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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Hey everyone. I’m Tom O’Connor, Producer over at Sony PlayStation working on Move Party (working title) for the new PlayStation Move.

We debuted the game at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco back in March, and the response was awesome. Gamers are loving the augmented reality feature of the game. Seeing the PlayStation Move motion controller transform before your eyes into objects on-screen, actually in your hand, is a pretty magical experience.

Not to mention, the game is a lot of fun and we’ve been working hard on getting all the extra content into an Alpha build – and we are there! We are playing the games again and again, and then some more … and then again, tweaking and balancing and making sure that we cram as much fun into each of the games as we can before launching in the fall.

We’ve been showing the game behind closed doors and conducting lots of user testing. We’ve been really impressed at how quickly people of all ages are captivated by the game as soon as they pick up the PlayStation Move motion controller. The experience is extremely intuitive. There are no special gestures to learn like in some motion control games – you simply interact with the objects as you would in real life. It’s super easy and fun to just pick up the controller and start playing.

Move Party is really only possible due to the amazing accuracy, freedom and precision that the PlayStation Move delivers. Cut hair, bash moles, bounce a ball, paint a picture, fly a helicopter, zap some robots and so much more…

That’s all from me for now, but watch this space for more updates and lookout for us at E3. In the meantime, check out this video featuring Jonathan Amor, Steve Goss and Tom Heaton, the Move Party developers over at Supermassive Games for an insightful look into how the PlayStation Move allows us to bring games like Move Party into your home.

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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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Hi everyone. I’m John McLaughlin, and I’m a producer on the new PlayStation Move brawler, The Fight: Lights Out.

We had a really positive response from everyone who played the game at the Game Developers Conference under the working title, “Motion Fighter,” and since then we’ve been working hard on getting the game together. We’re currently in an alpha state and things are starting to look sweet.

We’ve conducted a ton of motion capture to ensure that every punch, every hit reaction, every dirty move and every hard-hitting knockout makes the player feel right in the thick of the action. So get ready to go blow-for-blow in the fight of your life because now, only with PS3 and the PlayStation Move motion controller, you’ll be able to throw punches with total precision. Throw jabs, hooks and uppercuts any way you like, just as you would in real life. Duck, bob and weave in real-time with the PlayStation Eye tracking your head movements.

Don’t think you’re much of a fighter? Well, it doesn’t matter — just fight dirty instead! Launch a two-handed ear drum burst to stun your opponent and follow up with a sly elbow to the face. Grab hold of his ears, head-butt him and then finish him off with a backhander. This is The Fight, and you can fight any way you want to – just make sure you win! All of this is only possible with the freedom of movement available with PlayStation Move.

That’s all from me for now. Be on the lookout for more on The Fight at E3. In the meantime, check out this new video to the get the low down on how PlayStation Move helps deliver the ultra-realistic brawling experience of The Fight.

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It’s Saturday night, which gives you several choices. Rugby? Trashy TV? The pub? All reasonable choices, but there is an alternative. The PlayStation Move is going to be on stage again, this time on the Engadget Show, which will be live very shortly. We’ve got it streaming below, so you don’t even have to leave the Blog to view it.

So join SCEA’s Dr. Richard Marks, Joystiq‘s Editor In Chief, Chris Grant, and other members of the Engadget crew in a behind the scenes look at the device, live at 9pm GMT.

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