Now here's an interesting twist on your average game video – Ubisoft has created a "guided tour" of the first area from its jaw-dropping, new-gen Prince of Persia. In fact, it's the entire first zone of the game, and the same area we played at this year's E3.

In it, you'll see the tweaks made to the series' platforming style, the ways in which the Prince's partner, Elika, aids him, and the strategic combat system used during battles with zone bosses. Oh, and did we mention it's drop-dead gorgeous? It doesn't hurt that it's already playing great, either.

Down in front! Watch as some guy's head almost steals the spotlight from the Prince ... almost. Be sure to stick around for the slick Okami-esque effects near the end (warning: they're after the lame voice work.).

Well, Joystiq Biomass, we need your help. JustJared nabbed these, the first pics of Jake Gyllenhaal as Dastan in the upcoming Prince of Persia film. What we need your help on figuring out is if we're excited by these pictures or not.

No, we don't mean sexually excited, that's obvious. (Look at him!) No, we mean from a fanboy point of view. Is this close enough to your vision of the Prince to let you be a little hopeful? Or is the director's disregard for the source material still a deal breaker?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Alright, that was mean of us. Never fear, for the delightful Prince of Persia we fell in love with at E3 is still set for a Holiday 2008 release on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The one headed to movie theaters, however, has been pushed back a year to May 28, 2010, according to ComingSoon.net. Reasons for the delay were not made apparent.

In case you haven't been keeping up with the project, have at these pertinent Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time facts:

• It stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina.
• It's produced by Jerry "more 'splosions" Bruckheimer.
• It's directed by a man who's having his assistant play the game.
• It's "not a video game movie."
• It is a movie based on a video game.
  

Before turning his attention (and game design skills) to platforming persian princes, Jordan Mechner was all about asian martial arts and a game called Karateka. It was his first game, in fact, and according to comments he made during a Comic-Con 2008 panel, will also be his next.

Gamasutra reports that, when asked about his freshman effort, Mechner replied: "There actually is a plan to bring back Karateka. It's a project I'm going to be involved in." Just to make things mysterious, he added: "I can safely say it's not going to be in the way you expect."

We'd expect a 3D reimagining of the side-scroller, which is best remembered for its (at the time) stunning animation. We wouldn't expect an RPG, FPS, RTS, or MMO. Hey, maybe it will be a Karateka FPSRTSMMORPG? Actually, lose everything but the "RPG" (think Jade Empire) and we may have a winner.

We were ready to be disappointed by Ubisoft's new portable Prince of Persia, largely because the protagonist bears a striking resemblance to an Oompa-Loompa. But the charming, colorful animations won us over, as did what appears to be a pretty full utilization of the DS's touch-screen capabilities.

It was then we realized what wasn't included in the trailer: Our almost comically meaty hands. Now we're in doubt that we'll be able to see any of the on-screen action behind our mitts, leaving us just as nervous about the game as when we started. So, we'll rely on your judgment: How's it looking to you?

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.

Say what you will about him, but we think new Prince of Persia has already achieved quite a lot. Most notably, he's totally made us forget about old Prince of Persia, thanks in no small part to old Prince's ever-increasing resemblance to Criss Angel. Apparently though, Ubisoft still isn't satisfied, asking fans to come up with yet another hurdle for new Prince to overcome.

Right now, you can cast your vote and help select between three different 360 achievements on Ubisoft's website. They all make sense (master combos, run through a level, etc.) but after consulting the above picture, we'd like to suggest a more obvious choice: Find that girl's legs.

With "bigger and better" becoming a mantra of sorts for modern game design, it seems only logical for the developers and publishers of our favorite blockbusters to expand their operations in tandem with their goals. Speaking to Develop, Ubisoft head of global development, Christine Burgess-Quémard, has said that the Tom Clancy and Prince of Persia publisher is always looking to widen its worldwide business.

"We want to continue our strategy of innovation, and in order to do that, we need to have more people and generate more business," she explained. "Every blockbuster we work on, we invest in new studios, new teams and new projects." As for measuring up to rival monoliths, EA and Activision Blizzard, Burgess-Quémard states that Ubisoft (or is that Take-Twobisoft?) won't be caught resting on its laurels. "We are in the race, definitely – and we're not in it to come last."

Now, please remember the other half of the aforementioned mantra, Ubi. Bigger and better. We could certainly do with fewer giant corporations pumping pollution into our virtual environments.

In an upcoming interview with Videogaming247, Prince of Persia's "community development manager" Chris Easton apparently backtracks from producer Ben Mattes' assertion that there would be no co-op support, despite the clearly cooperative gameplay between the prince and Elika, his deadly new ally.

Easton told the site, "There are no plans for co-op as of now, but we may explore the possibility" – which, according to our Noncommittal Marketing Speak to English dictionary, puts the chances of co-op being added into the game somewhere between "not happening" and "potentially not not happening." For what it's worth, Joystiq would like to throw its full support behind adding more gameplay options to highly anticipated games. We know that sounds radical, but that's just how we feel.

Jerry Bruckheimer's Prince of Persia adaptation has picked up two more high-profile actors. Alfred Molina and Ben Kingsley have been cast, according to Variety. They join the previously announced Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arteron who play Dastan, the 6th-century Persian prince, and Tamina, respectively.

Molina will portray Sheik Amar, who becomes a mentor to Dastan and shows him how to use metallic tentacle arms to his advantage. Kingsley's role is currently unknown, though /Film is predicting he'll portray the villain Vizier (that's assuming they retain any of the PoP storyline). Although the casting of the prince is complete, we're still hoping actor, swordfighter and actual Persian prince David Zandi uses his magical time-bending dagger to somehow nab the lead role.

[Via Cinematical]

Ubisoft wasn't showing off much of its new Prince of Persia title at the Ubidays event in San Francisco earlier this month, but it did trot out producer Ben Mattes to acrobatically dodge – and sometimes answer – the queries of a room full of journalists left unsated by the beautiful, if not particularly informative, CGI teaser trailer.

First, what do we call it? Though the Ubidays press materials listed the title's name as Prince of Persia Prodigy, the very same name recently trademarked by the IP-owner Jordan Mechner, Mattes wouldn't confirm that that was the final title: "I don't think we've announced the final title."

If you're still unable to wrap your head around where this new prince fits into the existing franchise, Mattes wants you to forget about everything that's come before. "The Sands of Time trilogy is over. We're finished that story," he explains for what we're guessing is the hundredth time that day. "It's a new prince, with new challenges. There's no chronological connection with what's gone on in the past."

If you're interested in owning an HD copy of the Beyond Good & Evil 2 teaser trailer (and really, who isn't?), our file sharing friends at BigDownload (Update: and GameDaily) are offering all the HD trailers from yesterday's Ubidays 2008 event as, erm, big downloads. Check out all the trailers below, including two Prince of Persia speed sketches of the Prince and Elika (here's a game: count the number of times the artist changes brush settings).

• Beyond Good & Evil 2 teaser (217 MB)
• Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway trailer (111 MB)
• Prince of Persia teaser (62 MB)
• Prince of Persia speed drawing: Prince (9.4 MB)
• Prince of Persia speed drawing: Elika (13 MB)
• Raving Rabbids TV Party gameplay trailer (59 MB)
• Raving Rabbids TV Party teaser (55 MB)
• Tom Clancy's EndWar trailer (111 MB)
• Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. trailer (181 MB)
• Shaun White Snowboarding intro (150 MB)
• Shaun White Snowboarding trailer (110 MB)
• Soul Calibur IV Yoda gameplay trailer (25 MB)
• Soul Calibur IV Darth Vader gameplay trailer (31 MB)
• Soul Calibur IV cinematical trailer (106 MB)

Rabbids, Persian Princes and Beyond Good & Evil 2? Check out all our coverage (and a bountiful amount of screenshots) from Ubisoft's Ubidays 2008 event.

Take a close look at this concept art for the new Prince of Persia. Does it seem familiar? To us, the model is unmistakably reminiscent of actress Natalie Portman. Some, but not all, of that familiarity has transferred over to the in-game model. Was Portman an artistic inspiration? Is she directly involved? Our attempts to reach Ubisoft's Montreal offices resulted in failure.

The use of real-life personalities in games and game design is not unprecedented. The default Commander Shepherd model in Mass Effect is based on Dutch model Mark Vanderloo. Chell, the protagonist in Portal, is based on voice actress Alésia Glidewell, and Kristen Bell not only provided her likeness but also voiced a character in Assassin's Creed. Not to mention, of course, nearly every video game based on a movie or TV show.

Rabbids, Persian Princes and Beyond Good & Evil 2? Check out all our coverage (and a bountiful amount of screenshots) from Ubisoft's Ubidays 2008 event.

More rabbids! More abso-freaking-lutely gorgeous new Prince of Persia screens! More Beyond Good & Evil! There's been a lot of great eye candy coming out of Ubisoft's Ubidays 2008 Event. Check out all the new screenshots below (also after the break).