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Impressions: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (the trailer)
We were invited out to Jerry Bruckheimer Films earlier this week to watch the trailer for The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The good news? It looks like a Jerry Bruckheimer film. The bad news? Well, It looks like a Jerry Bruckheimer film. He's put together a formula that combines stars -- Jake Gyllenhaal, Alfred Molina, Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley -- a lot of bombast and CGI. What usually comes out is a loud, boisterous film that makes a lot of money at the box office. Not that there's anything wrong with that!The only hitch is that it's a videogame adaptation, and those just never seem to turn out very well. It certainly doesn't help that Ben Kingsley, the one who starred in the ill-fated and ill-conceived film version of BloodRayne, has returned in another villainous role. Still, we have to admit that what we saw (reminder: just a trailer) looks to be an exciting jaunt through swashbuckling adventure. Read on for the highlights -- and take your time. The movie that doesn't come out until May 2010.
WAR 1.21 patch hitting the public test server this week
Mark Jacobs stopped by the official Warhammer forums to give players a list of highlights from the 1.21 patch hitting the public test server later this week. While the patch number suggests this won't be a major patch, the highlights suggest otherwise.Most people agree the biggest issue on Mythic's plate right now is combat responsiveness. Currently, players experience a sigificant "stretch" or "pause" when executing longer duration abilities (animation glitches don't help matters either). Mark says this issue will be fixed in under "normal" gameplay conditions, but may still exist to a degree under high server load.Other items of note are improvements to the keep siege system that will allow guilds who claim keeps to upgrade their defenses, a Beyond the Sands live event, more bug fixes, and special versions of the Gates of Ekrund and Nordenwatch scenarios.The balance issue with stacked ground target area of effect damage spells introduced in the previous patch is not touched upon in Mark's highlights, but Adam Gershowitz made a post on the Ranged Damage Dealers forum detailing the changes coming in 1.21. Overall, this is looking like a solid patch as fans await 1.3.
Prince of Persia heads to Morocco for film shoot
The transition between video game and film is typically no different than one of those trap-laden corridors Ubisoft's princely protagonist dashes through on a regular basis. Though we yearn to say otherwise, Disney's Prince of Persia: Sands of Time film hasn't shown to be particularly adept at running the gauntlet. Coupling mega producer Jerry Bruckheimer's involvement with director Mike Newell's promise (of having his assistant play through the game) leads us to believe that the crew has fallen into the very first pit and succumbed to one of those spinning blade thingies.Still, we'd best give them a chance to finish shooting in Morocco this June, which Variety notes will have a positive effect on the North African film business. Scenes for the Jeffrey Nachmanoff- and Jordan Mechner-written project will also be filmed at the UK's Pinewood Shepperton studios. Cross your fingers and hope for something more than a literal explosion of bullet-time sword fights, churlish chariot chases and liberal lingering on Farah's faucets.
Super-cheap Ubisoft classics do well in England
Think $20 is a good price for a greatest hit. How's a couple of bucks suit you?Ubisoft is redefining the term "budget software" with the recent British release of three classic (read: old) PC games for just £1 (about $2 US). Thanks to the super-low price, Rayman 2: The Great Escape, Brothers In Arms: Road To Hill 30 and Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time all made the ChartTrack top 10 for the week despite their age. In an interview with MCV, a ChartTrack analyst predicted similarly-priced re-releases would follow suit from a variety of publishers.It makes you wonder -- if a couple of bucks is enough to cover manufacturing, packaging, shipping and retail space for these reissues, why do downloadable console and arcade classics that have none of these costs routinely go for more than twice as much?
