Led by the all-star team that created the previous Prince of Persia Sands of Time trilogy, Prince of Persia has been in development for over three years. The video game opens an entirely new chapter in the Prince of Persia universe in addition to introducing a fresh Illustrative art style, evolved combat system, open world structure and dynamic AI – most notably in the form of the Prince's powerful ally Elika. Prince of Persia is scheduled to release Holiday 2008 for the Xbox 360, the PS3 and PC. Ubisoft will also release a Prince of Persia game specifically designed for the NDS, featuring an entirely new storyline and additional characters.

Set in a land rooted in ancient Persian mythology, the Prince finds himself caught in an epic battle between the primal forces of light and darkness: the God of Light, Ormazd versus his brother Ahriman, the destructive God of Darkness. The Prince arrives just in time to witness the destruction of the legendary Tree of Life, an act which threatens to plunge the entire world into eternal darkness. Manifested in the form of the Corruption, a dark substance that physically contaminates the land and the skies, the Prince must partner with Elika, a deadly companion, to heal the world from the evil Corruption.

The new Prince of Persia score features eastern ethnic instrumentation blended with a cinematic orchestral approach, combined with a different musical treatment for each of the game’s four lands. Lead composer Inon Zur contributes dramatic and majestic orchestral music performed by the Northwest Sinfonia and recorded with Arabic flutes and duduk. Zur’s compositions, which include the Main Theme, capture the complex emotional evolution of the characters as well as immersing players during gameplay and in select locations.

“Inon’s music underlines sumptuously the dramatic and the cinematic qualities of the story,” said Simon Landry, Music Supervisor for Prince of Persia. “Bringing together, in a video game perspective, tragedy, humor, violent confrontations, romance and moral dilemmas is a huge challenge but the new Prince of Persia soundtrack makes it happen, reaching new artistic heights and emotional depth.”

Stuart Chatwood, a member of the renowned Canadian rock band The Tea Party, brings his distinct rhythmic style and unique palette of world music instruments that draws upon the cultural sounds of Persia. In addition to augmenting world music library sounds and mixing his own recordings of multiple instruments from his travels worldwide, including Santoors, Sarods, Sitar, Zournas, and Tamboura, Chatwood performs ethnic instruments such as the Oud, Zourna and snake charmer flutes. The intricately layered music mechanism playing musical variations by both composers enhances the gameplay in such a way that is totally adaptive and embraces the gamer’s performance, as if the composers were scoring in real-time, following the player’s action.

“The musical challenge for the Prince of Persia soundtrack was to further push the interactivity, the diversity and the emotional complexity,” adds Landry. “The colossal achievement of Inon and Stuart’s work is to have composed such a powerful and impressive interactive musical odyssey. The complementary approach of these two skilled composers pushes musical boundaries and creates a fascinating and authentic world.”

Game features include:

• A new hero emerges: Master the acrobatics, strategy and fighting tactics of the most agile warrior of all time. Grip fall down the face of a building, perform perfectly timed acrobatic combinations, swing over canyons, buildings and anything that is reachable. This new rogue warrior must utilize all of his new skills along with a whole new combat system to battle Ahriman's corrupted lieutenants to heal the land from the dark Corruption and restore the light.
• A new epic journey begins: Escape to experience the new fantasy world of ancient Persia. Masterful storytelling and sprawling environments will deliver to action-adventure fans an experience that rivals even the best Hollywood movies.
• A new open world structure: A first for the Prince of Persia franchise ? now you have the freedom to determine how the game evolves in this non-linear adventure. Players will decide how they unfold the storyline by choosing their path in the open-ended world.
• Emergence of a deadly new ally: History's greatest ally is revealed in the form of Elika, a dynamic AI companion who joins the Prince in his fight to save the world. Gifted with magical powers, she interacts with the player in combat, acrobatics and puzzle-solving enabling the Prince to reach new heights of deadly high-flying artistry through special duo acrobatic moves or devastating fighting combo attacks.
• All new for Next-Gen: The franchise's debut on next-generation consoles utilizes Ubisoft's proprietary Anvil engine, the same engine used to develop Assassins Creed.

Prince of Persia will ship in North America on Dec. 2, 2008 (Dec.5 in Europe) for the X360, PS3 and PC, simultaneously with the NDS exclusive Prince of Persia: The Fallen King.