Fans of J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter got a huge boost this E3 when Sony announced Wonderbook: Book of Spells, a PS3-exclusive game that uses the PlayStation Eye and PS Move controllers to let players feel as though they’re living in a magical storybook. Today, we have the first details about the Wonderbook: Book of Spells release date and a bundle that will ship for a surprisingly low price.
Wonderbook: Book of Spells will ship November 13, just in time for Black Friday sales. The bundle will include the Book of Spells game, a Wonderbook peripheral, a PlayStation Eye camera and a PlayStation Move motion controller — all for $79.99.
You can pre-order it on Amazon using this link: Wonderbook: Book of Spells
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“Book of Spells” is the first title available for Wonderbook. The Wonderbook itself is a new peripheral for PS3 that puts a physical book in gamers’ hands and supports a new range of experiences by presenting one of the most advanced uses of augmented reality. Not just reading through stories, it lets players have broader experiences such as sailing through the seven seas to explore an atlas, walking with dinosaurs, travelling beyond the stars to discover astronomy, etc. And the coolest part: it just requires players to turn the page.
In the game, the PS Move Motion Controller becomes your magic wand, and you can read and learn the secrets of wizardry and the art of spell-casting, just like a student at Hogwarts. Check out this video to see it in action.
During the E3 demo, we did see a few awkward hiccups with the page-turning mechanic not working properly, but eventually it all worked out, and glitches are to be somewhat expected when it comes to pre-release hardware — on a live stage, no less. I’m actually pretty excited to see how it all comes together.