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Ubisoft pouncing on Prince of Persia Prodigy?

  • By TomM_GScom, GameSpot
  • Posted Apr 22, 2008 1:53 pm PT

Source: Trademark sleuths Trademork, spotting a filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. What we heard: In October, the secretive industry mole known as Surfer Girl landed what she claimed to be early-in-development screens of the next installment in Ubisoft Montreal's Prince of...

Source: Trademark sleuths Trademork, spotting a filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

What we heard: In October, the secretive industry mole known as Surfer Girl landed what she claimed to be early-in-development screens of the next installment in Ubisoft Montreal's Prince of Persia franchise. Surfer Girl claimed that the game--subtitled Ghosts of the Past--would operate as a prequel trilogy to Sands of Time, have a family-friendly focus, and launch in the second half of 2008 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and PC.

Despite the convincing screenshots, Ubisoft was mum on the details of a new POP game, though the publisher did say in January that it plans to ship a game from Jordan Mechner's venerable franchise in its 2008-09 fiscal year. Today, a few more details on the project may have emerged, thanks to all-things-trademark site Trademork. Rifling through the United States Patent and Trademark Office's online database, Trademork unearthed an application for trademark filing by Prince of Persia creator and rights holder Jordan Mechner for Prince of Persia Prodigy.

The application, filed on April 15, carries a number of game-related descriptors, including "game software and electronic game programs, namely software games recorded on CD-ROM and digital video discs for computers; software games recorded on CD-ROMs, digital video discs, and cartridges for console and individual, portable gaming systems; software games that are downloadable from a remote computer site and electronic game software for mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and handheld computers."

Whether or not the newly filed application is related to Surfer Girl's leak is open to question. The most immediate problem is the name, which Surfer Girl pegged as Ghosts of the Past last year. Given that her information came while the game was far from a final state, it seems highly plausible that a title swap could have occurred in the between time. However, the application could also be an indication of a new downloadable game in the franchise, similar to Prince of Persia Classic, released on Microsoft's Xbox Live service last year.

What's not at question is whether the application is in relation to the upcoming Jerry Bruckheimer-produced blockbuster loosely based on Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, slated to hit theaters in 2009. Most obviously, the recently filed application carries no descriptors for motion-picture films. Further, as noted by Mechner in an interview with gaming industry news site Gamasutra, Ubisoft has the rights only for games based on Prince of Persia, whereas Disney holds the movie-making license. Seeing as how the attorney on file for the application is on Ubisoft's payroll, this leaves little question as to whether this filing has anything to do with the upcoming film.

Regardless of how the application falls out, it seems likely that Prince of Persia Prodigy will turn up as the title for a game sometime in the future. Judging from past filings bearing the Prince of Persia moniker, Mechner hasn't shown a proclivity toward squatting on likely or possible titles for projects.

The official story: Ubisoft had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus that Prince of Persia Prodigy is movie-related. Tentatively not bogus that the title will grace the cover of Ubisoft's next acrobatic action adventure.

74 Comments

  • THKRI

    Posted May 18, 2008 6:05 am GMT

    I also enjoyed all the PoP games, never had a problem with WW or the others . The new look and game-play sounds fresh and maybe what they mean with Family-Friendly is that the game will be like SOT and not like many of you described as "flowers instead of knives". BTW none of you have seen a gameplay video so stop bashing the game even before you've seen how its gonna play out.

  • g3n3r41xan

    Posted Apr 30, 2008 6:37 pm GMT

    puzzles have always been my favorite in the POP series. the first one had the most in it with all the moving around objects and aligning them with other things to get something working or a door opened. i want to see lots of puzzles rather than more fighting. i mean i like the battles too but not as much as the puzzles though. if people like the family POP game thingy then they must like the puzzles as well.

  • slionheart_8

    Posted Apr 27, 2008 3:41 am GMT

    Prince of Persia Sands of Time is definitely the best in the trilogy. The Warrior Within was kinda emoish if you think about it. The Two Thrones didn't have that edge like Sands of Time did. Most movies based on games usually end up bad eg, Resident Evil, Dead Or Alive(God, that was bad) and etc. But some don't and hopefully Prince of Persia Movie doesn't. And the family friendly Prince of Perisa, well if it's good I'll get it.

  • necronaux

    Posted Apr 26, 2008 9:13 am GMT

    If there's a movie, unfortunately, they're will be a game based on the movie. If the "new game" follows the movie plot, no doubt it will be as bad as all the other game/movie titles. If they can keep the game separate, focused on game play, then maybe tie into the movie (additional movie footage, background stories, etc.) they may have something.

    The Wachoski bros. tried to do it with the Matrix. Enter the Matrix has to be the wort game ever, but the extra hour of film footage, exclusive to the game, was worth trudging through the tedious, repetitive, too long sequences of killing Mr. Smiths.

  • VladTheImpaler

    Posted Apr 24, 2008 8:08 am GMT

    Nothing family friendly appeals to me. I would think many gamers are the same way. Especially the ones who play a game where you can chop people's limbs off on a whim.

  • X-RS

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 5:18 pm GMT

    warrior within was awesome. warrior within was the best. it took me a week, not a weekend. it had a much better plot, how do you like the dark prince and not the sandwraith. if blood bothers you, you dont belong on earth, animals kill animals. family friendly means if it sells we get toned down combat and swordplay like sot (warrior within had better puzzles, not just combat, if you ever played through it). while i KNOW the prince wont look like some constapated sterotype and talk like some brit boy. in warrior within hes closest to human, pissed because he cant sleep, and responsible for it all. in two thrones he was a blunt hero, doing stuff while talking to his loser alter ego. make him human. farah/whoever sucks. following you around, waiting to watch her call through cracks etc. = lame. gimmmicks like shutters were also wrong = lame. seedkill = lame.

    whats sad is there no backwards compatibility for 360 witch fixes the bugs warrior within was "littered" with, because if you play withought any youll love it. my copy of the game (or my box) must be worth premium, no sound glitches, no save glitches.

  • ZippyDSMLee

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 12:59 pm GMT

    More casual than casual...uhhhgggggg

  • RonTorque

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 12:33 pm GMT

    Hope they officially announce the game soon...Coz it's one of the best games ubisoft ever made.

  • paul52181

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 12:31 pm GMT

    I loved all 3 of the POP games and I can't pick a fave. They all kicked ass in their own unique ways. I really hope a new trilogy is in the works.

  • ARSENALNO4

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 11:58 am GMT

    i loved the pop games
    the first one was kinda gay though but it was still a fresh idea

  • gamereric4

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 10:54 am GMT

    Crap, now the adults will hate the prequal, and the kids can't play the ending. Every one loses

  • fmobliv06

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 10:42 am GMT

    "Lol the last prince of persia is already pushing the wii graphically."
    it looks better than a lot of Wii games, but if you've seen the recent unveiling of High Voltage Software's new tech, it looks surprisingly good. they're planning a mature FPS for the Wii, but they don't have a publisher. here's the link to their tech video: http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2008/04/18/introducing-a-mature-fps-in-high-voltages-the-conduit/

  • Senor_Kami

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 10:21 am GMT

    Why the complaints about family friendly? Sands of Time was family friendly and its the best one in the series by far.

  • DannyRice

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 9:17 am GMT

    two thrones was maybe half of what the wii can do. it has twice the power of the gamecube, and the gamecube played RE4 better than the PS2 did! So don't give me that.

    Plus, the Wii and 360 engines aren't that different. The 360's bettter, obviously, but it's more lazy devs than bad graphical capabilities.

    PoP would work out awesome on Wii (Rival Swords is a bs lousy port).

  • Buttonio

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 9:03 am GMT

    I love all PoP games, from the original through to the two thrones. I even liked warrior within despite it being to dark dull and grungy and having a terrinble subtitle.

  • Proman84

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 8:39 am GMT

    As long as it's not too family freindly it should be good.

  • drogaz

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 7:35 am GMT

    Guys, I don't think they are dumbing the series down, I think they are making the new PoP games in the style of the Sands of Time rather then the dark edgey emo crap that the the last two where stylistically. I don't think they are dumbing it down, I think they are returning the series to it's roots.

  • shyshyshy

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 6:57 am GMT

    the funny things is, the PoP classic was never what you would exactly call family friendly. I do recall having the prince fall to his death, impaled by spikes and what not. guess Ubi was just particularly cautious about releasing Sands of Time, seeing that it was launching its maiden-title PoP to the mainstream next-gen consoles. the last thing they need is some politically correct somebodies to ban the game just like what is so annoyingly happening now. i do agree i wouldn't particularly see the light at the end of the tunnel after reading that it would be family-friendly, i mean i actually got used to having PoP not family-friendly--so there, and yes even if people say it wasn't a cool move for Ubi to shift moods. After tasting the two other PoP releases, I don't think I would ever downgrade my taste ever again. I mean the first Sands of Time was great but so was the other two, they can't just compare the same titles to each other, they're the same titles for crying out loud. The same family of horses do not race against each other, they make their own race.

  • Pastehunter

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 6:42 am GMT

    Handhelds ( Prays for a PSP version ) .

  • LURCH87

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 5:59 am GMT

    family friendly + prince of persia = blah blah blah blah blah

  • lebanese_boy

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 5:56 am GMT

    Family Friendly? Is that even ''Prince of Persia'' .

  • kaziechameleon

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 4:57 am GMT

    Why would they make it into a family friendly franchise? if they strip the difficulty they it isn't prince of persia

  • skitzo_zac

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 4:44 am GMT

    YAY! The PoP trilogy was awesome! I can't wait for a new one.

  • dr3b

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 4:43 am GMT

    pourya_ahmadian what are you trying to say?

  • dr3b

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 4:42 am GMT

    Spybot_9 Lol the last prince of persia is already pushing the wii graphically.

    Developers have had little over a year to get to know the Wii better, they should be able to make some improvements.

  • pourya_ahmadian

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 12:38 am GMT

    so good;but it can be better that it's last?

  • -Intellectual-

    Posted Apr 23, 2008 12:22 am GMT

    YES ! Another PoP game. I am not happy with the 'family-friendly' direction as I loved the slicing, beheadings from Warrior Within. The game is great for anger management as you take out your anger on the enemies. My favourite move is stealing the enemy's sword and chopping his head off LOL.

  • Brmarlin

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 11:57 pm GMT

    Family friendly does not necessarily equal kiddy.
    And I think that this could apply quite easily here, as it did with Sands of Time.

  • i_got_you60

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 11:43 pm GMT

    i want a SOT expirence with the next POP i hated ww and t2t was ok but seriously SOT was the best i wish ubi would hurry up with this title ive been waiting ages for another pop lets hope its on the pc as well

  • football_legend

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 10:43 pm GMT

    I know they;ll announce it on E3...

  • alberto2045

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 10:31 pm GMT

    dude I heard that fricking Zack Ephron(the one that eats Vannesa Hudgens from High School Musical) or something like that is doing the Prince of Persia lol can you guys imagine that would be really bad

  • Sepewrath

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 10:27 pm GMT

    I enjoyed all the PoP games, I dont think the game needs to be graphic and gory like Warrior Within to be good. However that aspect did add something to the game, also for those whining about the Princes attitude in the 2nd and 3rd title. What do you expect, the guy is being hunted down to be killed, you expect him to be happy about it? I think Ubi did a good job by making him become more and more bitter as time and the adventure just ate away at him. I mean given that this game could be a prequel his attitude would be more intune with his SoT self anyway, no one should be complaining then. I just hope that they dont take out the time powers, though it would be tough to get them in, in a sensible way.

  • mashom

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 9:09 pm GMT

    Success Launch of Assassins Creed i dont think POP can win the Battle.

  • EddyG0RD0

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 8:39 pm GMT

    PoP sucks now

  • chickenoverlord

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 8:37 pm GMT

    Can't be bothered reading all I'm sure some1 has already said this tho... Prince of Persia PRODIGY + "family oriented game" = it's going to be about the/a prince as a CHILD = ruin the bloody series why don't you?

  • Sora529

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 8:28 pm GMT

    I, unlike many fans of the SoT Trilogy, didn't mind Warrior Within.It was definitely the weakest of the three, but I honestly enjoyed it.

    That being said, I hope they lighten the next one up, but not dramatically. I'd rather not see the moody, angry Prince from Warrior Within, but I don't want a happy-go-lucky, kiddy adventure either. A middle ground sounds very appealing to me.

  • RandomBeast

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 8:28 pm GMT

    If they actually make POP family friendly...... I don't even want to think about it. Flowers instead of blood? Plastic instead of steel? Water balloon fights instead of visceral laceration? No thanks Ubi.

  • Crsh01

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 7:46 pm GMT

    "Spybot_9 Lol the last prince of persia is already pushing the wii graphically."
    bs the wii is more powerfull than you think .
    the last pop was ps2/GC port so no it did not push the the wii "graphically"

  • VenomRitual

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 7:22 pm GMT

    i wonder how bad the movie is going to be. the game itself id fine, why do i need to watch it on the big screen>?

  • Vash67

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 7:18 pm GMT

    Sands of Time was family friendly. The Disney movie will probably be also. I'm guessing Ubi will try and get some kids hyped up for this. As well as fans of the last trilogy, old or young. Also, just like the other PoP games, i'm expecting this to be released everywhere! 360. PS3. Wii. PSP. PC. A differen version that still carries the same name for cell phones and the DS. Maybe even PS2.

  • leke

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 6:31 pm GMT

    Yawn @ new POP game. Just leave a great trilogy alone.

  • somberfox

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 5:50 pm GMT

    The screenshots of this alleged game make it look a lot like ICO, with some woman following you around.
    Do not fricken want

  • thegamegod

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 5:43 pm GMT

    yay,a new PoP game,but a family friendly one?jeez,iv suddenly lost interest in it.I dont want a watered down fighting game,i want the dark angry prince who had been through crap back,not some nancy throwing flowers instead of knives and using a bread stick instead of a sword,bah,its only a rumour,i need to calm down lol

  • prioritymail

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 5:38 pm GMT

    I can't wait! I love all things PoP

  • AlucardsFate

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 5:04 pm GMT

    Pushing the Wii Graphically? I don't think so, while it isn't close to as powerful as the other two current gen systems (PS3 and 360, respectively) It is more powerful then the Gamecube...which I think people forget, mistaking it to be exactly the same. Mario Galaxy is evidence of this superiority. That game is beautiful, and the Gamecube could never turn out. I think visually, in the right hands, the Wii can be amazing. The best is yet to come...

  • Ra-Devil

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 4:52 pm GMT

    "Family Friendly"

    stopped reading there. I don't like the idea of being self-ignorant, that's the opitomy of stupidity, but really, Prince of Persia? I never really got into them, but I got that they weren't meant to be family friendly.

    This is what I think they're doing. You've got Ninja Gaiden, DMC, and God of War as big name, violent hack-n-slash titles. Why try and put yourself in a shallow market that's already crouded with games that have more renown that yours? Just change crowds. From adult to young teenager/family friendly. It makes sense, and people do know the name Prince of Persia. O'well, hopfully the game does well... I guess.

    I just want another Beyond Good & Evil. Come'on Ubisoft, give this game the green-light. People WILL buy it in today's age, where gaming is far higher up in the advertisement and awareness world than it was years ago.

  • GeigerdolylWodd

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 4:50 pm GMT

    "membernametaken Family Friendly PoP? No thanks..."

    The first Sands of Time game was in my book family friendly I mean there was hardly any blood shed in that game especially seeing as how most if not all of your enemies were made of sand. Plus it kind of had this fairytale magical feel to it. There was one nude scene with regards to the princess but other than that the story telling and his over the top parkour/free running made it feel like something special. Just because something's pegged as family friendly doesn't mean it can't have the stuff that we like. Shrek anyone? Shrek anyone? there was a nude scene in that movie too and yet it was family friendly

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