Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Update

Stronger, faster, bigger -- EA builds a better wizard.

You might recall that Electronic Arts released Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets last year to consoles. If your memory is super keen, you might also remember that they released Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on the Playstation. If Electronic Arts is on top of the Harry Potter ball, why are they creating a new game on an old storyline?

Quite simply, they wanted to release the Sorcerer's Stone on current systems. Fortunately, this is an entirely new venture that is only connected to the Playstation via common source material. EA has improved upon the Chamber of Secrets engine to create a better Harry Potter game.

The requisite new levels and challenges (including an all new final showdown with Voldemort) keep the already explored Hogwarts School fresh and exciting. Also, the developer, Warthog Games, has borrowed artwork from Eurocom Entertainment so that Hogwarts will look familiar -- but larger. Warthog has expanded all of Hogwarts' areas, giving the school the size and scope you thought it should have.

Inquisitive players now have larger areas to explore because all those locked doors in Secrets are magically unlocked -- and searching every nook and cranny will reward players with collectible cards (101 in all) and wizard chests. Mixing up the new, but standard, spell challenges (which usually require Harry to figure out how to get from A to B), EA has incorporated potions into this Potter adventure. Harry will occasionally have to collect various ingredients to concoct powerful magic to aid puzzle solving. Night and day will also come into play in Sorcerer's Stone, because some puzzles can only be completed at night (like collecting nocturnal herbs for potions).

The build of Sorcerer's Stone shown off at the IGN offices today is coming along quite nicely. Environments are larger and more detailed. Especially impressive was the grand hall which featured ornate stained glass, revolving staircase, a myriad of animated paintings, detailed carvings, and beautiful mosaic floor. Gameplay is faster. They've included more things like new puzzles, rooms, and cut scenes that help illustrate the story in ways only videogame animations can. The horrendous load times between rooms in Chamber of Secrets have been replaced by seamless loading to keep the Potter in you immersed in the experience. While there was slight slowdown in this build, Electronic Arts is hard at work tweaking the game engine before its release at the end of November.

The Sorcerer's Stone is well on track to delight Harry Potter fans -- get ready to get your wizard-thang on this Thanksgiving and stay tuned to IGN for more Harry Potter news.

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