Harry Potter gets Half-Blooded movie tie-in

Like a string of handkerchiefs pulled from a magician's sleeve, Electronic Arts has produced a seemingly never-ending line of Harry Potter games and spin-offs on virtually every possible platform. Beyond the games based on the blockbuster movies, EA has also released Quidditch World Cup--a fantasy sports game based on a competition that played a significant part in the Potter books--and a variety of mobile phone games like Find Scabbers and Mastering Magic. There was even a massively multiplayer online Harry Potter game planned at one point.

In keeping with tradition, EA today announced that it will be bringing out a full line of games based on the upcoming film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Timed to coincide with the film's November release, the games will arrive on the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, PC, Mac, and mobile phones.

EA's UK-based Bright Light studio is handling development on the game and looking to improve on previous installments of the series "with a particular focus on the unique control system of Nintendo's Wii," according to the publisher. In addition to the expected wizard duels, players will be able to create magical elixirs in a potion-creating class, as well as hop aboard a broomstick to take part in quidditch matches.

While the novel is the sixth of seven installments in J.K. Rowling's wildly popular series of books, Half-Blood Prince is the sixth of eight Potter films. Faced with the prospect of tying up all the series' loose ends in one film (and with seeing the hugely successful series come to a close), Warner Bros. Pictures has decided to split the final book in the series--Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows--into two different films, set for release in November 2010 and May 2011.