It’s not every day you get invited to Pixar. Everyone knows the name and anyone who’s ever been a child enjoys their movies. I headed over to the offices with the US PlayStation.Blog‘s Sid Shuman to check out the Toy Story 3 game, take some photos and conduct a few interviews with the people behind both the game and the film.

As you can see from the photos on this page, Pixar isn’t exactly your ordinary office. The design was actually overseen by then-CEO, Steve Jobs, which makes perfect sense as the whole building has a very Apple feel. The whole place is littered with artwork, statues and prints displaying characters and scenes from their movies. As a result it’s impossible not to feel an uplift in mood as you walk through the doors.

The event began with a presentation, showing off a few short scenes from Toy Story 3 which, as someone who studied computer animation at university, was pretty exciting as we were the first people outside of Pixar to see those scenes in that state. The quality was as you’d expect from Pixar — this is definitely not a sequel for sequel’s sake. I now can’t wait to see the full thing when it releases in June.

The game was also presented to us and it’s clear just how closely Pixar and Avalanche Studios have been working to make this more than just another movie tie-in game. From what I’ve now seen and played, it worked pretty well. The game has been in production for around two and a half years, giving the studio plenty of development time, despite their desire to fit in not only a full story mode, but a massive sandbox mode, too.

After the presentations there were various people to interview and plenty of hands-on time with the game. You can expect to see some impressions Zurg, who’s exclusively playable in the PS3 version of the game, as well as our interview round ups coming in the next week or so. In the mean time, check out the rest of our photos from the event.

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Fancy a bit more insight into UFC Undisputed 2010? You’ll want to check out this interview with the game’s Producer, Neven Dravinski, taken at an event in London recently. From what we checked out while we were there, the game’s looking like a great improvement over last year’s title.

If you haven’t tried the demo yet, you’ll be able to find it the PlayStation Store this week.

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The PSB.Europe weekly reading list (week commencing the 26th of April)

• Toy Story 3 trailer explains the customizable ‘Toy Box’ mode — Joystiq
• Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess on Playstation Minis Review – PushSquare.com
• PlayStation LifeStyle » PS3 Review – Super Street Fighter IV
• FirstPlay Friday – week four | PS3 Attitude
• Call of Duty: Black Ops trailer should help you remember everything — Joystiq
• Bungie unfazed by PS3 ‘challenge’ | Games Industry | MCV
• SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs Debriefing – PlayStation 3 Feature at IGN
• God of War Creators Differed on GoW3′s Ending
• Mystery Spartan stands tall on God of War teaser site — Joystiq
• Final Fantasy Agito XIII and The 3rd Birthday Update – PlayStation Portable News at IGN
• Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess Review – PlayStation Portable Review at IGN
• Hands-on: DeathSpank (PSN) — Joystiq

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PlayStation.Blog.Europe Weekly Content Recap

The whole industry is buzzing as we quickly approach E3 and news has started flowing freely as we, and our friends at other publishers, start talking more about this year’s upcoming titles. This week on the Blog we’re happy to bring you a bunch of interesting posts about big upcoming games like UFC Undisputed 2010, 3D Dot Game Heroes and Toy Story 3. If you weren’t checking the Blog daily this week I urge you to take a look at the list below — there’s bound to be something in there for everyone.

• FirstPlay Episode 4 – A look inside the latest episode of FirstPlay.
• UK Video Store Update – The newest movies for download on the Video Download Service.
• Iron Man Flying Game Coming To PlayStation Home On Thursday – Take to the skies as Iron Man in PlayStation Home.
• ModNation Racers Artist Spotlights: Sucker Punch Rebuilds Empire City! – It’s Sucker Punch’s Nate Fox’s turn to have a go at the ModNation Racers create tools.
• 3D Dot Game Heroes – Design Characters! Win Swords! – Competition still open! Designer an awesome 3D Dot Game Heroes character and win a hilarious foam sword!
• More Great New SingStar Features Coming This June! – SingStar just keeps getting better and better — use your PSP to queue up songs and show off to your friends with the new vibrato feature.
• Championship Manager Playstation Minis Update –- Release Date And More – Championship Manager is available now on PlayStation Store.
• Introducing Coconut Dodge – A look at FuturLab’s upcoming minis title.
• Wakeboarding HD Demo! – Now you can try Wakeboarding HD before you buy!
• PlayStation Home: ModNation Racers ModSpot Challenge, Iron Man 2 Mini-Game, Bioshock Costumes and More! – This week’s PlayStation Home update.
• UFC Call For Questions – Thanks for your questions! Expect to see the interview next week.
• ‘Heads-Up’ PlayStation Store Update (29th April 2010) – This week’s PlayStation Store update.
• Digital Comics Store Update (29th April 2010) – The newest comics added to the Digital Comics service.
• VIDZONE UPDATE: VidZone Makes A Splash! – The latest VidZone update.
• Hustle Kings Nine Ball Clearance Competition – Your chance to win a 46″ Bravia TV!
• Toy Story 3: The Video Game Revealed For PS3 – A look at Toy Story 3, complete with PS3 exclusive playable Zurg and Move support.
• UFC Undisputed 2010 – PlayStation 3 Exclusive Content – A look at the exclusive PS3 content available in UFC Undisputed 2010.
• LBP ‘Turbo! Pack’ Development Diary 5 and 6: ‘Hopping Mad’ – The latest LBP PSP Turbo Pack developer diary.
• PlayStation Move Dev Diary: Move Party – Another PlayStation Move developer diary – this time it’s Move Party!
• THE SOCOM OPERATIONS COMMANDER… – Introducing SOCOM 4′s Operations Commander.

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Disney has an exciting announcement to make today regarding Toy Story 3. Not only will the PS3 version exclusively feature the ability to play as Zurg, but it will also include some PlayStation Move minigames. Here’s John Day from Avalanche Software to give you some more info on this game, which will be releasing alongside the movie this Summer.

Hi everybody! This is John at Avalanche Software. We’re hard at work finishing up Toy Story 3: The Video Game, due for release on 16th July. Toy Story 3 is much more than your average movie tie-in game. The game gives players two ways to experience Toy Story 3: Story Mode and Toy Box Mode, a sandbox style of gameplay set in the Toy Story universe.

In Story Mode, the player plays as Buzz, Woody, and Jessie, each with their own unique play style, to play through eight action platforming levels. While not a complete retelling of the movie plot, the player will visit some of the places, and meet some of the new and classic characters that are in the film. We take the player to some totally new places as well. Also in Story Mode, we’ve stashed all of our collectibles. The collectibles, when found, allow the player to unlock new toys for the Toy Box.

The Toy Box is a totally different experience from Story Mode. Here we put the player in an open, non-linear environment and allow them to play with Andy’s toys any way they like. The player is free to complete missions for different characters, customize the people and buildings, race in various vehicles, and much more. The more adventurous and creative you are, the more you will get rewarded. I encourage you to unleash your imagination in this mode of the game.

In the Toy Box, the player can play as Buzz, Woody, or Jessie. I am happy to announce that exclusively on the PlayStation 3, you can also play as Zurg! Zurg has many of his own unique missions. Whether it’s driving around in his own custom vehicle, or blasting everything in sight with his tri-gun, players can help Zurg achieve his singular goal of eliminating Buzz Lightyear, or just do whatever else they’d like. Check out our Zurg launch trailer and game screens for a taste of what you can do as this dastardly villain and don’t forget to watch out for Toy Story 3: The Video Game in-stores, 16th July!

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