can send your opponent's projectiles right back at him. Shaking both produces a special attack that can knock your opponent down or stun him.

I refuse to believe that Mr. Bunney politely allowed me to win, and instead, I'll tell anyone who will listen that I beat the game's EP in a wand duel.

In the game, which is aiming for a release to coincide with the movie hitting later this year, Harry returns to Hogwarts for a sixth year. The game will include wizard duels, potion brewing and Quidditch play.

The game hits the DS, Mac, mobile devices, PC, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation Portable, Wii and Xbox 360. What no iPhone? Come on!

EA AND WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCE HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE VIDEO GAME
Fans will relive the thrills, action and excitement of the movie this holiday season

Guildford, U.K. – April 22nd, 2008 – EA’s Casual Entertainment Label and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announced that the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince™ video game will be released later this year to coincide with the Warner Bros. Pictures film based on J.K. Rowling’s sixth Harry Potter book.

“We believe that the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince video game represents a milestone in the movie tie-in genre,” said Harvey Elliott, Head of EA Bright Light studio in the UK where the Harry Potter franchise has its home. “Building on the technological advancements of previous games in the series and with a particular focus on the unique control system of Nintendo’s WiiTM, the team here is working closely with the filmmakers to create an immersive interactive experience that captures the story, the action, the excitement and, above all, the fun of the film. ”

“Working with EA, we look forward to offering fans a compelling Harry Potter video game, one which captures the thrilling storyline and high visual quality of the movie,” said Scott Johnson, Vice President, Business Development for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “The adherence to the rich fiction is a trademark of this franchise and with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince fans will experience the most authentic and enjoyable game in the series to date.”

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn't counted on Romilda Vane’s chocolates! And then there’s Hermione, simmering with jealously but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

In the game of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, players will return to Hogwarts to help Harry survive a fraught sixth year. They will also have a chance to engage in exciting wizard duels, mix and brew magical ingredients in Potions class and take to the air to lead the Gryffindor Quidditch team to victory. Players may even get sidetracked by Ron’s romantic entanglements as they journey towards a dramatic climax and discover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince.

Under development by EA Bright Light Studio, the team behind the worldwide success of the Harry Potter library of games, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is scheduled for release in time for the movie launch this fall for the Wii, PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360™, PlayStation®2, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), Nintendo DS, Windows PC, Macintosh and mobile devices.