Bruise Control

It's PURE Off-Road Racing

The latest in racing games comes to us from Disney Interactive. Developed by their UK-based Black Rock Studios, it's a far cry from Hannah Montana.

GameCyte.com, a news Web site dedicated to the latest news and analysis of the video games industry, published a lengthy and excellent gamer review here.

"Pure is first and foremost a solid ATV racer with spot-on-controls, set in beautiful environments, modeled on real-world locations.

"With all the air you’ll be getting, there’s plenty of time to pull off crazy tricks and rack up points during each descent; and as virtual skateboarders and snowboarders might expect, it is here that Pure’s first level of strategy is to be found. Do you go for broke, and risk chaining tricks together to create killer combos? Do you simply hold a trick midair for greater control? Or, over those smaller jumps where you’re only getting — let us say, one or two double-decker buses worth of hang time — do you play it safe and not trick out at all?"

Get your game on at GameCyte for unbiased video game reviews.

Pure:Extreme Off-Road Racing trailer.

Ships September 16th, and arrives in stores September 23rd, for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Gadgets 4 Motoring World

Motorsports Fun

Formotion manufactures professional reference instruments for the motoring world. I haven't used their products, so this isn't an out-and-out endorsement, but I do know what looks cool.

If it's good enough for Scott Long, custom chopper builder, it's good enough for my motorsporting readers. Central Coast Cycles just began filming a new show on the CMT network, called "Chopper Challenge," airing May 14th.

Check local listings.

Technorati Profile

From Gamers to Drifters - Gen X & Gen Y Compete

Drift Racing

Popularized by The Fast and the Furious movies and a dedicated fan base of gamers, drift racing, or drifting, is a growing motor sport for the 18- to 34-year-old demographic.

These Gen X-ers and Y-ers exhibit extreme-sports sensibilities unlike earlier generations. But I suspect that it's the Baby Boomers who figured out a way to capitalize on this growing, action-packed sport.

Forumula Drift measured crowd growth increases of 15-20% at each of its seven events last year. It's also a marketing Paradise for those ever-important 18-34 young male eyeballs.

Drifitng is a motor sport, founded on the mountain roads of Japan 20 years ago, in which drivers control 200- to 600-horsepower cars while sliding sideways at high speed through a marked course. Judging is based on execution and style rather than who crosses the finish line first.

"It's everything exciting about traditional motor sports condensed," says Vaughn Gittin Jr., the highest-ranked American in the world last year who defeated the world's best Japanese drivers in an event three years ago. "There's screaming tires, smoking engines and cars totally out of shape."

Who needs video games when you can experience the real deal?