As promised, Ubisoft has unveiled a portable companion piece to this holiday's new-gen Prince of Persia, dubbing the pint-sized platformer "Prince of Persia: The Fallen King." Featuring an independent storyline and "unique stylus controls" (natch), The Fallen King sees the agile -- and now adorable -- acrobat foiling a mean ol' corruption that has encroached on every corner of the kingdom. Presumably, you'll also help some sort of king to get up.
Joining the prince in his wall-running adventures is "mysterious new ally" and playable character, Magus. He'll (it'll?) apparently use magical powers to help you overcome all manner of devious traps and puzzles. With the aid of Ubisoft's Casablanca studio, this little prince will join his big brother on shelves just in time for Holiday 2008.
Well, it's nice having a deadly new thing on your side for a change. Ubisoft's teaser video for the new Prince of Persia, hitting Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC this holiday season, doesn't reveal much, but it does provide a glimpse of the title's touted, open world and the princely protagonist's lovely assistant, Elika.
An Ubisoft rep tells us, "We haven't officially released any screenshots online for PoP" -- kinda hard to believe when there's a fresh cluster warming up the server on Czech Republic site Tiscali Games. (There's a preview too, in Czech -- and here's Google's best effort.) While the images look virtually identical to those seen in the leaked Joypad feature from last month, being online screenshots, these new offerings have an obvious advantage over the scans we were forced to make due with previously. As for when Ubi plans the official release of screenshots online: "All screens and artwork will be available on the Ubidays press kit on Wednesday, May 28th."
In addition, we've posted a new "Speed Art" trailer after the break, depicting Elika, a "powerful companion who accompanies the Prince throughout the game." Elika will apparently be integrated into the actual gameplay, assisting with acrobatics and combat. Just think of her as the new Dominic Santiago, you know, minus the Hispanic meathead part.
Sure, Microsoft may be living it up with the Xbox 360 Spring Showcase, but let's not forget about Nintendo's WiiWare launch this past Monday. Our friends at Nintendo Wii Fanboy have been churning out reviews and impressions to give you an idea of what to expect.
Lost Winds (review) "Without a doubt, LostWinds is like finding a diamond-encrusted Hummer in your box of corn flakes." (Gallery)
Though it's been officially announced for a Holiday 2008 release, Ubisoft's next and "next-gen" Prince of Persia hasn't been glimpsed outside of some leaked concept art (seen above). Of course, that's not a situation the internet can tolerate for very long, with alleged magazine scans of the royal wall runner already popping up on several sites. New information and images, reportedly emerging from the pages of French mag, Joypad, reveal the cel-shaded prince leaping through several stunning environments.
A loose (and unconfirmed) French translation from the NeoGAF forum indicate that our acrobatic pal has gone and done something regrettable again -- this time he's let an evil god out of its box and needs to restore the corrupted world (a la Okami) bit by bit. Quick, rewind the time! Oh, wait, that's supposedly not in the game anymore. Instead, it seems the Ubisoft Montreal team has started anew, with more open levels ("multiple paths can be taken"), a greater reliance on the environment ("Prince can slide along any walls using his glove") and fewer, more memorable bosses "inspired by" Metal Gear Solid. It's not specified whether you'll have to change wireless controller channels to defeat any of them.
Read -- NeoGAF translation (the forum is currently down) Read -- Prince of Persia screens
Trademork brings us word that Jordan Mechner, creator of wall-running time reverser, Prince of Persia, has filed to protect a new trademark. "Prince of Persia Prodigy" is now listed in relation to "game software and electronic game programs; electronic game software for mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and handheld computers." With Ubisoft suggesting that a new entry in the franchise is due to PoP up on modern consoles, one could speculate that "Prodigy" will serve as a subtitle to the royal acrobat's next adventure. One could also speculate that it implies a tie-in with the electropunk group of the same name, taking us back to the dark and angst-ridden tone of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. That being the case, one should hope that one counts the number of people seriously considering such a project.
A second paragraph of speculation might also draw a connection between the trademark and next year's "not a video game movie" adaptation of Prince of Persia. How could anybody resist a game based on a movie based on a game?
WiiWare will include casual, simple, and hopefully cheap titles with its upcoming release outside of Japan. While some of the Wiiware efforts on display at the Nintendo Media Summit impressed and surprised me, I was more ambivalent about Pop.
The simple game is just about pointing and clicking on bubbles that drift by. Click a bunch of like-colors in a row, and rack up a bonus score that's activated when you pop a different-colored bubble. Miss the bubbles completely, and the count-down timer jumps ahead, moving closer to the end of the game. The only other catch is that your potential points and time keep rising with bubble-popping combos, but they aren't added to the game until you break the run. Get too greedy, and you'll run out of time.
The transition between video game and film is typically no different than one of those trap-laden corridors Ubisoft's princely protagonist dashes through on a regular basis. Though we yearn to say otherwise, Disney's Prince of Persia: Sands of Time film hasn't shown to be particularly adept at running the gauntlet. Coupling mega producer Jerry Bruckheimer's involvement with director Mike Newell's promise (of having his assistant play through the game) leads us to believe that the crew has fallen into the very first pit and succumbed to one of those spinning blade thingies.
Still, we'd best give them a chance to finish shooting in Morocco this June, which Variety notes will have a positive effect on the North African film business. Scenes for the Jeffrey Nachmanoff- and Jordan Mechner-written project will also be filmed at the UK's Pinewood Shepperton studios. Cross your fingers and hope for something more than a literal explosion of bullet-time sword fights, churlish chariot chases and liberal lingering on Farah's faucets.
As if VH1's I Love the '90s and The Simpsons'recent '90s-stalgia episode weren't bad enough, Sony is helping us feel incredibly old with the announcement of Singstar '90s. The new karaoke collection, which goes on sales March 12 for the PS2, features Boyz 2 Men, New Kids on the Block, Spin Doctors and other artists that were popular in a decade that only ended eight years ago for goodness sakes.
Speaking of old age, we've been approaching it rapidly as we wait for the oft-delayed PS3 edition of Singstar, which an IGN interview reveals is now set for a May release in the U.S. That same interview also reveals the existence of Singstar Pop, Vol. 2, also coming in May for the PS2. We just hope our new dentures don't adversely affect our singing voices by then.
Writers -- the unsung heroes of television detective work! Sprinkling logic crumbs throughout the investigation and frequently bending reality to ensure those pesky crooks get captured, the behind-the-scenes scribes are the ones doing the real dirty work. Witness the investigative team of NBC "Life" being given a bona fide boon in the improbable decision of a drug dealer to hide incriminating files inside his console, which we're helpfully informed is "just a hard drive with games on it." Accessing the evidence requires an embarrassing plot device yanked straight from the zeitgeist: The detectives must dramatically reach "Level 10" in Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, preferably with the aid of a stealth gurrrl gamer.
Variety reports that mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer has offered director duties for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time to Mike Newell. Although Newell directed Four Weddings and a Funeral and Donnie Brasco, we're guessing Bruckheimer is tapping Newell because of his work with Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Newell is currently meeting with Disney studio execs this week and an announcement will probably be made shortly thereafter.
The script for Prince of Persia was written by Jeffrey Nachmanoff (The Day After Tomorrow) and PoP creator Jordan Mechner. All we can say at this point is this movie is sounding like a popcorn munching friendly theater experience.
The official website of film production company Legendary Pictures has recently been updated to reflect a Diablo movie entering development alongside the previously announcedWorld of Warcraft film. As far as game-to-film adaptations go, Blizzard's demonic role-player probably represents one of the better properties to mine, certainly ranking above The Sims and Dead or Alive. Examining the group's lineup of completed films, which includes Batman Begins and 300, vaguely instills some confidence in this adaptation, but we think you'll find the hands of movie executives usually have a way of wringing that out of you.
No other information about the Diablo film has been disclosed, though it seems a fair guess that it'll have the eponymous villain attempting to wreck the world, only to be foiled by a floating arrow constantly jabbing at his head. Blizzard was unavailable for comment at the time of writing -- presumably off shoving large jewels into their skulls.
Ubisoft has told Eurogamer that June 13th's Xbox Live Arcade release will indeed be the revered and now revitalized royalty of platformers, Prince of Persia Classic. First glimpsed in April, the game looks to be a beautiful remake of the first landmark adventure, taking place well before all those "time is an ocean in a storm" shenanigans. As such, you should expect to swig potions, swing swords and plummet down extraordinarily deep chasms on a frequent basis as you attempt to rescue the Princess of Persia... or Posture, by the looks of it.
No announcement regarding the price has been made, but 800 MS points ($10) would be a fair guess. Funnily enough, the game's value is inversely proportional to your platforming prowess. Perhaps it's best you don't finish the adventure within the traditional one hour time limit. We'll update this post once we learn the final details.
Posts with tag PoP
WiiWare will include casual, simple, and hopefully cheap titles with its upcoming release outside of Japan. While some of the Wiiware efforts on display at the Nintendo Media Summit impressed and surprised me, I was more ambivalent about Pop.
As if VH1's I Love the '90s and The Simpsons' recent '90s-stalgia episode weren't bad enough, Sony is helping us feel incredibly old with the announcement of Singstar '90s. The new karaoke collection, which goes on sales March 12 for the PS2, features Boyz 2 Men, New Kids on the Block, Spin Doctors and other artists that were popular in a decade that only ended eight years ago for goodness sakes.
