Prince of Persia 3D
         (ACTION)

   I have not met a single gamer who hasn't played the fantastic Prince of
   Persia games. Now everyone's favourite Prince is back in a new avatar.
   Rather than the old 2D format, Red Orb is bringing Prince of Persia
   into a 3D environment as the prince goes on a new journey through the
   land of the Arabian Knights. In this volume of the series, the prince
   begins in a jail cell after being set up during a belly dancer
   performance where he is kidnapped and tossed into the slammer.
   After escaping from jail, the prince must find his wife, who was
   abducted after he was jailed. Rugnor, the sultan's nephew (a
   half-tiger/half-man beast) was to marry the princess until the prince
   came into the picture and rescued her from the ill-sounding wedding.
   So the prince sets off to find the princess through 15 new
   environments. The game only has three weapons (a sword, a projectile
   weapon, and one secret weapon) that the prince will gain access to as
   he progresses. Red Orb says that the projectile weapon is an important
   piece of weaponry that will aid the completion of some of the game's
   numerous puzzles. The original Prince of Persia developer, Jordan
   Mechner, returns as a cowriter for the newest addition to the series.

   On the technology side, POP3D's new engine, NetImmerse 2.0 from
   Numerical Design, gives the prince a degree of movement unheard of in
   the action-adventure genre. NetImmerse 2.0 is being used to build
   characters through a technique called "motion studies." Rather than
   attach motion-capture machines to gymnasts or actors, a group of
   artists watch a video of gymnasts in action. As they're watching the
   movements, the artists enhance the movements of the game characters
   for running jumping, climbing, and a good dose of sword fighting. This
   enhancement is done using Motion Factory's Motivate animation system,
   and Red Orb says that this will make for more realistic movement.
   Red Orb is looking to release Prince of Persia 3D sometime in early
   1999.