I’m a Nascar fan, but if your like a lot of people, you probably wonder why in the world anyone would like a racing event where the drivers do nothing but drive in circles for hours at a time. Much less, why would you want to play a video game where all you do is turn left.. drive straight.. turn left. Well it’s hard to explain, but I guess the sport really comes alive when you put your full “fanship” behind a particular driver or couple of drivers. Lots of people inherit their drivers from their parents, sortof the same way football team loyalty is passed down through the generations.

My parents were never big racing fans, but strangely I’ve always been a fan of sorts. I watched Indy Car racing throughout high school, went to a few go-cart and midget races In the past few years, my wife has inherited Nascar’s Tony Stewart as “her” driver. We got tickets to Talledega last year, and the rest is history. Seeing a race in real life is a great experience that I’d recommend to anybody. Once you start to get to know some of the drivers’ personalities, you begin to get interested in who’s winning, who’s crashing, and how the races play out.

Tony Stewart is widely known as a hot-head, he races just about anything with four wheels on a weekly basis (Nextel Cup, Busch Series, Open wheel racing, Dirt tracks) even if he’s got the money to just stick with Nascar-only events. Stewart’s post race media sessions have been known to get lively if he feels he’s been wronged in any way. He usually gets himself into trouble because he’ll tell the media exactly what’s on his mind, even if it has to do with problems with the Nascar organization itself. It’s thought that Nascar has tamed him a bit in the last couple of years, however the personality still will show itself every few races. He’s actually known to be a nice guy though and is quick to give most of the credit to his pit crew and team owner after a win.

There’s other drivers I like. Dale Jr. is a good ole boy who really defines the mold most Nascar fans like in a driver. Jr’s really hard not to like, if not for anything other than the fact of who his dad was. Mark Martin is a guy I really like as a person and driver. Jeff Gordon is fun to hate, his pretty boy, clean cut, proper speaking image isn’t something a lot of people find appealing. Not to mention he’s a damn good driver. At Talledega last year there were a number of Jeff Gordon cutouts with certain parts of the female anatomy glued on to the chest area (I believe “bitch tits” would be the politically correct term). I suppose it’s true when they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

On the 23 of this month (07/23/07) the first Nascar game will be released for the Xbox 360, EA Sports Nascar ’08 with a picture of Tony Stewart and his #20 car gracing the cover. I’m looking forward to this racing game more than any of the others mainly because of my interest in Nascar. Will it prove good enough to buy the wireless steering wheel controller? I’m not sure, however I am looking forward to racing 11-16 other people around the recently fresh paved Talledega Superspeedway on XBL. In previous Xbox versions of Nascar, dirt track racing, as well as road course races were also available to those who find the traditional oval tracks to be less than desireable.

Among some of the other new things, the game will feature the “Car of Tomorrow”. The ‘CoT’ is Nascar’s latest design that was sparked in part because of Dale Earnhardt Sr’s death at the wheel of the #3 car. Some of the features offer enhanced safety and performance of the car. One example of the changes made are that the drivers seat is positioned a few inches more towards the right to provide more crush space in the event of a crash. The vehicles front and rear bumpers are also designed to fit perfectly with each other to allow vehicles to bump each other with less likelyhood of a spin-out. This aims at providing a little more safety to the practice of “bump drafting” where drivers actually push each other forward through the pack in a tightly matched restrictor plate race.

Forza is a fantastic game, however, I’m not sure I’d feel as connected to it as I would a Nascar game. And to boot, they’ve put the #20 on the front cover so it’ll be hard for me to look the other way when release date comes. To me Nascar is 50% about people and 50% about racing. It’s when you understand that relationship that you become a true fan. Add XBL to the mix and I’m looking forward to many redneck conversations of “Jr. vs. Gordon” in my future.

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XBL GT: Mikeulus

Link

This recent release from 2k Games is getting good reviews (~8.5/10) and being praised for having a great story-line, albeit a little linear. Gamespot thinks that multiplayer feels a little tacked on, but said the game looks great and delivers an original and interesting campaign. Great deal from Amazon if you’re interested.

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I just got my new August issue of EGM and found this on the back page about the upcoming issue.

YOUR FIRST LOOK AT HALO 3’S SINGLE-PLAYER STORY

The Flood lay waste to a futuristic Pittsburgh! The Covenant die from chicken pox! And Master Chief faces his greatest enemy yet: Voltron! Yes, we are spouting bulls*** about Halo 3’s mysterious campaign mode, but next month we’ll be the first mag with details on how this third installment in the space-shooter series finishes the fight that Halo 2’s cliff-hanger ending c***blocked. And we’re showing as well as telling, with lots of single-player screens that–from what we’ve seen so far–look better than the multiplayer game. We’re topping it all off with enough new multiplayer details to fill a star cruiser. It’s a double-barrel blast of Halo 3 intel that should leave you gooier than the Flood in July and hold you over until the game hits Xbox 360 on September 25.

Just like with last year’s December issue, EGM appears to have another big scoop on Halo 3. This time, however, they’re going to uncover some details on campaign, so be prepared to find possible spoilers. What do you think? With just a couple of months to go, are you going to pick this up or just wait until September 25th?

I just got my new August issue of EGM and found this on the back page about the upcoming issue.

YOUR FIRST LOOK AT HALO 3’S SINGLE-PLAYER STORY

The Flood lay waste to a futuristic Pittsburgh! The Covenant die from chicken pox! And Master Chief faces his greatest enemy yet: Voltron! Yes, we are spouting bulls*** about Halo 3’s mysterious campaign mode, but next month we’ll be the first mag with details on how this third installment in the space-shooter series finishes the fight that Halo 2’s cliff-hanger ending c***blocked. And we’re showing as well as telling, with lots of single-player screens that–from what we’ve seen so far–look better than the multiplayer game. We’re topping it all off with enough new multiplayer details to fill a star cruiser. It’s a double-barrel blast of Halo 3 intel that should leave you gooier than the Flood in July and hold you over until the game hits Xbox 360 on September 25.

Just like with last year’s December issue, EGM appears to have another big scoop on Halo 3. This time, however, they’re going to uncover some details on campaign, so be prepared to find possible spoilers. What do you think? With just a couple of months to go, are you going to pick this up or just wait until September 25th?

I just got my new August issue of EGM and found this on the back page about the upcoming issue.

YOUR FIRST LOOK AT HALO 3’S SINGLE-PLAYER STORY

The Flood lay waste to a futuristic Pittsburgh! The Covenant die from chicken pox! And Master Chief faces his greatest enemy yet: Voltron! Yes, we are spouting bulls*** about Halo 3’s mysterious campaign mode, but next month we’ll be the first mag with details on how this third installment in the space-shooter series finishes the fight that Halo 2’s cliff-hanger ending c***blocked. And we’re showing as well as telling, with lots of single-player screens that–from what we’ve seen so far–look better than the multiplayer game. We’re topping it all off with enough new multiplayer details to fill a star cruiser. It’s a double-barrel blast of Halo 3 intel that should leave you gooier than the Flood in July and hold you over until the game hits Xbox 360 on September 25.

Just like with last year’s December issue, EGM appears to have another big scoop on Halo 3. This time, however, they’re going to uncover some details on campaign, so be prepared to find possible spoilers. What do you think? With just a couple of months to go, are you going to pick this up or just wait until September 25th?

The PS3 has a new price effective today: $499 for the 60GB model. A new 80GB model is set for release in August that will come bundled with MotorStorm for the beloved price of $599. With that cat out of the bag, is a price cut on Xbox 360 imminent?

An analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities thinks so, and issued a note to investors today that said Microsoft will announce an Xbox 360 price cut tomorrow at the start of the revamped E3 Media & Business Summit, which takes place all week.

Is it true? Next-gen.boz contacted Microsoft for comment who replied “Microsoft has not made any announcements regarding a price cut on Xbox 360.” No-fluffy-joke. That’s not what they said. They said you’ll announce it tomorrow.

The analyst went on to state that the $299 Core pack will drop to $249; the $399 Premium pack will drop to $349; and the recently released $479 Elite model will drop to $399.

Is the prediction true? Only time will tell. Would a new lower price entice those of you who have been holding out? What about those thinking about an Elite upgrade?

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