Friendly Monsters on Light Bikes?
What do Tron, Mike from Monsters Inc and Lilo's buddy Stitch have in common? Come Fall 2011 it will be more than just reserved parking spaces outside the Walt Disney Company's offices - they'll all be brought together in Disney Universe.
Disney Universe is billed as a multi-player family-friendly online gaming system that will be released on the XBox 360, Playstation 3, Wii and PC platforms.
In the games players will be able to choose from 40 characters drawing from Disney past and present and adventures will take place in six different worlds inspired by Disney and Pixar. One of the worlds is based on Alice in Wonderland, another on Monsters Inc. After the initial six are released, other worlds will become available for purchase.
In the movie-themed worlds up to four players cooperate and battle to collect coins, solve puzzles and unlock new costumes. They can interact and even snatch weapons from the villains of the piece and each costume bestows a certain special power on the player.
This might sound like a familiar theme - we've seen it in Lego video games around movie franchises like Harry Potter, Star Wars and Indiana Jones. The theme also mimics the Super Mario Galaxy concept - bringing incongruous characters into the same platform playground.
The Disney Universe aims to appeal even more broadly than its rivals through adaptive difficulty - the game adapts the level of challenge based on how well a player is doing. And in addition to cooperative play to solve certain puzzles, players can compete - throwing each other off the side of platforms all while grinning with glee.
More details on the new game are coming on June 7th, and it's a safe bet that the title will see even more family screen time branded with Disney's winning combination of cute and funny.
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