Xbox 360 Fanboy

During the Ubisoft Press Conference the lead producer of Prince of Persia detailed the Prince's support character, Elika. Using her magical powers, Elika can help the Prince perform longer jumps, double jumps and even in combat where both characters fight in tandem to destroy enemies with stylistic combo moves. In the demo shown, Elika proves she can take care of herself -- thankfully no Ico-style hand holding is required. Each enemy in the game is designed to be a challenge. Gone are the days of introductory baddies sprinkled throughout the world and all that remains are a steady stream of equally difficult adversaries which Ubisoft hopes will make every battle a cinematic and dramatic experience. Ubisoft also promises, because each battle is built to be dramatic, players will never fight more than one enemy at a time.

Elika also can support the Prince by pulling him from his death. Anytime the player is about to die a short scene will show Elika pull the Prince out of his fate and back onto a safe place in the world. Essentially this is what replaces the ability to rewind mistakes, but no mention of limitation was mentioned (like running out of sand in The Sands of Time). Prince of Persia also sports an open world structure which allows players to choose the path they take which, according to Ubisoft, will dynamically change the story of the game.

Prince of Persia is slated to release this Holiday season.

Ubisoft has been a doing a pretty good job with the marketing of the new Prince of Persia game. It's not easy to build hype by slowly doling out new screens, info and more without revealing too much or over-promising. While that sometimes means that news of the game comes in some strange forms (like speed art) they're well done and provide some good background to the game and world the team is working on.

The above video is of an enemy called the hunter (not from Halo kids) and includes some interesting backstory too. A second speedpaint video embedded after the break is of the Prince's female companion, Elika.

Owned. Literally. The stylized look of the Sin City movie was (and still is) quite iconic. With the second movie yet to be made, Frank Miller tied up shooting The Spirit, and now the purchasing of the studio that does the effects, just how much influence does that style hold for the future?

After its acquisition by Ubisoft, Hybride Technologies will supposedly continue to work with its movie partners, but will also work on bringing some of Ubisoft's IP's to the big screen. While this does seem quite out of character for a video game publisher, and it seems even weirder considering how Tom Clancy happy Ubisoft is, but it does open some interesting doors for that Prince of Persia movie.

To go with the pixelated video from earlier, we've got a few much better looking screen shots from the new Prince of Persia game. While the shots don't exactly reveal anything new (and their origination on a message board smells a tad like viral marketing) they do reaffirm the amazing use of cel shading that the Assassin's Creed team has been able to pull off.

The three new screens are also accompanied by a few artworks of some monsters that remind us vaguely of Ico, as well some more traditional art of the new Prince and his companion.

As you you are well aware thanks to this blog's helpfully descriptive title, there's a new Prince of Persia video making the internet rounds, showcasing the game's first in-game footage. Allegedly. Though, before you get too excited, be well aware that the video is both off-screen and is nothing more than the camera circling around the prince. To be honest, it's quite a bad video showing us absolutely nothing new or exciting. But it is a Prince of Persia video (allegedly), so we figured we'd share. And for those who, just like us, aren't impressed by the low quality video leakage, we have achievement news for you. Remember Ubisoft's achievement vote? Well, voting is now complete and "Combat King" won. Yippy yippy!

[Via NeoGAF]

These days, achievements are getting to be a big deal among 360 gamers, so much so that Ubisoft and their Prince of Persia dev team have noticed and want your achievement opinion.

Over on the official Prince of Persia webspace, Ubisoft is asking fans of the series to vote on their favorite of three possible achievements to include in the upcoming release of Prodigy. You know, to thank the community for supporting the franchise, etc. etc. So, to cast your achievement vote, simply make the jump and use your Ubisoft account to choose your favorite achievement, either "Longest Grip Fall", "Xkm" or "Combo Specialist". Then, come July 1st, Ubi will announce the winning achievement thus giving fanboys across the globe a warm-fuzzy knowing that they participated in the implementation of a Prince of Persia achievement. Joy!

[Via Major Nelson]

Hey, remember how that new cel-shaded Prince of Persia game features not only the Prince but a new AI controlled partner named Elika? Wouldn't it be cool if a second player could plug in a controller and play as her? We think it would be cool. If you think so too, then we have some potentially good news for you. Speaking to Videogaming247, Prince of Persia community development manager Chris Easton has stated, "There are no plans for co-op as of now, but we may explore the possibility."

So, in other words, the game might, might have co-op. However, given that the game is scheduled to release this holiday, if co-op hasn't even been planned thus far, we're not counting on it. Here's hoping.

[Via Joystiq]

By now you've undoubtedly seen the trailers for Beyond Good & Evil 2, Prince of Persia and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X., but more than likely you've only witnessed the Ubisoft library in standard def blurriness. Well our little brother site , Big Download has you covered with high-def downloads for all of Ubisoft's upcoming games.

Head over to Big Download now, or click on each title below to bring you to its respective download page.

Beyond Good & Evil 2
Teaser

Prince of Persia
Teaser
Speed Drawing (Prince)
Speed Drawing (Elika, the Prince's new ally)

Shaun White Snowboarding
Intro
Trailer

Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
Trailer

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
Trailer

As the embargo for Ubidays ends and news about the new Prince of Persia game begins to flood the tubes, the more promise the game seems to have. Ubisoft Montreal is looking to refresh the franchise by taking elements from everything from Ico to Assassin's Creed. The main change is the female character, Elika, who will be your AI companion through the game, similar to Yorda from Ico.

Unlike Yorda however, Ubisoft Montreal is looking to make Elika only helpful and never detrimental. As seen in the trailer Elika is now the source of many of your time powers, and she'll be intergal to the new combat system. The new system focuses entirely on single combat and you'll never find yourself in any fight that isn't a duel. Ubisoft is making some big changes with this one, lets hope it's a success!

Since the reveal the that franchise would be continuing in a different form, the cel-shaded look has received both admiration and criticism. Unfortunately, there were only magazine scans until now, and with hi res direct shots of the game the debate about the graphical style at least has some sort of shared resources. Whether you you like the style or not, the shots are worth a look and obviously have some good art direction behind them.

Click below readers!

Just when you think Hollywood is getting hip to how game movies should be you're pushed down the well of reality. According to the Hollywood Reporter Jake Gyllenhaal, of Donne Darko fame, has been cast as the lead in Jerry Bruckheimer's produced adaptation of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. To be fair, that's not what we're scratching our heads at.

In the announcement Gyllenhaal is said to be cast as Dastan, for the first time naming the Prince since he was imagined by Jordan Mechner in 1989. Joining Gyllenhaal is Gemma Arterton who plays Dastan's love interest--the beautiful Princess Tamina. Yeah, they changed that name too. We don't know why the changes are needed, but we're sure to find out soon.

In the film Dastan and Tamina join forces to prevent an evil nobleman from stealing the Sands of Time, which, remainning true to the game it's based on, allows its wielder to reverse the flow of time.

Directed by Mike Newell, no relation to Gabe, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is set to begin filming in Morocco this July.

[via Big Download]

Do you like art? We here at X3F absolutely do, especially when it has to do with a game that sounds great and that we don't know a whole lot about yet. In a sped-up video of Ubisoft's character artist working his magic, we watch as twenty minutes (amazing!) of work flies by in about a minute, producing a stylized likeness of the protagonist. And as is becoming more common in the gaming world, there are plans to keep the short video clips of the game coming. With the job or introducing all the potential players to the world in hopes they'll eventually become actual players. A pic of the artwork can be found here.

It would seem that Ubisoft's new entry in the Prince of Persia series has become a little bit clearer thanks to French magazine Joypad. Purported scans from the magazine have hit the net with screens of a cel-shaded Prince doing his princely business (you know, running, jumping, killing monsters, that kind of thing). A rough translation of the info (courtesy of NeoGAF) reveals that the Prince must "unleash light-wells to heal a corrupted world." Doing so causes real-time changes to the environment (plants magically regrowing, etc.). Of course, it's the Prince's fault that the world is corrupted. He frees an evil god, you see (always getting into trouble, that Prince).

The time mechanic has been ditched, though the Prince retains his athletic and acrobatic prowess. A new combat system has been devised to take advantage of this, featuring fewer enemies to make for more intense one on one combat. The number of bosses has also been reduced, the developers having decided to make them more central to the story and more memorable. Hit the "read" links for more details.

Read -- NeoGAF translation (the forum is currently down)
Read -- Prince of Persia screens

[Via Joystiq]

Today Ubisoft announced that a new title in the Prince of Persia franchise will release this holiday season. The latest entry, which is simply titled Prince of Persia, is currently in development at Ubisoft Montreal and will launch on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

According to the publisher the latest installment in the franchise, "[opens] a new chapter in the Prince of Persia universe" and will feature a new style of gameplay "poised to rejuvenate the action-adventure genre." Along with the new gameplay Ubisoft promises a new "illustrative" art style. Well, color us excited.

[via Joystiq]

It's been rumored for a while, and even officially confirmed for fiscal year 2008, but we really don't know much about the next Prince of Persia game. The loose talk is that the next trilogy will be a form of prequel, and it looks as though the first game of said trilogy could be called Prodigy. Recently trademarked by Ubisoft, Prince of Persia Prodigy is an admittedly vague title and could possibly refer to another PoP product, but with a new official teaser site up and the game rumored to be hitting this fall, an official name hitting now feels about right.

Furthermore, other rumors say that the game will be shown at Ubidays (an editorial event) sometime in the near future and that the game's REAL title is in fact Prince of Persia Zero. We'll just have to wait for Ubidays for more concrete info, but those with time to kill can endlessly refresh the official page to attempt to quickly decipher the writing before it's covered.



[Via NeoGAF]