pixar posts

It's likely to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest box office hits of 2010. We are talking about Toy Story 3, of course, as Pixar returns to the animation franchise that launched its highly successful career. Naturally there's also a game based on the film in the works and this week publisher Disney Interactive announced that the title will be released on June 15 for the PC and other platforms.

The Toy Story 3 game will be the first Pixar movie based title that will be directly developed by Disney Interactive via their in-house dev team at Avalanche Software (THQ developed and published nearly all of the previous games based on earlier Pixar movies). This game will have both a standard story mode as well as a open world-style "Toy Box" mode that's designed to let players "dive into Andy's toy box with creativity driving their own stories and adventures." That actually sounds promising.

This demo is for Up, the video game based on the upcoming Disney Pixar animated movie. The plot centers on 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen, sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America by tying a thousand balloons to his house and taking off. However, he soon learns he's not alone on the journey.

"The Up video game will take players on an exotic adventure with Carl Fredricksen and his young sidekick, Wilderness Explorer Russell, as they set off on a wild journey through the undiscovered jungles of South America. Players will be able to experience all four main characters from the movie -- Carl, Russell, Dug the lovable dog or Kevin the prehistoric bird -- while playing as a single-player or with a friend cooperatively throughout the entire game. Players will encounter exciting, new environments as they navigate through treacherous jungle terrains, battle dangerous creatures and trek the slippery slopes of the Amazonian Tepuis. In addition, the game also features multi-player game modes, including an epic level that will allow up to four players to compete in aerial combat."

Download the Up Demo (92 MB)

It was a huge shock when it was announced at E3 last year that Junction Point Studios, the Austin, Texas based game development studios formed by legendary designer Warren Spector, was purchased by Disney Interactive. Since then there's been little word on what Spector and Junction Point have been working on for Disney but in a new post on his personal blog site Spector reveals a tiny bit more about the project.

According to Spector, "My team and I have been working hard on our own and (get ready for the cool factor to go way up) in collaboration with folks from Disney Feature Animation and Pixar. If I say anymore, I'll get in trouble, so let's just leave it at that." Hmmm . . . that would suggest that Junction Point might be working on an adaptation of an upcoming Pixar film. Or something based on a previous Pixar movie. Or something totally original. Hmmm . . come to thing of it we don't really know much more than we did already. Oh well. Spector also talks about his current Facebook obsession and playing Guitar Hero: On Tour.

[Via Joystiq]

You wouldn't think that a videogame trailer featuring a robotic character could warm hearts, but it really can. Normally, movie-tie-in games are something to avoid like a super-evolved plague, but there have been a few exceptions to the rule in the case of Heavy Iron -- who happen to be the WALL•E developers. If you haven't somehow caught the trailer for Pixar's upcoming summer blockbuster WALL•E, then you really should go see it now.

The game actually looks like its capturing a the spirit of the movie that's shown in the trailers. If you've got even a so-so computer and have a little brother, sister, son or daughter (or even niece or nephew!) this is probably going to be one of the few games worth playing after you've enjoyed the related movie. If you don't believe us, then check out this intervew/preview the 1up guys did with the developers -- who happen to be working very closely with Pixar on the project.