Previews

J K Rowling? Magic? Spell casting? Hogwarts? All accessible via PlayStation Move? If visiting GAME then, expect Wonderbook: Book of Spells to suddenly fly off the shelf and right into the hands of your children through the power of their pestering alone...

Before Rowling got all grown-up and wrote Casual Vacancy, she consulted and wrote for this spellbinding attempt to bring the magic of Hogwarts into your living room. Using the PlayStation Eye and Move peripherals, you'll flick on your PlayStation 3 and quicker than you can say "J K Rowling is worth 560 million quid", you'll be learning 20 of Harry Potter's most beloved spells, while goggling at the game's augmented reality which sees you projected slap bang into the middle of the action.

Most importantly, the package comes with the Wonderbook, a book-like peripheral with turnable pages. Boot up the game and this humble device clutched in your hands turns into a dusty tome onscreen, its pages now ancient parchment while your Move controller transforms into a spindly and quite frankly awesome-looking wand; and as for how you look in-game, well, you look like you always do. Sorry but there's only so much technology can do.

The core gameplay is the spell learning and casting but you won't have to learn phrases of gobbledegook; just move your, erm, Move to match the onscreen prompts. And abracadabra, you'll soon be casting legendary Harry Potter spells such as Incendio, Expelliarmus and Canihavesomecontactlenses!

As you traverse through the book's many chapters, you'll come across freshly minted copy from the world's most successful author, fight duels with wizards, help baby dragons, head to famous locations and generally be left gobsmacked by the onscreen action. Indeed, Wonderbook: Book of Spells represents something of a milestone for Potter fans; a literally hands-on experience that looks and feels truly magical to kids. So SONY, please consider your hourglass filled to the brim with House Points. You swots.