syntheticgerbil Posted April 21, 2010 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27964/Interview_Prince_Of_Persias_Mechner_On_Working_With_Bruckheimer_Future_Plans.php This interview is up now. I would be interested in seeing what Mechner has in store for a new possible Karateka game. Somehow I think a small team would suit it as maybe a digital download type release instead of something on the scale and budget of the previous few Prince of Persias. I don't even know if it would have to be Ubisoft produced. I'm glad he seems to hint that he may be get back into helping with more Prince of Persia games, because things have been somewhat disappointing since. It's funny he doesn't mention that he left Warrior Within out of anger of what Ubisoft was wanting to make (Although this may have been heresay, it's been so long I can't remember all of the facts and Wikipedia doesn't enlighten all that much). My biggest fear is not that this new movie will be lame, but that it may encourage more things to get made in the Prince of Persia world that is also light and Hollywood fare without Mechner's direction. I'm glad he was allowed to write the new Prince of Persia comic collection all by himself even if it has a Todd McFarlane cover (shudder). What I've seen so far of the inside art looks good though. Anyway, I'm glad when Chris Remo interviews his heroes. He knows the right questions to ask. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ThunderPeel2001 Posted April 23, 2010 Thanks for the heads up Another good interview. Note Chris Remo: I'm guessing he probably said he uses a Moleskine sketchbook (the "type" used by van Gogh, Hemingway, Picasso, etc.), not moleskin(!). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Posted April 23, 2010 Thanks to the heads up Note Chris Remo: I'm guessing he probably said he uses a Moleskine sketchbook (the "type" used by van Gogh, Hemingway, Picasso, etc.), not moleskin(!). Yes, you're right. I'm familiar with Moleskine, but I didn't do the actual transcription, so I didn't catch that. Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HPopper Posted April 26, 2010 (edited) That interview is really interesting. Reading the Bruckheimer and Mechner interviews back to back is hilarious. Mechner seems to listen to the questions and give personal responses, whereas Bruckheimer ignores what was asked and responds with vagueness and talking points that promote the movie. It's pretty annoying. I'm glad Jordan Mecher isn't like that. If so, the interview would've been pretty crap... You've talked about doing sketches of the Prince of Persia movie sets. What did that entail? JM: Yeah, I did some sketching, it's all in the upcoming "making of" art book for the movie. This film has a great look to it, the guys in the art department have really outdone themselves. The director, Mike Newell really has and eye for this stuff, the guy's got serious talent, he just makes great movies. A few years back, he did this Julia Roberts picture, Mona Lisa Smile, got nominated for a Golden Globe. With Prince of Persia, he's going to take it to the next level. Your blog is fascinating for the amount of historical material posted there. Has digging those up given you any retrospective insights or realizations? A lot of it is unusually revealing. JM: Looking back at those old journals, it's amazing how far the Prince of Persia series has come. In the first game, there was an evil Vizier character who imprisons the beautiful princess. I wanted him to be this great villain, but there's only so much you can do with pixellated sprites. In the film, we've got a terrific bad guy played by the fantastic Ben Kingsley. And as far as princesses go, they don't come more beautiful than Gemma Arterton. Prince of Persia is obviously a known quantity, but a lot of people really didn't have the foresight or knowledge to keep their properties for themselves. I don't think Richard Garriott could make an Ultima game right now. Was there ever a time when you didn't own it, and had to get it back? JM: Intellectual property is a funny thing. I did this adventure game back in '97, set in 1914, about this guy on the run aboard the Orient Express... It was called The Last Express. I'm glad I held onto the rights for that because I'm in talks to maybe revive the franchise in a different format. I can't say much, but there are some very accomplished executives kicking around some ideas. It's very exciting. Er... sorry. Edited April 26, 2010 by HPopper Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Posted April 27, 2010 That interview is really interesting.Reading the Bruckheimer and Mechner interviews back to back is hilarious. Mechner seems to listen to the questions and give personal responses, whereas Bruckheimer ignores what was asked and responds with vagueness and talking points that promote the movie. It's pretty annoying. I'm glad Jordan Mecher isn't like that. If so, the interview would've been pretty crap... Er... sorry. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
syntheticgerbil Posted April 27, 2010 Haha, I didn't even both reading the Bruckheimer interview. I just liked the sum up of it on the podcast and stuck to that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
