This is "Prince of Persia" producer Ben Mattes defending the controversial no-death difficulty mechanic in his game at a small Ubisoft gathering of press and developers last night. Instead of the player dying after a failed jump in Mattes' game, they would be rescued by a partner character Elika and placed on the last flat piece of land they had touched:
"I guess I made the mistake of projecting my own attitudes… I believed that, as a consumer base, the gaming industry had evolved to the point where they were punishing themselves for their failures… The idea with the Elika mechanic was [that] if you were a really good player, a single fall - when she had to pull you up - would be devastating thing because it ruined your perfect run."
