IGN writes: "NASCAR is a brutal, unforgiving sport. The cars are speeding tanks, the drivers are tough as nails, and the beer in the stands is usually terrible.
Although there's a lot of drama to be found on the NASCAR circuit, the sport gets a lot of flak from non-fans for being nothing more than a series of left turns by cars that all look pretty much the same. And despite the huge popularity of NASCAR as a spectator sport, its accompanying videogame franchise has had a hit-and-miss history.
Last year's installment, NASCAR 08, was met with mixed reviews, due in part to some handling peculiarities. This year, the developers at Electronic Arts' Tiburon studio are back with another go at the game, and they've addressed the control questions raised by some of last year's armchair NASCAR drivers."

In the economic hard times of late, many industries have been greatly effected. One, in particular, is NASCAR. Stock car racing is one of the biggest sports in the country. Now I know many people will argue with that because they might not watch NASCAR, but just look logically; the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama holds 125,000 people, the Daytona 500 is one of the most watched single day events every year, right behind the Super Bowl, and sponsors pay millions of dollars just to get their logo on a car knowing that if that car wins, the fans buy the product. But recently, with companies not willing to shell out so much money, sponsors have gone down, ticket sales have dropped and the revenue of NASCAR in general is low. And it doesn't stop there…
I am not entirely sure how licensing works but if I recall correctly GT5 bought the Nascar license but again I don't know if that affects EA drastically or not. You would think it probably is related somehow...
Oh well, they always rehashed the same game every year. Atleast in GT5, fans of these games will be racing in 1080p glory with the most photorealistic graphics as they go round and round.

This week's "What They've Been Playing" features discussion of Splosion Man, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, Madden 10, Battlefield 1943, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As a Darklord, Nascar 09, Hour of Victory, and much more. They follow that up with some gaming news including the announcement of Sam Raimi as director of the World of Warcraft movie and the record-breaking sales of Battlefield 1943.

Pictures, videos, and little notes from the event. Guests included Tiger Woods, John Cena, Derek Jeter, Reggie Bush, Denny Hamlin, Jameer Nelson Major Nelson, and a random appearance by Jimmy Kimmel's parking lot security Guillermo.