Not that that's a bad thing. Explosions and cars look like they're going to go together just fine.

What Is It?
Split/Second is a racing game that takes place over the course of a season of an imaginary reality TV program. Players race on giant set pieces rigged with explosives, which they can trigger once they fill their Power Play meter in order to open up new shortcuts and inconvenience their opponents, with events ranging from signs falling across the road to massive, devastating events that change the track completely.

What We Saw
I watched a developer race through a new shipyard level before they allowed me to drive the same airport course that Crecente saw last month.

I had to play through the track twice, as the first time I went around I managed to flip my car, leaving it spinning on its roof, where it sat as the developers stared. Apparently this hadn't happened before, at least without the car resetting, which it didn't. I killed it!

How Far Along Is It?
They've still got a long way to go, with only two levels available at the show, only one of which was playable.

What Needs Improvement?
Again, Damage Modeling: Echoing Crecente's concerns, cars that are damaged don't drive as if they were damaged, and the game would certainly benefit if they did. Imagine the drama of taking out your opponents with a well-timed explosion and then limping across the finish line in a barely-drivable heap. This reality show could use a bit more reality.

What Should Stay The Same?
Drifting And Handling: I'm not sure if the controls have been tweaked since the last time we previewed the game, but I found Split/Second's controls to be perfect for an arcade racer. It feels very much like a boostless Burnout, which for me is the sweet spot for a pick up and play racing experience.

Big Budget Blow-ups: Signs and power lines falling across the track are impressive, but when an entire section of the track sinks into the ground? If Split/Second can manage to pull off massive events like this on a consistent basis it's going to be one hell of a show.

Single Track Variety: I got to play through the airport track twice (well, one and 3/4 times), and both times the experience was completely different. That's the joy of Power Plays. Depending on who you are racing and what Power Plays are available (more unlock on each track as you progress in the season), the variety present in any one track is delicious.

Final Thoughts
While I wish I could have seen more, what Black Rock Studios has so far for Split/Second has a great deal of potential. It's an arcade racer with an element of strategy to it, which could be a sweet answer to delivering a deeper racing experience to those of us who shy away from the more realistic driving simulators out there.

Blur - Activision is hoping for a Call Of Duty-scale new racing franchise, from Bizarre Creations. Realistic cars, low-stress handling, mixed with Mario Kart -style pick-ups on the track. (Expected for all major platforms)

Split/Second - Disney's Hollywood-action racing game, includes huge track-deforming effects that players can trigger, like destroying gas stations or causing buildings to fall and alter the course. (Expected for all major platforms. Preview here.)

Need for Speed x3? - EA's got a Need For Speed: Nitro for the Wii, the more realistic Need For Speed: Shift for higher-end consoles and PC. Plus there's a Need for Speed: World free PC game coming. Maybe we'll see that too?

Fuel - Codesmasters' racing game with its massive world will be out the week of E3, which means it'll maybe show up at the big show.

MotorStorm Arctic Edge - Sony's PSP revival is supposed to include a cold-weather edition of the MotorStorm franchise, the one that pits cars against trucks against motorcycles against craggy cliffs. (PSP/PS2. Preview here.)

UPDATE: More avid racing games than I pointed out that I excluded the deserving Dirt 2. Consider that sin confessed publicly. Game's coming to all current platforms, handhelds and PC.

Bond Racing project - Bizarre Creations is expected to be working on a James Bond racing game of some sort, but we don't' hold out much hope that it will be at E3.

New Forza? - It's rumored, and it seems awfully plausible.

Gran Turismo PSP or 5? - GTPSP, announced in 2004, is Duke Nukem Forever of racing games. Despite the game being a favorite E3 guess of podcast pundits such as the guys on Listen Up, who wants to bet that a portable game or it's long-in-the-making first full-sized PS3 big brother will be at E3?

What's the trend here?

EA and Activision are in a deathmatch/deathrace with their competing racing franchises, pitting the branding power of Activision against the franchise success of the slightly faded Need For Speed line. In general, those games and the others point to racing games tilting more toward the arcade-y side of things.

While the racing games of E3 2009 look to have an arcade style, the cars themselves will likely continue to trend toward realistic visual styles. After all, with Nintendo coasting on sales of Mario Karts for Wii and DS — plus having just released ExciteBots Trick Racing — the chief purveyors of cutesy cars are likely on the racing sidelines for this year's big show.

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.

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]

"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."

Coming early next year for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, Split/Second is, as Crecente observed, a melding of Death Race and Burnout, crafted by Pure developer Black Rock Studio. Players race through a made-for-TV built with destruction in mind, with the ultimate goal of becoming the season champion of a reality television show. As well as knocking opponents off the track, racers will be able to strategically alter the race's route by triggering huge explosive events.

"We're creating huge memorable moments on par with the biggest blockbuster action films," said Nick Baynes, game director, Black Rock Studio. "Action racing has captured the imagination of video game fans worldwide and we're going to redefine that experience with Split/Second."

Sounds like a game that could capture the hardcore Burnout fans who've jumped ship due to Burnout Paradise's change in direction.

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]