Earlier this week, I got to attend Disney Interactive’s big press event in Hollywood, CA at the El Capitan theater on Hollywood boulevard. Disney went all out to officially unveil the company’s most ambitious gaming initiative ever – Disney Infinity!
Infinity is real-world interactive figures that, when placed on a device called the “Disney Infinity Base”, will allow players to enter the Infinity game and play in two unique areas as that figure. You might be thinking that this sounds a lot like Skylanders and yes, it is similar in that the toy figure becomes your digital game avatar when placed on the base. However, there are some major differences that separates infinity from the current Skylanders games.
For starters, the figures will span Disney and Pixar’s wide range of characters that already have a huge following among Disney fans. Second, Infinity figures include Play Set pieces that are also placed on the Infinity Base to activate original, story-driven games for each character’s movie franchise. When you place a Pirates of the Caribbean character on the base with the Pirates Play Set piece, you will unlock a game that takes place in the Pirates world. The third difference is what impressed me the most and has the potential to make Infinity one of the coolest games coming out this year. As players advance through each game, they will unlock hundreds of items, such as vehicles, characters and gadgets, which will be saved in a virtual Toy Box. Players can enter their personal Toy Box at any time and use the items collected and many more to build whatever they can imagine in an open and expansive environment. Think of the Toy Box as a separate game that melds Disney with Minecraft. Its awesome!
The Toy Box mode of Infinity will also include Online access to allow players to invite up to four friends to their Toy Box. Once in a players’ Host Toy Box, players can create their own games, such as soccer and kart-racing, by building courses or fields however they want to.
Disney Infinity will be available for all consoles, PC and an accompanying mobile experience. The initial launch this June will include figures and Play Set pieces for “Monsters University,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Incredibles,” with many more movies planned for future release.
I’ll have more Infinity info for you as it becomes available.
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