Disney's previously reported Toy Box initiative, which is an upcoming console game that will supposedly feature Disney and Pixar characters interacting together in some unique manner, is set to debut on January 15. Or so the theory goes.
Members of the press have received invites for something that will be unveiled that day. But other than being told that John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering, plus John Pleasants, co-president of Disney Interactive, would be in attendance, nothing else was disclosed as to what "Disney Infinity" actually is.
Toy Box is rumored to feature online and mobile facets, coupled with toys that contain NFC/RFID chips, which is why there have been already been comparisons drawn to Activision's Skylanders.
As for the developer that's supposedly behind "Disney Infinity", it appears to be Avalanche Software, which Buena Vista Games (the video game publishing arm of The Walt Disney Company) acquired back in 2005. In recent years, they've mostly been producing titles that are based upon various Pixar properties. They're solid, but hardly spectacular.