Autoblog

Reports of Barack Obama sightings in Burnout Paradise on the XBox 360 have been pouring in. It seems the Presidential hopeful has purchased virtual billboard space from Electronic Arts, the makers of the game. EA has confirmed the ad buy adding that it takes advertising from any credible source for placement in its video games. The ad itself shows Obama next to a message directing voters to voteforchange.com, a site that gives voters information about how to register and where to vote. Too bad Obama has cited video games as an obstacle to a good education as recently as yesterday, and there's no confirmation yet to the rumor that McCain is looking to buy spots on the Monopoly board.

[Source: Joystiq]

Midnight Club: LA is on its way, and the developers at Rockstar Games just released a new video of an Audi R8 doing its thing through the concrete jungle. The name of the game: arcade. Or better names might be 'free-for-all' and 'pedestrians, watch out!' It's cut like an MTV video, so it's hard to get a feel for the flow of the action, but all you need to know is that there'll be plenty of it -- action, that is. And if nothing else, it does seem to accurately depict how actual R8 drivers tend to pilot their cars... Follow the jump for the video.

[Source: Rockstar]

Way back in nineties, this particular blogger had to get rid of his PlayStation because he was spending far too many nights on GranTurismo. Something about knocking a tenth of a second off our best time in the Mazda Demio was as addictive as air. Last Friday we spent an hour in front of the pre-production version of Midnight Club Los Angeles, and we've gotta admit... we're getting the itch for a PS3. Replacing several different cities for one highly detailed rendering of Los Angeles, the new Midnight Club is all about racing wherever you want -- in LA -- and however you want. Follow the jump to find out what's new and hot, and check out the gallery of hi-res screenshots below.

Gaming systems like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 have advanced graphics capabilities that make racing games look almost like you're doing the real thing. While today's games are everything we've ever hoped for, iOpener Media appears ready to take the next step by letting gamers actually participate in race day. The Netherlands-based company has created a way of utilizing GPS signals of professional drivers from a live event to let gamers go head to head with the world's best on their TVs. Sweet! This technology could very soon give you the ability to participate virtually in a real race, provided that iOpener Media has set up track-side servers to communicate car positioning over the Internet and into your gaming console. The system is so accurate, it can determine the location of every vehicle in the race to within 30 cm.

iOpener Media doesn't intend to build the actual games, but it will offer its technology to game developers. It will also provide virtual reality software that blends real and virtual worlds by creating on-the-fly, real-looking crashes and take-over maneuvers that simulate the interaction between real and fake cars.

While such a game would give you a much better experience of racing in a real event, it isn't perfect. For example, Lewis Hamilton will never see you, so he won't react to your every move. Also, any real drivers that run into your virtual open wheel will go on untouched while you fly into a cement barrier. But it's still a new take on driving games, and if it provides enough real-life experience, hard-core gamers will love it. And the best part is that the technology has already been tested with an F1 car, and it could very well be a reality in time for the next Christmas shopping season. Thanks for the tip, Patrick!

[Source: BBC News]

Click image for a gallery of the Enclave used by Tiger Woods

In January, EA Sports held an online contest for Tiger Woods 08 players on the XBOX 360. First prize was a 2008 Buick Enclave CXL courtesy car used by Tiger during December's 2007 Target World Challenge golf tournament. Tiger won the tournament, finishing seven strokes ahead of '07 Masters champ Zach Johnson. Well, the contest is over and the winner has apparently taken delivery of the Buick, which came complete with a certificate of authenticity signed by Tiger himself. This might well be the only Buick Enclave in circulation that's Upper Deck authenticated.

Naturally, the car's new owner is looking to see if the Tiger connection is something that can be capitalized on, and the ride has been listed on eBay. Fully loaded, finished in Cocoa Metallic over Cocoa Cashmere, and showing just 220 miles on the clock, it's a really nice vehicle. As for the $100,000 Buy It Now price, well, that's ridiculous even with its certified, touched-by-Tiger history. According to the auction listing, eleven people have made offers, but there's no telling if they're anywhere near the asking price. We can't imagine they would be. Our advice: exercise some patience. Garage the Enclave, put the certificate of authenticity in a safe, and offer the whole package at Barrett-Jackson in January. As if by magic, a mundane, dealer-supplied courtesy vehicle becomes a "celebrity car". In B-J's massively hyped, more-money-than-sense environment, a hundred grand seems entirely feasible. Do we hear two hundred? Thanks for the tip, Steve.


[Source: eBay]

If current driving games have left your pulse cruising in the slow lane, then Codemasters, the company behind the well-received DiRT rally game, believes it has the racing game for you: Grid. Using an evolution of the engine from DiRT, Grid is all about racing. And if you think "racing game" means spending hours adjusting damper settings and orange-peel-metallic-fade-to-lilac paint jobs, then prepare to be shocked. Says Chief Game Designer Ralph Fulton, "This is not a game about collecting cars or spending all of your time in the front-end tuning suspension settings or designing liveries. We want to make racing exciting again." Well, for some, adjusting dampers is exciting, but we digress.

Grid says it will be a "step-change" in the racing game world, offering tracks in Japan, Europe, and America that highlight local racing flavors: drifting and underground in Japan, classic race tracks in Europe, and street venues in America that include Detroit. Cars will run from Koenigseggs and Astons in Europe to Camaros and Challengers in the US. We aren't sure how much more focused you could be on racing than in the driving games currently offered, but we're always up for a new player. Grid arrives in the middle of next year.

[Source: Joystiq]

The SEMA show is a labor of love in that it takes a lot of hard work to cover it properly, but there are few places on earth we'd rather be. While we often spend 10-12 hours on the show floor looking for the best (and worst) vehicles to post on Autoblog, sometimes we also get the chance to have a little fun.

Across from the press room was a hidden cove with two plasma monitors attached to a pair of XBOX 360s. Continental Tire was hosting an XBOX Challenge, and Forza Motorsport 2 was the chosen battlefield. Our own John Neff typically spends his free time enjoying his console of choice, and Forza 2 is often his disc of choice. Our Editor in Chief jumped at the chance to compete for such prizes as an iPod and a set of high-end Kicker speakers, and we were there to tape the results. Click play to watch the video above, and then hit the jump to see whether John walked away with a prize.

Click the image above for a high res gallery of the Peugeot Flux concept.

We can't imagine the thrill Mihai Panaitescu felt creep us his spine when he walked into the hall in Frankfurt and saw his design rendered in full form for the world to see. The winner of Peugeot's 4th annual design competition not only had the opportunity to see his creation brought to life, but he'll have the opportunity to drive the Flux in the virtual realm once it's included into the fourth iteration of Project Gothem Racing.

You can read through Peugeot's original press release on the Flux here, and check out our live gallery below to see Mr. Panaitescu's pride and joy in real life.

Click image for photo gallery

Back in July, we brought you a series of videos showing the making of the latest TV commercial for the upcoming XBOX 360 title, Project Gotham Racing 4. As you might recall, a Ferrari F430 was harmed during filming. Its closed-course playmates were a Tesla Roadster, SLR McLaren, a '63 'Vette and a sportbike (looks like it could be a Yamaha, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong). Well, today we get news that the final commercial is done. No surprise: it's cool. In other news, I really need to get an XBOX 360.

Thanks to Kardax for the tip. The commercial's embedded after the jump. Go and enjoy.

[Source: DailyMotion]

Back in the day, I spent over $400 on a Sega Saturn and a copy of Sega Rally GT Championship. A solid week was spent chucking a Toyota Celica GT rally car around a muddy course before I promptly returned the console and got my money back. It was clear back then that the Sega Saturn was not the next-gen console we were expecting (though it did have its moments). Nevertheless, my week at home with Sega Rally GT Championship was memorable.

Sega has stopped selling hardware and focuses solely on its software now, which means the return of Sega Rally Championship will happen on both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 (What, no Wii?). The new game is scheduled for a Fall 2007 release date (probably October) and will be called SEGA Rally Revo when it arrives in stores.

Yours truly has been playing Forza 2 now for weeks (gamertag: Autoblog), but SEGA Rally Revo has some new features that will likely occupy more attention for months. Being a rally game, there is of course a varied selection of terrain including dirt, gravel and pavement, as well as different weather like rain and snow. Unlike any game before it, however, SEGA Rally Revo will feature "real-time terrain deformation", which means that the muddy rut you left on the last hairpin will be there on your next lap to dynamically affect your second pass. As SEGA says, no two laps can ever be the same since the track deteriorates under the extreme abuse of having a dozen high-powered rally cars tear it up.

Check out these two development videos to see these new features in action (second after the jump), and you can also view still shots from the game by visiting this gallery at our sister-site Joystiq.

[Source: Joystiq, YouTube]