Pure

Disney has announced that there will be significant layoffs at Black Rock Studios, its Brighton-based outfit responsible for the Spit/Second and Pure racing games.

Speculation over staff cuts at Black Rock began yesterday when an unidentified source told Eurogamer that as many as 100 jobs were "at risk." Today, Disney said it was moving forward with the cuts, announcing, "Disney Interactive Studios confirms...

Major Nelson's Blog writes: Content: Pure Price: Check pricing for your region Availability: Australia, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Norway, North America, Sweden, and Asia Dash Text: PURE is an offroad trick-racing game featuring incredible tricks and massive, vertigo-inducing jumps. Leap hundreds of feet into the air - off mountains, over lakes and across gaping chasms in epic worldwide locations. Pull off over 70 different tricks and build over 100,000 different custom quad bikes. It's all about speed, air and incredible tricks. PURE Adrenaline! Content: RESIDENT EVIL 5 Price: Check pricing for your region Availability: Australia, Europe and New Zealand Xbox LIVE regions Dash Text: The Resident Evil series continues with this highly anticipated sequel. Searing heat from the merciless sun scorches the earth, while a new evil draws closer.

Microsoft Australia have just announced a special Christmas package for the Xbox 36 Elite. The bundle comes with Lego Batman, Pure, the 120GB hard drive, headset and wireless controller.

Blackrock Studios' 2008 racing game Pure found tremendous critical success. So much so, that it appears that there were plans, at least initially, for a sequel. However, according to a blog post by a former Blackrock Studios employee, Pure 2 was canceled by Disney some time in 2009.

Nominations for Develop Industry Excellence Awards are unveiled, and two developers are likely to walk away with most of them. Rockstar and Media Molecule will be contesting for the most category nominations. Rockstar snags six of them with GTA: Chinatown Wars and GTA IV: The Lost and the Damned from Rockstar while Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet alone is nominated for another five.

Taking place on Thursday April 23rd at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London, this year's MCV Industry Excellence Awards will be the most hotly-contested ever, with 17 accolades up for grabs, across a diverse range of categories covering the entire industry. Nintendo, EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Sega and Activision will battle it out for the Games Publisher Award, whilst individual titles Guitar Hero World Tour, GTA IV, FIFA 09, Fallout 3, Wii Fit and Call of Duty: World At War compete for Game Campaign.

Console Monster writes: If you are unaware, its one week and six days until Christmas Day, that's thirteen days, and Microsoft are making sure we are aware of it. Six Christmas classics and a Hanukkah track are now available to download for Lips. There's also a Pure trailer and Vidzone content. Here is the full Xbox Live Marketplace update for Friday 12th December 2008: Name: Lips: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Price: 160 Microsoft Points Availability: All Xbox Live Regions Description: Purchase this Premium Song to add Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer as performed by Gene Autry to your Lips library. You'll get the song's track, chart, and lyrics. A Lips game disc is required to play this downloadable content. Once your purchase is complete, go to Get Music in the game, and then add this song to your library. Visit lips.com to check out all the songs you can get, song credits, news, and join the Lips community. (Note: No original video is available with this Premium Song offering.) There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts. Name: Lips: Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree Price: 160 Microsoft Points Availability: All Xbox Live Regions Description: Purchase this Premium Song to add Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree as performed by Brenda Lee to your Lips library. You'll get the song's track, chart, and lyrics. A Lips game disc is required to play this downloadable content. Once your purchase is complete, go to Get Music in the game, and then add this song to your library. Visit lips.com to check out all the songs you can get, song credits, news, and join the Lips community. (Note: No original video is available with this Premium Song offering.) There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts...

If you just loaded up PURE you may have noticed you need to update to version 1.01

That Aussie Game Site recaps another important week of game news. Featuring their theories on Bungie's Keep It Clean trailer, the revelation of a familiar looking nemesis in Gears of War 2 and they discuss the disappointing mix-up that left no one playing the the much anticipated Mirror's Edge demo.

Console Monster writes: It's Wednesday and as we previously confirmed, Duke Nukem 3D is now available to download from the Xbox Live Marketplace as of today, as well as a whole range of new trailers, themes and gamer pictures. Here is the full Xbox Live Marketplace update for Wednesday 24th September 2008: Name: Duke Nukem 3D Price: 800 Microsoft Points Availability: All Xbox Live Regions except Germany and Korea Name: Pure Exhilaration Trailer HD Price: Free Availability: All Xbox Live Regions Name: Pure Launch Trailer HD Price: Free Availability: All Xbox Live Regions...