First DS screens of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

What with the release of the seventh (and final) novel, not to mention the film of the fifth book, July is shaping up to be the most Harry Potter-ish month ever. Oh, and in case anyone's forgotten, EA is also planning to release eight versions of the game for eight different console formats, based on the cinematic release Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The first screenshots of the DS version don't show much in terms of the story or characters. Instead, the focus seems to be on the sort of things we'll be doing with our touchscreen and stylus.

Examples? Feeding Buckbeak the hippogriff – we're assuming he prefers raw meat to mushrooms and fir cones – will be one task, while others will see you correctly mixing ingredients and stirring magical concoctions. And, of course, one of the regular jobs of any young wizard is keeping the junior common room warm by starting a fire using the Incendio spell.

Perhaps more intriguing is the final screen of the four released, which shows Harry and Draco Malfoy having a duel. What's interesting is the screen's orientation means you'll have to hold your DS like a book, as with games such as Hotel Dusk and Dr Kawashima's Brain Training. But what we can't tell yet is whether this is just being used to better show off pretty cutscenes or whether it will be a special element of the game itself.

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