Mischief managed. Sony is often plagued by leaked information ahead of E3—the PSP Go, PlayStation Move, and any number of games—but it had at least one surprise in store for its E3 2012 presentation: Wonderbook.
A new peripheral used in conjunction with the PS Eye camera and the PlayStation Move motion controller, Wonderbook is an interactive storybook. At first blush, it looks like Sony has one more imaginative but toothless product on its hands, but its very first partnership makes Wonerbook something far more notable, and yes, a bit magical. The first announced title is Wonderbook: Book of Spells by J.K. Rowling, a brand new book written by the Harry Potter author set in that much-loved universe.
Book of Spells lets players literally practice like a Hogwarts student. With the book laid out in front of them, the pages are animated on your television and the Move controller appears like a wand in your hand. This being Harry Potter, the book is animated on the screen; a note written by an ex-student can be touched with your wand to reveal a paper dragon. Once the spells have been mastered, the game reveals mini-games inside Hogwarts for you to try them out and earn points for your house, whether it’s Gryffindor or Slytherin.
All the passages of text are written by Rowling herself and once a certain number of spells are mastered, narrative poems about old Hogwarts students are your reward.
Sony has in one fell swoop created a compelling reason for people to buy the PlayStation Move: New Harry Potter. The Sony E3 2012 conference did not detail whether the Wonderbook is an individual peripheral or if each book will be sold individually with new content downloaded to the PlayStation 3. This is the company’s killer app for Christmas though.
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