New Prince of Persia developer diary

Ubisoft has shown more of the Prince of Persia's new "roof run" ability, offered a bit more insight into the game's openworld structure and illustrated the four-button combat system in a new dev diary you can watch on Eurogamer TV or scroll down to check out within this very news item.

Roof run, introduced at Games Convention last week, is an extension of the Prince's traditional wall-run ability.

"Since Sands of Time, wall-run was always a signature movement of the Prince. We always tried to improve the wall-run, to keep this movement interesting and different," lead game designer Kevin Guillemette explains in the video. Thanks to a collection of rings on the ceiling, the Prince can now link his wall-running movements into movement combos that cover every surface.

Earlier in the video, producer Ben Mattes introduces the game's openworld structure, likening it to highways running between cities, and later on game designer Thomas Delbuguet and art animation director David Wilkinson explain the combat system, which makes use of the Prince and his new counterpart Elika.

Wilkinson says that the objective was to produce a fight system to rival actual beat-'em-ups, and Delbuguet reveals that inspirations included Soulcalibur, inevitably, since it's another weapons-based hand-to-hand game, and even the movie Final Fantasy: Advent Children.

After Delbugeut and Wilkinson take their bows (it's all so slick - Eurogamer TV is impressed, although disappointed by the absence of references to Kylie and/or football), it's left to narrative director Andrew Walsh to expand on stuff about the bosses and sound design, during which you can catch a glimpse of bosses on the designers' screens and even watch a man scream 'dialogue' in a recording studio.

The new Prince of Persia game is due out this "holiday" season on PS3, 360 and PC. Once you're done with the video, be sure to check out our Prince of Persia preview and interview with producer Ben Mattes.