Disney-Pixar has certainly perfected the art of computer animation, especially when it comes to making otherwise inanimate and non-living objects talk, but some of the sweetness and storytelling fell to the side with this very Mater-centric movie.

I saw an advance screening last night of Cars 2 in a 3D theater with my four-year-old son. His initial response was, “Too much mean” (but more on that in the upcoming review).

Cars 2 includes much of the original Cars voice cast as well as a multitude of new vehicles and appropriate voices. This time around Team McQueen, as they are now known, travel around the world for international races against different vehicles to show the potential power of alternative fuel. After a comedy of errors, Mater is sucked into an international spy adventure that intertwines with the rest of the team’s adventures.

Without revealing too much, here’s a slightly enigmatic, purposefully partially vague bullet-point preview of Cars 2 to whet your whistle.

Let face it, LA is hot and you could probably use a little break from all the heat and gaming awesomeness of E3 2011 (OK, maybe just the first part.)

THQ, publisher of Saint’s Row is hosting a free bikini car wash in the Saint’s Row themed parking lot for E3. The lot is located across from the Staples Center – where E3 is taking place – on Figueroa Street.

At EA’s GamesCom 2010 press event, more details about Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit became available.

As is becoming the industry standard with highly anticipated titles, Hot Pursuit will have a limited edition version. Unlike most limited editions, this one will cost the same as regular versions.

With all the various delays today, it’s nice to see something actually getting done and moved out. Disney Online’s MMO game The World of Cars Online, based on the Disney-Pixar movie Cars is slowly progressing, and now a website, with a test track and trailer are now all available. The game itself won’t be launched until sometime this summer, but at least players can test drive the game.

The test track is the main attraction at the moment, and really the only thing to do at the website. It’s a preliminary racing game, at the moment. You can create a car and then race on either the Training Track or Carburetor County Speedway. There’s a Racing Sports Network Leaderboard up for both tracks, so players can keep track of their progress. Also, players collect the Cars Mattel toys, the codes from that can be entered into the game to get extra stuff. You need Flash to access the site and play the game, so make sure your browser has a plug-in installed.

The World of Cars trailer skims over some of the game’s various features…

As I wandered through the 2008 Scion Slam Basketball Tournament held August 23, 2008 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, I was amazed at all the cool schwag being handed out by the local Scion dealership. I’m simply in love with my backpack filled with CDs featuring the Backyard Bangers, MP3 cases, mini basketballs and different ways I can customize my own Scion in a glimpse.

But another part of the show is the Scion Slammer Car Show held the same day at Fort Bragg and featured many customized Scions. As I walked through the rows of gorgeous tricked out cars I came across one that was sheer beauty. A dark gray Scion XB covered with scenes from Heavenly Sword and Prince of Persia…

Click through for more photos.

For those of you still playing Rock Band, Harmonix has announced that The Cars’ 1978 album will be available for download for the PS3 (May 29, 2008) and Xbox 360 (May 27, 2008).

Each downloadable song will set you back $1.99 or $14.99 for all nine tunes in the Playstation Network or 160 and 1200 Microsoft Points, respectively, through Xbox Live.

The album, simply titled The Cars, includes nine songs…