Monday morning in Virgina, a 6-year-old kid misses his bus to school. What's a kid to do? He's about to be late! Well, obviously, take your family's car and get your tardy butt to the campus, of course! And that's just what the kid (name undisclosed, so we'll just call him "Lil Nicky" - you'll know why in a bit) did. Aren't kids just amazing these days? If they're not fighting battles in court to legalize hedgehogs, they're driving themselves to school.

*Update* CNN video included!

Ford Racing Off Road. The title says it all really. Ford Racing Off Road is the latest installment to the Ford video game franchise from Empire Interactive. Read more in the full article.

Even if you aren't a hardcore racing fan on the international scene, gamers might want to take a look at the recent events of the Dodge Dealers 400 race at the Dover International Speedway.

Two video game-sponsored cars took place in the event: Wii's Ford make car driven by Greg Biffle and the Halo's Dodge driven by David Stremme. Spectators in Dover saw a lot of action during the event in the form of fast-paced racing circuits, as well as a host of accidents littering the track.

Included among these mishaps was the Halo car which had a burned out engine and was only able to complete 287 laps, placing only 39th out of the 43 drivers who competed.

It was good news, however, for the Wii camp as they finished at a phenomenal second place behind Office Depot's Carl Edwards. Even the winner praised Biffle's driving skill, despite him having his own mechanical troubles with his vehicle.

In retrospect, the rivalry between consoles just never seem to end - be it on the race track or in the video gaming industry. Let's just hope the outcome of this race isn't a prophetic one in nature when it comes to the two gaming giant's console rivalry.

The next NASCAR season is going to be quite remarkable for Wii fans. For the first time, Nintendo is sponsoring a car at the said event. The car itself, the number 16 Ford Fusion, will be sporting a Wii theme.

The man behind the wheels will be Greg Biffle. If you're not particularly a big fan of racing or NASCAR, you don't have to worry if your "Wii car" has a good chance of winning because Biffle is one of the more experienced drivers out there.

He has been racing at the event for more than a decade now and has already won several trophies. The last one was the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Wii-themed Ford Fusion, furthermore, has already been tested during the race that took place at the Chicagoland Speedway from July 13 to 15.

If you want to see it for yourself, take a look at this schedule:

• August 12: Watkins Glen International in New York
• Aug. 17 to 19: Michigan International Speedway
• Aug. 31 to September 2: California Speedway, Fontana, CA
• September 21 to 23: Dover International Speedway, Delaware (be sure to check out the Wii-themed race car at Sunday's race!)
• October 12 to 14: Charlotte Motor Speedway, North Carolina

The August 12 event as well as the one on September 21 to 23 will be aired on ESPN at 1 p.m. EST and ABC at 1 p.m. EST respectively.

Empire Interactive is looking for talented individuals in the German city of Leipzig to join the company as designers, programmers, artists and producers in the quest for making the best and the most interesting game titles expected to grace next gen consoles such as the PS3, the Xbox 360 and the Wii within the next few years. They are opening their doors to people of all skill levels to try to find the best and the brightest who can help Empire in their effort to become the best game makers in the business, and are thus encouraging anyone who wants to work with them to try their luck.

Empire Interactive is an established name in the industry and has been in the business for 19 years, and have produced the games Flatout, Starsky & Hutch, Big Mutha Truckers, Starship Troopers, Ford Street Racing and Taito Legends.

If you think you've got what it takes to join their team, just email your resume to jobs@empire.co.uk or visit them at the Leipzig Games Convention Business Centre.

While news of actress Emmanuelle Vaugier making an appearance in Need For Speed: Carbon has already been confirmed, an official list of the available cars in the game has yet to be released. We do have an unofficial list, though, and while this isn't final, a good number of these cars will be playable.

• Aston Martin DB9
• Aston Martin V12 Vanquish or Vanquish S (not confirmed)
• Chevrolet C6 Corvette (not confirmed)
• Dodge Challenger
• Dodge Charger (2007)
• Dodge Viper
• Ford Cobra (Shelby) (not confirmed)
• Ford Mustang (Shelby GT-500 2007)
• Ford Mustang WP (not confirmed)
• Lamborghini Gallardo
• Mazda3
• Mazda RX-7
• Mazda RX-8
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII (not confirmed)
• Nissan 300ZX (not confirmed)
• Porsche Carrera WP
• Porsche Cayman S (not confirmed)
• Subaru Impreza WRX STI (2006)
• Toyota Supra (not confirmed)

Want more cars? Well, lucky day! It's screenshot time.

[edit]

Sorry for the confusion. Seems "Lancer" was mistranslated to "to throw", as was "Charger". "Carrera" became "to square" and even "or" was mistranslated to "gold". Thanks to darkz, drew4237, and wekilledbambi03 for pointing out the mistakes. Again, apologies.