Harry Potter heads to next-gen platforms

EA has announced that the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix video game will ship in July 2007, to coincide with the movie release.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is based on the film, which in turn is based on the fifth book in the Harry Potter series from J.K. Rowling. EA is promising a much more accurate recreation of the movie than has been possible with previous titles, with players able to explore the key locations within Hogwarts in minute detail.

The story sees Harry returning for his fifth year at Hogwarts, and he discovers that the wizarding community is in denial about his recent encounter with the evil Lord Voldemort. The school's wizards are unprepared to defend themselves against the dark forces threatening them, so Harry takes matters into his own hands and creates a secret group called Dumbledore's Army.

Details on the actual game are sparse, but expect it to follow events from the film, plus we're told that it will feature multiple playable characters, including Harry, Dumbledore and Sirius Black.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will ship in July 2007 for PlayStation 2, PSP, DS, GBA, Windows PC, and, for the first time in the series, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.