Though the combination of the two hasn’t always been well received in the past, Sony’s video gaming arm has announced its latest attempt at porting the world of Harry Potter to the Playstation: the company will partner with J. K. Rowling’s Pottermore site for a social gaming initiative on Playstation Home, the online gaming hub of the PS3. Initially, the venture will see a selection of environments known to fans of the books opened up for virtual exploration – Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts Express are two of the first to be named – and used as locations for assorted games and other interactive experiences, including such Potter universe staples as duelling, collecting trading cards, picking out an owl or other appropriately magical animal and shopping for Hogwarts essentials.

The Bookseller quotes Charles Redmayne, chief exec of Pottermore, as saying: ‘Pottermore reaches across multiple digital platforms, and Sony’s partnership 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 [also with Sony], this is another example of the creative collaborations Pottermore is developing to bring the world of Harry Potter even more ingeniously to life.’ See kids? You didn’t need your imagination after all, because computers are here to do all that for you. ‘So long, sucker!’ you’ll cry, as it floats away, refusing to be tethered by ethernet cables or any kind of cloud that stores data but isn’t made of marshmallow.

In other, ostensibly more grown-up Rowling news, the Potter creator’s 2012 novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy, has seen details of its paperback edition released by Little, Brown. The book – whose sales didn’t really seem to suffer particularly from the usual ‘wait for the paperback’ crowd – will be published worldwide on 18 July, ten months after its initial release.