Release day for the latest Harry Potter film is fast approaching, and for those who simply cannot wait to experience another round of magical cinematic adventures, the tie-in game Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince makes its way to breathlessly anticipatory retail a full thirteen days beforehand.

From past experience we all know EA don't have much to worry about, since the sales charts will feel a Potter presence for weeks afterward, but despite the fact that they could be taking a little holiday, they've decided to share a few new Half-Blood Prince screenshots showing off the game's apparently impressive emotive capabilities.


Having implemented a new, more advanced facial animation system this time around, EA are hoping to make character's emotions realistic and true to the movie's actors. Stars of the film were signed up for voice work but also provided photos and body scans from which EA have been able to generate the most accurate models so far of the famous personages of Hogwarts. Fans of the series familiar with the tumultuous events of this installment of the seven-book series will no doubt be nodding approvingly at the decision to up the dramatic capabilities of the graphics engine in the face of what is to come...

The emphasis on realistic detail extends to character's costumes as well; there are plenty of opportunities to show off with all the cloaks and robes on hand. You could be forgiven for expecting EA to make everything super shiny and leave it at that, but apparently their dedication went a little bit further than the cosmetic side of things...

"... the EA development team went to great lengths to ensure that the characters even move accurately. To capture the moves that Harry makes playing Quidditch on his broomstick, it wasn’t enough to just film a stuntman. One of the developers also built a complete broomstick rig in his kitchen at home and brought it in so the animators could ‘fly’ a broom themselves and experiment with every possible move."

Oh, it must be a hard life, being an animator! Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince release on the 2nd of July on practically everything - DS, Mac, PC, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PSP, and Xbox 360 as well as selected mobile devices - ahead of the film's July 15th launch.