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Ex-Ubisoft art director reveals canceled plans for modern Prince of Persia
Ubisoft once considered a rather drastic reboot for its Prince of Persia series, former employee Jonathan Jacques-Belletête revealed to Xbox World 360. Now working for Eidos, Jacques-Belletête described the canceled project as Prince of Persia "in the contemporary world." The pitch was described as "a bit Day After Tomorrow, but replace the snow with sand." The pitch was eventually shelved, likely due to the continued progress of the already in-development cel-shaded Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed. Considering the direction Ubisoft is taking the latter series, a modern PoP may have been perceived as too similar. However, given Ubisoft's quick decision to abandon the cel-shaded reboot, we wouldn't be surprised if Ubisoft reconsiders reviving this idea from its vault.
Exploring a 'Cyber Renaissance' in Deus Ex: Human Revolution
When Art Director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête sat down to design the overarching look of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, he had two big criteria for his designs to meet. First, he wanted to choose "illustration over simulation" -- rather than creating something exactly real, he wanted to make a game that had a definite style. And second, he adhered to the theory that "design distinction creates desire" -- if a game (he used Bioshock and Team Fortress 2 as examples) has a distinct art style, it will already start to stand out in players' imaginations. And so, from all of the various genres and settings for the third Deus Ex game, Belletête and the team landed on the phrase "Cyber Renaissance" to describe the look they chose. In a pre-E3 presentation this week, Belletête talked about "Cyber Renaissance," and how it defined the art and architecture of Square Enix's Deus Ex title.
