John Vignocchi, alongside his parent company Disney, today announced Infinity, an ambitiously far-reaching video game project that includes a wide variety of characters from Disney's stable of properties, a Skylanders-like focus on figurines, and a nebulous, but intriguing-sounding "platform" concept.

Currently in development at Avalanche Software, the crux of Infinity focuses on figure sets, which will be used to unlock additional content in Infinity over the course of its lifespan. The idea, according to Disney Interactive co-president John Pleasants, not to focus on a single game, so much as a larger platform where new figures and story content can constantly be added to the mix.

More intriguingly, the game appears to have a major user-generated content focus. Using what is referred to as "The Toy Box," players will be able to use whatever characters they've acquired to create their own gameplay scenarios. The example shown during the announcement involved key characters like Jack Sparrow, Sully, Mike and Mr. Incredible interacting in an environment merged from their three worlds, in addition to The Nightmare Before Christmas and Toy Story. The mode includes a basic logic editor, a camera editor, and even more tools to help craft custom games, which can apparently be shared online.

It's worth noting that the mash-up nature of the Toy Box mode won't hold true in the official playsets released by Disney. The first three, which revolve around The Incredibles, Monsters University and Pirates of the Caribbean, will launch alongside the platform in June.

No word at this time when/if Marvel and/or Star Wars properties could be tossed into the mix, but I do know that the very thought of it is striking fear into the wallets of parents everywhere.

If you want to get a quick look at what Infinity looks to do, the first trailer has been embedded below.

John Vignocchi, alongside his parent company Disney, today announced Infinity, an ambitiously far-reaching video game project that includes a wide variety of characters from Disney's stable of properties, a Skylanders-like focus on figurines, and a nebulous, but intriguing-sounding "platform" concept.

Currently in development at Avalanche Software, the crux of Infinity focuses on figure sets, which will be used to unlock additional content in Infinity over the course of its lifespan. The idea, according to Disney Interactive co-president John Pleasants, not to focus on a single game, so much as a larger platform where new figures and story content can constantly be added to the mix.

More intriguingly, the game appears to have a major user-generated content focus. Using what is referred to as "The Toy Box," players will be able to use whatever characters they've acquired to create their own gameplay scenarios. The example shown during the announcement involved key characters like Jack Sparrow, Sully, Mike and Mr. Incredible interacting in an environment merged from their three worlds, in addition to The Nightmare Before Christmas and Toy Story. The mode includes a basic logic editor, a camera editor, and even more tools to help craft custom games, which can apparently be shared online.

It's worth noting that the mash-up nature of the Toy Box mode won't hold true in the official playsets released by Disney. The first three, which revolve around The Incredibles, Monsters University and Pirates of the Caribbean, will launch alongside the platform in June.

No word at this time when/if Marvel and/or Star Wars properties could be tossed into the mix, but I do know that the very thought of it is striking fear into the wallets of parents everywhere.

If you want to get a quick look at what Infinity looks to do, the first trailer has been embedded below.

What sort of Disney character mashup is this? Odd combinations.

Poor Jeff's wallet.

Awesome Johnny

Geez, this is going to make a ton of money.

Fingers crossed for Hades and the Sheriff of Nottingham

Kaa is going to be so overpowered.

So Little Big Planet x Skylanders with a Disney licence. Got it.

At least Disney didn't ignore one of the best movies they have, The Incredibles.

Avalanche? Wait, no, not that Avalanche.

Disney is going to be swimming in cash from this.

Thus ends any reason for Kingdom Hearts to exist.

The Toy Box mode from the Toy Story 3 game was a pretty nice thing to mess around with. If all they are doing is taking that concept and expanding it many times over, I am sold.

Surprised Johnny V didn't leak this months ago.

@MooseyMcMan said:

Avalanche? Wait, no, not that Avalanche.

Yeah, I had to look that one up too.

@MooseyMcMan: Avalance Software LLC (the Toy Story 3 developers), not Avalance Studios.

Will we be seeing any Aristocats or Oliver and Company figurines? Or is Disney lying with the "Infinity" moniker?

Money.

Disney Unveils "Not-Skylanders"

this could be raaad

And of course. Dubstep.

I can not wait for this.

Johnny V took my money. All of it.

I can't even fathom how much money this is going to make. All of it, all of the money.

In restrospect, after Skylanders made an epic shit-ton of money, this almost seems like a no-brainer. Take Skylanders concept and add the Disney brands, and they're basically printing money.

Hopefully we'll see some Split/Second cameos, too!

When is lego going to get in on this action?

I would fuck shit up with a Jaffar figurine.

@Video_Game_King said:

Will we be seeing any Aristocats or Oliver and Company figurines? Or is Disney lying with the "Infinity" moniker?

Well shit, ain't even no Mickey Mouse so that tells you where the Disney brand identity is these days. Doubt we'll see much of the cool stuff like Sword in the Stone and Aristocrats. I'm hopeful for some old-school Robin Hood though.

The only problem with user generated content like this is that while the scenario tools may be robust, there's no way to guarantee voiced content. Of course the whole game might not be voiced and so avoid that problem altogether. I guess what I'm saying is I'm curious how that stuff will all actually work.

Makes all the sense that Disney would get into the market Skylanders pioneered.

@yevinorion:

I'd be up more for Black Cauldron or (far more realistically) The Great Mouse Detective.

Holy fuck, Disney is finally ready to print infinite money.

So that's where Nintendo's money printer went. Johnny V. stole it and I for one can't wait to see a papered up Johnny V. So photoshop team get on that shit.

I am interested.

Curses, Disney. You know I can't resist something Toy Story related. I wonder if Alice will be in there at some point.

Get back to me when they introduce Duck Tales, Darkwing Duck, Tale Spin and other 80's - 90's characters. Might just go on a collecting spree if I can collect classic characters.

As cool as it is, I don't think I am going to get my hopes up too much. The last time Disney tried to hype up something themselves Epic Mickey happened and those games didn't turn out so hot.

Just give me a fucking Quackshot remake, job done.

TO THE MIX

I'LL SHOW YOU MY INFINITY ENGINE

IT'S OUT IN THE PARKING LOT

SPINNING BRODIES!!!

OOOWWWW!!!

@MooseyMcMan said:

Avalanche? Wait, no, not that Avalanche.

Oh thank god, I was just about to fear for Just Cause 3.

"Nero - Me and you" is the song in case anyone's wondering.

Infinite John Vignocchi?

@BaconGames said:

The only problem with user generated content like this is that while the scenario tools may be robust, there's no way to guarantee voiced content. Of course the whole game might not be voiced and so avoid that problem altogether. I guess what I'm saying is I'm curious how that stuff will all actually work.

Hard to tell from an early promo video of course, but it looks very Lego-style, with few to no voices.

Or maybe a canned 5-10 lines from each character. I would be happy either way, I think.

I'll also be interested to see if it turns out anything close to the [insert-game-type]-mania stuff that Jeff was getting into. It would be neat if each character has certain set attributes like weight, speed, etc. and those just get plugged into different game types.

Aaaaaand now I'm dreaming.

I just don't have the space or money for a bunch of figurines to support a video game. If I did, this would be something I would be interested in purchasing.

Oh my goodness. With the licensing of Star Wars and Marvel at their hands they can pretty much make this thing as diverse audience wise as they want. Market some of the more "kiddish" concepts from their Disney catalogue to the youngens, while hooking some older people with the characters from their past. I saw Duck Tales mentioned as one. Then you add some marvel superheroes for comics fans and some star wars from sci fi fans.

If they execute this right, we could be looking at one of the biggest gaming empires in the making. As many have stated, almost a license to print money.

I bought into the first Skylanders game because it seemed like a neat idea, but the game just wasn't compelling enough for me to spend any more money on the toys. Not that I didn't want to. As someone who grew up during the height of the pokemon craze, I certainly love collecting things.

This, on the other hand, looks like it could get quite expensive. In a good way. Figners crossed.

Dammit Skylanders now look what you've started!

Is John Vignocchi, going to be a playable character? Also Avalanche is doing this? Make Just Cause 3 damit!

I skipped out on Skylanders but I'm down for a Disney version of it.