Split/Second: Velocity

Microsoft has announced new games coming to Xbox Game Pass in October - and there are a few crackers in there.

Disney games are now on Steam.

Games such as Epic Mickey 2, Pure and Split/Second are included.

Epic Mickey 2 is a surprise inclusion. Shortly after the adventure game released, Disney closed its developer, Junction Point. The PC port had been thought lost, but now, nearly two years after the game first launched, it appears.

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In the summer of 2011, Black Rock Studios, developer of acclaimed racing games Pure and Split/Second, closed.

A new round of console hardware can help bring the spluttering racing genre back to life, so says former Bizarre Creation design manager Gareth Wilson.

Split/Second developer Black Rock officially closes its doors today.

Epic Games' European boss Mike Gamble has blamed the recent spate of high-profile triple-A game developer closures on "stupid acquisitions" made by publishers.

Analysts have suggested the closure of Pure and Split/Second developer Black Rock had more to do with owner Disney's desire to get out of console game development than any deficiencies at the Brighton-based studio.

Split/Second developer Black Rock was working on a free-to-play game provisionally titled Champions Alliance when Disney pulled the plug on the studio this week, according to a source close to the Brighton-based outfit.

Update: Disney has confirmed the Black Rock Studios closure.

A number of staffers laid off at Split/Second studio Black Rock earlier this year have resurfaced with their own new start-up.

Two key creatives who lost their jobs last month during a wave of redundancies at Disney-owned Split/Second studio Black Rock Entertainment have set up on their own.

Disney Interactive Studios attempted to sell off half of Split/Second developer Black Rock late last year but couldn't find a buyer, according to an inside source.

Update 2: Disney has confirmed to Eurogamer a "reduction in its workforce" at Brighton-based developer Black Rock Studios.

"Disney Interactive Studios confirms a reduction of its workforce from its Brighton-based internal game development studio, Black Rock Studios. The studio will continue its work on its current project," the publisher said.

Update 1: The anonymous Black Rock source has clarified to Eurogamer that it's not 40 jobs at risk, it's 40 jobs that are safe. "Around 100 jobs are at risk," we were told.

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Disney has confirmed a "restructuring process" at its Interactive Media Group – owner of Epic Mickey creator Junction Point and Split/Second maker Black Rock - that marks its transition from a boxed game publisher to a digital publisher.

Half of Disney Interactive Studios' 700 staff may have been cut, overnight reports suggest.

"As part of setting a strategic direction for future success in the digital media space, the Disney Interactive Media Group today began a restructuring process," Disney said in a statement issued to Variety.

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Like many people, I've been been playing a lot of Black Ops lately. A little too much, perhaps. When you smear yourself in camo paint and start looking for decent camping spots on your way to the bus stop, you know you're overdoing it.

The theme you'll need to download to gain access to the Killzone 3 beta will go live in the PlayStation Store on Wednesday at 8pm UK time, Sony has announced.

According to the European PlayStation blog, the first 10,000 Plus subscribers to download it will win a place on the beta.

The PlayStation Plus update also reveals that all five Fallout 3 add-on packs will be available to Plus members for free, for one week only.

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Black Rock has released a mixture of premium and free downloadable content for Split/Second: Velocity introducing new cars and skins.

New skins for three cars.

Brighton developer Black Rock Studios has called on gamers to give it feedback on racer Split/Second: Velocity.

Black Rock Studios will release four downloadable content packs, including a new environment, for its arcade racer Split/Second: Velocity.

The first three will be vehicle-orientated and are due "in the next couple of weeks", starting with new liveries for Elite vehicles.

After that we're told to expect a new "High Octane Supercar Pack". Check out the screenshot below for an example.

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Xbox 360 exclusive Crackdown 2 is number one in the UK all formats chart for the second week running.

Number crunching firm NPD has revealed that Alan Wake sold just 145,000 units during the month of May in the US.

The heavily marketed Xbox 360 exclusive finished eighth overall on the software chart. The game had been on sale for exactly two weeks when the numbers were collected.

Split/Second: Velocity was released on the same day but missed out on a top 10 finish. Black Rock and Disney's racer notched just 86,000 sales during the two-week period.

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Brighton-based Black Rock Studios is hiring for positions on an "unannounced game on Xbox 360 and PS3".

That's according to a job posting on mother-publisher Disney's website seeking an "experienced Technical Art Director".

The listing offers no further details on the game.

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Another month, another multi-game Xbox 360 vs. PlayStation 3 Face-Off. Let's get the party started with all the stats, videos, comparison galleries and performance analyses you crave, derived from an eye-watering array of big names and quality wares.

Thankfully the mania of the release schedule diminishes as we enter summer, perhaps allowing us to do some catch-up coverage on other titles, but the immediate future is E3: Project Natal, Move, Nintendo 3DS, OnLive, Gaikai, and masses of AAA titles for us to preview. Woo! In the meantime, let's get this show on the road.

Split/Second: Velocity

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Rockstar's celebrated Western, Red Dead: Redemption, has galloped to the top of the UK all-formats chart.

See what happened on the drawing board.

When everything goes off in one lap.

Route-changing by the docks.

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Find out how Black Rock's racer begins.

Chase the big-rigs and dodge the barrels. Simple.

Danger close! Danger close!

Ranked Elite Race from the end of an 'episode'.

Here's the elevator pitch, Mr Bruckheimer: a brutal racing TV show, a merciless media motorsport in which contestants have to dodge traps, explosions and stage-managed catastrophes - hazards which they earn the right to trigger on each other through stylish driving. The scene: airports, power plants, dams, dockyards, anywhere that can be rigged to blow so the rubble, concrete and twisted metal can rain from the sky. The stars: sleek supercars, rugged pickups and menacing muscle cars hell-bent on taking each other down.

It's triple-threat reality TV, Mr Bruckhiemer. It's Pop Idol with dynamite, the X Factor with its foot on the gas. It's got everything: Speed! Explosions! Er, more speed and explosions!

Like the Hollywood movies and TV spectaculars it emulates, Split/Second: Velocity is a simple proposition. It presents a single idea that's bold, brash and basic, one that anyone could understand. It's the ultimate in high concept videogaming with just one arch twist, the TV show conceit that puts its gleeful, apparently unrefined stupidity in quote marks (as well as serving family-conscious publisher Disney with a useful disclaimer - it's all just for show, kids).

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Next week Eurogamer runs its review of Disney's Split/Second: Velocity, a brand new racing game from Brighton's Black Rock studio, the developer responsible for the superb Pure.

How it contributes to the experience.

I'm on the train home from Disney's London offices and I'm wondering whether Black Rock has overdone the realism of Split/Second's crashes a little bit.

Black Rock Studios has unveiled the Air Strike and Air Revenge modes in Split/Second: Velocity, where you duel with a gunship.

Air Strike and Air Revenge modes detailed.

Split/Second game director Nick Baynes has told Eurogamer that the Hyper Cars Pack DLC will offer competitive but not overpowered new vehicles to drive around in.

Update: Split/Second game director Nick Baynes has verified the DLC to Eurogamer and explained that the additional cars will offer no "unfair advantage".

Probably one of the most criminally overlooked racing games of recent times, Black Rock Studios' Pure was a hugely impressive off-road title, combining ATVs with SSX-style gameplay to produce superb visuals with deeply satisfying gameplay.

Head-to-head comparison of Black Rock's demo.

The staff at Brighton's Black Rock talk tracks and traction.

Disney plans to release the Split/Second demo on PS3 here next Thursday, 5th May.

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Disney and Black Rock Studio have put a demo of Split/Second on Xbox Live Marketplace.

Split/Second: Velocity game director Nick Baynes has challenged rival UK racing game developers to a charity go-kart competition.

Retailer Play has blown the whistle on Split/Second downloadable content, promising pre-order buyers the "first DLC pack" for free.

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Disney's Split/Second will henceforth be known as Split/Second: Velocity, and will be released here on 21st May.

Disney's just given scenery-destroying racer Split/Second a date of May 2010.

Black Rock 'n' roll.

"The one iconic action sequence that comes up time and time again is that idea of a big articulated lorry attacking the smaller hero car." Nick Baynes, game director on Split/Second, is about to show us a New Feature!

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Disney's Black Rock Studio has released a sexy new trailer for its upcoming multiformat racing game Split/Second, and we've got it exclusively for you to check out this morning. Just scroll down for the embed or check out the luxurious HD version over on Eurogamer TV.

Split/Second is an arcade racing game played out in a city designed to be torn apart by explosions - and the twist is that you get to activate the pyrotechnics. The gameplay trailer, narrated by affable game director Nick Baynes, explains and illustrates the "powerplay" concept that drives the explosions.

It's more than a walkthrough of the bulletpoints for the box, however. It's also an opportunity to admire just how those explosions unfold and the effect they have on your rivals in a pair of levels - the Airport lap and another section at the Docks, which you may have caught sight of during the Eurogamer Expo. Crushing the dry dock beneath an oil tanker so it splats your enemies is still wicked.

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Black Rock Studios' Nick Baynes has just finished showing off Split/Second in the first of the Developer Sessions at the Eurogamer Expo in London, and gave the crowd a sneaky live demo of the Docks level in the process.

Just imagine. Imagine a world where for just £6 you could attend a fabulous gaming show packed full of incredible games, organised by your favourite website and attended by all of your lovely friends. Wouldn't that be beautiful?

Black Rock's technical director David Jefferies has revealed that the 720p requirement for Xbox 360 games has been "retired" by Microsoft.

At the risk of labouring an already witless introductory riff, now they're cheating. It's my third visit to Black Rock to catch up with Split/Second, the racing game where everyone can set off explosions and route-changing demolitions by filling a "powerplay" bar with the proceeds of skilful driving, and despite visit two having been a hands-on, I'm now told by developers Nick Baynes and Paul Glancey that they've scrapped the handling model and built a new one. Thanks guys.

I'm cheating - again! The first time we saw Split/Second it was for GDC at the end of March, and we saw it in Brighton. This time - the first hands-on - is the E3 demo. Never mind the fact E3 isn't for another month; I'm still perched on a sofa in a Black Rock demo room flanked by cabinets full of PS2 and Xbox racing games (Dakar 2! GTC Africa!), while design director Paul Glancey talks me through half a dozen attempts to conquer the airport lap playable demo. I conquer it twice, and manage a couple of other respectable placings.

More from the airport level.

I'm cheating. Technically this is a Game Developers Conference preview - the first opportunity to sit down and experience Black Rock's brand new racing game - but I'm not in San Francisco, I'm two minutes up the road from our office, sitting behind black-out curtains in the Disney studio's conference room, as Split/Second argues that Pure was anything but a fluke.

Black Rock's new game Split/Second is a race through tracks wired with explosives to cripple your opponents and create shortcuts.

Black Rock - the Disney-owned, UK-based developer of last year's quality quad-bike trick-racer, Pure - is working on another "action racing" game called Split Second.