Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands will expand the Prince of Persia universe with a new storyline, the introduction of new characters, and new powers over nature and time. The game takes place between Prince of Persia The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia Warrior Within.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is the next chapter in the fan-favorite Sands of Time universe. Visiting his brother's kingdom following his adventure in Azad, the Prince finds the royal palace under siege from a mighty army bent on its destruction. When the decision is made to use the ancient power of the Sand in a desperate gamble to save the kingdom from total annihilation, the Prince will embark on an epic adventure in which he will learn to bear the mantle of true leadership, and discover that great power often comes with a great cost.

The Wii version of the title combines Prince of Persia’s heritage of beautiful, exciting game play with elements that can only be achieved with Wii, such as action designed specifically for Wii controllers. To create compelling in-game UIs that perform well within the memory constraints of Nintendo Wii, Ubisoft turned to Scaleform and its Flash-based GFx technology.

Scaleform GFx provides the ideal solution for Wii developers. In addition to its hardware-accelerated, patent-pending vector graphics technology, the recently released GFx version 3.1 includes a “LITE” build configuration that provides developers with the option for reducing GFx code size up to 30% by selectively disabling non-essential functionality. This further improves the memory usage and the performance of in-game UIs for Wii titles such as Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

“Fans of the Prince of Persia series have come to expect fast action and fluid animation, so keeping a steady frame rate of 60fps on a console like Wii was very important to us,” said Marc Parenteau, the technical director on Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. “Scaleform GFx 3.1 with its ‘LITE’ features gave us the ability to quickly create high-performance, highly immersive UIs while maintaining ultra-fast frame rates.”

“Memory constraints can easily limit the design of game titles by restricting the use of middleware, and reducing the scope of certain graphics and game play elements,” said Brendan Iribe, co-founder, president and CEO of Scaleform. “Scaleform GFx and its ‘LITE’ libraries are designed to enhance Wii games by enabling developers to design highly creative UI elements that have little to no impact on a game’s performance and fit within the tight memory constraints of the Wii platform. We are very excited that Ubisoft is using GFx to continue the amazing Prince of Persia franchise and we look forward to supporting their tremendously talented teams for upcoming Wii titles as well as Ubisoft's broad portfolio of industry-leading franchises.”

Game features include:

• Classic Gameplay Reinvented: From huge-scale multi-enemy combat to dizzying feats of acrobatic prowess in gigantic environments enhanced by the Prince's ability to control nature and time, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands will push the Prince's prodigious abilities to unseen levels.
• A Blockbuster Experience: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands will offer players unforgettable set pieces made possible by the advanced technology offered by the Anvil engine. With all-out war at the gates of the kingdom, the Prince's abilities will be challenged like never before through the course of epic wow moments.
  
• Mastery Over Nature: Wielding powers of nature and time, the Prince will have unparalleled mastery over his environment and his enemies. The Prince will discover that harnessing the forces of nature itself will prove to be a devastating companion to his ability to rewind time.
• Return of a Fan-Favorite Franchise: Set between Prince of Persia The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands will provide fans a new chapter in the Prince of Persia universe and deepen their understanding of the Sands of Time series.

The versions for Wii, NDS(i) as well as the PSP will feature a different gaming experience from the versions for Xbox 360 and PS3. More details will be unveiled in the near future.