Harvey Elliott: On Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

If the video game hypes are to be believed, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, DS and PlayStation Portable will be “the most immersive” game of the series yet. To give proof to this claim, Electronic Arts‘ (EA) Harvey Elliot – the game’s executive producer – recently graced the IGN news room with an interview. Here’s a rundown of what he revealed:

For starters, a lot of people are wondering how faithful the game will be to its source material. Elliot has thankfully assured fans that the game will be completely accurate with regards to the movie. He spoke about the effort they have made along with the difficulties involved in pulling this off:

Because such a large part of the movie is set in Hogwarts, we have gone to extreme lengths to recreate the locations from the movie in the game – perhaps more than any movie game ever. It started with us working with the movie team to construct a 3D virtual Hogwarts – getting their blue prints of the movie sets, going to the exterior locations with tape measurers and high-end digital cameras, and reviewing how these locations have been translated into the movies, poring over every detail.

In keeping with the movie, he noted that they have also been constantly rechecking the movie sets and productions. This was done so that they could “ensure that [they] captured the elements in every room, courtyard and corridor.”

The full article awaits after the jump!

If the video game hypes are to be believed, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, DS and PlayStation Portable will be “the most immersive” game of the series yet. To give proof to this claim, Electronic Arts‘ (EA) Harvey Elliot – the game’s executive producer – recently graced the IGN news room with an interview. Here’s a rundown of what he revealed:

For starters, a lot of people are wondering how faithful the game will be to its source material. Elliot has thankfully assured fans that the game will be completely accurate with regards to the movie. He spoke about the effort they have made along with the difficulties involved in pulling this off:

Because such a large part of the movie is set in Hogwarts, we have gone to extreme lengths to recreate the locations from the movie in the game – perhaps more than any movie game ever. It started with us working with the movie team to construct a 3D virtual Hogwarts – getting their blue prints of the movie sets, going to the exterior locations with tape measurers and high-end digital cameras, and reviewing how these locations have been translated into the movies, poring over every detail.

In keeping with the movie, he noted that they have also been constantly rechecking the movie sets and productions. This was done so that they could “ensure that [they] captured the elements in every room, courtyard and corridor.”

One other thing they tackled was their representation of Hogwarts in the game. Elliot gave some details on their creation of an open world, something akin to Bully or Grand Theft Auto but without any loading screens:

Making it an open world was a huge task, but one the team have met incredibly well. We set the bar very, very high: to create an open world game that looks better than traditional linear games, and build it in a way that the player never has to pause for a load screen, and we don’t change the architecture of movie Hogwarts just to make it easier for ourselves.

So far, the work they have put into the game is paying off. Elliot described the reaction of people who have tried the game:

I’ve seen so many people pick up the controller in the Great Hall, run up the Grand Staircase, pick a door (or secret passageway) to run through and two hours later they’re still astonished that they’re finding new rooms, new courtyards, new professors and students to talk to and of course, more secrets to discover. They just get blown away by the scale of the castle.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is slated to be also released for PS2, DS, GBA, and PC. Judging from what Harvey Elliot has been saying, fans of either the movie or book will not be disappointed with this newest addition to the Harry Potter line of games.

Via IGN