Prince of Persia goes Next-Gen

[dogbert]

Ubisoft's announced that Prince of Persia is coming to the 'next gen' consoles this year, along with DS specific game.

 

Absolutely no info about it, bar some rumours that it's called "Prince of Persia Prodigy" based on some new trademarks, and these two alleged screens showing a new cel shaded look from WorthPlaying.com:

 

[foogledricks]

Prior to the existence of this screenshot I read or heard that PoP would receiver a new illustrative arts tyle. So I'm assuming this is not a fake. This type of art style is spotty for me. I usually don't like it much. It usually looks less like a cartoon and more like a photorealistic game that has been painted over like those stupid commercials.

[dogbert]

Turns out the actual source of those images is a French magazine called Joypad. Here's more info... And from GAF, some info roughly translated from the magazine:

 

- Prince feels Amano-inspired. Looks like a celluloid/animated character (a bit like SFIV). The style itself is still in progress.

- Corrupted world needs to be healed.

- Story is much more "1001 Nights"-like, more fantasy, less grounded in reality but instead more magical yet still credible, more poetic.

- Player must unleash light-wells to heal the corrupted world, which shoots light into the sky, reminiscent of SotC and Okami.

- The transformation of the world is in real-time, with plants growing back to life as the world heals back and as the player can still move, instead of a mere cutscene, sky changes back to its normal color, etc., to give a strong sense of control and success to the player.

- No more time rewind and such.

- They are no making a second Assassin's Creed, they are making a new PoP.

- Art style was difficult pass through the management, but they never refused it, and eventually loved it.

- Story specifically: Orhmaz and Arhiman, twin gods, one good one evil, celestial battle, Orhmaz locks Arhiman away in a box which he hides into an faraway oasis deep within a desert. Centuries pass, and comes a troublesome thief (the prince) and Arhiman is freed somehow (not deep explanation given). Prince must undo his mistake. This is what they refer to as a more "1001 Nights" kind of story, like a fable.

- More open/organic environments. Has a Zelda-esque feel, old-school in themes.

- Bosses/player use backgrounds during fights (one shot shows an enemy pushing the prince against a wall as if trying to choke him, or another throwing him in the air).

- Game went through a few iterations; originally too open (felt big but not enough to do), at one point it was more like Assassin as far as open world (going where you want), but players would get lost and wander aimlessly and dynamism suffered as a result. Now instead it is more focussed with a clear road, but multiple paths can be taken (free to move from one map to another, back and forth, etc., more open than previous PoPs).

- The demo map shown to the journalist, old of a few months, has been scrapped design-wise because it was too Assassin-like, now it's more fantasy design-wise.

- Game world is made of nodes connected by paths, and you can go from one node to another as you wish (this is what they mean by less open, but non-linear; you can see the paths, but you don't have to going from A to B to C). The game adapts as a result (enemies from later visited locations might be more difficult, etc., for example zone A might be more difficult if you access it at the end, but if you accessed it at the beginning then it is easier, even bosses, depending on what order you fight them, adapt as such).

- Prince can slide along any walls using his glove. Game is as much vertical as horizontal.

- Prince has more possibilities of movement.

- Bosses inspired by MGS' boss quality; they are fewer but they have a story, a reason to be, they leave more of an impression on the player. Some are former nobles, sometimes acting against their will.

- They wondered if they should make just more enemies and try to do a God of War game and try to beat it on its own ground, or go for something different. They went with fewer enemies instead and a new combat style. Combats are duels. You can see the expression on the faces of the characters/bosses. Movement/action in fights is more like Advent Children, more cinematic in presentation.

- 140 people working on it, more to come, people from many projects.

[foogledricks]

Strange writeup. Seems way more insider than usual. Interesting.

[Magness]

I really like the whole PoP series and thought the SoT trilogy was pretty awesome overall so, I'm definitely looking forward to this title/ A must-Buy for me... unless something convinces me otherwise before release.

[Romier S]

New shots (at least some of them):

 

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http://games.tiscali.cz/news/news.asp?id=27625&r=top

[Angry the Clown]

That's looking rather nice.

[King of All Cosmos]

Love the cel-shading.

[Romier S]

Here's the new trailer (no gameplay unfortunately):

 

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/34503.html

[Romier S]

New screenshots and preview over at IGN.

 

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/888/888598p1.html

 

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:jaw

 

Stunning. Just stunning. I want to see this in motion!

[foogledricks]

Reminds me of 2D animation. Where the characters on the foreground are clearly separate from the background. Do you see that?

[Covak]

That looks beautiful Even better than the first shots which already had me excited.

[Angry the Clown]

I want to see this in motion!

 

Here you go. A new trailer (with some Sigur Ros which compliments it rather nicely):

 

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/36270.html

 

Personally I don't think the sketched/painted quality from the stills translates quite as vividly when seeing it in motion - which isn't to say it doesn't look pretty by any means (there are some beautiful effects in the fight footage). Decent trailer.

[Cyberwoo]

I thought that looked great. Could do without the Sigur Ros music though. I've tried to give their music a chance as I do like some of their music but as soon as they start "singing" like a bunch of drugged up hippies I just get anoyed and turn it off. They are just way too pretentious for me.

[Camp]

Looks better in motion, IMO. Works well with the Sigur Ros too. Not sure how they are pretentious unless you speak Icelandic.

[Romier S]

Not sure how they are pretentious unless you speak Icelandic.

Agreed. I enjoy thier music. I'll give the trailer a view later today.

[glaurung]

wow....incredible. love the watercolor intro/outro.

 

and the music.

[Dan B.]

The game looks great in motion. The acrobatics look even better than the previous POP/Assasin's stuff.

[Dan B.]

Here's a gameplay demo:

http://www.g4tv.com/e32008/videos/27013/Exclusive_Hands_On_Prince_of_Persia.html

 

PS Was Olivia drunk?

[Paul]

I saw the demo on G4 last night. This game went from mildly interesting to must buy. I love the new look and the gameplay looks tight.

[Romier S]

GIMME! GIMME! 7 minutes of Prince of Persia

 

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/38687.html

 

I'll say again that adore the art style. I need to see stuff like this cause these trailers just have me going crazy for the latter half of this year to get here already. The good stuff is FINALLY coming.

[JoeyN]

:drooling:drooling

[Romier S]

Nice preorder bonus for this. You get an automatice free upgrade to the limited edition.

 

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/907/907132p1.html

 

September 2, 2008 - Today, Ubisoft announced that gamers who pre-order the new Prince of Persia title in North America will receive a FREE upgraded Limited Edition version of the game.

 

The FREE Limited Edition Upgrade is only available by pre-ordering and will include in addition to the regular SKU:

 

* Collectable Limited Edition packaging

* An exclusive look at the making of Prince of Persia

* A Prima digital mini-strategy guide full of developer's secrets to help players master the year's best action-adventure game

* A digital art book that chronicles the game's journey from concept to winner of Best Artistic Design at E3 2008

* The original soundtrack scored by master composer Inon Zur

* And much more.

 

 

Additionally, Ubisoft announced a partnership with Penny Arcade for the creation of a comic book based on the new Prince of Persia title. Penny Arcade, known for creating short video game-based comics, has accepted this sizable project as a response to their readers' overwhelming excitement about Prince of Persia's fresh new artistic style.

 

The expanded 32-page comic book will span roughly four times longer than the usual Penny Arcade comic and will allow the Prince's story to be creatively told in a robust, illustrative format. The comic book will also give readers a unique knowledge of the new Prince of Persia game as well as an enhanced understanding as to the relationship between Elika and the Prince.

 

Prince of Persia will be available Holiday 2008 for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and PC. Also available this holiday exclusively for the Nintendo DS system, Prince of Persia: The Fallen King will complement the version coming out on consoles and PC

[dogbert]

It's a nice move by Ubisoft, but it shows the negligible costs involved in these 'run of the mill' limited editions - most of the items listed have almost no cost to the company, particularly if the soundtrack ends up being some sort of digital download. Still, it's a nice move.

 

I'm sure getting extra guaranteed sales this far in advance, helping the game with retailers, is nothing to do with it of course.

[Romier S]

Cripes, I love Ubisoft trailers from this team anymore (The Assasin's Creed trailers were fantastic). Love the song...

 

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41112.html

 

It's "Breathe Me" by Sia for those wondering. Never heard it before today...