Tony Beckwith, general manager of Black Rock Studios, has an image problem. No, there’s no Hot Coffee coming his way, and as far as we know nobody has any incriminating pictures of him with ladies of the night, but he faces a task almost as insurmountable in the gaming industry: drumming up respect for a new title that’s being published by Disney.

Black Rock is currently developing the racing game Pure, a high-octane off-road racing game that doesn’t feature a single mascot with a silly voice or lack of pants. However, because the team is partnering with Disney to bring the game to fans, many believe (unfairly) that the game must be little more than Mario Kart with Goofy and Donald substituted for Donkey Kong and Yoshi.

Beckwith has been doing double duty working on the game and trying to win over potential customers. He notes that, "You can just see looking at user comments online now, on videos for Pure, saying ’oh my God that’s amazing.’ But people are surprised that it’s coming out under the Disney label." Beck also states that while he respects Disney’s traditional audience, he believes that "this is pushing the Disney brand further."

Don’t weep for Black Rock though, as Beckwith is very happy with the resources he has at his disposal for crafting Pure. In addition to working with some of the staff at the Disney game studios, he also has access to the Imagineers, the mysterious order of Disney employees who make the Magic Kingdom work. Notes Beckwith, "We have sister divisions that are very, very creative divisions in spaces that are outside of videogames, but there’s a lot that we can learn from them."

Sounds like his team is amped to be working with the Disney empire, and if they make a better game for it then I say kudos to them. Of course, the idea of Goofy tooling around on an ATV getting sick air and busting out mad tricks kind of sounds like fun too...