Pottermore: Quidditch World Cup and speculations

we are all aware, even made some advancements, it's on the quarter finals now, with correspondences to Daily Prophet from Ginny Potter, there is also a few more things I want to add about this, I'm not catching up, I find reports about sports pretty boring, even Quidditch is no exception, playing sure, I didn't ever enjoyed really watching sports, specially collective sports or reading about them, it's not now it gonna change.

I have suspicions why they're taking this opportunity, besides giving extra info and knowing what is happening in the Wizardry World currently, unfortunately for me and those may not be connected to sports even including Quidditch, I think they're taking final preparations of the 17 chapters for the last instalment, it's heavy, we don't usually get this amount being 1st or 2nd or 3rd instalment, it's an unusual amount, also to give more time to advance with Order of the Phoenix, when they showcased some art concept of some of the last chapters moment, they shown creatures concept art for Order of the Phoenix, so they're close to the end.
So I suspect after the Quidditch Finals, we will get our last instalment of Goblet of Fire...

speaking of which, we know Ravenclaw will have for the first time ever, early access as Hufflepuff did previously...
now let's getting to where I think there will be high, medium and low chances of getting exclusive info...

Chapter 21: The House-Elf Liberation - High
Chapter 22: The Unexpected Task - Low
Chapter 23: The Yule Ball - Medium
Chapter 24: Rita Skeeter's Scoop - Medium
Chapter 25: The Egg and the Eye - Low
Chapter 26: The Second Task - Low
Chapter 27: Padfoot Returns - Low
Chapter 28: The Madness of Mr. Crouch - Low
Chapter 29: The Dream - Low
Chapter 30: The Pensieve - High
Chapter 31: The Third Task - Low
Chapter 32: Flesh, Blood and Bone - Medium
Chapter 33: The Death Eaters - Low
Chapter 34: Priori Incantem - Medium
Chapter 35: Veritaserum - High (maybe there is even a chance to create the potion)
Chapter 36: The Parting of the Ways - Low
Chapter 37: The Beginning - Low

Pottermore News: 2ND Instalment of Goblet of Fire is released - Thoughts and speculations

I believe many of already know that it's out.
it's from 12-20, 9 chapters in total, which now it can be confirmed it will be in 4 instalments with missing 17 chapters or unless the next one will be of 17, which I think is mostly impossible, one will have 8 chapters and the other 9, which will have which, seeing the missing chapters list, it's more likely the 3rd instalment be of 7 chapters and the last one be of 10 chapters.


Okay, the moments of the chapters of this instalment were...
AMAZING, beautiful artwork!!!!
I really love the slightly animated illustrations some of the moments, such as the famous Draco, the boucing ferret, it's pretty funny, it's fun to play around it, also the very well done Unforgivable Curses class, but the artworks that marked me most was...

They are really impressive and remarkable, I love how they animated the Abraxan's wings and the drawing of the carriage, the animated waves and the ship with full moon - it certainly gives a haunting and secretive feel to it, the animated fire and the sounds of the dragons and the dragons design, really cool.
You can tell how much the artists are having fun doing the moments for Pottermore.

Now the Exclusive info:

I will start with the one that less surprised me, Daily Prophet, because we have some idea what was around and what was most probably, if included it's origins would be more interesting.
Durmstrang, even though isn't surprising the combative focused magic school and we get to know there 11 magical schools of total around the world, which is a bit surprising, we know there is 3 schools in Europe, one on Japan, 2 in North America I think, make it miss 5 schools to go we don't know yet, also surprising during the time Igor Karkaroff as Headmaster made many parents not wanting their children in attending Durmstrang.
Now Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, I may say I was kinda surprised even though it's obvious, being myself Portuguese, it makes me wonder, in Portugal would have to be obligatory to know french at 10 years old at least, one thing being from a wizarding family and another from being a muggle-born because is most commonly learn to choose english, not both, which would be the most wise to chose both, I had french until I was 12 and always had some difficulties with the language, compared to english which was always easy to me from the start, many from certain countries would have difficulties to adapt specially muggle-borns, I would adapt better in Hogwarts.

Pottermore News&Speculations: Celebration of Harry Potter in Orlando Resort and Pottermore

I believe you have heard of this recent news from Pottermore Insider:

For those of you who may have heard already, we can confirm that a few people from the Pottermore team are absolutely thrilled to be venturing from the London-based office over to Florida, to take part in A Celebration of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort.

Our very own Creative Director will be on hand to give a behind-the-scenes look at how Moments are made, from the first pencil stroke through to the final splash of colour. If you’ve ever wondered how you might make the sound effect for a spider crawling down its web, he’ll be talking about that too! And, he’ll be revealing beautiful new artwork from the final instalment of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
 
Perhaps most exciting of all, we will be sharing an upcoming exclusive audio clip from J.K. Rowling, in which she gives a mischievous backstory to one of her most colourful Harry Potter characters.  Who do you think it could be?

Throughout the weekend of the Celebration, the Pottermore booth at the Harry Potter Expo will be open for fans to visit.  They will be greeted by the largest print ever made of an iconic Pottermore Moment, measuring 14 meters high and 20 meters wide!   At the booth Harry Potter fans will be able to experience Pottermore.com for themselves and also watch an artist illustrate upcoming creatures from the fifth book - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  The Harry Potter eBook and digital audio book collections will also be available to read or listen to courtesy of the Pottermore Shop. 

It does sound fishy, doesn't? could be there a chance that will come this week or the next, right before or after the Celebration of Harry Potter, with behind the scenes of how the moments are made and also reveal an artwork of the final instalment of Goblet of Fire, we're  getting finally the 2nd instalment?

it's probably before, because it sounds stupid an artwork of the final instalment when the 2nd hasn't come out yet...

also this" upcoming audio clip"...it kinda proves it can be after this celebration, the 2nd instalment, not sure, it's very fishy, it can be from the last instalment, if they are almost done with the Goblet of Fire, by the sound of it, and seems starting with the concept arts for the Order of the Phoenix.

Nice way to tease us...and also seems recent teaser from Pottermore with the new cover on Facebook...

Post by Pottermore.

that green quill looks way too familiar, Rita Skeeter's quick notes quill... it can be confirmed it will be divided in 3 parts..., the next 2 instalments will be around 13 chapters, that's plenty, it doesn't usually go by this amount, which is pretty good, makes perfect sense, since the books get thicker from here on... so I'm not sure, I think it's quite possible the 2nd instalment coming before the celebration. Also these creatures illustrations for the Order of Phoenix in the Pottermore Team artists booth, I hope one of them to be Thestrals, I found them fascinating creatures and really cool (Please, I seriously hope for Exclusive info for them, it would be so cool, in Order of the Phoenix, which the chances are pretty High). Now this mischievous character backstory audioclip, I think I do know already :D...Rita Skeeter!

Games | Playing: Pokémon X ---------- Pottermore Speculations

I finished the game yesterday (17th December, Tuesday), now I'm on the exploring part, I did have won 1 battle in Battle Maison, then I did go capture some pokemons I always wanted Honedge, Eevee (to evolve into Jolteon) and I got a mystery gift being Torchic together with his megastone, neat!
I have intentions of collecting all mega evolutions from Pokemon X and fight the 4 sisters.
Yes, I'm having a lot of fun with the game.

Sorry but I kept the boots, I just think are very cool.

Pottermore Speculation

Now about Pottermore, I believe most of fans suspect there is a big chance of the Next instalment of Goblet of Fire will be around this week or Monday 23rd December, my bet is will be about twelve chapters to reach Yule Ball, after all happens on Christmas, I suspect they gonna give special touch on the Yule Ball moment (I do seriously wonder how it will turn out the illustration)  and I'm sure this moment will also be featured at Playstation Home Pottermore.

which chapters I speculate most about which will have exclusive info:

Chapter 12: The Triwizard Tournament - High chance

Chapter 13: Mad-Eye Moody - Very High chance

Chapter 14: The Unforgivable Curses - 50% chance

Chapter 15: Beauxbatons and Durmstrang - High Chance

Chapter 16: The Goblet of Fire - Low chance

Chapter 17: The Four Champions - Low chance

Chapter 18: The Weighing of the Wands - 50% chance

Chapter 19: The Hungarian Horntail - Very Low chance

Chapter 20: The First Task - Very Low chance

Chapter 21: The House-Elf Liberation Front - 50% chance

Chapter 22: The Unexpected Task - Very Low chance

Chapter 23: The Yule Ball - 50% chance

in another words the chapters I think it has the highest chances are the chapter 12 (from how it started the triwizard tournament), Chapter 13 (not hard, bio of mad-eye, maybe?) and Chapter 15 (about the schools).

Pottermore News: Gilderoy Lockhart Exclusive info Out

On Valentine's Day Moment - Zoom in and Click in Gilderoy Lockhart, TA-TA-TAM...

I gotta say, his Exclusive is quite interesting, he was a Mommy's boy (not hard to understand why, it was the only one of her children that was a wizard) and clearly very spoiled.
Gilderoy always looked like the lazy type despite being talented and clever, he has thirst of learning as would be beneficial to build his fame, the recognition he desired.
As for his magical skills that were good but become rusty beyond repair, that's quite understandable... if you look for his type of being Cherry:

Cherry

This very rare wand wood creates a wand of strange power, most highly prized by the wizarding students of the school of Mahoutokoro in Japan, where those who own cherry wands have special prestige. The Western wand-purchaser should dispel from their minds any notion that the pink blossom of the living tree makes for a frivolous or merely ornamental wand, for cherry wood often makes a wand that possesses truly lethal power, whatever the core, but if teamed with dragon heartstring, the wand ought never to be teamed with a wizard without exceptional self-control and strength of mind. 


also dragon heartstring being one of the most prone to accidents, so I think it's when the fame started he lost it, then becoming his skills rather rusty, no wonder he was such a useless teacher.

Despite the confirmation on him being Ravenclaw, some of the house were quite disappointed and surprised, he has many traits that are Ravenclaw, intelligence, talent, desire of learning as long was profitable, inventive (the hair-care system as one of his special abilities says enough) and eccentricity at it's highest with some few worst traits of Slytherin and Gryffindor - to go to any means to achieve his goals even if is unethical and morally wrong and quite a big ego (show-off), having more traits in Ravenclaw and the good traits mostly Ravenclaw.
in my opinion, the funniest thing about Lockhart, his egocentricity is very eccentric in a very funny way, so many moments of his biography is very funny just of how overconfident he was when come to Hogwarts and then discover pretty much everyone had similar or same experiences of noticeable of magical abilities, just the stories of his eccentricity is very funny, I can easily imagine it.
I did enjoyed read his Exclusive, is the most amusing and funniest Character Biography so far.

Pottermore News: 1st Instalment of Goblet of Fire to all members of Pottermore

so it was at midday, so I'm kinda quite happy despite my sinusitis on the move (ugh), the irritating rain mood changes (typical of Autumn), the day did go fairly well.
On topic of the title, today it came out the first instalment of Goblet of Fire with 3 new exclusives, surprisingly with 11 chapters, I wasn't counting on that in a good way, I thought that would be 7 or 8 chapters, as for the speculations it will be after write about the exclusives...

J.K. Rowling Exclusives:

The Floo Network
that's was one of the exclusives I didn't expected, specially with new feature additions, such on J.K. Rowling Thoughts where she tells a story of an accident about a witch called Violet Tillyman in audio clip and under it the transcript of the audio clip, I think it was very thoughtful of Pottermore and put it that way, mostly for people with some difficulties and also for special way for mostly everyone on J.K. Rowling speaking in the audio clip.

The Portkey
From the description, the Portkeys on a pre-arranged time, another interesting fact, it can cause nausea, giddiness and worse, it had to be expected, like Harry described it feels like a hook behind a navel, well it has to be unpleasant and someone feel kinda bad...

Colours
Interesting symbolisms with colours, by the way, I was never fan of purple and green, my favourites being about more of the houses (I'm pretty much Ravenclaw then, my favourite element is air and colour is blue, I'm starting to like bronze, it's a humble colour, silver sounds quite fancy even though I like the coulour) and Hagrid and Dumbledore connections in alchemical symbols of their first names of Harry seeking of father figures, so that was very interesting and really beautiful.


Now speculations, I think we can imagine to be missing 3 parts, another words, divided in 4 parts, that much can be confirmed, 1 of the missing instalments be around 7 or 8 chapters, the other 2 around 11 to 12 chapters.
launch speculations, 2nd will be probably around November or December (Highest chance), 3rd around February or March, 4th would be May or June...

to finalize, I finally filled completely the Story Navigator Bar, the hardest for me was the Knight Bus and I'll show you one of my favourites artworks on this first instalment :

Other Favourites Moments: list: The House in the Hill (it's so beautiful and kinda spooky, the art, I'm thinking of putting as a cover of Facebook on Halloween), The Misty Moor and Camping Site (included one of my favourite parts of this chapter which is quite hilarious).

One of the things I love about Pottermore besides the exclusives it's surely the artworks on scenes that were never shown in the movies and see the versions of scenes following faithfully the books and beautifully done.

It would be very neat if in the future would come an artbook of Pottermore with commentaries of the staff and crew and J.K. Rowling.

Pottermore News: is 1st instalment of GoF coming very soon? | Games: Nostalgia playing Kingdom Hearts HD

a teaser picture shared and revealed from Pottermore Facebook Page...The Portkey...

You know what it means...it's definitely coming soon, there is a quite a chance is next week or one more.


Now the subject on nostalgic feelings while playing Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, I am now on Agrabah, not favourite worlds but excellent to explore, can't wait to get to Halloween Town and Peter Pan (to get glide and float in the air) and then Hollow Bastion, Yeah, I'm still quite far to get there, I love also the end of the world.
the only thing I don't like about Agrabah is Bosses except for the Cave of Wonder Entrance which is awesome.
probably the only complain of the game I have is the camera, the rest of it it's still pretty good as the 1st game 10 years ago I played.

Pottermore House Cup and some thoughts.

Congratulations Hufflepuff for winning the House Cup!!

what I found most troublesome is other results, some are kinda surprising and others not much:

Gryffindors is kinda understandable, they may be arrogant/showboating and foolhardy but aren't hostile, Hufflepuffs are hard workers so isn't that surprising, Ravenclaws - different from people think, Ravenclaws are supposed to be curious, who is curious wants to find everything they can discover, Slytherins surprise me quite a lot, they are known to be selfish, not wishing to generalize, I think it may have to do with those who wanted to be in Slytherin and forced their way, just a good amount, not every Slytherin, oh well, we have to remember the Malfoys donate many times St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Bellatrix to Voldemort and quite caring about her sister Narcissa, also there is Narcissa Malfoy who was generous to Harry for her own son in Deathly Hallows, Snape protecting son of the woman he loved and of the man he hated, so sometimes we have to reconsider.
some look quite surprising, but thinking through is not that surprising...

Pottermore News: New feature revealed

it's a new feature that was revealed by Pottermore Insider - Click Here To Read and See it .

as you can read it and see, when last instalment is released, new features is coming, this one just announced, where you can comment on a moment (and also share it) and book page, comment to say your thoughts and reflections on it.

I think it's a cool feature, this is a good chance, even myself I will probably comment on it, because it's really interesting, I like the book page where you can the cover illustrations of the books, I was always curious about them.

Looking forward to see more of these announcements.

Pottermore News: Interview with one of the members of the team

Interesting News came out, an interview from Pottermore Insider with a member of the creative team of Pottermore...
It's a pretty cool interview, Click Here To read the Interview .

so I will just quote some question/answers I found interesting and my interpretations...

Q: Describe your role in Moment production at Pottermore
A: I work within the creative team and together we come up with ideas for Moments, then discuss and develop them with our artists. Once our artists have sketched them we provide feedback on what should be changed in order to make sure that the Moments look beautiful and that they’re completely fictionally accurate before we take them to colour. We also work on trying to fit as much interactivity, animation and life into the Moments as possible.

This is as what I suspected, that's how kinda works when you create storyboards in animation...this kind of process takes time.

Q: In order to work on Book 3 Moments, did you re-read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban?  

A: Yes! I read the whole book again before we started planning the Moments, but I have read and re-read the books so many times since they first came out anyway that it didn’t feel like extra research.

more extra time, want me go on? They want to remain faithful as possible and for a reading experience, READING EXPERIENCE asked, wanted and intended by J.K.Rowling - a pop-up book version of Harry Potter, not an interactive game or an MMO.

Q: What was it about the Red Caps that was so complicated?
A: One of the most difficult aspects was getting the animation of their gestures right. In the books, Red Caps are Dark creatures so we wanted to create this gruff, threatening persona. At the same time we wanted people to have fun with the Moment so we didn’t want it to look like a horror film. We had to work hard to get that balance right, and not make them look comic in any way either! 

For this Moment we did two separate pieces of work: we worked with the artists to create the background artwork; then created concept art for each of the creatures separately, so that when we placed the creatures in the Moment we were 100% happy with how they looked, 

We were also really pleased with how the Hinkypunks turned out. The Hinkypunks are lovely: they are made of smoke and they carry a little lantern, but they are not what they seem as they lure travellers into bogs!

I can see they make the creatures designs first, specially those who we haven't seen before in the movies, specially like she said, to get the balance right...make it scary but not too much, neither comical, this kind of design works is hard, the gestures like they said, you must have some idea of their anatomy, of how they move...

Q: You mentioned Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Do you often use the companion books as part of your research for the Moments? 

A: All the time! We always look at the descriptions within the Harry Potter stories (all seven books) first, but the three companion books by J.K. Rowling are incredibly informative too. For example, when we’re creating Quidditch-related Moments, we’ll fact-check within Quidditch Through the Ages and cross-reference this with the main stories.  We have a wealth of other sources that we can use as well, such as past interviews with J.K. Rowling and the extra information that she has written for Pottermore.com, to make sure we have the fullest and most accurate picture possible.

They even make research on J.K. Rowling interviews, call about dedicated work ;).

Q: Speaking of the new writing from J.K. Rowling, the final instalment will contain even more exclusive information from the author. Which piece do you think the Pottermore community will be particularly excited about? 

A: I think fans will be most interested to read the new writing on Remus Lupin, which describes how Lupin and Tonks fell in love amongst other things, and which includes a description of Lupin’s childhood and how he became a werewolf.

it sounds maybe it will be divided in parts like Professor McGonagall backstory...hmmmmm, bou never know.

they said there will be more news about the final instalment about the new feature that will come soon once it's released.

I look forward to it.

Pottermore News: Story Navigator and non-mentioned new features

Pottermore Insider, given news about 1 of some new features that is coming when the last instalment of Prisoner of Azkaban is released...
this mentioned new feature is called Story Navigator...

According to them, you can browse through the moments even if have seen them or not and it will have new additional moments of previous chapters.

I'm not sure if I like the visual, I have to see it's final touch first, so it's about to wait when it comes...

it seems also, you can pass through some parts, maybe the chamber of secrets when you enter the slytherin common room, maybe, but I think some moments still has those special requirements, such you have to have done the polyjuice potion, I think this still remains.

Click Here to read it's details

Pottermore News: Last Instalment of Prisoner of Azkaban coming weeks and speculations

Pottermore Insider, they said they're in their final touches and the final instalment will be released in coming weeks...probably 31st July (Harry Potter and J.K.Rowling Birthday).
here is a sneak peek:

(I'm pretty sure is the Exam of Defense Against The Dark Arts by Professor Lupin)

It has been having some complaints about taking so long, I don't think it's really taking long...

The last Instalment it has plenty to offer, it's probably why is taking time, also remember that were few times that took a long time, 2 months or 1 month to come out the new instalments, today it breaks the record xD, today it makes 3 months...
I think it's pretty funny the fans regarding it, they treat it as if 1 or 2 months it's a year, when it's not.
many of their arguments, you think making this it's done with eyes closed, don't you?

you think it's just making a drawing and it's done?
I'm pretty sure when you create moments works the same way as storyboards, there is a lots of discuss, it is to decide which moments to put>how it will be done (painting, perspective, shading, the portrayal)>production (approval, etc), then the tests, the interactive which requires plenty of programming and wild knowledge about interactive sites, specially like these.
also you know there is plenty of money being invested in here for something that is free?
there is 2 teams taking care of Pottermore, one for the platforms and another for the website exclusively, obviously it will take more time.
Now let's see what we can speculate...

Chapter 16: Professor Trelawney's Prediction
From the sneak peek above, that moment belongs to this chapter, so we can expect the start of unlocking Professor Lupin biography here or next chapter (like it happened with Professor McGonagall biography), I wonder how it will turn out the prophecy, is such an important moment of this chapter, there is a chance.

Chapter 17: Cat, Rat and Dog
This chapter, I'm 80% confident at least we gonna have Professor Lupin biography (in this chapter or chapter 18), I don't know if you are aware, J.K. Rowling in the worldwide webcast, J.K.Rowling revealed she wrote a full biography of him for Pottermore, which we can expect belongs to Prisoner of Azkaban, so if it comes by parts like Professor McGonagall, it would be most likely his childhood, if not, then would be chapter 18 his full biography.

Chapter 18: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
Like I mentioned above, here is 100% for sure Lupin, but to prevent of being 100% wrong, I will say 95% =P...because in this chapter, it's when Professor Lupin speaks about his past, it's inevitable, J.K. Rowling mentioned that when writing his biography she got herself very emotional. I can imagine easily myself get emotional, Professor Lupin is one of my favourite characters (for so many reasons), if divided by parts, it's school years probably.

Chapter 19: The Servant of Lord Voldemort
If Lupin biography is divided by parts, here it would be after his graduation.
there is a chance to have some exclusive info about Azkaban and the Dementors or Animagus...

Chapter 20: Dementor's Kiss
There is quite a chance of some exclusive about the dementors or Patronus Charm, it would be quite hard, there is plenty of what we already know...

Chapter 21: Hermione's Secret
I have expectations of Exclusive Info about Time-Turner, which would quite interesting.

Chapter 22: Owl Post Again
If divided by parts Lupin biography, it can jump, remember Professor McGonagall from chapter 8 to 15 in Philosopher Stone, if so, it would be Lupin adulthood.

it will be quite hard work to focus on some scenes, such the chapter Dementor's Kiss, I can expect some interactive well done artwork here, but will be hard, the kind of interactive art mixed with animation when Harry stabbed Tom Riddle's diary, in this chapter, when the Dementor tries to "kiss" Harry and his godfather Sirius.
 Hermione's Secret must be very tricky and hard to moment because there is time-turner function, it would have to repeat some previous events from another perspective, from the characters using the instrument perspective, so it's tricky.

Once finished this instalment, it will when the real challenge will come, specially for us, we have to be very very patient, after Prisoner of Azkaban is Goblet of Fire, which is consisted of 37 chapters, it's not a joke, expect more than 3 instalments but with plenty potential to give us lots of New Exclusive.

Pottermore & Harry Potter: Hogwarts Houses and The Sorting Hat

This is quite a polemic issue, specially on Pottermore, complaints of the fans about the sorting hat...

even though I disagree with most of them, big text beware.

I think it get mostly right, it's all about probabilities and pathways, the choices you make, some say some questions didn't make sense and totally unrelated such as dusk and dawn, I think it can relate more than you think, for example, I'm pretty sure dusk is more connected with Slytherin (the night coming, their common room is the darkest one) and Ravenclaw (how is the light in the common room is enough, the ceilling being full of stars, more neutral and calm) while Gryffindor and Hufflepuff is more connected with dawn, the more sunnier, one is lively and noisy and while the other is quiet and hard-working, both optimistic.

Pottermore - Playstation Home, new locations!!

most of you must already know (who uses pottermore and playstation home) about the new location, you can go to your own common room, explore the great hall and have charms class practice wingardium leviosa, you're able to buy a house in Hogsmeade (but you can't explore Hogsmeade you just have it's view  from window).

I have to say that from most part I like, but I have a few complaints and complaints about complaints.
some of my complaints would be about for example, I think it should be possible go to the dormitory not just the common room, the dormitories is technically a part of it, between the 4 houses is 2 towers and 2 close to the great hall...the other still remains, I think after the sorting ceremony, it should be given change of color in the robes and tie from grey to the color of their houses, so you don't, you have to buy it.

the Hogsmeade house, I heard a lot of complaints and some of them quite unnecessary, but I have to disagree, I do kinda agree with the restrictions, if this is supposed your character living house of Hogsmeade, the only wizarding village, logically has to be decorated and wearing it for the spirit of the books itself and it's meaning and not to someone's personal liking (for that you have your own apartment in Playstation Home), to see more like how a house of a wizard looks like usually.

I'm glad you can't still explore Hogsmeade in Playstation Home yet, because that would be unfair for those who don't own a ps3, in my opinion, some wizarding locations should start from the pottermore website first.
Now for example, Hogwarts grounds, I hope will come soon, it would be cool to see Quidditch Pitch, Owlery, Forbidden Forest, the moving staircases, etc...
another cool thing that would be cool (lol), like Book of Spells, have the chance to make potions with Move (I think it would be much easier to make potions xD, though I don't have much problem with it), Transfiguration, etc. I still don't own Book of Spells, wish I could though.

putting the little problems aside, able to explore your own common room (it's really neat, it's very well detailed as much Hogwarts Express, Diagon Alley and the Great Hall), but for you to enter it, you must have Pottermore account and got through chapter 7 (in another words, after the sorting ceremony),
I see what you did there... ;), this must be one of the strategies, to have new users into pottermore and maybe give incentive those who haven't read books to read it and come back again.

Pottermore Facebook is starting giving trivias, I know what this usually means :), it means the last instalment of Prisoner of Azkaban isn't very far now...(probably at the end of June or middle of July.

Pottermore Prisoner of Azkaban 2nd Instalment and it's updates

I was sure it would be this week because of Pottermore anniversary open to public coming in Friday...
Okay I will start with the speculations I got right and wrong, some close and a vice-versa sense and in it's moments...and then my analysis of the exclusive content and it's updates
Chapter 8, I got it right, we would have exclusive content about the portraits, we get specially of Hogwarts.
I was expecting in Chapter 10: Marauder's map , to explore the map, but it seems I got the oppposite, instead of exploring it was the exclusive content about the subject, neither expecting exclusive content about Chocolate and Dementors and broomstick Firebolt half expecting, I was close, Gobstones, I wasn't expecting for sure..

interesting updates, it seems now every time it will come out a new instalment excerpts of the audio books and the most interesting one, it's the exclusive contents, every time you click to read exclusive content, appears always spoiler warning, specially if it reveals something related to future chapters and books, so it's quite interesting and with the dark mark, it was used this way before in J.K. Rowling website (now not anymore).

now Exclusive Content analysis:
Hogwarts Portraits:
So that's how it works...the whole portrait point in characters and behaviours, it depends how the painter captures the person is creating a portrait and how powerful the wizard/witch is...and the headmasters and headmistresses in their time have their portrait  but it's locket and only the headmaster or headmistress to talk to their portrait privately, to have their personalities, information and manners to help their successors after their death, very interesting facts.

The Marauder's Map:
Interesting reveals such how it detects who is who in the map by using Homonculous Charm inside the parchment, quite ingenious and funny that simply Snape isn't allowed to open it, interesting development in the characters it seems, the creators of the map, they were caught once in their final year (losing their touch with time, it seems, lol), didn't tried to have it back the map and along with time in the final months of their final year because of some priorities taking such at state of world at the time (Voldemort in the rising to power) which shows some of their some grown maturity and the other being since they were in last year at Hogwarts wasn't necessary for them if it was just for sake of keeping for nostalgia.

Gobstones:
there is 3 interesting facts about this, it's that there is pro-players and tournaments for them, campaigns to recruits adult wizards because lost interest when grown older (it's popular around young wizards) and for last is that the mother of Severus Snape was president of the club of Gobstone at Hogwarts.
an observation from this "Gobstones enjoys limited popularity at Hogwarts, ranking low among recreational activities, way behind Quidditch and even Wizarding Chess." , it seems there isn't many games in the wizarding world compared with muggles, actually quite few, you know games being games, such as table board games and not many sports (from what we know, racing and quidditch), maybe future wizards will invent some more if you know what I mean ;).

Dementors and Chocolate:
sooo chocolate is a short-remedy, I suspected so, excessive doesn't give much benefit, some intereting to notice: "Finding ways to fight off Dementors – or depression – are essential if one is to become permanently happier."  so there is other ways to fight it besides the Patronus charm.

The Firebolt:
one of the most interesting fact, the ironwork is made by goblins, also interesting enough Harry is the first to own one, lucky Harry (I guess that's one of Harry's talents).

They said it will be in coming months the last instalment, so I guess in June or July...

Pottermore is now Available in Playstation Home

Hoooray!!
I must say I wasn't expecting to come out yesterday(wednesday, 3rd April), I thought would be around 10 or 13 April.
since I'm a PS3 user, I was able to explore it, yesterday was so many people (I believe it was the reason) I couln't even enter Playstation Home, they said it could be problems with their servers or mine, I'm sure it was their servers, when Ni No Kuni: The Wrath of the White Witch came out on Playstation Store, first came late and second, there were so many users downloading and buying that it came quite slow the downloading on it's first days, so today mourning (Thursday, 4th April) was working quite properly.
It's very neat, Book Herding is fun, but Pottermore Quiz and Wizard Duel is the coolest...my only complain, it's that you have to buy the animals and your house robes and wizard hat with muggle money (real money) and not wizard money >>", I do have some idea.

So for now it has only Diagon Alley and Hogwarts Express, Pottermore Insider said there would be more locations and mini-games in the future...of course one of them is Hogwarts, this one will be huge, there is many details to take in, because it's Pottermore, it's suppose to be the locations come back to life after all, so it will take more time and work.

Now, I have read half of some comments on Facebook, but I can get right away, look I understand their position those who can't own a PS3 or think would be a waste of money just for pottermore (just because isn't a casual gamer or doesn't play games, treating a console as if is just for gamers, when it can be used in general, family and friends party games, which casual gamers doesn't really play) and could just go to the computer and why playstation would be treated as if is special, it's not because is special, Pottermore is published by Sony, Playstation is a Sony product, but I see it as a base, a start for then to the future, Yes I DO BELIEVE IT WILL COME TO THE COMPUTER, Why?
I'll give you a reminder of the interview of Charle Redmayne:

PN: What is your response to critics of Pottermore who say Pottermore has no value?CR: Obviously it’s not for everybody. If you’re not a Harry Potter fan, then I wouldn’t think it does have value. But, if the extraordinary way that J.K. Rowling wrote those books and the magical world she created in her mind and the extra content that has come out of that and the product that has started rolling out with things like Playstation and other platforms – then I think it has immense value.

on Pottermore Insider commented:

Charlie Redmayne, CEO of Pottermore, comments: “Pottermore reaches across multiple digital platforms, and our ongoing partnership with Sony has allowed us to forge this exciting connection with Playstation Home, creating the most immersive experience possible within that space and giving users wonderful new ways to explore locations from the Harry Potter stories. Following the successful launch of Wonderbook: Book of Spells, this is another example of the creative collaborations Pottermore is developing to bring the world of Harry Potter even more ingeniously to life”.  

and

We have a separate team working on these new Pottermore innovations so, for those who don’t have a PlayStation account, there is no need to worry as we still have a dedicated team hard at work to bring you the third and final instalment of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on Pottermore.com in the coming weeks.  

It's like like making a count two with two, it will take time but it will get there, stop making such a rush, besides, in Pottermore Home you can't go inside the store, just buy items with money in your funds of Playstation Network, but you can tell by the shop if it's to look around it's outside the shop...you can't even buy anything in Ollivander yet.
I prefer them take their time...go step by step, I think they are doing very well, they are starting with basics first even including in the reading experience, if you notice the step by step is very well done, get better, improvement, innovating, that's very good, appreciate it.

Pottermore New Platform!!! Playstation Home!!

This is awesome news!! maybe not so much for non-PS3 users

I don't know if any of you know what Playstation Home is...it's where you create your own character basing on you, you go to sort of "worlds", inside them there is mini-games, and is for free, what you buy there is some games and items (clothing, furniture, etc) and is all in 3D gaming community platform.
so it will have Pottermore as one of the "worlds"...take a look to the trailer:



It's amazing, isn't it?
I wasn't expecting this for sure!! I thought would be something like book of spells, but this is much better!!
I think it's pretty neat, I feel a bit sorry for non-PS3 users though, a bit because, though I do understand it's because of the whole "buy PS3 just for playstation home and book of spells" and others because have other priorities (this one is much more understandable).
However, for the "not interested in games" and has other top priorities wanted something like this to play, you got it, but is for an console, but like previous interview with Charlie Redmayne, there will be new platforms not only playstation but also besides it and also you can use PS3, PS3 isn't just for hardcore gamers, for everyone, there is fitness and games with playstation move to relax a bit and other utilities in PS3 (can read Blu-Ray, Media Server between your PC and PS3, there is TV and videos features in PS3)

if goes this far in Playstation, they said there would be in other platforms besides Playstation, so please don't give unnecessary complaints, there is still more to come from Pottermore.
Pottermore was open for everyone on 13rd April 2012, so it is almost making a year since was open to the public, opened 2 books, 3rd book is on the way to be completed, Wonderbook: Book of Spells (the very first product solid from Pottermore), I don't understand your complain. you seem you want everything now all at once.
let them do step by step, I do prefer this way, you savour the moments when it comes and busy with other stuff, so they can make a good job.

according to Pottermore Insider it will come out to Playstation Home in April, I do have a suspicion it maybe on 13 April, close to the date when Pottermore was open to the public, to sort of celebrate 1 year Pottermore was launched to the public.
what I liked most about this, I do own a PS3, but I don't have the money to buy Book of Spells (financial probs), so it's extremely cool to be able to explore Pottermore in 3D gaming platform in Playstation for free...WOOOHOOO!!! I'm so happy!!
Also one more thing:

Charlie Redmayne, CEO of Pottermore, comments: “Pottermore reaches across multiple digital platforms, and our ongoing partnership with Sony has allowed us to forge this exciting connection with Playstation Home, creating the most immersive experience possible within that space and giving users wonderful new ways to explore locations from the Harry Potter stories. Following the successful launch of Wonderbook: Book of Spells, this is another example of the creative collaborations Pottermore is developing to bring the world of Harry Potter even more ingeniously to life”. 
We have a separate team working on these new Pottermore innovations so, for those who don’t have a PlayStation account, there is no need to worry as we still have a dedicated team hard at work to bring you the third and final instalment of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on Pottermore.com in the coming weeks. 

source: Pottermore Insider
we can see that probably too besides Pottermore on Playstation Home in April but also the last instalment of Prisoner of Azkaban (since in 6 days 2nd instalment will be released), a bomb will be released xDD, very exciting!!

Cool Pottermore News

Pottermore FB Page, Twitter and Pottermore Insider announced Teaser Questions starting tomorrow at 17:00 GMT on Facebook and Twitter, Pottermore Insider at 16:45 GMT...

These Teaser questions will be visual and audio from 15th March to 24th March...

According to Pottermore Insider:

The next instalment of Chapters Eight to Fifteen promises even more mystery and intrigue, and in anticipation of this we’ve devised a series of audio and visual Teaser Questions based on details from the upcoming Moments on Pottermore.com. 
Starting tomorrow, Friday March 15, a Teaser Question will be posted every day for the next ten days at 16:45 (GMT) on the Insider and at 17:00 (GMT) on our Facebook and Twitter pages. 
These will increase in difficulty each time: some will challenge your attention to detail, some will require a good knowledge of the book, and some need only imagination and wild guesswork.
Before trying the Teaser Questions, read the tips below for how best to tackle them: 
One – things are not always what they seem in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and nor are they in our Teaser Questions. 
Two – look out for hints here on the Insider, and on our Facebook and Twitter pages. 
Three – get help or help others by joining the conversation and sharing your thoughts, whether in the Great Hall, your common room, or on our Facebook and Twitter pages. If you follow us on Twitter, you can use the hashtag #pmteasers. 
Four – consult your copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to jog your memory or provide inspiration. 
For now we are keeping the answers a secret, but all will be revealed soon enough. 
Good luck.

I'm quite excited, because I think it's neat for them give teaser questions before the release to discuss about the questions during this 10 days, keeps us entertained before the release of the next instalment...since Teaser questions ends in 24th March, then maybe Monday 25th or Tuesday 26th will release part 2 of Prisoner of Azkaban.

talking about the 2nd instalment, it will be about 8 chapters, it's one more chapter than I expected, I thought would be in the last instalment, but there's more meaning to it than it looks...
2nd instalment will be consisted of Chapter 8 to Chapter 15, Chapter 15: Quidditch Final, right before chapter 16, "Chapter 16: Professor Trelawney's Prediction" , the 2nd instalment finishes a chapter before the book hits it's climax, I see what you did there...

PottermoreNews Interview Part 2: Charlie Redwayne

Pottermore News website released part 2 of the interview with Charlie Reedwayne - Pottermore Ceo.

Click Here To Read

Thoughts & Observations

I did already understood the interactive reading experience from beta to public would be quite hard (unlike some many complaining fans), engineering and computer programming is very hard, you have to understand many languages just to make it work in most browsers and interactive at the same time, also there is the artists working on it, putting the exclusive content in certain pages, etc.

I do always appreciate their hard work and I know it's very complex. =)

The hardest part was the huge pressure, I wonder who those were causing pressure *cough*cough*.

It seems I wasn't the only one a bit disappointed with Prisoner of Azkaban part 1 release...according to Charlie, they are trying to put on balance with timing like not with too much content right on the 1st part, I think it's what he means...
Now what bothers me a bit...:

We’ll also be rolling out into more territories. At the moment we’re in English, both in the U.S. and U.K., French, Italian, German and Spanish. The site will be rolling out in Japanese. At the moment only the Shop’s in Japanese. We’ll also be rolling out in South Korea and Brazil. Those I can guarantee, but we may be rolling out into more countries as well.

Otherwise, you will see [the e-books in other languages.] They may not have their own shop but there will definitely be shops for Korea and Brazil. In some of the other territories, we’re going to make the ebooks available from the existing stores.

Myself being a Portugal-native, it bothers me, I understand some of the reasons, Portugal signed the new orthographic accord which is very similar with brazilian portuguese, despite I do quite disagree, it's not for liking Brazil, I respect it a lot, but it's because of portuguese and latin culture and also the given portuguese language in Brazil it was by us, I just think is kinda unfair, I hope it comes to Portugal too, though I doubt...
the most interesting is here:

You will see new digital platforms – the Book of Spells on PlayStation is just the beginning of what we’ll do in Playstation and other platforms.

[All of the different experiences will be about] experiencing Pottermore on all the platforms and access for us to do so. [Pottermore] will continually evolve. One of the great privileges of running a digital business is that we’ll be talking about things next year which we didn’t even know we’re going to exist this year. We need to react to those opportunities and make sure we stay at the forefront of what we’re doing.

 so it's not only Book of Spells for Playstation, we're gonna have more? niiiiice, hope for PS3 again, though there is quite a chance for PSVita, now the other platforms besides playstation, does it mean other platforms exclusively Sony (tablets, hope not, they are very expensive)? or there will be others? I wonder, I wonder, it would be neat for Nintendo 3DS :D.

About Pottermore Shop new products and "experiences" and it's affiliation with Warner Bros., which it means there will be Pottermore exclusives, maybe a software (remember there is Warner Bros Games)? I wonder, I wonder.

as for the response from the criticism, some are unfair (such as the context, some expecting some MMO, when was clear it said reading experience, pushing and pushing, giving more pressure), others quite comprehensive such as the glitches and the house cups little probs and cheating and some users were accused unfairly...I want them to get better but also those who cheated being better people by not cheating for the house cup.

But ultimately, what it was always meant to be, was J.K. Rowling giving something back to her fans. Running a website that has so many millions of people using it for free is an immensely expensive undertaking and I hope it does have value because it is certainly something that J.K. Rowling is investing a huge amount of time and money in making sure it happens. Nothing like this has ever been done before and it is a groundbreaking adventure.

I  hope with this, fans stop being very picky, it's free, huge amount of work and money is being invested for something for free, the only thing to pay is to buy makes absolute sense being e-books, audio books, wonderbook- book of spells.

Pottermore is my favourite website then is Google, Pottermore is a website I don't go every week or every day, once awhile (I usually go for the ilustration and exclusive), they said they gonna put more stuff that can convince pottermore users come back not just for exclusive content, I look forward to see how and what they gonna do it.

it seems part 2 of Prisoner of Azkaban is coming March instead, I think our suspicions, they must be working very hard on Hogsmeade, I guess it's really what's gonna be unlocked in the superior left corner with a locket.

From Pottermore News website [Interview with Charlie Redmayne ; Pottermore CEO Part I]

To read the interview click here .

This post will be sort of an analysis and speculation according with this interview...
so we can say about...
the most interesting points of the interview:

PN: How do you plan to increase the site’s re-value? In other words, How do you plan to keep fans coming back to the site?CR: I think that’s a really good point, and I think it is a very valid criticism. The site currently resonates very well amongst really hardcore Harry Potter fans. Also, I think that the thing that really attracts them is the new content. When we put new content live, we see large numbers of people coming back, consuming that content. Then quite a lot of people don’t spend enough time, sort of coming back to the site until we have a new content release. So, I think the best way of answering that question is that we are aware of that, and you will see change. We will continue to evolve the site by adding new content to it for people to enjoy, new content from J.K. Rowling, and to have new stuff for the fans. There will also be other changes that we will start to make, to invite new Harry Potter fans to discover more about the world; people who may have only read a couple of the books or seen a couple of the movies. Pottermore needs to work for that audience too.

it's not surprising that everytime comes new exclusive content or content, large numbers comes to read the new content, it's interesting this points they noticed from us, what's most interests us, the kind of new stuff to come more people, some changes, I wonder what it will be...hmmm Marauder's Map and Hogsmeade would be nice.

I think that you will see some changes in not the immediate future, but in the quite near future, whereby there is more content, there is more interactive content, there is more freedom in terms of community, and there is more flexibility in how you get to content. At the moment, you have to go on a very rigid journey [to get to content]. I think that, for it to work really well, we need to kind of free up that and have some flexibility in that. I don’t want to say what we’re doing, but you’ll definitely see things changing, not immediately, but there are plans and we’re working on them. And I hope that by later in the year you will see the changes we have made will keep people coming back and we will also bring new fans to Harry Potter onto the site.

strategies...I guess the badges is one of them? does this means it will have more badges and some new interactive content, I wonder...

PN: Will the J.K. Rowling Exclusive Content on Pottermore stay solely on Pottermore, or will we be seeing it in book form?CR: Pottermore will evolve into a range of different digital platforms for people to spend time in, and J.K. Rowling’s Exclusive Content will appear in all of that. So if you look at, for instance, the Book of Spells, which is the new Sony product on Playstation3, it has new content from J.K. Rowling in it. But, as opposed to being published as a book or an e-book, it is being published as an augmented reality experience on Playstation. 

So I think you will see Pottermore on many different platforms, not just browser-based experiences, and what we will do is we will show that content using the functionalities of different devices that are available to make it the best possible experience. 

So there will be new ways of Pottermore, similar to Book of Spells for PS3 and our browser Pottermore, I have suspicions will have something related to tablets...I don't like much the idea if it will go there, it's a bit inevitable but not so much, I mean...tablets are very expensive, it would be too much of a risky move, so I wonder how this will work out, it has something of Sony product related.

if you continue, it's seems J.K. Rowling, our queen is quite involved in this Pottermore project, he said there will be new pottermore products, I wonder what it will be...we have the books, audio books, e-books, all of them, Wonderbook: Book of Spells, what else would it be? I'm so curious.