Driver Joey Logano will go round and round in the Modern Warfare 2 themed stock car, moving at high speeds at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, viewable on ESPN2, aka The Deuce.

"This is the perfect race to have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the car because it is the last race before the holiday season," Logano said. "GameStop gave me a copy last week, and it is an unbelievable game. It should definitely be at the top of a lot of Christmas wish lists this year."

Sure, I guess that makes... sense?

Nintendo and GameStop are co-sponsoring driver Denny Hamlin for this weekend's Able Body Labor 200 at Phoenix International Raceway, forcing him to drive a New Super Mario Bros. Wii car in an oval Saturday, Nov. 14. Hey, that's the day before the game ships!!

You know, this whole NASCAR thing would be made a little more interesting if sanctioned used of banana peels and turtle shells was added. Just saying, NASCAR.

It's DJ Hero day at North Carolina's Lowe's Motor Speedway this weekend, as Target and Activision bring together DJ Hero and NASCAR fans for a day full of scratching and racing, which sounds like any other NASCAR event, now that I think about it. This time around the scratching will be done on DJ Hero controllers located at The Fan Midway across the street from the track, where kiosks will be running DJ Hero all day long.

Along with wrapping his car in video game advertisements, Truex Jr. will also be appearing at The Fan Midway between 3:30 and 4:00pm to try his hand at the DJ rhythm game, no doubt some sort of contractual obligation of sorts that should result in an awkward 30 minutes of entertainment, at the very least.

"Playing videogames has always been a favorite activity of mine, and I can't wait to get my hands on DJ Hero," said Martin Truex, Jr. "We've had some great partners on our Chevy this year, including two of Activision's biggest hits, Guitar Hero Smash Hits and Guitar Hero 5. They were both awesome, but I've really been waiting on DJ Hero to hit the shelves. I know NASCAR fans are going to love both the game and our car. Target and Activision have really helped to give my Chevrolet an awesome new look that is sure to turn some heads!"

For those of you scratching your heads, trying to figure out some connection between NASCAR and DJ Hero to help make the announcement go down a little smoother, realize that both go round and round and make noise. You're welcome.

"There are no plans right now for NASCAR from EA," Moore told GameSpot. Moore said the people who worked on EA's NASCAR titles in the past had to be sent over to to work on another project. He adds:

Unfortunately … we had to make some tough trade-offs. We've had to redeploy some of those folks. A number of the NASCAR team has moved over now to EA Sports MMA, which will be shipping next year. [We're] still a huge fan of NASCAR, but no plans right now to develop any further games for NASCAR from EA Sports.

So, NASCAR fans, you may blame MMA fans. There are two constituencies I'd love to see go at it. Hell, make that into a video game.

EA: 'No Plans' for New NASCAR Game [GameSpot via G4]

Call of Duty seems like a rather odd choice of games to play with troops who regularly see live combat, which is perhaps why Activision is kicking off their Activision Showdown video game competition with something a bit tamer. The series kicks off on July 24th, when members of the Indiana National Guard stationed in Kuwait and Iraq get a chance to play Guitar Hero Smash Hits against Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 1 Guitar Hero Smash Hits Chevrolet for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. The match will take place prior to the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"Giving back to our troops in such a fun-filled and entertaining way presents an opportunity like never before," said Mike Griffith, president & CEO of Activision Publishing, Inc. "With organizations such as Pro vs. GI Joe leading the way, we can celebrate the men and women, who have made such a tremendous commitment of themselves by bringing them together with the biggest names in sports and pop culture through video games."

I really love the idea of Pro vs. GI Joe. I just hope Activision opts for World at War over Modern Warfare when it comes time to roll out the Call of Duty.

One of those titles, Guitar Hero World Tour, will get the NASCAR treatment courtesy of Aric Almirola #8 Chevy, which is expected to move at high speeds in an elliptical pattern for approximately 500 miles. The Daytona 500 runs on February 15th to the delight of race fans who like seeing these move fast and in a row.

Driver Almirola said, convincingly, "I was excited about running my first Daytona 500 to begin with, but now having the Guitar Hero brands on my car will make it even that much more fun. I can't think of another brand that I would rather have on my car. I play the Guitar Hero games all the time and to now be representing it is very cool."

Martin Truex Jr will also rep for Activision's guitar game while trying not to crash in future races.

As for those "upcoming Guitar Hero titles"? We'll guess one of them might be Guitar Hero Metallica, considering Activision sponsored a car previously to shill last year's Guitar Hero Aerosmith. But we won't be surprised when news of the next dozen spin-offs hits, then gets plastered on someone's car.

Activision teams with EGR to sponsor #8 and #1 [Jayski's Silly Season Site - thanks, Kris!]

Fastest SackBoy On Wheels [LittleBigPlanet]

"I planned on hitting the wall, but I didn't plan on the wall slowing me down that much," Edwards said. "In video games, you can just run into the wall and run it wide open. That's what I did, but it didn't quite work out the same as the video game."

*rubs temples* Oh my head. How are we supposed to keep our children from setting people on fire when their role-models decide that driving at top speeds on a crowded raceway is a good time to see how accurate the physics in GRID are?

Johnson wins, Edwards hits wall on purpose [HamptonRoads.com]

"I thought we was gonna run out of gas there at the end but I got a nice push from my teammate Jerry Jeff Jeeter McPheeter racin' in the Peter Jackson's King Kong The Official Game of the Movie ... Number ... 14 ..." [starts breathing into paper sack].

Food City 250 Results [USA Today]

“I love video games and actually have versions of Guitar Hero that I play on my bus and at home. To have Target, Activision and Aerosmith on my car for the New Hampshire race is pretty cool,” said Franchitti. “Who doesn’t love Aerosmith’s music? It’s perfect for getting ready for the side-by-side, non-stop action of NASCAR racing.”

In addition to the co-branded race car, Target stores will also be selling a special Wii bundle for GH: Aerosmith that includes 2 wireless controllers and a tour book for $149.99. You might as well just buy the damn game before Activision starts marketing on you. Believe me, it's extremely difficult to breathe in a full vinyl wraparound.

Target and Activision Partner with Chip Ganassi Racing to Feature Guitar Hero: Aerosmith on No. 40 Dodge
Wrapped Car Will Run in New Hampshire NASCAR Race on June 29; Target to Offer Exclusive Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Wii Bundle

CONCORD, N.C.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates announced today it has partnered with Activision and its long-time sponsor Target® to feature the latest version of the Guitar Hero® series, Guitar Hero®: Aerosmith®, on Dario Franchitti’s No. 40 Dodge in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) on June 29.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, which will be released June 29, is the latest installment from the Activision franchise that was the top-selling video game in 2007. The game puts players in the shoes of Joe Perry (guitar), Brad Whitford (guitar) and Tom Hamilton (bass), as they rock out alongside front man Steven Tyler and drummer Joey Kramer. Gamers will experience Aerosmith’s GRAMMY® winning career, from their first gig to becoming rock royalty while jamming to the band’s top songs.

With the launch of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Target stores will carry an exclusive bundle for Nintendo’s Wii that includes the game, two wireless guitar controllers and a tour book. The ultimate rock experience, whether cooperatively or head-to-head, can be had right out of the box on June 29 for $149.99.

“The marriage of Nintendo Wii and Guitar Hero makes a lot of sense for the Target guest,” said Steve Eastman, Vice President, Target. “The music of Aerosmith bridges generations, just as the Wii has done. Everyone in the family can share that experience with this bundle.”

Franchitti will be making his debut in the Sprint Cup Series at New Hampshire in the fading yellow to red Target/Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Dodge. The 2007 IndyCar champion has eight starts this season in his rookie campaign in the Cup Series and currently sits 39th in the 2008 point standings.

“We’re very excited to have Guitar Hero bring together two great American traditions, rock ‘n’ roll Aerosmith style, and NASCAR racing,” said Dusty Welch, head of publishing Activision/RedOctane. “Fans at the event will get a double treat, watching their favorite drivers race and competing for a chance to face off against one of them on Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.”

The Guitar Hero consumer bus will be parked in the display area behind the main grandstands at NHMS all weekend for fans to take a sneak peak at the game and try their hands as a guitarist from Aerosmith. Franchitti and Target driver Reed Sorenson will make an appearance at the bus on Sunday to showcase their talents on the guitar before strapping into their Dodges for the 301-lap race.

“I love video games and actually have versions of Guitar Hero that I play on my bus and at home. To have Target, Activision and Aerosmith on my car for the New Hampshire race is pretty cool,” said Franchitti. “Who doesn’t love Aerosmith’s music? It’s perfect for getting ready for the side-by-side, non-stop action of NASCAR racing.”

HOMESTEAD, FL—New EA Sports President Peter Moore was at Miami Speedway over the weekend to hand out the $10,000 check to NASCAR Challenge winner Brandon Coppinger of Nashville, TN. Before heading to a meeting with the NASCAR drivers to talk videogames, Moore took some time for this exclusive Kotaku interview.

When asked how the unique NASCAR experience compared to his F1 racing, the Brit said that F1 had gotten boring for a while because Michael Schumacher seemed to win every race. Moore was recently in London, where he had the opportunity to meet the latest F1 sensation, Lewis Hamilton.

"Between Hamilton and the scandal involving the exchange of information between McLaren and Ferrari, F1 is getting more interesting," said Moore. "But. I'll tell you, there's nothing like a NASCAR race. This is my first NASCAR race in the flesh, although I follow the circuit."

This year's inaugural NASCAR Challenge, which was a partnership with Craftsman, is the key to expanding the sport and the game's sales moving forward, according to Moore.

"NASCAR has been a one nation sales opportunity, but we're working with our NASCAR partners on the ability to bring NASCAR, even here in North America, to places that normally don't get a chance to see races," said Moore. "We had 11 winners from retail tournaments for the NASCAR Challenge, but we also had five online winners, so utilizing the Internet is going to be the key to involve more people."

The NASCAR Challenge semi-finals and finals too place before the Ford 400 Championship race on pit row under a black tent surrounded by palm trees. Game Live's founder evidently loves palm trees, which did shade contestants from the 81 degree November Miami sun. CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger was on hand to provide commentary for the final race.

"You can see this is quite an undertaking and it's not something you can do every week, particularly with the lack of tracks the further west you get," said Moore. "The ability for us to bring the NASCAR experience virtually is going to be the key."

EA Sports, through its long-term partnership with ESPN, has turned "Madden Nation" into a hit series and televised the Madden Challenge. Last season, NBA Live also got its own TV show. Could a NASCAR Challenge program be far behind?

"I would hope so," said Moore. "We do phenomenal TV programming with ESPN around Madden, whether it's 'Madden Nation' or the Madden Bowl or the Madden Challenge. I see no reason why we can't get NASCAR on TV, particularly since driving is such an easy sport to translate to television. Madden is a little bit different because you have to look to figure out what's going on. Driving is different because it's easy to see who's leading and who's chasing. We now have ESPN integration in the new NASCAR game. I hope we can get together with ESPN and really bring this Challenge alive in a new way."

Next year's NASCAR 09 PlayStation 2 game is currently in development at EA's new Raleigh, NC studio. Moore said EA Sports is starting to develop a studio in Raleigh because it's part of the culture in North Carolina.

"It gets NASCAR out of Orlando (EA Tiburon) a little bit, where we're still dominated—whether we like it or not—by our Madden and Tiger Woods games," said Moore. "It allows the NASCAR franchise to stand on its own two feet as a game. The ability to bring the game not only to the next gen platforms, but also to the PSP, handhelds, and mobile are all ways that I think our Raleigh Studio will help expand this franchise in the future."

With the opening of EA's Raleigh Studio came the closing of EA Chicago, home of Fight Night and Def Jam.

"Our boxing franchise will move over to Vancouver," said Moore. "The Fight Night franchise is very important to us. We have 1,400 people over in Vancouver. This closure is the classic redeployment of resources."

Beyond the addition of NASCAR to the EA Sports Challenge Circuit, Moore said he believes an NHL Challenge will debut in the not-so-distant future. In addition, EA Sports is with Sony on a new iteration of the FIFA Interactive World Cup.

"In my previous life at Microsoft, I helped develop the FIFA Interactive World Cup," said Moore. "If you think NASCAR's a challenge, then try to imagine getting people together to play FIFA when you have soccer played in 180 countries. We distribute FIFA games in 42 countries. Online becomes critical. EA and Microsoft worked together a few years ago to establish the FIFA Interactive World Cup. Now with Sony's sponsorship of FIFA, we're going to be working with SCEA and SCE to be able to develop this competition and bring it one notch further. I think this could be the model of how you can bring this experience to someone in their own living room. As long as they're on some kind of a connected network using a console or even a PC I think we can deliver that on the couch moving forward."

When told that the first Madden Challenge winner was a die hard PlayStation 3 gamer, Moore said he loves all the platforms.

"As long as he's playing EA Sports that's fine by me," said the former Microsoft and Sega exec. "We have the 360 here primarily because of the great steering wheel. This is a multi-platform game. I think Xbox helped us enormously, especially with being able to deliver some of this equipment for the NASCAR Challenge, but that doesn't mean this thing is an Xbox 360 exclusive in any way."

Moore has no regrets about jumping ship from Microsoft and heading up EA Sports, but he does believe it's a small world.

"Back in my Sega days, I competed pretty aggressively against EA Sports the first time around against Riccitello when we were having a good time at Sega Sports," said Moore. "We developed 2K Sports when I was at Sega and interestingly, they've become a competitor of mine now. It's amazing what goes around, comes around. And more recently at Microsoft, we had a great time working with EA Sports. I've both competed with and collaborated with them. It feels real good to be back in the Bay Area."

With the release of Halo 3 just days away the ultimate faceoff went down over the weekend at the Dover Speedway: Halo 3 took on the Wii in the form of a NASCAR racing pitting Greg Biffle versus David Stremme.

Exactly 306 laps into the 440 lap race Stremme's number 40 car blew its engine and sidelined the racer. No, I'm not making that up: The Halo car got a red ring of death.

Meanwhile Biffle's Wii mobile landed a respectable second place. Ouch.

Dover 440

2007 GREG BIFFLE #16 CAR OF TOMORROW - Wii 1/24 MA DIECAST [The Sunday Hauler, thanks Courtney!]

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the Tiger Woods PGA Tour series of golf games has moved from EA's Redwood Shores team to Tiburon. The Orlando based powerhouse also develops EA's NCAA Football games as well as NASCAR titles. On the non-sports side, they were responsible for last year's Superman Returns. Yes, they make EA buckets of cash.

We're not sure if Tiburon is staffing up, but central Florida hopefuls would be wise to submit their resumes. With Mr. Woods Isleworth home within driving distance of Tiburon, he's sure to be hanging around the office more often. Michael McWhertor

EA Tiburon runs up score [Orlando Sentinel via Gamespot]

Yakuza (PS2)
Sega's brawler adventure puts you in control of yakuza tough Kiryu Kazuma. Lotsa punching, lotsa swearing.

LocoRoco (PSP)
You are a yellow blob in the happiest game ever! I just wanna pinch its blobby cheeks!

Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run (PS2, Xbox)
It's like the last Spy Hunter but with The Rock. Whatever happened to that movie anyway, Rock?

Test Drive Unlimited (Xbox 360)
Pretty looking driving game that takes you all over Hawaii.

Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Vol. 1 (Xbox 360)
Play those great Live Arcade games (like Geometry Wars) without an internet connection.

You kids snapping up anything this week?