(Our KidConfidence Blog is updated daily with articles written by us - Don, Cola and Thomas. However today we could not resist posting this excellent article from AP National Writer Hillel Italie.)

As the Harry Potter series wraps up this summer, we can look back at two remarkable narratives: Potter the boy wizard and Potter the cultural phenomenon.

Potter the wizard’s fate will be known July 21 with the release of “Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows,” Book 7 of J.K. Rowling’s fantasy epic. Worldwide sales of the first six books already top 325 million copies and the first printing for “Deathly Hallows” is 12 million in the United States alone.

Potter the phenomenon doesn’t compare for suspense, but like the wizard’s tale, it is unique and extraordinary and well placed in tradition. Like “Star Wars” and “Star Trek,” it is the story of how a work of popular art becomes a world of its own — imitated, merchandised and analyzed, immortalized not by the marketers, but by the fans.

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Carcassonne for Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a clever tile-laying game based on the very successful board game by Klaus-Juergen Wrede, published in 2000 by “Hans im Glueck” in German and “Rio Grande” in English. The board game won multiple awards including German “Game of the Year”. This prestigious award was created in 1978 to reward excellence in game design, and to promote top-quality games.

Carcassonne got its name from the southern French city of Carcassonne. The city is famous for it’s unique Roman and Medieval fortifications.

The game let’s players develop land and deploy their followers on roads as thieves, in cities as knights, in cloisters as monks and in the field as farmers. Players score points when cities, roads and cloisters are complete. The skill of the players to develop the area will determine who wins.

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Pokemon Battle Revolution is the first game that makes use of the wireless connectivity between the Nintendo Wii Console and the Handheld Nintendo DS.

Battle Revolution is a turn-based strategy game that let’s players import their beloved Pokemon’s from either Pokemon Pearl or Diamond, both on the DS. The imported Pokemon can then be used to battle against the computer, friends or online. Sadly, there are no online leader boards, stats or anything to keep track, which means no matter how good your Pokemon trainer skills are, there is no way to truly compare your skills against other players around the world.

Players who do not own the Pokemon Pearl or Diamond DS game will be able to choose from pre-made Trainers and Pokemon’s, however choices are limited.

We recommend the game for Die-Hard Pokemon fans that already spend countless hours raising their Pokemon in Pearl or Diamond. Pokemon newcomers should invest in a Pokemon DS Game rather then this expensive Wii game.

Visit our Pokemon Battle Revolution Review Page for Screenshots, Member Reviews and more.

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the movie-tie in game based on movie/book #5.

This latest installment of the successful Harry Potter video game franchise is without a doubt the best one yet. ElectronicArts UK used the movie set blue-prints to digitally recreate an absolutely amazing Hogwarts experience. Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and the rest of the movie cast provided the voice-over for their characters. The linear game play from earlier Harry Potter games has been replaced with an open- “choose what you want to do next” a.k.a. Sandbox, type game play.

The Motion Sensing Wii Mote makes for a natural Wand and while for the most part the controls work OK, we found that novice Wii players and kids may need some time getting used to the different motions and gestures required to cast the different spells. The game-play is compelling and easy, allowing players to control a variety of characters, aside from Harry Potter, throughout the game. The Wii’s lack of graphical horsepower is apparent, but Hogwarts still looks and feels great.

Overall, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a fun adventure game that will keep your kids entertained for many hours while they explore the grounds in and around Hogwarts.

Visit our Harry Potter OOTP Review Page for Screenshots, Member Reviews and more.

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Nintendo announced that starting next week (July 1st) the Internet Channel will cost 500 Wii Points which is the equivalent to $5.

KidConfidence recommends all Wii owners to download the browser before the deadline. The “Internet Channel” is available via the “Wii Shop Channel” under the “Wii Ware” Tab.

Simply follow our step by step video and/or screenshots.

Wii Internet Channel “How-to” Video:

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