Finally, Harry Potter fans have something akin to an MMORPG. I have been waiting for this to happen for years. It is a work in progress, yes, but as it continues to grow, and more spaces are released, we may even have a fully-fledged Hogwarts one day. What spaces are available now? And what exactly…
While I didn’t have quite the same reaction as Fili and Kili from Happy Hobbit, I did have to pick my jaw up from the floor. Let’s not kid ourselves. New Zealand scenery is breathtaking. Any excuse to see more of it is a good excuse. The Hobbit cinematographers deserve every cent they get, especially…
On the heels of the successful Wonderbook: Book of Spells, we have Wonderbook: Book of Potions. Like Book of Spells, this video game exclusively for Sony PlayStation 3 (the same Sony that brings us Pottermore) uses the Wonderbook to give us, the would-be wizards-in-training, as authentic an experience as possible, compared with reading an actual Book of…
In honor of the 15th anniversary of the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States, Scholastic is releasing new artwork for the paperback editions of the entire series. They are designed by award-winning illustrator Kazu Kibuishi and will be released in September 2013. Each new cover has been revealed live…
When Pottermore was first announced, J. K. Rowling made fairly clear that this interactive experiment was of her own design. It was her brainchild. It was not about money, because, apart from the ebooks and audiobooks in the Pottermore Shop, there was no money to be made from Pottermore. Membership is entirely free. There is…
In preparation for the imminent release of the first few chapters of Prisoner of Azkaban, the Pottermore Insider has been asking its readers to guess what they can see in the tea leaves (from Divination classes taught by Professor Trelawny). The latest picture (above) is much clearer than the first one, and in it, I…
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released in three installments on Pottermore: chapters 1-4, chapters 5-11, and chapters 12-18. I really only enjoy Pottermore for two reasons: the new content from J. K. Rowling and the really awesome artwork for each moment of each chapter. All the other interactivity really falls flat on…
A title worthy of this film. As we tread on sticky floors in a noisy theater towards empty seats, our minds are filled with expectations. Sometimes our expectations are met, sometimes they are surpassed, and sometimes we are met with the entirely unexpected. When I found my seat, my own mind was expecting a journey…
Normally I only write reviews after movies or games have already been released and I have had a chance to see them or play them. I am going to break from tradition for a moment and provide some speculation. Earlier today while writing a review about a video game, I visited James Hannigan’s website to do…
Lord of the Rings Online is a massive and very complex computer game. Knowing my own preferences with video games, which tend to lean towards playing simple and easy games, why then do I like this one? Let me break down which parts I love and which parts I do not. Storyline: Lord of the Rings…