According to the insider, who has a flawless track record on these matters, the Elite will soon be bundled with free copies of LEGO Batman and racer Pure. Not a bad deal that, as you'd keep most people happy with one, if not both of those.

No word on a similar deal for the Arcade unit, but hey, it's only September.

Mole spills holiday 360 bundle as Microsoft begins $50 rebate [Ars Technica]

Why, Black Rock Studios own Split/Second, the explosive reality show-meets-street racing game, of course.

"We're all fans of street racing here, but as a genre it is relatively stale – the evolution is only coming from how you customise cars, which can only serve to remove you from the action – I think Split/Second will do the opposite," game director Nick Baynes tells Develop.

Obviously, some of this is drinking the development Kool-Aid, publicizing the merits of one's own video game, so it must be taken with a grain of salt.

But Black Rock studio head Tony Beckwith says there's some data to back those statements up.

"If you look at the sales figures, the racing genre is in many respects dying out – take Mario Kart out of the equation and the category is in a dire way," he says. "I think this genre is ripe for something new and inventive to give it a kick start."

While the game certainly looks flashy enough and critical acclaim for Pure was positive, we'll have to see if Split/Second lives up to the developer's own hype.

Disney's Black Rock: We can save 'dying' racing genre [Develop]

The game seems to be blending Death Race with Burnout. Instead of weapons, though, the drivers seem to have the ability to trigger things on the enclosed race course like blowing up bridges or unleashing a wall of water.

Split/Second Trailer

The action racing game from Disney and Pure developers Black Rock Studios is given but a few seconds in the teaser for this week's upcoming episode. But the few seconds we do get and the solid Pure pedigree may make us stay up late to watch the show. Or at least get up early on Saturday morning to see it online.

The episode also promises exclusive looks at The Conduit and Boom Blox Bash Party for Wii, plus some clearly spoilerific scenes from Resident Evil 5.

We also hear that host Geoff Keighley will be debuting a new sweater. Just a heads up!

GameTrailers TV Episode 204 Promo [GT]

With off-road, over-the-top racer Pure and a slew of ATV and MotoGP titles under their belt, it looks like Black Rock wants to get into the street racing business.

Looking over their job vacancies page, it looks like the game will likely be for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. I'm guessing this is the original IP racing game that they were hiring a lead technical artist for back in May.

The video ends with To Be Continued March 11, 2009, so we don't have long to wait.

If you crack up simply reading the word "boner" or "felch" or "gerbiling," this should provide hours of entertainment. Otherwise, while this filter seems of limited use in a game like Pure, it gives you insight into one of the more ... unusual tasks of game development. "Hi, great party. So, what do you do?" "Well, I'm responsible for inputting and updating the list of bad words you can't use in video games. Say, what's your opinion on 'hairpie'? One word or two? One word looks like 'harpie' to me. Have you tried the spinach dip in that breadbowl? Hey, where are you going?"

The Man Don’t Give A Phuq: Pure Filth [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]
Giant List of Bad Words [Allegedly Disney, language NSFW]

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.

The upcoming racer's soundtrack will include music from DJ Hyper, The Answer, Tapework and Blindside to name a few. Here's a partial track list for the game, due out on the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 later this year:

The Answer - "Into the Gutter"
Fred Baker -"Genius Touch"
Jeff Beck -"Grease Monkey"
Calyx & Teebee -"Dual Processed" Featuring MC Verse
The Datsuns -" Maximum Heartbreak' and 'Sittin' Pretty"
Diet Kong -"With Magic"
Adam Freeland -" Spin Machine"
The Futureheads -" Beginning of the Twist"
DJ Hyper -"We Control"
Midfield General -"On the Road"
The Music -"Strength in Numbers"
My Luminaries - "The Sound of Music"
Noise Control -"Cities of Dreams' and 'Mud Bath"
Pendulum -"Granite' and 'Showdown"
Pop Levi -"Wannamama"
Qemists -"Drop Audio' and 'Stomp Box"
The Radishes -"Good Machine"
Silvertone -"Try"
The Subways -"Rock and Roll Queen"
Tapeworm -"Getting Through"
The Whigs -"Need You Need You"
Zero DB -"Late in the Day' and 'Redline"
Wolfmother -" Woman"
We Are Scientists -"Inaction"
Blindside - "For the Nation"

"Music plays an integral part in action sports games and we wanted to provide the right background to complement the nonstop spectacular tricks and massive jumps in the game," said Jason Avent, game director at Black Rock Studio. "We feel that the songs we've included on the soundtrack are ideal to round out the adrenaline rush players will get while playing PURE."

I've only been able to play around with a single map in the game, but so far I really like what I've seen. And I'm not the only 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.