Triple Play of New Prince Entertainment

Balla · 06-02-2008, 03:37 PM

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PARIS, FRANCE—During its Ubidays 08 international press conference in Paris, there was much ado about Ubisoft's new Prince of Persia game, even though all that was actually shown was a short trailer. But fans of this franchise, which was successfully relaunched in 2003 with Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, are in for a triple threat of Prince action.
First, there's the new Prince of Persia reboot, which completely walks away from The Sands of Time mythology by introducing a new Prince, a new interactive companion, Elika, and new gameplay. That game, which will be shown for the first time at E3, will be released this fall.
Next up will be a double-header, according to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced, Mike Newell-directed, Walt Disney Pictures film, which starts principle photography this July with Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Artertonas as the leads, will hit multiplexes summer 2009 as Disney's tentpole feature. Guillemot said there will be a new game that will come out with the movie—a game not based on the new reboot of the franchise.

"The Hollywood directors are very interested in games. There's a lot that they can learn from us and a lot that we can learn from them." - Yves Guillemot

There were actually two other references to this game during Ubidays 08. While speaking at the initial press conference that kicked off the event, Prince of Persia Producer Ben Mattes said that he was leaving The Sands of Time mythology "for now." The next day, during a panel discussion, "Videogames and Entertainment: The Challenge of Cross-Media Development," Yannis Mallet, head of Ubisoft's Montreal Studio, said it was too early to talk about a new game based on the movie when he was asked about that potential crossover.
With Jordan Mechner, the creator of the original franchise and the 2003 reboot, the scriptwriter behind the new Sands of Time movie, the potential is there for the now-absent game creator, who's completely removed from the new franchise, to work once again with Ubisoft on a new game—although nothing has been confirmed.
"My goal in writing the Prince of Persia screenplay was not to copy The Sands of Time video game storyline beat for beat, but rather to craft a new story that would live up to the genre of those classic swashbuckling, romantic action-adventure movies that inspired the games in the first place," said Mechner in a previous exclusive GameDaily interview. "Whether or not you've played the video game, the movie needs to stand on its own."
Although the new game would essentially be based on a movie based on the game, these changes that Mechner mentioned open the door for a new interactive adventure—one that would potentially star a virtual Gyllenhaal and Artertonas.
When asked what impact the new movie would have on Ubisoft's Prince game franchise, Guillemot replied, "I don't know yet. The collaboration is not built into the deal (because Disney licensed the property from Jordan Mechner, who owns the Prince IP). The impact it will likely have is to enhance the awareness of the Prince and his environment for a larger public."
The movie is currently slated to commence filming in Morocco this summer. Disney hopes Bruckheimer can work his Pirates of the Caribbean magic with this game franchise, although unlike that film, which had two sequels penned after the original's surprise box office bounty, Prince has been designed as a trilogy from the get-go. And Bruckheimer is clearly targeting the mainstream movie-goer with this franchise, while looking to appeal to the core base.
"Well, I think you'd have to honor what they like about the game, and you work with the gamers and the people who actually are playing the game and the people who created the game," said Bruckheimer in a previous GameDaily interview. "So the individual who created the games is working with us on the screenplay and everything else, so he's part of the process. So he's not going to do something that would hurt his fan base."
This type of convergence between Hollywood and games has Guillemot excited about the future of Ubisoft.
"The technology is just coming at the right time to allow us to do (things like this)," said Guillemot, when asked about new opportunities across interactive and traditional media. "The Hollywood directors are very interested in games. There's a lot that they can learn from us and a lot that we can learn from them. Because we use the same engine and tools, we'll be able to complement each other."

Source: GameDaily

Triple Play of New Prince Entertainment

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