Disney Interactive has been having a pretty rough year. The company kicked off 2009 with a handful of layoffs, and now, according to reports at Gamasutra, it's also facing a near 20 percent drop in year-over-year revenue. Big surprise? Not exactly, considering the publisher only internally published a handful of games last year (including critically acclaimed Pure and not so critically acclaimed Turok).

Also not a big surprise, Disney Interactive prez and CEO Bob Iger cites "the weak economy and other factors" when explaining his company's less than fantastic financial situation. Let's just hope Warren Spector's "epic" Mickey Mouse game can help to bolster Disney's 2009 lineup.

In a rather surprising move, Disney's Pure has also received a Trophy patch. You'll have to break out some truly insane stunts if you want to get the Platinum. The patch will be available on May 6th.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

If you only take your octane in high, then this bit of news is likely to put your pedal right down to the metal, as Disney Interactive Studios has officially unveiled Split/Second. Set for release early next year on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, Split/Second is described as an "action-racing game where speed meets strategy in a city rigged for destruction."

The press release also mentions a new site for the game, although that doesn't seem to have gone live yet. And, as suspected, Black Rock has created a world where "competitors vie to be the first across the finish line in a made-for-TV city built for destruction," so expect plenty of Running Man jokes on our end as we write about the game in the future.

As promised, last night's episode of GameTrailers TV brought our first non-fuzzy look at Pure developer Black Rock Studio's upcoming racing title, Split/Second. Keighley's ominous warning seems accurate -- it appears to be trying to give Burnout a run for its money. However, rather than participating in high-speed (probably illegal) street racing for your own amusement, it looks like Split/Second will be placing your automotive exploits in front of an enraptured televised audience.

Split/Second will also add a neat gameplay element hinted at in the trailer -- it looks like players will be able to "trigger" destructive events on the track in order to impede their opponents (or themselves, if they're not on top of their respective games). Watch the trailer if you want an example. The developers promise further info about the game next Wednesday -- til' then, you can check out the trailer here!

Blackrock Studio, which came out of nowhere to deliver last year's knockout off-road racer, Pure, has officially released the teaser trailer for its next project. (Someone had leaked it onto YouTube last week.) Good news: It's another racing game. But it's not Pure 2. Not by a mile.

The purposefully obscured footage provides a glimpse at what looks to be an action-filled arcade racer, one that's part Ridge Racer, part GRID and part Midnight Club. We get some very stylized cars, a huge crash and ... an exploding gas station. More on the game is promised for March 11. Consider us thoroughly teased. Hop on over to Big Download for a high-def-ier version of the video ... and tell 'em the 'Stiq sent you.

With off-road racing suitably redefined, Pure dev Blackrock looks to be taking its show on the road. A new viral video seemingly for the studio's next project has pulled out onto the internet, teasing street racing, crashes and more than a passing resemblance to Burnout Paradise. In fact, assuming the video itself was posted by Blackrock, the fact that it is tagged with both "burnout" and "paradise" seems to indicate that the former Climax Racing studio is looking to Criterion's open-world racer as a template for its next sprint to the finish line.

Nothing else is known, though the brief glimpse concludes, "To Be Continued March 11, 2009," leaving us time to run to the concession stand for popcorn before finding out more.

Update: This is no longer a rumor, folks -- check it out.

[Thanks, Chris]

In the summer of 2006, inside the Los Angeles Convention Center, there was a historically long line to get into the Nintendo's E3 booth and lay eyes and hands on the yet-unreleased Wii and its wares. After finally getting into the booth, attendees were faced with the choice of which long line they'd want to wait in next to play a game. When I got inside the booth and surveyed the selection, my first pick was Excite Truck. Once I'd finally gotten my hands on the controller and made a few laps around the track, I knew this would be a day one purchase for me.

Even after scoping out the upcoming stuff for Xbox 360 and PS3, I was convinced that Excite Truck embodied the true essence of the "next generation." New gameplay dynamics met vast dynamically changing terrain that stretched beyond what we had grown accustomed to.

So when Disney Interactive showed their new ATV racer, Pure, with vertiginous jumps, wild tricks, and expansive vistas, I thought I was looking at the spiritual successor to one of my favorite Wii launch titles, but a Wii version was not in the cards. At least we have a PC version to hack together a GlovePIE script for and give it the Excite Truck treatment.

This week at Best Buy, you can grab a free $10 gift card with the purchase of Pure and a free Silent Hill DVD with purchase of Silent Hill: Homecoming. Target has CoD4, Battlefield: Bad Company, and LEGO Indiana Jones for $39. Our retailer friends over at Circuit City are giving out free Pyramid keychains with Silent Hill: Homecoming, free $10 gift cards with both Pure and Baja: Edge of Control, Rock Band bundles for $139, and they have wireless controllers for $5 off. And the bonus deal this week is over at Circuit City where, with the purchase of either Rock Band, Ninja Gaiden II, Tiger Woods 09 or Madden 09, you can score a free $20 gift card. W00t to that.

We're been excited for Pure since E3, when we first got our hands on the ATV racer. Built by Blackrock Studios (formerly known as Climax Racing) Pure is gorgeous, with a Burnout-esque structure and a "why has no one thought of this" boosting risk/reward system that's just brilliant. Here's what the rest of the internet thought:

• GameDaily (90/100): "When it comes right down to it, though, Pure has some of the best racing action we've seen all year. The throttling gameplay, gorgeous presentation and sweet multiplayer options make it a ride you cannot miss."
• IGN (86/100): "Pure delivers an outrageous, arcadey off-road racing experience with style and slickness. The controls are intuitive, the tracks are pure eye candy and the tricks are so crazy and over-the-top that you'll find yourself gasping with glee when you land your first Lazy Girl."
• 1UP (83/100): "Thrilling on the ground, downright heart-stopping in the air, and beautiful throughout, Pure's a blast from start to finish. A career mode would've gone further than the game's 'World Tour' in fully eliminating repetitiveness, but Black Rock has otherwise built a real winner here."
• Gameplanet (85/100): "This is a great example of what can be achieved if fun is the primary aim. Massive tricks, amazing scenery, hugely modifiable bikes - what more do you want?"

It's almost like magic. The first day of Autumn hits tomorrow and the game industry intends to start the season as it means to go on. In short, by throwing game after game directly at your face until your wallet sits empty and your hands are blistered from constant gaming. Ouch. Here's the full release list:

US Games

• Baja: Edge of Control
• Buzz! Quiz TV
• Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
• Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Limited Edition)
• Lego Batman

EU Games

• Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
• Pure
• SBK 08: Superbike World Championship 2008
• NHL 09
• G1 Jockey 4 2008
• Baja: Edge of Control

Asian Games

• Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
• Aquanaut's Holiday
• Madden NFL 09
• Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09
• X Edge
  

Release dates are constantly subject to change, so contact your local retailer if you're uncertain. Feel free to go on an import spree if you feel like it, but keep in mind that DLC for any game generally has to be bought from the PSN store of the same region.

Disney Interactive Studios has informed us -- by means of a very elaborate musical number -- that its edge-of-the-seat ATV racer, Pure, has shipped out and should be available in "all major retailers" on September 23. Several online retailers are already sending out copies, however, so you'd best check in with your favorite store if next week lies outside your boundaries of patience.

If you're not sold on developer Black Rock Studio's high-flying bag of tricks, there's a downloadable demo waiting for you on the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation store.

The big releases are starting to drip out as the industry steadily ramps up for yet another packed holiday season. This week, the Xbox 360 plays host to some decent titles including the likes of Rock Band 2, Pure, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. On top of those, we've also got Armored Core: For Answer and ... um ... Battle Fantasia. To our disappointment, we have learned that Battle Fantasia is not a fighting game about the Disney movie Fantasia. It's a shame, really, because we were ready to throw down with some tutu-wearing hippos.

[Via Joystiq]

This week the Force unleashes worldwide whilst Americans get their hands on off-road racer, Pure. Europeans can enjoy recording TV onto their PS3 hard discs (while playing games, no less) and the Japanese finally get their hands on Eternal Sonata (though they choose to call if Trusty Bell, and why not?) Here's the full release list:

US Games

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
  [Get a free $20 gift card at Toys R Us stores; Get a free $5 gift card at Circuit City]
  
• Armored Core: For Answer
• Pure

EU Games

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• PlayTV

Asian Games

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• GI Jockey 4 2008
• Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume
• Unreal Tournament 3

Don't forget, release dates are constantly subject to change, so check with your local retailer if you need any of the above information confirmed. We're now only a month away from one of our most anticipated titles of the year -- Dead Space starts the holiday season off on October 14th and after that it's a terrifyingly expensive avalanche of titles until years end.

We said in our "New Games This Month" post that Pure was the best racing you weren't anticipating, and believe us when we say we weren't, in the parlance of the hills, just whistling Dixie. It an incredibly smart take on ATV racing that intertwines your turbo and combo meter to create a risk/reward dynamic unlike anything else we've seen in the genre.

Now, you'll get to see what all the fuss is about firsthand when demos for Pure land on Xbox Live and PSN tomorrow. Just don't come crying to us that you weren't warned before your face got rocked clean off.

If you've read Andrew's hands-on preview for the off-road arcade racer known as Pure, you would know that a demo was promised for sometime in September on PSN. That playable demo will be arriving sooner than expected as it's hitting this Thursday, September 4.

The demo will take gamers on a three-lap race against 15 other opponents. It'll be on the Italian Mount Garda track -- one of 35 different tracks available in the game. A tutorial on controls is also included, as usual.