Its a toy, a collectible, and a videogame all rolled in one neat, fun and addictive….err make that engaging play set (both virtual and offline) that will keep your kids–and even you entertained for hours.
Its called Disney Infinity, and if you’ve ever been to any Datablitz, Toy Kingdom, Toy’s R Us, or any other toy store in the past year or two, you’ve probably noticed the big “plate” thingy where kids would place their favorite Disney Character.
Developed by Avalanche Software Disney Infinity puts together elements of platform and action adventure games and sandbox elements while using collectible figurines to synchronize content and allow Disney and Pixar characters to interact and go on adventures. Among the playsets available include Pirates of the Caribbean, Monsters University, The Incredibles, Cars, The Lone Ranger, and Toy Story. Each playset has their own unique campaign, which can be played with up to two players. However, only characters from a specific franchise can play in their respective playset (for example, Mr. Incredible can’t be used in the Pirates of the Caribbean playset), meaning two figures from the same series are required to play a play-set in split-screen multiplayer.
While gameplay is similar to that of Activision’s Skylanders franchise (or Spyro) only Disney could pull off a better version with its rich roster of characters that I’m sure every kid would choose over some weird looking creation.
Now, Disney opens up more new worlds as it released Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes at the Makati Shangri-la– the follow up to last year’ages #1 best-selling new hybrid toy/video game of 2013 (according to the NPD Group’s video games retail sales data). The game is available for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 computer entertainment systems, Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system and Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft, and the WiiU system from Nintendo.
The Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes Starter Pack features the 2.0 game software, the Disney Infinity 2.0 Base, Marvel’s The Avengers Play Set with three character figures (Iron Man, Black Widow and Thor),two Toy Box Game Discs, a web code card and countless hours of creative play in the all-new Toy Box 2.0. Marvel’s Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy Play Sets, along with additional figures from those worlds, will be sold separately. All characters and Power Discs from last year’s release of Disney Infinity are compatible with Toy Box 2.0.
“With the launch of Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (2.0 Edition), we’re delivering fresh storylines – for some of Marvel’s most iconic characters – to one of the biggest video game franchises on the market,” said Peter Phillips, EVP and General Manager, Interactive & Digital Distribution at Marvel Entertainment. “This is one of the most important game launches in Marvel history, and we believe that fans and collectors of all ages will be wowed by the experience.”
The new game introduces interactive Super Hero figures from across the Marvel universe with original Play Set storylines written with the help of award-winning Marvel comic writer Brian Michael Bendis. Each new character brings a variety of super-powered and unique gameplay mechanics such as flying, web slinging, wall crawling, wall smashing and more.
An improved Toy Box 2.0 mode makes it easier for players to create and share their one-of-a-kind levels and games with family and friends using their favorite Marvel and Disney characters, vehicles, settings and items. New and enhanced Toy Box tools and toys will make the groundbreaking game mode even more accessible for players of all ages. Toy Box Game Discs deliver new structured gameplay modes to the Toy Box where players can engage in classic Dungeon Crawler and Tower Defense gameplay using any character from across the Disney Infinity universe.
“For the 2.0 version of Disney Infinity, we’ve re-tooled nearly every aspect of the game to ensure it matched the epic expectations of Marvel Super Hero fans around the world,” said John Blackburn, SVP and General Manager of Avalanche Software. “Whether they’re playing with the entirely new character skills and combat systems, exploring Play Sets four times largerthan the original version, or building worlds in the new Toy Box, we hope fans will be blown away by the evolution of Disney Infinity.”
Community continues to play an important role in Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes, with the availability of new Toy Boxes created by the recently hired Avalanche Software Community Team. These super-fans turned level designers will be designing immersive, themed Toy Boxes and episodic content for Disney Infinity players to download for free at launch and beyond. Also available at launch will be select Toy Boxes designed by Toy Box Artists from around the world at the inaugural Disney Infinity Toy Box Summit this past August.
At the launch we had a short chat with Senior Producer, Disney Interactive Mike Schneider and we found out who the best selling characters were for Disney Infinity.
Surprisingly, its not one of those classic Disney characters or Disney Princesses, but rather Mike Wazowski from Monsters University. For Marvel 2.0 its another pint size hero–Rocket–from Guardians of the Galaxy, that has been selling well during its first few weeks of release.
Schneider says this is only for the US and Euro market so I may need to ask our local retailers who is the most popular here in the Philippines.
Schneider has been in the video games industry since 1994. What started as a dream job in Quality Assurance testing to pay for college, turned into a lifelong career that saw him working with several different companies including Activision, Vivendi and 20th Century Fox on such titles as “The Simpsons: Hit & Run”, “Ice Age 2: the Meltdown”, and “the Legend of Spyro: the Eternal Night”.
He has held roles in production and quality assurance, working in both business and creative roles as Senior Producer and Quality Assurance Manager, managing titles, doing some design work and even contributing to the dialogue script creation on several titles. At Disney, he worked on the first “Disney Infinity”, as well as previous Disney titles like “Phineas & Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension”, the “Disney: Sing It” series and various others. While not playing Disney Infinity, he can be found entertaining his kids, pursuing an interest in music and sports — and playing more video games.
Developed by Avalanche Software, the Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes Starter Pack carries a suggested retail price of PHP 3,799.00 and all versions are rated “E-10+” by the ESRB. The Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy Play Sets are available separately for a suggested retail price of PHP 1,849.00.Individual character figures are available for a suggested retail price of PHP 679.00 and blind Power Disc packs for PHP 289.00.
