Instead the reinvention of Disney's animated world will strive to both entice children and enlighten adult with a meaty, moralistic story, famed game designer Warren Spector told Kotaku today.

In Disney Epic Mickey, gamers take on the role of an edgier Mickey Mouse, using the Wii remote to wield magical paint and thinner to reshape the around them. Mickey uses these abilities as he fights his way through a cartoon wasteland in what Disney describes as an "adventure-platforming game with light role-playing elements."

Spector says that the game won't support the Wii Remote's MotionPlus technology because the technology became available to developers too late to the studio.

"We played with it and I think that it would be a great fit for our core mechanic, but the best I can say is that in the future we'd love to do more with it," he said.

In the game's fiction Yen Sid, the sorcerer first seen in 1940's Fantasia during The Sorcerer's Apprentice, creates a Cartoon Wasteland for Disney's forgotten and retired creations. The first inhabitant of this wasteland is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney's first cartoon star created in 1927.

As the years pass Oswald starts to resent Mickey's growing fame. When Disney's mouse accidentally warps Oswald's Cartoon Wasteland by spilling paint thinner on it, Mickey is drawn into the warped world.

"Having Warren combine creativity and innovation with one of the world's most famous characters takes Mickey back to his creative roots and allows fans to deepen their engagement with him as a character – especially in video games," said Graham Hopper, executive vice president and general manager of Disney Interactive Studios.

Spector says that he was drawn to the idea of working on this tale of Disney fiction both because it was a chance to "mess around with one of the world's most recognizable icons" and a chance to tell a story that is interesting to both children and adults.

"We are telling a story in this game that is more sophisticated than save the princess or you are the last space marine on Earth," Spector said. "I think what you will find is that there is some commentary about consumerism and what is truly important in life.

"If I went much further than that it would be the height of pretension."

But, Spector admits, there are some allusions in the game to T.S. Elliots' modernist and deeply influential poem The Waste Land.

In the Waste Land a hero is drawn to a kingdom made sterile by the wounding of its king. To restore the king and the land, the hero must go on a quest. The concept of the poem draws on prevalent proto-themes like the Grail legend.

And while Spector, who started his career as an academic, admits that he's aware of the potential connection, he doesn't want people to draw too many connections.

"You have to throw in literary references every once in awhile," he said.

What seems to have influenced Spector more is a children's book author who deals with heady ideas like theology, philosophy and John Milton's Paradise Lost.

"What Philip Pullman does is inspiration in everything I want to do,"he said. "You can make something that appeals to kids but is interesting to adults as well.

In December 2007, Spector wrote on his blog about how much he would love to create a game based on Pullman's Golden Compass. At the time he was already in the midst of working on Disney Epic Mickey, he said.

"I had my first discussion with Disney in September 2005, then boring business stuff happened and then we did concept art and then we separated for awhile and came back together," he said.

In September 2007 Disney acquired Spector's studio, Junction Point Studios, which was well into game concept work.

I asked Spector if creating a game based on such a beloved and widely known character had satisfied the itch he expressed in his blog about Golden Compass.

"To some extent it did," he said. "But if you ever stop itching it's time to retire.

"I think getting the opportunity to play in the playground that Disney offers, that is what this opportunity is really about for me."

"When you say you're messing with Mickey Mouse people's eyes really light up."

While Spector's vision of Mickey seems to be darker than the character's most recognizable appearances, there are still lines the game won't be crossing.

"There are lines, lines you don't want to cross," he said. "When you talk about Mickey Mouse, people are like 'Give him a gun, give him a knife,'" he said. "I don't want to do that. Why would you want to do that?

"There are lines you don't cross. I discovered there are lines that (Mickey Mouse) used to cross that are now uncrossable. He did some pretty crazy stuff, but nowadays times have changed."

What Mickey will be doing in the game is allowing gamers to make moral decisions about how to change the world around them with paint and thinner. Those decisions will have consequences that affect the environment, interactions with other characters, and even Mickey's appearance and abilities.

"The core of this game is the idea of choice and consequence, and how that defines both the character and the player," Spector wrote in a prepared statement. "By putting the mischievous Mickey in an unfamiliar place and asking him to make choices – to help other cartoon characters or choose his own path – the game forces players to deal with the consequences of their actions. Ultimately, players must ask themselves, ‘What kind of hero am I?' Each player will come up with a different answer."

The initial concept for the Wii-exclusive game was born at Disney Interactive Studios' Think Tank, Spector told Kotaku.

"The idea of a wasteland with lost characters, Oswald's return, the Phantom Blog, that stuff existed, that core was there when they pitched it to me," Spector said. "They were all sitting there showing me this stuff in Power Point saying 'You don't have to do all of this, you can ignore it' and I thought 'Why would I ignore this, it's fantastic.'"

While the heart of the idea came from the Think Tank, the way the game and its look evolved is all Spector and his team.

The team spent huge amounts of time in Disney's many vast archives, pulling concept art and files.

"I'm a research junkie," Spector said. "I started out as an academic and film historian so I had shelves and shelves and shelves of books and articles. I came into this with a good background. But Disney has amazing resources. I spent a bunch of time out there digging through files."

During one of his earliest visits Spector was shocked to have one of the archivists apologize for having only scanned 90,000 images so far.

"Honestly, you could spend days digging through the stuff we dug out of the archives."

One thing that surprisingly didn't inspire Disney Epic Mickey was Square-Enix' hugely popular role-playing game Kingdom Hearts.

"I played the Kingdom Hearts games, but they weren't much of an inspiration," Spector said. "They treated the Disney characters much more conventionally than I wanted to.

"They are not reintroducing or reimagining as much as they are offering these characters as folks you are going to interact with in a new medium."

Spector was coy about how much inspiration the game developers are drawing from the Disney theme parks.

"You might sort of, kind of recognize some scenes," he said. "I don't want to give too much away."

The designer, best known for making games like Deus Ex and Thief, said that he wasn't worried about moving from typically adult-themed games to one that may be viewed as being more for children or families.

"When this opportunity arose I had to decide, do I want to keep working on this original stuff I've been doing or do I want to mess around with one of the world's most recognizable icons," he said. "The opportunity to work with something this recognizable and profound comes around once in a lifetime. The decision was pretty straight forward.

"I'm not making a game for kids, I'm making a game gamers will be happy with."

According to the report:

The first thing I wanted to know was, is there a Tron video game in the works? Because so far, I haven't heard anything.

Steven did confirm that yes, there IS a video game in the works by Disney Interactive. He said he wasn't sure if he should mention it or not, but he's confirming it anyway.

Lisberger, who was interviewed at yesterday's D23 Expo, had no further details as far as consoles, the type of game, or its release window.

I've emailed PR contacts for Disney Interactive Studios to see if they want to clarify, refute or confirm Lisberger's comment.

Confirmed! There Will Be A Tron: Legacy Video Game! [The Latino Review, thanks william b.]

As part of Disney Interactive Studios' purchase of Wideload Games, Wideload and Bungie founder Alexander Seropian, will join Disney Interactive as the vice president of creative.

In his new role, Seropian will report to Global Product Development Senior Vice President Jean-Marcel Nicolai, and be tasked with overseeing creative development across Disney Interactive Studios' portfolio of video games.

"Wideload Games is among the premier small creative game development studios in the world. Wideload Games will be a great fit for our portfolio of internal studios, and Alex joining the global product development team provides the entire Disney game portfolio with a strong creative influence," said Graham Hopper, executive vice president and general manager, Disney Interactive Studios, in a prepared statement. "Alex has built his reputation around the power of original thinking. In leading the studio that created Halo, he helped turn great storytelling, exceptional design and polished gameplay into the ‘killer app' for Xbox. Alex's leadership of our creative community will enhance our ability to be a magnet for the best talent in the industry and enable the company to take an even more significant role in developing industry leading products."

In 2000, Seropian negotiated the acquisition of Bungie by Microsoft and then in 2003 he founded Wideload Games.

"Joining Disney is an ideal next step, both for our studio and me," Seropian said. "At Wideload, we've conscientiously built a forward-looking approach to game development that borrows many techniques from the film industry. Now, Wideload will be a part of one of the largest, most respected entertainment companies in the world. I'm looking forward to Wideload's continued success as a part of Disney and I'm eager to bring all my experience to the creative community at Disney Interactive Studios."

Under Disney, Wideload will develop original video game properties, according to the press release.

Toy Story Mania! is being developed for the Wii with the help of Disney's imagineers and designed to replicate the experience of the 4D ride of the same name.

Toy Story Mania! the ride opened in Disney's California Adventure and Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2008. On the ride, park-goers board a carnival tram and ride along a track that whips them in front of large screens featuring stereoscopic 3D animation. The ride also features blasts of air and water, with four plastic pop guns that are used to shoot virtual pies, darts, balls and hoops at the screen to score points.

The attraction is broken up into a practice round and five games, including balloon pop and plate break levels, and a Woody-themed pop-gun shoot-out on a faux western set.

To shoot the virtual ammo, people on the ride pull back on a string attached to the over-sized guns and let go to fire, simulating a pop gun. Disney Interactive show producer Stephanie Pickens, one of the imagineers who worked on the ride, said the gun can register up to ten shots a second.

The ride also tracks each players scores, showing the scores at the end of each run and also listing the park's high scores for the day and month.

The ride cost an estimated $80 million to create and requires more than 150 computers to run. It is, Pickens said, the first true video game ride in a Disney park.

The team behind the ride faced a lot of challenges, said Sue Bryan, Walt Disney senior show producer.

"It was harder than you might have thought," she said. "We have 3-year-olds, grand parents, teenagers, avid gamers, people who swear they never want to play a video game who might be riding this."

And because the ride is relatively short, people need to feel successful instantly to have fun.

"Traditional carnival games are fun, but are not necessarily out to make people feel successful," she said.

So the team started by creating a mock-up of the ride, building the set with foam core, the car out of plywood and the guns out of PVC pipe.

"Our big goal was immersion," she said.

After deciding on the ride's design, the team of imagineers started mocking up guns for the attraction.

"We tested levers, buttons, but we ended up with a pull string because it feels like a pop gun, viscerally, when you use it," she said.

When Walt Disney Imagineering started working on the virtual portion of the ride, it became a lot like making a game, Pickens said.

The giant screens and the graphics needed to have accurate physics and had to be able to know exactly where the shooter was located and pointing at all times.

"We needed to render projectiles precisely to make sure it feels like it comes out of your gun," Pickens said.

Both Pixar, the people behind the Toy Story movies, and Disney animators worked on the animations for the ride's games. The games, while relatively simple on their surface, also have a surprising amount of complexity built into them.

Some of the animations have two stages, like a hen house that when shot sprouts chickens. There are also Easter eggs, or secrets built into the games, like clouds that shower high point targets when shot.

When Disney decided to create a video game based on their ride they turned to Papaya Studios.

"We spent a lot of time with the video game development team," Pickens said. "It's crazy, crazy detailed."

While the Wii game doesn't have air or water effects, some of the games levels will include stereoscopic 3D graphics. Where the ride features 56 game screens, the Wii version has 30 mini games.

Because the game relies on the motion controls of the Wii remote, it does manage to capture much of the same feel of the ride and Disney hopes that spells increased sales. In fact, the game will be sold at the two parks right outside of the ride.

If successful, it sounds like Disney may explore bringing other forms of video game interactivity to some of their parks and with those new rides will likely come new video game ports of theme park reality.

"Interactive play is really popular at our parks," Bryan said.

Well Played is a weekly opinion column about the big news of the week in the gaming industry and its bigger impact on things to come. Feel free to join in the discussion.

What Is It?
Made by the team behind PURE, Split/Second hopes to deliver a racing game packed with Hollywood-sized special effects. In the game, players can build up their power play bar by drifting, drafting, jumps and near misses. Once filled, icons on the screen tell players when they can activate small and large power plays which can derail other cars, blow out walls or even permanently alter the course.

What We Saw
I played through a single race four times.

How Far Along Is It?
There was only the one level available, built specifically for the event. The game itself, I was told, has a long way to go before it hits the PS3, PC and Xbox 360.

What Needs Improvement?
Control Sensativity: The game's controls are still a bit too touchy for a racer, but the developers said they know that is an issue and are already working on modifying the controls.

Graphic User Interface: The first time I saw the game, the score, place, and power play gauge were all on the car's bumper. This time around they are all displayed beneath the bumper. It's an improvement, but I'm still not in love with the look. I think the look has plenty of room for improvement.

Damage Modeling: While the cars do take damage as you race around the course, that damage doesn't impact the way a vehicle handles. In a game that's all about taking out the competition, damaged cars need to act damaged.

What Should Stay The Same?
Power Plays: The power plays are broken down into small and large events. I was able to trigger gas station explosions, walls collapsing, taking out an entire highway overpass and even downing a large commercial flight. These events, which both slow other races and change the actual course, are what this game's all about. On the course I ran, they had a nice mix and all of them were delivered with over-the-top graphics.

Aesthetic: The game's look is perfect for what it wants to deliver, a summer blockbuster of a racing title packed with explosions and surreal events.

Over-the-top Action: In my final race, finally comfortable with the controls and understanding the concept of the two-tiered power plays, I tore the track apart, speeding through billowing clouds of dust, drifting around flaming wreckage and avoiding a crashing plane. It was unlike any race I had played before.

Simplified Controls: The controls definitely need work, but using them couldn't be easier. One trigger is gas, another brake and you pull both to drift. Then there's one button to activate the smaller power plays and another to activate the larger ones.

Final Thoughts
Split/Second is a great idea, a racing game in a staged set built around the idea of blowing things up and changing your course. The game adds a much needed sense of fun and tactics to a genre that is increasingly in danger of becoming a niche accessible only to gearheads.

in Toy Story Mania, gamers play a number of mini-games on the Wii using the remote. Among the 40 mini games are ones that have you throwing darts to pop balloons, throwing balls to knock things over and throwing hoops over object for points. While the 3D graphics weren't on display tonight, the producers said that some of the games wold include the option to play in true 3D.

G-Force, a game based on the upcoming 3D movie, did have the 3D display on show this evening. Both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game will support 3D graphics, which can be switched on and off on the fly.

The 3D graphics used in the game requires gamers to sport a pair of cardboard blue and red lensed glasses and uses a type 3D known as off-axis, the developers said. The effects seen in motion were surprisingly good, The guinea pig lead stood out on the screen, enemy shots seemed to blow out of the television and the world felt more realistic, though with slightly muddled colors because of the graphics.

Though not the first game, by a long shot, to sport 3D graphics the game certainly seems to put a shine on the red/blue technology.

"Split Second is an action arcade street racing game set in the world of a global reality TV show," said Mitch Powers, senior global brands manager for Disney Interactive Studios. "Racers race around a made-for-TV city. There are a multitude of environmental objects rigged for destruction. They range from smaller effects like a manhole cover or water rushing onto the course to taking down a building, altering the track."

And timing is everything, he says.

The key to Split Second, set for an early 2010 release on the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, is to build up enough power to pull off these course-destroying power plays.

Racers build up the three segments of their power by drifting, drafting, jumping and near misses with other drivers.

The first two bars, currently shown on the back bumper of the car, are blue the third is red. The blue bars are used to activate the smaller effects, the red bars are used to activate the huge effects.

Each race starts off with a television-like intro that gives players a quick glimpse of some of the tracks power plays.

Powers showed me a race set at an airport. Initially the track had eight cars racing around the outer perimeter of the airport, but as some of the larger power plays kicked off, that changed.

The first massive effect I saw collapsed an overpass and cars were zipping by it, taking out several of the vehicles. The collapse also permanently changed the course, tearing down not just the overpass, but also collapsing an outer wall of the terminal, forcing cars to race through the inside of the airport.

Later, Powers triggers another big power play that forced cars to race first through the terminal and then onto the runway itself. A third power play knocked out the air traffic control at the airport and a massive commercial plane crashed on the runway wiping out several cars as they raced up the runway.

While the early-build of the game I saw, which is being developed by Pure-developer Black Rock Studios, had some fairly impressive graphics, Powers pointed out it's far from finished.

"You're seeing the very first production piece for the game," Powers warned. "The final game is going for Hollywood-size special effects. The special effects in this game have pretty much not been seen in any game before."

The smaller power plays I saw were also pretty neat, including an over-sized jack hammer slamming into the ground, shaking cars into each other or the side of the course.

Most of these smaller effects reset, allowing you or your opponents to use them each time around the track, Powers said.

The controls for the game are fairly straight forward: You steer with the left stick, brake with the left trigger, speed up with the right and drift by applying brakes and gas at the same time.

The smaller power plays are activated with the A button and the larger with the B, in the Xbox 360 version of the game I saw.

While most of the power plays I saw were activated in front of the driver, with enemy cars next to them, Powers said that the developers are looking at creating power plays that would activate behind you with a motion sensor or something like one.

"We're still fleshing that out," he said.

While I only saw one course, the final product will have a "variety of locations through the city", each with multiple routes.

The single-player experience will have gamers trying to become the season champ for the TV show, but the game will also have a "nice offering of multplayer options," Powers said.

"Split Second is not just for people who enjoy racing games, it's also for people who enjoy blowing things up," Powers said. "It is a frenetic racing game."

Exact numbers weren't provided, but we were told that approximately 35 or fewer Propaganda Games staffers were laid off, with two development teams still in development on unnamed projects. As for the rumored cancellation of the developer's Turok sequel, we were told that Disney has never officially announced such a project but that the publisher "still holds the rights from Classic Media" to the intellectual property.

Reps also confirmed reports that its Salt Lake City area developers would be consolidated, citing "efficiencies." The move was pitched as a positive, saying that the combined Avalanche and Fall Line studios would have more prominence on Wii development.

Sources tell us that Vancouver based Propaganda Games is in the process of laying off approximately 70 employees. That reduction in workforce is likely closely tied to the cancellation of Turok 2, a title never officially announced by Disney, but one of two projects that Propaganda was working on, we're told.

Propaganda's second project, which sources opted not to define, is still actively in development.

According to one employee at a DIS subsidiary, the parent company is also planning to consolidate a handful of its studios, including Avalanche Software and the Fall Line studio. Both development houses are responsible for creating games based on Disney properties such as Chicken Little, Hannah Montana and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Both studios are located in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Disney is planning to eliminate jobs outside of its video games business as well, with Reuters reporting that job cuts will hit television networks ABC and ESPN.

Representatives from Disney Interactive Studios did not immediately return phone calls requesting comment or confirmation. [Disney reps have since confirmed and clarified this report.]

Update: We received internal communication forwarded to remaining employees from Steve Wadsworth, President of the Walt Disney Internet Group. Wadsworth writes: "As you can imagine, given economic conditions, every industry has been impacted on a global scale. In response to this challenging business environment, we have examined ways in which we might be able to work more efficiently. We have taken measures to control costs by freezing most open positions, deferring some capital projects, reducing support from third parties, taking significant reductions in travel and entertainment expenses and eliminating other activities. The elimination of existing positions that we communicated today was a necessary step that we had hoped to avoid. In addition to all of these changes, we have also determined that Directors and above will not be receiving merit increases this year. All of these actions are part of a focused effort to ensure we are closely managing the organization through the current economic climate, balancing our need to respond to the current environment with our goal of driving significant long-term growth."

The song list for the DS and Wii versions of the game aren't that bad actually, with appearances by hits from The Who, Blondie, Devo and The B-52s. Too bad they're all covers, and from what I remember, bad covers. The full list is on the jump.

Wii Song List
· Girls Not Grey
· Complicated
· Hanging on the Telephone
· Song 2
· I Want You To Want Me
· All Right Now
· Anna Molly
· Club Foot
· Won't Go Home Without You
· Dashboard
· Helena
· Get the Party Started
· Crushcrushcrush
· Just
· Stumble and Fall
· When Did Your Heart Go Missing?
· In Too Deep
· Unconditional
· Somebody Told Me
· Always Where I Need to Be
· Debaser
· Fell in Love With a Girl
· Break on Through
· Beverly Hills
· Move Along
· Rock Lobster
· First Date
· Whip It
· Take Over the Break is Over
· Hold On
· Our Time Now
· Just What I Needed
· All Day and All of the Night
· Steady As She Goes
· My Generation

DS Song List
· Move Along
· Rock Lobster
· First Date
· Whip It
· Take Over the Break is Over
· Hold On
· Our Time Now
· Just What I Needed
· All Day and All of the Night
· Steady As She Goes
· My Generation
· All Star
· Call Me
· Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
· 9 in the Afternoon

About Ultimate Band

With Ultimate Band, you don’t need to break the bank buying instruments to rock out with this peripheral-free performance music game. Use the Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ to become the ultimate “air band” as you perform to more than 30 hip indie and mainstream hits. This storyline-driven game also lets players create and customize characters that reflect their own unique personalities and attributes. For rocking-on-the-go, the Nintendo DS version features exclusive songs and puts players in the studio to let them create and perform their own tracks. Ultimate Band has ESRB ratings of E on the Wii and E10+ on the Nintendo DS, and is available this holiday season. MSRP is $29.99 for Nintendo DS and $49.99 for Wii.

Can Disney break into an already saturated genre, taking on BAJA: Edge of Control and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift with an ATV trick title? Lets see.

Loved
Exhilarating Tricks: Tricks in Pure truly stand out. They are what make this game different from the others hitting this year. And it's not just about the occasional can-can or Superman, it's about building up your ability over the course of the race to do increasingly absurd, over-the-top tricks that have you floating free of the ATV for giant chunks of time. Better still, if you mess up, and don't scramble back into your seat in time, you know there's a good chance you'll lose.

Snappy Controls: Forgoing the realism of locked tires, or speed-induced topples, Pure concentrates instead on making sure the controls are exceptionally responsive. It might not be completely realistic, but it's fun.

Custom Rides: I'm not a gear head myself, but even I thought that it was kind of neat to be able to change every single piece of my ATV out with a laundry list of substitutes earned through races. You can even paint everything. And if you don't want to bother you can have a ride randomly created for you.

Tight track design: The tracks in the game, there are only a dozen locations, are all fairly hitch free. Each offer up enough different routes over the course of a race to almost give the illusion of total access.

Strategic Boost System: Boosting in Pure is tied directly to tricks, which are tied directly to boost. To earn boost you need to perform tricks. The more boost you have the more complicated the trick you can perform, which delivers even more boost. This yin and yang of boost and trick adds a bit of strategy to races as you try to determine if you can pull off a trick in the short amount of air time you get on a jump. If you don't take the chance you can boost as much, but if you do and fail it's going to be hard to catch up.

Hated
Limited Tricks: With the game relying so heavily on its beautifully animated trick system, you'd think the developers would have included more. Sure, getting up to the highest level of tricks is hard and performing them requires monster air and very good timing. But even the 70 or so tricks will get old overtime.

Static Tracks: The tracks are well designed, but it would have been nice if they showed a bit more wear and tear as you zip around them over and over and over again. I'm all about track deformation these days and while the game says it has deformation, I've yet to run a race where it was noticeable in a way that affected the outcome.

No Local Multiplayer: Local multiplayer should be a must, in my book, but I understand the reasoning behind not always including it. Well, usually I do. With a racing title, one that has such a short list of tracks and tricks, you really should include the option for split screen racing.

I like Pure, a lot. But I suspect that won't last. I need my off-roading to be a bit more robust, offer split screen races, maybe some more modes, to keep me interested. Despite that, Pure has one of the best trick systems for an off-roader that I've seen in quite awhile.

Pure, developed by Black Rock Studios and published by Disney Interactive onami was released on Sept. 23 for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Retails for $59.99. Played all tracks and modes of Playstation 3 version and tested online.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the game, though I've not been truly satisfied with an offroad title since Motocross Madness for the PC back in 1998. Here's hoping I can trade in my old favorite for a shiny new one.

This is due in no small part to the visuals. Each track in Pure is loaded with smooth-looking graphics and lush backgrounds that almost distract you from racing. The bikes themselves don’t look half-bad, either. Though there are no licensed models, each part of the bike is licensed and if that means anything to you, you can look forward to cobbling together some pretty sweet custom bikes with some of the best parts; there must be more than a thousand combos you could come up with. Bikes either skew towards fast racing models, or slower trick bikes. An auto-build-your-own mode lets you get as crazy with customization as you can stand without having to go through each and every bolt and frame choice.

On to the actual gameplay. We were treated to the multiplayer experience – not a great idea because they pit journalists against the production team so needless to say, we got slaughtered. But at least we got to see most of the seven tracks in the game while getting our asses handed to us. There were two tracks apiece for Thailand, New Mexico, and of course, Italy (hence the statues) plus one extra track I never made it to because I kept toppling off of cliffs. The idea is that one track usually has all the high jumps and is better for trick-racing, while the other is a lot shorter with tighter turns, a true racing track. Both are decked out with images appropriate to the area (hot air balloons for New Mexico, jungles for Thailand, etc.)

We spent most of multiplayer going through Freestyle mode where the idea is to do as many tricks, grab as many power-ups and (obviously) finish first to get the highest score. Tricks are crucial to gameplay in Pure because without them, you don’t earn boost – and without boost, you can’t win. Other modes include Sprint (a straight-up race) and a third mode I again didn’t make it to by virtue of dying a lot.

But don’t cry for me, Argentina – dying in this game is fun. Of course since Disney’s holding the leash, you’re not going to get bloody gore, or sickening bone breakage; but developer Black Rock Studio sure knows its rag doll physics. After the third time I failed a coffin trick and landed on my head I deliberately started to see just how sick a wreck I could get into, giggling like a girl with a glitter stick in art class.

A PR rep noticed and tried to correct my epic fails by re-explaining the controls. “Just hold down the right trigger to go forward… Yes, that’s it. Now, you’ve got to push the right stick forward when you’re going up a hill and then pull it back right before you launch to get really high… Good, good… Okay, you start out only with basic tricks by pressing A while jumping. Oh, look, you unlocked B tricks… hey, you did a Superman! Okay, okay… Now, land it. Land it.”

Crunch.

I asked about a crash-cam. He said something about ESRB ratings and took me off of multiplayer. “Let’s see how you do on a basic track… let you get the feel of things.”

I did get the feel of things pretty quickly in single-player. Pure is nothing if not intuitive. By the end of the first track, I was pulling of the Y button tricks; insane feats that you simply can’t do in real life – like ghost-riding the whip 150 feet in the air. Apparently, if you nail these tricks, you’re given the option to create your own tricks by holding down the left and right buttons.

“We want this game to be for everybody,” said the PR rep. “We can’t make it too hard or too graphic.”

“Uh-huh,” I said, ramming into the side of some ancient Roman ruins.

He gave me the hairy eye. “You really are a fan of Burnout, aren’t you?”

Pure is out September and I look forward to getting my driver killed in new and interesting ways with every race.

Here’s the most massive blitz of screens ever – plus a few pics I took of the party.

"The special filmed content that is exclusive to the video game provides insight into Narnia and the events around the 'Prince Caspian' story like nothing else," said Andrew Adamson. "With movie fans' enthusiasm for unique experiences in video games as well, these scenes are ideal to complement the 'Prince Caspian' game's action."

Disney Interactive Studios Introduces Original Scenes Exclusive to Disney/Walden Media's the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Video Game Ben Barnes Reprises Role as Prince Caspian in Two Live Action Filmed Segments

BURBANK, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Fans of The Chronicles of Narnia will get to experience two unique film scenes only one way - on their home consoles or Windows-based PC. Disney Interactive Studios announced today that two original scenes for Disney/Walden Media's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian video game were filmed exclusively for the product and appear separately from the film. The unique scenes link The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Prince Caspian stories with Dr. Cornelius (Vincent Grass) telling Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) the story of how Narnia fell to the Telmarines hundreds of years ago.

The scenes were shot on the film set in Prague, Czech Republic, during principal shooting and feature dialogue revealing plot based on the events of the book, game and film. The creation of the live action content was directed by Andrew Adamson, the film's director. The two original scenes are part of 18 live action moments in the game, which include 16 excerpts from the feature film.

"The special filmed content that is exclusive to the video game provides insight into Narnia and the events around the 'Prince Caspian' story like nothing else," said Andrew Adamson. "With movie fans' enthusiasm for unique experiences in video games as well, these scenes are ideal to complement the 'Prince Caspian' game's action."

The England-based game production and development teams worked in cooperation with the London-based film crew and Andrew Adamson to assure the game's overall accuracy to the film. Capturing two original scenes was only possible through the collaborative partnership between Disney Interactive Studios; and Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media.

"The close partnerships we maintain with our film division and Walden Media allowed us to utilize the cast, crew and set to create two unique scenes exclusively for the video game," said Ed Bainbridge, vice president of European production, Disney Interactive Studios. "These entertaining and memorable scenes enable us to portray a part of the Narnia history that is drawn from the fiction and played out in the game."

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian video game will be available for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, the Wii™ home video game system, the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and Windows-based PC. A separate Nintendo DS™ version will also be available.

Developed by Traveller's Tales, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian for home consoles and Windows-based PC takes players throughout Narnia and includes a gameplay level, which is unique from both the novel and the film. The level, which is set between the events of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" and "Prince Caspian," takes place at the castle of Cair Paravel and tells the story of how Narnia fell to the Telmarine hordes. In "Prince Caspian," Cair Paravel is seen only as abandoned ruins the Pevensies discover hundreds of years later.

The action/adventure game offers gameplay for one or two players on the same system and drop-in/drop-out features, allowing either player to join the game and leave. With combat, exploration and puzzle solving that extends beyond the film, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is the ideal complement to the movie-going experience. The game features more than 20 playable characters including the ability to play as Prince Caspian. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian console game is the sequel to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe for consoles, which received the prestigious IGN.com Editor's Choice Award.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian for Nintendo DS, which is an action/role playing game, will include the debut of DGamer, Disney Interactive Studios' innovative new technology that provides a fun, connected game community for Disney video game fans. With DGamer, players earn content, interact and chat with others on Nintendo DS through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection or on a computer through the Disney.com website. DGamer will be offered in North America in future Nintendo DS games from Disney Interactive Studios with a future launch scheduled in other global regions. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian for Nintendo DS and DGamer are being developed by Fall Line Studio, the Nintendo platform-dedicated development studio of Disney Interactive Studios.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian for consoles and Windows PC is rated T for Teen by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and will be available for Xbox 360, the PLAYSTATION 3 system and Wii for $49.99; and the PLAYSTATION 2 system and Windows-based PC for $29.99. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian for the Nintendo DS has an ESRB rating of E10+ for Everyone 10 years and older and will be available for $29.99.

For more information about The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian video game, log on to www.princecaspiangame.com.