Has the Prince of Persia franchise fallen victim to Tinsel Town, or is The Forgotten Sands a royal offering? Find out in the official GameTrailers review.

Montréal, QUÉBEC – Le 16 février 2010 –  Ubisoft révèle de nouveaux détails sur le jeu Prince of Persia : Les Sables Oubliés sur Nintendo Wii™, nouveau chapitre de la saga Prince of Persia : Les Sables du Temps. Développé par le studio d’Ubisoft Québec, Prince of Persia : Les Sables Oubliés redéfinit le genre action/aventure sur Wii™ en entraînant les joueurs au cœur d’une nouvelle aventure dans laquelle ils feront la rencontre de nouveaux personnages et maîtriseront des pouvoirs inédits pour contrôler la Nature et le Temps. La sortie de Prince of Persia : Les Sables Oubliés est prévue pour le 18 mai 2010.   

A propos du jeu

Après avoir quitté le royaume de son père pour prouver sa valeur, le Prince est attiré vers une contrée mystérieuse.  Il découvre rapidement qu’il doit faire appel à tous ses pouvoirs et ses capacités physiques pour survivre mais également pour sauver un mystérieux palais rongé par un mal étrange.

Principales Caractéristiques

· Un gameplay revisité : Les prouesses acrobatiques du Prince permettront aux joueurs d’accomplir des actions spectaculaires pour déjouer des pièges, combattre une multitude d’ennemis et résoudre des énigmes complexes.

· Maîtrisez votre destin : Le Prince aura un contrôle total sur son environnement et ses ennemis et  découvrira ainsi de nouveaux endroits à explorer, accessibles grâce à ses nouveaux pouvoirs.

· Au-delà des limites de la Wii™ : Prince of Persia : Les Sables Oubliés  repousse les limites de la Wii™ pour offrir une expérience visuelle impressionnante. Fort d’une aventure inédite de 15 heures de jeu, Prince of Persia : Les Sables Oubliés récompense l’exploration et encourage les joueurs à parcourir plusieurs fois l’aventure pour découvrir des chemins alternatifs et des zones secrètes.

· Une aventure épique : Prince of Persia : Les Sables Oubliés offrira aux joueurs une aventure mémorable, spécialement adaptée aux commandes de la Wii™. Les joueurs retiendront leur souffle pendant des passages épiques au cours desquels  le Prince devra affronter des ennemis féroces et colossaux.

Prince of Persia : Les Sables Oubliés sera également disponible en mai 2010 sur Xbox360, PS3, DS et DSi, PSP et PC avec une expérience de jeu différente.

De plus amples informations sur Prince of Persia : Les Sables Oubliés sont disponibles sur le site internet : www.princeofpersiagame.com

A propos d’Ubisoft® :

Ubisoft figure parmi les leaders en production, édition et distribution de jeux interactifs dans le monde. Le groupe a connu une croissance considérable grâce à un catalogue de produits fort et diversifié ainsi que des partenariats fructueux. Les équipes d’Ubisoft sont réparties dans 28 pays et distribuent des jeux dans plus de 55 pays à travers le monde. Le groupe s’engage à fournir au public des jeux vidéo innovants et d’excellente qualité. Pour l’exercice 2007-08, le CA d’Ubisoft s’est élevé à 1.058 milliards d’euros. Pour plus d’informations, rendez-vous sur: www.ubisoftgroup.com.

© 2010 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Based on Prince of Persia® created by Jordan Mechner. Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries. Prince of Persia and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands are trademarks of Jordan Mechner in the U.S. and/or other countries used under license by Ubisoft Entertainment. Wii, Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DS are trademarks of Nintendo. "PlayStation", the "PS" Family logo and “PSP” are registered trademarks and “PS3” is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft.

Here are a few recent updates concerning Ubisoft:

• GamesMontreal: Ubisoft annonce Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
• Joystiq: Assassin’s Creed 2 ships 8 million, next game returns to Rome
• VG247: EndWar 2 put on the “backburner”
• N4G: Video Thirst: New Prince Of Persia Ad Is BOOM
• Joystiq: Splinter Cell: Conviction April 13 release date ’set in stone’
• Joystiq: Red Steel 2 launches March 23 in US, March 26 in Europe
• Ubisoft.com: New Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands official website now live
• Gamasutra: Ubisoft Q3 Sales Edge Down, As It Ramps Up Big Franchises
• Ubisoft.com: Ubisoft Q3 sales report [PDF link]

The game should be available in May 10th,  later this year.

It’s looking pretty good!

Have you enjoyed playing or working on the previous Prince of Persia games? Let us know in the comments.

Source: IGN

During a recent Ubisoft preview event, Michael McIntyre, director of level design for Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, talked to Joystiq about the new sequel to the old trilogy, establishing its connection to the Sands of Time game series and the Bruckheimer film. The Forgotten Sands is a side story, based in the Sands of Time universe, bridging the seven-year gap between the original Sands of Time game and its sequel, Warrior Within.

Which Prince of Persia games have you worked on?

Michael McIntyre: I worked on the Prince of Persia from 2008, I worked on Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones and this one. (And the DLC for the last one, as well.)

How long how has The Forgotten Sands been in development, and when was it decided it would be a continuation of The Sands of Time series?

The game’s been in development for a year and a half now, and it was decided that it would be part of The Sands of Time franchise fairly early in development — that it would be the same Prince, same universe.

How are you going to communicate the difference between the two Prince of Persia universes, The Sand of Times and the reboot from 2008?

I don’t know exactly how they’re gonna go about that. The Prince of Persia that came out in 2008 is totally its own universe. This one is back in Sands of Time and it’s a fan favorite — The Sands of Time universe. So I don’t think we’re gonna have any problem saying, "Oh, by the way, this is the Prince from Sands of Time." And that’s all we’re really focused on right now. […]

Read the rest of the interview on Joystiq.

Here is the embedded trailer shown at the Spike VGA:

Interpretation plays an important role in our world. Religious interpretation, political interpretation, economic, medical; concerning almost everything, perception greatly affects how people choose to react. The effectiveness of something is wholly dependent upon how people perceive them, rather than their intention otherwise. As well, the effectiveness of story is dependent upon the interpretation of given information. As such, video games, too, are subject to the power of interpretation. Ubisoft Montreal’s 2008 Prince of Persia is an excellent example of how interpretation can affect satisfaction with a game.

Ubisoft Montreal has a history of writing impactful, surprise endings. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Assassin’s Creed — each game made an attempt to shift the story and emotional experience at the last minute. The newest Prince of Persia follows this trend, but Montreal’s success is debatable.

Prince of Persia opens with a vision, one that is to reoccur in various forms throughout the game. The vision, to which Elika, the Prince, and players are all witness, reveals that the game’s female lead, Elika, had previously died. But because of his love for her, the King, Elika’s father, makes a pact with the god of darkness to bring her back. "If you shall have your wish, then give me mine," commands Ahriman. And the King, to revive Elika, frees Ahriman from his millenia-long imprisonment, choosing to sacrifice not only himself, but the world as well.  

[…]

Read the rest of the article

Hot on the heels of the trailer for the Prince of Persia film, Ubisoft has announced that the next Prince of Persia game will be available in May 2010.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands will abandon the new storyline from last year’s series reboot and go back to the world of Sands of Time, the games on which the upcoming Jerry Bruckheimer movie is based.

This shouldn’t come as much of a shock to constant readers of Game|Life, who already know that series creator Jordan Mechner said earlier this month that Ubisoft’s Montreal studio was working on “something that I’m excited about” and that he expected an announcement soon.

Ubisoft said that a video of the game would premiere on Spike TV’s Video Game Awards show on December 12.

Source

Other Ubisoft News:

Ubisoft Reports $117M Loss On Sales Drops, Catalog Discounting

From Gamasutra:

With first-week sales of Assassin’s Creed II up 32 percent over the previous title, Ubisoft says the game is likely to beat expectations — but for the first six months of its fiscal year, the company reported a €78 million ($117 million) operating loss.
…

Ubisoft retained its existing guidance, confirming its expectations of third-quarter revenues of €540 million ($811 million) and full fiscal year 2010 revenues of €1.04 billion ($1.56 billion), with full-year pre-compensation profits of at least €72.8 million ($109.3 million). The company’s fiscal year ends March 31, 2010.

Here is a trailer for the upcoming Prince of Persia downloable content, which should be available on February 26.

Source