Ubisoft Montreal has just released the first gameplay video of the upcoming Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and, well, it looks interesting to say the least.

A mix between developers interviews and gameplay snippets, the new video shows off many of the acrobatic skills that played such a prominent part in making The Sands of Time the huge success that it was. And thankfully, the team seems to be incredibly hyped about the upcoming title ( it would’ve been rather disconcerting if it had been otherwise). I’m not sure if I like the look of the new Prince, but hey, Sands of Time was always about the gameplay, right?

Now, if you’re anything like me, the announcement of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands left you a little puzzled. What happened to the fantastic (if admittedly easy) cel-shaded Prince of Persia? Critically well received and incredibly well-designed, Prince of Persia (the 2008 version) was a strong, enjoyable romp that left the player gagging for more. Especially with that cliffhanger ending. So, where did it go?

Michael McIntyre (level design director of The Forgotten Sands and the 2008 title) spoke to Kotaku recently, explaining why The Forgotten Sands harked back to the Sands of Time trilogy, seemingly abandoning everything that the 2008 title stood for. According to McIntyte, work started on The Forgotten Sands long before Prince of Persia shipped, so critical success wasn’t a factor in their decisions. Speaking of the differences within the series, Mcintyre says that;

Free stuff is always nice. Whether it’s a ‘Buy-one-get-one-free’ deal at your local Walmart, an unexpected item that didn’t scan when you walked through security (and didn’t get caught!) or a quick kiss from that special someone, getting something for nothing is always awesome.

So, fans looking forward to picking up Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands should be delighted to see that according to the BBFC page for the upcoming release, the title will include the Xbox Live/Playstation Network title Prince of Persia: Classic.

According to the BBFC, The Forgotten Sands will include;

LEGO bricks are seemingly becoming more well-known as LEGO digital bricks nowadays with the brand’s jump into the video game industry a few years back. We’ve already seen LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Batman, LEGO Indiana Jones and there’s even a LEGO Rock Band – not even based on a movie but on another game as simply a LEGO-styled skin.

As we know, Ubisoft makes the Prince of Persia video games and Disney’s film adaptation of The Sands of Time is coming out in summer, 2011 and that of course means, LEGO toys will accompany it. But does it mean we can expect a LEGO Prince of Persia game too?

Just a couple weeks ago Ubisoft announced that it was developing Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. Today we’re met with a press release that finally sheds some more light on the next entry in the franchise. Forgotten Sands takes place between the events of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and follows The Prince as he visits his brother’s kingdom after his adventure in Azad. When the Prince arrives, he discovers that his brother’s kingdom is under attack from a powerful opposing army and a decision is made to use the ancient powers of the Sand to save the kingdom from complete destruction. In the coming adventure the Prince will learn to bear the mantle of leadership as well as discover that with great power comes great cost.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (the movie) hits theaters in May, based on Ubisoft’s game of the same name from 2003. So, without surprise a video game absolutely would have to come out around the same time, tied-in with the film directly or not.

Video games that tie-in with movies tend to be more tie-ins with movies than games and the vast majority of them come out and are not good. The game coming out alongside the film however, looks to not copy the film, but act as a sequel to the 2003 hit game, ignoring last year’s disappointing, strangely stylistic and cell-shaded “reboot.”

The new game, titled Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands was officially announced a few weeks back and is coming out alongside the movie in May. The premiere trailer for it was presented at today’s Spike TV VGAs and you can watch it below.

Earlier this week, Ubisoft finally announced that a new Prince of Persia game was in the works, surprising nobody. The original press release stated that we could expect Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands for “consoles and handhelds”. When Head of PR for Ubisoft Germany Neils Bogdan was asked about whether or not the game would be released for PC, he had only this to say:

“We can confirm that there will be a PC version!”

This is great news for gamers who may have been disappointed that it was not officially announced for the PC. If it wasn’t released for PC, The Forgotten Sands would’ve been the first game in the entire series to not do so.

While not a surprise, it’s certainly exciting to hear officially that Ubisoft will be releasing a new installment in their famed Prince of Persia series.

It was speculated for quite some time that a tie-in game would company the Disney production for the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie, and that Ubisoft would officially announce something on that front soon. Now comes official word that the new game will be called Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and will act as a sequel of sorts, the next installment in the Sands of Time storyline.

Check out the official press release below.

There really shouldn’t have been any doubt another Prince of Persia but the good folks behind Jerry Bruckheimer’s production team are on the brink of announcing a new game to be released with their new movie in 2010 while Ubisoft remains silent.  Although no official announcement has been made, the gaming blogs are abuzz with rumors about what the new game will be like.

Judging by the recently-released trailer for the film, the movie looks like it may be yet another inadequate adaptation of the bare bones of the game’s original storyline. It will likely be a special effects clusterfrak with a tiny dash of a plot to explain the action and a hopelessly overblown love story to try to entice your girlfriend to go with you.

From Screen Rant:

Finally! Our first real look at Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has arrived in the form of this HD trailer courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes. Based on the popular video game series which made it big with the release of Sands of Time back in 2003 and its pair of sequels the following two years, the video game adaptation is hoped to help bring a change to a movie genre that has traditionally suffered from low quality movies based on known video game franchises.

Prince of Persia stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan (unnamed in the video game) as he tries save the world using the an ancient time-manipulating weapon and the help of a foe/love-interest.

Check out the action-packed and visually appealing trailer after the jump.

There are plenty of video game movies coming out over the next couple of years and oddly enough, none of them are being directed by Uwe Boll. Some projects like World of Warcraft and Call of Duty are making progress with their adaptions; others like Asteroids are merely in the early development stages. One that is almost finished shooting is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. While a few stills from the film have been released, there has yet to be a teaser trailer.

However, Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner and writer John August have released what they call a ”pitch trailer”. Essentially, when they were trying to pitch the idea of making Prince of Persia into a movie, they came up with a unique way to convince the studios that the game would translate well into a big screen adaptation. Instead of the usual storyboards and concept art, they went and grabbed some of the more exciting scenes from the game itself and edited together a trailer to help pitch their idea. Watch it below: