More Disney Infinity details – pricing, Wii U tidbits, Infinity 2 confirmed… already
Another round of Disney Infinity details have emerged. Below you’ll find information covering pricing (starter pack, individual figures, and discs), specific tidbits about the Wii U version, and even a confirmation that there are plans for a sequel.
The new details are as follows:
– Won’t work without the special figures
– 17 initial characters
– A few of these will come packaged with the game
– Figures will cost $13 each
– $75 starter pack
– Features three playsets
– More characters and playsets throughout the year
– Buying add-on collectible toys unlocks more playable characters and brand new levels
– Power discs are RFID chips set in a small piece of plastic
– When a player stacks these up on the interface device, they might add specific new items into the Toy Box mode
– Other discs can augment game characters when you place them between the figure and the interface
– Wreck-It Ralph disc: more strength
– Power discs will be sold in blind packages
– $5 for two random discs
– Figures will be sold in Disney Stores and theme parks
– Not easy to convince John Lasseter to put every property into a single video game
– Blackburn’s first pitch to John Lasseter involved “all different kinds of toys… childish versions that didn’t articulate, full action figure versions, plushies and stuffed animals. When you put them all together, it looked really weird.”
– Lasseter didn’t like it, but he told Blackburn that if he could create one single toy line where Jack Sparrow and Sully the monster could stand next to each other and look like they were meant to be together, he could get behind the idea
– “He said he didn’t like it, but then he solved the problem for us.”
– Online and local multiplayer
– Playing through the various “playset” levels will let you unlock hundreds of new toys and parts to play with in Toy Box
– Can’t self-publish your creation in Toy Box
– Can invite a friend to join you online and test your game in real-time
– Before other players can save your level to their hard drives, it’s got to go through Disney
– Disney will solicit content and publish the best of the best
– Intended to keep the game safe for kids
– New characters and playsets will be included on the disc that players buy
– Won’t be playable until the toys are released later in the year
– iOS companion app will be released
– Each figure will come with a unique “web code” that will unlock that character in the PC and iOS versions of the game
– The team wants to add two-player split-screen for the Wii U version
– One player would use the GamePad, another would play through the TV
– Avalanche only just finished its engine since the Wii U just came out
– The team is currently putting in all features it can for the Wii U game
– Only has about a month of development time left to do so
– Plans are in the works for Infinity 2
– Disney is out to build a “platform”
– Disney can release Infinity levels and characters to promote them without necessarily having to create entirely new videogames for each of those properties
Head past the break for commentary from Disney and developer Avalanche Studios.
Disney chief creative officer John Lasseter
“This is one of the most creative things in the interactive world that I have ever seen. It’s a tool chest for creativity.”
“I’m so excited about this because… I know the amazing new stories and new characters that we’re creating, and this is now something to look forward to, bringing the future to the Infinity game set.”
John Blackburn, Disney VP and general manager of Infinity developer Avalanche Studios
“We are going to allow this place that’s kind of like your living room floor. We’re not going to go into [your living room] and tell you how to play with your toys, and that’s the same thing here. We give you a bunch of toys and say, here, go play.”
“We weren’t able to push it as far as we wanted to in that particular game (Toy Story 3). There were a lot of things in Toy Story that [Pixar] wouldn’t allow us to do.”
“We’re kind of launching a five-year plan,. We’ve got a lot of our best properties from Disney that you’re going to see over the course of a year.”
“Touch sensitivity, drag-and-drop, point-and-click is really powerful for the building modes.”
“Man, Disney has a lot of really cool properties. I want to do it all.”
“What we didn’t want was, you’re a 12-year-old, you go create something vulgar, send it to an 8-year-old, and then their parents see that and say, where did this come from?”
