Movies based on video games have a strong tendency to suck. It’s unfortunate, but we’ve all seen it happen time and time again. Which is why I have such high hopes for the upcoming Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie which trailers really impressed me.
There’s also the fact that Jordan Mechner, the creator of the Prince of Persia franchise, is involved as head writer for the movie. In an interview with HeyUGuys (via WetDarkWild) he announced that be loves the new film and that he hopes gamers will too:
“Well, I hope they love it. I do. For me, Prince of Persia is the kind of movie that I’ve always loved – the ones that really inspired me to make games in the first place. It’s almost like an old fashioned, swashbuckling, romantic adventure.”
While he was never directly involved with the casting, he’s been very pleased with the final choices:
“Jake looks a lot like the prince in the game. He’s a great actor and I think for me he embodies a lot of the qualities that sort of define the kind of hero that I’ve always seen the Prince as. He’s a warrior, but he’s also got a sort of mischievous quality, a certain vulnerability and I think Jake brings that to the screen in a way that’s really appealing.
You know, I think Jake Gyllenhaal played Prince of Persia games. He was pretty into it. What’s interesting is that when I was in London to meet the craftspeople – the people behind the set design and costumes and so forth… all the people working behind the scenes. I found that a lot of them were real gamers and they were deeply into the Prince of Persia games.”
That final sentence really nails it for me. I think this movie’s going to rawk.
Ubisoft has released the first details on their latest addition to the Prince of Persia franchise, providing information to the trailer released this weekend.
Forgotten Sands – release May next year – is set to “expand the Prince of Persia universe with a new storyline, the introduction of new characters, and new powers of nature and time,” according to Ubisoft.
The game, which takes place between The Sands of Time and Warrior Within, sees the Prince visiting his brother’s kingdom after his adventures in Azad. Once there he finds the royal palace under siege by a mighty army.
“When the decision is made to use the ancient power of the Sand in a desperate gamble to save the kingdom from total annihilation, the Prince will embark on an epic adventure in which he will learn to bear the mantle of true leadership, and discover that great power often comes with a great cost,” says Ubisoft.
The game will be out on all platforms, but the Wii, DS and PSP versions will be “a different gaming experience” from the XBox 360 and PS3 versions.
Personally I want them to continue the storyline established in the previous Prince of Persia game. The reboot wasn’t that bad. Full list of features after the break.
The video game was already announced, but gamers had to wait until this weekend for a trailer to hit. In The Forgotten Sands, Ubisoft has elected to deviate from the storyline established in 2008’s Prince of Persia and is revisiting Sands of Time canon.
Not a lot is shown in the trailer, just a whole lot of sand and what appears to be the parkour style platforming the series is known for, though the graphics are not in-game. However, the trailer does give off a vibe of being a film tie-in. The Forgotten Sands is slated to hit stores at the same time as the upcoming Sands of Time movie by Mike Newell.
You can view the trailer after the cut.
A short while back we reported on a rumour about the upcoming announcement of a new Prince of Persia game. Well, the time of that announcement is now, as Ubisoft has confirmed a new title in the Prince of Persia franchise is being produced. Subtitled “The Forgotten Sands”, the new game will be released for “consoles and handhelds” May 2010. Other than that there are few details.
What’s interesting to note is that the storyline does not continue where Prince of Persia of 2008 left off. The Forgotten Sands returns to the Sands of Time storyline. How, you ask? Only Ubisoft knows. According to a tweet by Geoff Keighley a trailer for the game will be revealed at the VGAs on December 12.
As much as I love the Sands of Time series, why can’t Ubisoft just finish what they’ve started? They did this with Beyond Good and Evil as well. Why must you toy with our feelings so, Ubisoft?!
The net was abuzz yesterday about the possiblities of a new Prince of Persia game from Ubisoft, but the company is currently keeping mum on the whole thing.
At a preview event for the upcoming Prince of Persia film, an unnamed movie team member told Neoseeker that a new Prince of Persia game was set to be revealed in Spring 2010, but this person was very light on the details.
CVG was looking to check if the claims were true, but were issued a swift “no comment” from the developer/publisher.
Earlier this month it was also reported by Destructoid that PoP creator Jordan Mechner had filed of “Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands”.
Obviously all of this is mere speculation, but Ubisoft will have to wrap up their rebooted Prince of Persia franchise in some way or another. So I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that a new Prince of Persia is on its way. When, that’s a whole other issue.
And what is it with all the Prince of Persia news these days?
So, a trailer for the upcoming Prince of Persia movie has just been released, and by the looks of it, it will be far more faithful to the source material than the vast majority of video game movies have been up to now.
Take a look for yourself, and be your own judge.
As you may already know, there’s a Prince of Persia movie being made. It’s being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Donnie Brasco, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). Jordan Mechner, creator of the series, is also on board to oversee script rewrites and have the final say on how the adaptation is going to turn out.
According to a report from Neoseeker, a new Prince of Persia game will be announced by Ubisoft in the spring of next year. The news was confirmed at a trailer preview event for the movie at Bruckheimer studios.
“Our last bit of news is a juicy one: Ubisoft will be announcing a new Prince of Persia game in the spring, according to the team, but it’s not their place to give out any details.”
Awesome!
The Xbox Live Deal of the Week for Gold Subscribers this week is the Prince of Persia Epilogue DLC. Originally costing 800 MS points, it will not set you back 560 MS points if you buy it this week.
The DLC adds extra content and story past the ending off the game, closing off the cliff-hanger scene that you otherwise get upon completion of the game.
Highlights this week include the Watchmen game, the Prince of Persia Epilogue DLC, and the Burnout Paradise Toy Cars pack. alongside your usual dose of Rock Band and Guitar Hero music packs and many other things besides.
Main Content:
- Watchmen: The End is Nigh (Game) [£12.99]
- Watchmen: The End is Nigh (Demo) [Free]
- Wanted: Weapons of Fate (Demo) [Free]
- WWE Wrestlemain: Legends of Wrestling (Demo) [Free]
- No Gravity: The Plague of Mind (PSP Game) [£8.99]
- Prince of Persia: Epilogue (DLC) [£7.99]
- Burnout Paradise Toy Cars (DLC) [From £1.59 seperately to £7.99]
- Street Fighter IV Femme Fatale Pack (DLC) [£3.19]
- Lumines Supernova Classics Pack (DLC) [£3.19]
- Skate 2 Throwback Pack (DLC) [Free]
- Bruce Pack & Carmen Pack for High Velocity Bowling (DLC) [£0.79 each]
- Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm – Storm Pack II (DLC) [Free]
- Metal Gear Online – Scene Trailer (Video) [Free]
- F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin – Launch Trailer (Video) [Free]
- Crash Commando – Airbourne Assult Wallpaper (Wallpaper) [Free]
- Crash Commando – Maps Theme (Theme) [Free]
- LocoRoco 2 – Color Theme (Theme) [Free]
The Prince of Persia DLC, entitled Epilogue, has been delayed. This has been confirmed through Ubisoft’s twitter.
Epilogue was supposed to be released tomorrow, but has been pushed back to March 5. No explanation has been given as to why.
Rumours about Lego games surface quickly these days and another one has reared its round, yellow head.
In connection with the film adaptation of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Lego is releasing a line of toys based upon the film.
Yes, you read that right: a video game adaptation of a film adaptation of a video game. Though for now it’s just a rumour.
Downloadable content has become all the rage for game developers, and Ubisoft has decided to jump onto the bandwagon, by expanding their recent addition to a long beloved franchise; Prince of Persia.
The DLC will be titled “Epilogue” and “continues the story of the Prince and Elika with a brand-new epic adventure,” according to Ubisoft.
New stuff:
- New Region: The Underground Palace – A corrupted underground palace from which the Prince and Elika need to escape in a new epic journey.
- New Power: Energize – Reconstruct destroyed areas of the environment to create a path and rush through it before it vanishes.
- New high pace: The new trap challenge – The Prince and Elika will face more cunning foes, cleverer traps and level design, adding more to the difficulty level in over 3 hours of gameplay.
- New Attack: Sprinting Clash – A duel move that lets you or the enemy trigger a sprint attack, charging towards each other, clashing your weapons fiercely.
- New Unlockable Skins: Finish the game and unlock exclusively, from the early development of the game, the Prototype characters of the Prince and Elika.
A price has not been mentioned, but what we do know is the release date, which is February 26.
Full press release after the break
Welcome to TGV’s Evening Topic, where every day we present to you a topic for discussion of the various trends and issues within the gaming industry and culture..
Tonight, in our sophmore post we’ll be discussing a gameplay feature with roots further back than some might assume; Quick Time Events
Starting with the arcade version of Dragon’s Lair (1983) Quick Time Events (QTEs) have slowly become a trend in today’s modern games, usually as a means of giving the player a measure of control during cut scenes and other cinematic sequences. Some games do them well, others… not so much.
- Is there really a need for Quick Time Events in today’s games?
- Why has Quick Time Events become so popular recently?
Prince of Persia producer Ben Mattes, in an interview with N4G.com, firmly states there is no Wii version of the new PoP series in the works.
“The Wii version is non-existent,” said Mattes. “It’s just not a platform that we developed this game for.”
Ubisoft already has a solid DS development team, so a portable version of Prince of Persia made more sense:
“We knew we could do justice to a DS version,” he explained, “[one] that wouldn’t feel like some sort of watered down lame excuse of a port; it would really feel like its own standalone Prince of Persia property. And that was really important to us. We didn’t want to do a port on the DS — we wanted to do a standalone, unique experience that continued the overall story that this new Prince of Persia game is trying to setup.”
Though it should be mentioned that Mattes won’t completely rule out a future Prince of Persia on the Wii:
“I hope that we will see another Prince of Persia game on the Wii,” he said. “Because when I Rival Swords, I really liked the way the Prince’s movement translated to the Wii controls. I think that it’s really kind of a natural fit.”
Ubisoft producer Ben Mattes has confirmed that Prince of Persia downloadable content is definately in the works for for the new Prince of Persia… but then again, what game doesn’t have downloadable content nowadays?
“We certainly have plans for downloadable content, [but] we can’t really say more than that right now,” Mattes told Gamersyde in a recent video interview.
“The intention is to do downloadable content that adds significant value, so I don’t think you’ll see downloadable content of a new skin or a new weapon or something like that.”
“If we’re going to do it, it’s going to be a new story, a new experience, maybe a prequel, maybe a sequel – we’re going to do something that really offers a lot of value for the player. In terms of when: sometime next year – I’m not sure of exactly when, it’s all still in discussion.”
Prince of Persia is due out for Xbox 360 and PS3 on December 5th, and PC the week after.
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