HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

Platform: Nintendo Wii
Format: PAL - This software is only compatible with the Nintendo Wii computer entertainment systems displaying the PAL logo
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Recommended Age: PG

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry returns for his fifth year of study at Hogwarts and discovers that much of the wizarding community is in denial about the teenager’s recent encounter with the evil Lord Voldemort, preferring to turn a blind eye to the news that Voldemort has returned. Fearing that Hogwarts’ venerable Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is lying about Voldemort’s return in order to undermine his power and take his job, the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, appoints a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher to keep watch over Dumbledore and the Hogwarts students. But Professor Dolores Umbridge’s Ministry-approved course of defensive magic leaves the young wizards woefully unprepared to defend themselves against the dark forces threatening them and the entire wizarding community, so at the prompting of his friends Hermione and Ron, Harry takes matters into his own hands. Meeting secretly with a small group of students who name themselves "Dumbledore’s Army," Harry teaches them how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts, preparing the courageous young wizards for the extraordinary battle that lies ahead.
With the ability to play multiple characters, including Harry Potter, Dumbledore and Sirius Black, the videogame of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix offers fans the opportunity to wield a wand, explore all around Hogwarts, and experience one of the most exciting and dangerous years in the life of the Boy Who Lived.

Games Hardware

Nintendo Gameboy Information

As the most successful console in gaming history, many of the stories regarding the Gameboy have passed into legend. Like the story of the senior designer, who got sacked for 'not' inventing the Gameboy for Sony. Created by gaming god, Gunpei Yokoi, and released in late 1989, the Gameboy was actually the second in a new generation of handheld consoles. In comparison, Atari's lynx was packed with power and with its full colour screen most industry watchers thought this battle would be over before it started. Enter a poor soviet computer engineer and his game Tetris, and Nintendo's black and white technological throw-back turned into a cultural phenomenon. Three generations later, the Gameboy has sold over 200 Million units, that's nearly four each for every man woman and child in the UK.

Thankfully this time around it didn't take Nintendo ten years to listen to their customers. In 2003 the GBA SP was released, adding a completely back-lit screen and novel fold up design. The public reaction was huge, and again the Gameboy's sales surged onwards.

Finally in 2005 Nintendo gave us the Gameboy Micro, a tiny pocket sized version of the SP, which despite its must-have looks, is the worst selling Gameboy variation to date. The Nintendo DS has now taken the Gameboy's baton and run with it, and still maintains GBA compatibility.

Over the years there have been many ingenious adaptors and add-ons for the Gameboy. Barcode readers were one of the first innovations, then the Gameboy Camera and printer which allowed you to photograph friends and make silly stickers with the results. In more recent times, Nintendo have encouraged us to use the Gameboy advance as a Gamecube controller, but only a couple of games used the facility to any great effect.

Compatibility has been the key to the Gameboy's longevity. You can still play original Gameboy games on the Gameboy advance, and the huge diversity of software released for the format is astounding. Strangely though, and in sharp contrast to Nintendo's current DS policy, software for the Gameboy had a very short shelf life. Nintendo's own titles tended to do most of the business, leaving thousands of Gameboy games available in the shops for only a few short weeks. With this in mind, i'm certain that the Gameboy will become one of the biggest areas of Nintendo collecting in the future.