Capcom has confirmed that they have secured the exclusive worldwide rights to publish official videogames and peripherals for the motorcycle racing championship MotoGP through 2012. The exclusive four year license covers all console formats including PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PC.

MotoGP is the world’s premier motorcycling championship consisting of 18 Grand Prix races hosted around the globe. It features top motorcycle manufacturers such as Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Ducati, Kawasaki, KTM and Aprilia, who provide machinery for the world’s best riders, including reigning World Champion Casey Stoner from Australia, American Nicky Hayden, Italy’s Valentino Rossi, and Spain’s Dani Pedrosa. The 2008 line up also includes Japan’s Shinya Nakano, plus newcomers for the new season, such as 250cc World Champion Jorge Lorenzo and last year’s World Superbike Champion, James Toseland, from the UK.

“We are very excited to have signed this long term agreement with Dorna Sports, which for the first time grants one publisher worldwide multi-platform rights to the adrenaline fuelled world of MotoGP,” said Mark Beaumont, executive vice president, officer and head of Capcom’s consumer software publishing in the Americas and Europe. “We feel this move to a single publisher will greatly benefit our ability to develop titles that deliver more authenticity and excitement to the consumer.”

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will launch the Speed Racer videogame based on the upcoming film written and directed by the Wachowski brothers. Speed Racer is a Warner Bros. Pictures presentation in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, of a Silver Pictures production. The game will be available in 2008 on the Wii and Nintendo DS systems as the Speed Racer film hits cinemas. It will be released on the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system with the DVD launch.

In the Wii and PlayStation2 system games, developed by Sidhe Interactive and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, players will be able to take on the role of the characters from the film, getting behind the wheels of each character’s signature vehicles to experience firsthand the film’s high adrenaline, combative racing style. The car-fu style of action within the game will closely represent the action style being designed by the Wachowski brothers for the film itself as they lend direction and assets to the development team directly from their Berlin set. John Gaeta, a long time Wachowski collaborator and Co-VFX Supervisor on the Speed Racer film, is working with Sidhe and WBIE to assist in maintaining a close film-to-game aesthetic connection.

“Speed Racer is an exceptionally creative property and teamed with the Wachowski brothers’ vision it makes for action-packed racing gameplay,” said Samantha Ryan, senior vice president, development and production, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “The game will capture the intensity of the racing in the film to give gamers and movie fans a chance to take the wheel after the experience the film.”

On the 16th of February Wii owners will be able to get their hans on the first Nintendo developed racing game for the console. Excite Truck promises easy pick-up-and-play racing with innovative control mechanism thanks to the tiltable Wii remote controller.

By holding the remote on its side the players can then tilt left and right like a steering wheel. The player also needs to control the landing of the trucks after the big jumps by tilting backwards or forwards to align the wheels properly to the ground with a perfect landing resulting in a speed boost.

Excite Truck is the first Wii game to make use of the console’s SD card slot, allowing users to customise the in-game sound. Players can select their favourite MP3s from a selection on their SD Card and replace the game’s music with those tracks.

Just look at the picture below to see what fun we could be having in February.