'Cars 2' Is First Disney Game to Go 3D on Sony PlayStation 3

Disney Interactive Studios is the latest game publisher to support Sony’s PlayStation 3 stereoscopic 3D technology. Cars 2: The Video Game, which ships June 21, will be the first 3D PS3 game from the game maker. The title will also be available in 2D on PC/Mac, Wii, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS.
 
“The advancement of 3D technology will allow us to immerse the player into the Cars 2 game environment in a whole new way,” says John Blackburn, vice president and general manager of Avalanche Software, developer of the new game.

Blackburn adds that the 3D effects will further engage players as they race through the single-player and multiplayer tracks and environments that are based on the June 24 Disney-Pixar computer-animated film.

In its console battle with Microsoft and Nintendo, Sony has been actively marketing its stereoscopic 3D gaming and Blu-ray 3D capabilities, which allows gamers to experience new Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment releases like Tangled in stereo 3D. With Cars 2 available across all platforms, Sony can cater to the growing number of gamers who are buying 3D TVs. Down the road, gamers will be able to play the Blu-ray 3D version of Cars 2 and also experience the game set in that universe in 3D.

Jay Ward, Cars franchise guardian at Pixar Animation Studios, says that Avalanche Software, which scored a critical and commercial hit with its Toy Story 3 game last year, has the technology, experience, and history in working with Pixar to create the best-looking Cars video game to date.

Blackburn and his team are working in close collaboration with Pixar artists to bring the humor and personality of the feature film to life. The new game will expand beyond the driving action of the new John Lasseter-directed 3D movie, allowing players to race alongside some of their favorite Cars characters like Lightning McQueen (voice by Owen Wilson), tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy), and  Ramone (voice of Cheech Marin).

Players can take control of 20 different Cars characters and train to become spies at the international spy training center, C.H.R.O.M.E. (Command Headquarters for Recon Operations and Motorized Espionage). Over the course of their training, players take on dangerous missions, compete to become the fastest race car in the world and use their spy skills in non-stop action packed combat racing and battle arenas.

Last year, Disney Online launched the free-to-play, browser-based World of Cars Online game. That game world has been expanding ever since and will feature new characters from the Cars 2 movie. And for the first time, Disney is creating a bridge between the free online game and the Cars 2 video games. Players will be able to gain rewards in the console video games and then use them to unlock new items in the World of Cars Online game.

This marks the second console game from Disney Interactive Studios based on the Pixar property. Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales was released for Wii last year in tandem with the Blu-ray and DVD straight-to-video movie release. Previously, publisher THQ held the rights to Cars and released three games based on the film property: Cars: The Video Game, Cars Race O Rama, and Cars: Mater-National.

Released in 2006, Disney-Pixar’s feature film Cars has become a leading boys’ franchise generating an impressive $2 billion in annual global retail sales for a total of $8 billion to date.