More Harry Potter on the way. Someday

CB Droege 17 Jun, 2011 at 7:33pm ET Article published in Life

An internet-wide scavenger hunt has led to a new Harry Potter web site. This site, Pottermore.com is simply the word Pottermore on a pink background, flanked by a pair of owls, and underlines with the words “Coming Soon” followed by J.K. Rowling’s signature.

Clicking on either of the owls brings one to a customized YouTube page, in which a video appears with a timer in it, stating that Rowling will be making an announcement on June 23rd around the open of business GMT.

There was of course a lot of frantic wondering about the possibility of an 8th Harry Potter book, which anyone familiar with the novels knows wouldn’t really work well. To quell some of the mystery, Rowling’s publicists came out with a statement assuring everyone that the upcoming project is not another novel or film, further saying only that the project will be “breathtaking in scope”.

To me, there only seems like two things it could be: An encyclopedia of the Wizarding world, or an MMO. The former would surely sell well, but the latter: Can you imagine? If there ever was a fantasy property strong enough to lure gamers away from the current big MMOs, it’s Harry Potter, and who knows— it might also be a good game. I doubt it, however.

What ever it is, Potter fans world-wide will be watching the news on Thursday morning to discover where they will get their next Potter fix.

Comments

17 Jun 2011 ~ 10:25pm custompcmax I'd be pumped for an MMO, assuming they don't go the route of all the kiddy MMOs out there (like Free Realms and the like). If they do it serious (think WoW at Hogwarts), then it will be an amazing franchise!!
17 Jun 2011 ~ 10:34pm kanezfan yeah but who would tank? i tank everything and i've only seen two movies but i don't remember anyone tanking shit or having a sword and shield. plus i like being a bear druid anyways. they don't have bear druids in harry potter. sometimes druids are cats and cats are for fite too. i'm drunk sorry about this craptacular post. i'd add that trollface.jpg thing here but there's no button to add images wtf? and it says troll-free since 2003 right under this. wtf again
17 Jun 2011 ~ 11:04pm Chemriof

kanezfan wrote:

yeah but who would tank? i tank everything and i've only seen two movies but i don't remember anyone tanking shit or having a sword and shield. plus i like being a bear druid anyways. they don't have bear druids in harry potter. sometimes druids are cats and cats are for fite too. i'm drunk sorry about this craptacular post. i'd add that trollface.jpg thing here but there's no button to add images wtf? and it says troll-free since 2003 right under this. wtf again

Favorite post I've read all day.
17 Jun 2011 ~ 11:51pm SpencerForHire I would play this MMO.
18 Jun 2011 ~ 12:09am Myrmidon Everything I've ever learned from the 90s about jumpstarting a franchise can be summed up in two words.

Animated. Series.

...Bitches.
18 Jun 2011 ~ 12:59am Annes I would play the shit out of a Harry Potter MMO. Fuck yeah wizards.
18 Jun 2011 ~ 8:05am dave I hate that people look toward current "mmo" trends for this. You should hope that they'd try something different instead of tank this buff that. Fuckin mainstream assholes sullied the term "rpg" so they have to just call it MuhMuhMo now.. real cool.
18 Jun 2011 ~ 2:51pm kanezfan Yo dave, did you read the part where I said I was drunk? And besides, it's great to be idealistic and all, trust me I was idealistic and wanted to change the world too when I was 18 but then I grew up and realized money talks and that's pretty much all that matters to these companies, and really it's all that should. They're in business to stay in business, to make money. If they're gonna make an MMO, they're gonna use the formula that works and copy it, work off of it. World of Warcraft is the formula, that's why Rift is pretty much the same thing and that's why SWTOR is WoW with lightsabers. So while it would be nice to get a Harry Potter sandbox MMO with no tanks and no DPS or healers, guess what? As long as that's what makes money, that's what companies will make.

If they makea Harry Potter MMO, there will be some plate armor wearing knight tank. Take that to the bank G
18 Jun 2011 ~ 2:57pm primesuspect

I'll tank for ye
18 Jun 2011 ~ 10:24pm kanezfan ty prime, i just loled irl. hahahah for ye! hahahahaha
23 Jun 2011 ~ 10:48am Jokke Nope, no MMO. Or, sort of, maybe.

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23 Jun 2011 ~ 12:57pm primesuspect Well.

THAT was a disappointment.
23 Jun 2011 ~ 1:16pm CrazyJoe But Harry Potter eBooks!!!
23 Jun 2011 ~ 1:20pm MrTRiot Failll....
23 Jun 2011 ~ 3:10pm rain123

CB wrote:

More Harry Potter on the way. Someday

Don't worry I'm one of those who's excited for Pottermore.
23 Jun 2011 ~ 3:13pm Cliff_Forster Okay, I could not care less about Harry Potter, but a little piracy debate if you please....

If your a guy, and you own all of these novels in Hardback, paid a pretty penny to get them. If you bit-torrent the e-books, are you a pirate? Arrrrrrrr!!!!

Seriously, making people pay again just for the privilege of carrying it around on their kindle, just feels kinda wrong.
23 Jun 2011 ~ 3:27pm rain123 as far as i know the pottermore website is free ... but I guess the e-books are paid. Of course I won't get the e-books I already got the hardback books :> I'm only excited about the website.
And yes legally its called piracy. But I agree with you, why pay for something you can get for free. :>
24 Jun 2011 ~ 1:29am cen23 i really want another story of harry potter.... arrgghh!!!
28 Jun 2011 ~ 6:08pm Tushon

rain123 wrote:

And yes legally its called piracy. But I agree with you, why pay for something you can get for free. :>

Because you need to reward good content creators so they will continue to do so or new blood will come into those markets. I torrent a lot of stuff, but when I find something I like, I make it a point to support the author/musician/company. Going to see a show when the band is in town, or buying a hard copy to loan to friends, etc.
28 Jun 2011 ~ 6:13pm Cliff_Forster Also, lets be clear, I'm not suggesting anyone steal it, I'm just saying, if you already made a purchase on the physical media, should the user expect to be accommodated digitally?

If I own a CD I can copy it, if I own a DVD I sorta can't, but kinda can, and in that case they are including digital copy in a fair number of releases to accommodate the user how ever they may want to enjoy the content.

If you purchased Harry Potter on Hardback for $30, is it fair to expect that you are entitled to that digital copy when it becomes available. Is it a fair consumer expectation?
28 Jun 2011 ~ 6:48pm Tushon

Cliff_Forster wrote:

If you purchased Harry Potter on Hardback for $30, is it fair to expect that you are entitled to that digital copy when it becomes available. Is it a fair consumer expectation?

I think so, but publishers will disagree for one reason: money. They will have to provide some level of support for the ebooks, which they would be "giving" away at that point. They would be losing (arguably) the biggest future revenue stream in literature. The future generations of archaeologists and anthropologists won't be looking at books produced now ...
28 Jun 2011 ~ 7:47pm Cliff_Forster

Tushon wrote:

I think so, but publishers will disagree for one reason: money. They will have to provide some level of support for the ebooks, which they would be "giving" away at that point. They would be losing (arguably) the biggest future revenue stream in literature. The future generations of archaeologists and anthropologists won't be looking at books produced now ...

You know whats interesting. I was in Ollie's the other day (on the East Coast its an ultra cheap overstocked goods and buyout chain). They have a massive books section. Lots of good hardback novels for around four dollars a pop and I thought to myself, do I want to go back to that? For the first time in my life I looked at a hardback book and just did not want it to take up space in my home. It feels like a needless waste of resources in this age, unless there are illustrations that require the format, reading words on a Kindle just win's, its better, it takes up less space, its with me anytime I want it, I can distribute the content over several devices, its just plain better.

Now, CD's, I still buy em, why?? They sound allot better then a lousy digital audio track, and that quality is important to me. I'll save space for my CD collection, at least for now... But paper books, I'm kinda done with them.

I value the content providers right to earn from the content again, I mean Lucas does it over and over again with Star Wars, and I don't really gripe about it (God, I'm going to have to buy a freaking Blu Ray player now), but I can see it, its an upgrade from the prior experience. Harry Potter is still Harry Potter if its on paper, or on digital screens. I hope they price it appropriately and give the fan base a break. Heck, this is the type of content I'd love to see a "pay what you want" experiment on just to see how it pans out.

Frankly, I don't care about Harry Potter, but I do kind of feel like she has been paid a hundered million times over for the books, maybe she could give something back?
19 Jul 2011 ~ 1:42pm Tushon

Joe Blogs wrote:

What an incredible disapointment. Hre is me expecting the announcement of another book.
But no it was not to be.

I believe she specifically stated that it would not be a book nor movie.

I'll continue buying real books as loaners (that argument might go away if ebooks get unlimited loans, but I find that unlikely) and downloading copies of ebooks for my use. I've read several books in hard copy when I couldn't find a decent ebook online.

Cliff_Forster wrote:

Now, CD's, I still buy em, why?? They sound allot better then a lousy digital audio track, and that quality is important to me. I'll save space for my CD collection, at least for now... But paper books, I'm kinda done with them.

Isn't is exactly the same if the artist/publisher puts out FLAC files for download?

Cliff_Forster wrote:

Heck, this is the type of content I'd love to see a "pay what you want" experiment on just to see how it pans out.

Publishers don't like that, so I don't see that happening anytime soon in this market. Valve has something special with the indie bundle that won't translate well outside of their ability to market stuff. I do wonder what the total sales numbers look like for that (one guy paying $2000 does not equalize 1000 guys paying $1)

Cliff_Forster wrote:

Frankly, I don't care about Harry Potter, but I do kind of feel like she has been paid a hundered million times over for the books, maybe she could give something back?

That doesn't jive, because you just said the EXACT same thing about Lucas and did not have the same complaint/suggestion.
21 Jul 2011 ~ 8:27am MAGIC

Tushon wrote:

Because you need to reward good content creators so they will continue to do so or new blood will come into those markets. I torrent a lot of stuff, but when I find something I like, I make it a point to support the author/musician/company. Going to see a show when the band is in town, or buying a hard copy to loan to friends, etc.

I rob a lot of banks, but when I find one I like particularly I make it a point to open up a checking account.

For realsies though, I'm pretty excited about Pottermore. I suppose you have to be a big fan of the series though.
21 Jul 2011 ~ 9:29am Tushon

MAGIC wrote:

I rob a lot of banks, but when I find one I like particularly I make it a point to open up a checking account.

I think that is a bit of an extreme example and not an appropriate analogy for me, but c'est la vie
21 Jul 2011 ~ 1:41pm MAGIC I know, I'm just messing with you. Most everyone pirates, that doesn't necessarily make it okay but the point is still same. How about going to the grocery store and saying I'll steal this apple, but only because I paid for my orange.
21 Jul 2011 ~ 2:47pm Tushon Still a bad analogy. This is how I listen to music:
1) get a rec from a friend or notice it is high in daily/weekly downloads on what.cd and somewhere near my tastes
2) download it to listen/try it out
3a) I enjoy it. Artist gets put into pollstar and the next time they are in town, I go to a show and buy merch. I have also bought physical copies after downloading/enjoying albums.
3b) I don't enjoy it. Artist should not be rewarded for putting out a shit CD. I hate paying for a CD only to find out that I only liked 1/10 songs.

Movies can be similar, but much harder to reward content maker after the fact besides buying dvd/bluray. I would venture that I've seen more movies based on reviews than bought CDs based on reviews.