Today, Disney aired the first episode of Disney Infinity Next. An online presentation streamed on youtube.com that outlined the future releases for the brand. Being a huge Disney Infinity nut, I was really excited to tune in. A little bit of background, I have been receiving emails for this even for weeks now, four emails in all to be exact. I figured if they were hyping this event so much, they were going to announce something big. That being said, I was a little disappointed by the products announced, but more on that later.
Quick, a little background for people who aren't familiar with the product. Disney Infinity is a video game where the player can play in premade playsets designed by the developers or use tools to create their own levels and stories. Think of it like Disney meets Minecraft. The characters the player can play as are determined by the actual figures they own. The figures are placed on a platform (portal) that comes with the game and are instantly transported to the world on screen. These figures span all of Disney's popular properties, Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel with each figure having their own special attacks and abilities. On a side note, it is hilarious combining these properties. Having Venom fly an X-wing around the game world brought me way more joy than I should admit as a 29 year old. Disney Infinity is on its third edition as of now.
Disney Infinity Next started with the hosts discussing the new Zootopia figures that are available today. Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps are two of the main characters from the film that is set to release at the end of this week.
The bulk of the presentation was spent talking about Marvel Battlegrounds playset that is set to release on March 15th. Marvel Battlegrounds is a new adventure where the players can use Marvel figures from any edition of the game. Loki and Ultron have teamed up and it's up the the heroes of the Marvel universe to stop them, and engage in some spirited competition in the process. Battlegrounds is the first playset to offer support for four players. It is still a little unclear how this will work considering the portal that transports the figures to the game only has two spots on it. The player might need to obtain a second portal, or maybe there will be another method revealed later. The playset will come with a new Captain America figure designed from the characters appearance in the new Civil War movie. I'm not going to lie, it looks really cool. Disney also announced new Marvel characters to be released at a later date. These include Ant Man, The Vision, and Black Panther. This playset looks like a lot of fun and I'm interested in picking it up when it is released later this month.
The final announcement from the presentation was a Baloo figure to celebrate the release of the new Jungle Book movie coming out. The figure is designed in the style of the original animated film from 1967.
As I said earlier, I was a little underwhelmed with this presentation. I think my expectations were built up by how many notifications I was sent telling me about the event. I realize this complaint is purely subjective but so is this whole article. Part of me thought they were going to announce Disney Infinity 4.0 and a new property (come on Kingdom Hearts!). Also, there is still no word on when the stand alone Boba Fett figure will become available. With the exception of the Baloo figure, all of the announcements were additions I had heard about in the past. I was hoping for more new content. That being said, it was really nice to see more footage of the Marvel Battlegrounds playset and new figures. It makes me happy that Disney is supporting this game with new and interesting content on a regular basis and they seem to really listen to the fans about what they would like to see in the future. If you want to watch the presentation in its full, check out the video below.
Now that the presentation is done, I have an announcement. I'm two trophies away from getting the platinum trophy in Disney Infinity 3.0, so throughout this week I am planning on streaming the game while I work to obtain a 100% completion. I'm planning on playing either the Star Wars Twilight of the Republic (Clone Wars) or The Force Awakens playset, I haven't decided yet. Tune in if you're a fan of the game, or have never seen it and are curious what it's all about.
www.twitch.tv/westcoastnerdcorps
-Big O
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