NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski will be playing video games against fans next Monday at the Texas Motor Speedway to raise money for the Texas chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities. The competition is part of the charity's "Who’s Got Game?" fundraiser.

Earlier this week we reported that a "bomb threat directed at the offices of Gearbox Software"  led to Plano, Texas police clearing the area on Friday while it searched for an explosive device. It turns out that the bomb threat was not directed specifically at Gearbox, according to this Polygon report.

On October 3rd Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford sent out a series of tweets - with photos - showing that someone called in a bomb threat to the company's headquarters in Dallas, Texas. While the call turned out to be a hoax, the Dallas police made sure that the areas was clear and safe before letting employees get back into the building or to their nearby vehicles.

The police department has not released details on where the call might have emanated from.

Below are Pitchford's tweets:

The city of Frisco, Texas plans to invest $1 million to bring the Videogame History Museum to town. Founded as a non-profit in 2009 by John Hardie, Sean Kelly, and Joe Santulli, the Videogame History Museum has spent years collecting vintage game software, consoles, and memorabilia to build what some call the "most comprehensive collection of video game memorabilia" ever assembled and share it with the world. The group often loans out parts of its collection to museums and traveling exhibits, but organizers have been hoping to give it a home of its own for a long time.

"Twenty Years after Doom: John Carmack on the Future of Engineering Virtual Worlds," a talk featuring former id Software co-founder and Oculus CTO John Carmack, will take place at Southern Methodist University's Lyle School of Engineering on April 25, 2014 at 4:00 PM (Caruth Hall Ground Auditorium) in Dallas Texas.

Here's more about the talk from organizers:

The Penny Arcade Expo has found great success in the Eastern and Western parts of the United States and even in Australia, but organizers want to bring the fan-focused event to a region of the United States that is rich in development talent and underserved gaming fans: Texas. So Joining PAX East and PAX Prime in 2015 will be PAX South.

The head of the Tom Green County, Texas Juvenile Probation Dept. thinks that video games, music, and the general culture of entertainment are influencing children in negative ways. Mark Williams, the Chief Juvenile Probation Officer for Tom Green County, shared his insights into what he believes is influencing kids to break the law recently at the San Angelo Rotary Club. His speech was detailed at length by San Angelo Live.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) today presented Texas Gov. Rick Perry (and former Republican presidential candidate) an award for his efforts to create jobs, provide tax incentives and generally foster the growth of the computer and video game industry in the state. ESA president and CEO Michael D. Gallagher presented the award to the Governor and praised him for his "longstanding support for the industry" during an award ceremony at the historic Governor’s Mansion.

Back in June of this year we reported on the plight of 19-year-old Texan Justin Carter, who was arrested back in March for making a terrorist threat online. The incident happened in February of this year. Justin Carter was either playing League of Legends or engaging in a forum conversation when another player wrote a comment calling him insane.

The Entertaintment Software Association (ESA) issued a press release this week praising the Texas Film Commission for expanding its economic incentives to include "digital interactive media productions."

An IndieGoGo fundraising campaign hopes to raise $9,250 to fund competition of a game about abortion rights in Texas called Choice: Texas. Choice: Texas is described by its creators as an interactive fiction game about abortion access in the Lone Star state, and will be made available for free online when it is completed. The game is the creation of Allyson Whipple (writer, editor, and poet) and Carly Kocurek (writer and cultural historian) with the help of illustrator Grace Jennings.

What happened to Ottawa-based patent-licensing firm Wi-Lan in an East Texas court this week has to be the nightmare of every company using patent licensing portfolios, lawsuits, and settlements as their business model of choice.

It looks like Texas teen (and League of Legends player) Justin Carter has made bail. Carter had been in jail for several months after someone reported to the police that he had made a "terrorist threat" on Facebook about shooting up a local school, killing children and eating their "still beating hearts."

Though Carter marked the Facebook message with indicators that it was a joke, Texas law enforcement didn't think it was very funny and charged him with making terrorist threats. A judge set his bail at $500,000 cash or $50,000 bond.

A petition on Change.org created by Jennifer Carter, mother of the jailed League of Legends player Justin Carter, who has been in a Texas jail for several months for making a Facebook comment (which he and his parents claim was a joke gone bad) requesting the release of her son has surpassed 100,000 signatures.

The father of Justin Carter, the 19-year-old League of Legends player that now faces up to eight years in prison for threatening Facebook comments, says that the whole thing was meant as a joke. Today on CNN the father of the Texas teen - Jack Carter - said that his son was scared, depressed, and concerned that he may never get out of jail.

"He’s very depressed, he’s very scared...and he’s very concerned he’s not going to get out. He’s pretty much lost all hope," Jack Carter told CNN in an interview this morning.

According to the conservative political web site The Daily Caller, a Texas teen who made a joke while playing League of Legends (the story isn't too clear on whether he made the comments during an in-game chat or in the official LoL forums), was arrested back in March on charges of making a terrorist threat.

While the rest of the country worries about what the NSA is doing with our data on the Internet, the state of Texas is securing the privacy of its citizens' emails. On Friday Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) signed into law a privacy bill that will guard Texans from warrantless searches by state law enforcement officials. House Bill 2268 in effect requires that state investigators obtain a warrant to access emails no matter how old the communication might be.

Liberal-flavored site Burnt Orange Report sheds some light on a Texas bill sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans in the House that gives law enforcement in the state broad powers to look at private Internet data without much justification.

The bill was sponsored by Texas Republican Reps. John Frullo, Allen Fletcher, and John Carona; and Democratic Rep. Senfronia Thompson. House Bill 2268 is described as follows:

A former executive from GameStop's Texas division has been sentenced to 51 months in prison for embezzling $1.7 million from the company by setting up a shell company, according to an announcement by the U.S. Attorney's Office. Frank Christopher Olivera, the now former Vice President of corporate communications and public affairs at GameStop Texas was convicted this week.

According to this GameSpot report, the organizers of the Penny Arcade Expo may have their sights set on a third location for the popular fan-based gaming event: the great state of Texas. Speaking during the Penny Arcade Panel at Comic-Con this weekend, Penny Arcade co-founder Mike Krahulik responded to a fan question about the possibility of a PAX event in the Austin Texas area by saying that organizers are "aggressively exploring a third PAX very near you."

Update: Al Lowe issued the following statement, noting that he will not sure Wisecrack Games and that he did in fact give the company permission to use his name:

The Texas family court judge who was shown whipping his teenage daughter in a YouTube video has been suspended by the Texas Supreme Court. The seven and a half minute video was from a 2004 incident. It showed Judge William Adams viciously beating his daughter with a belt because she downloaded illegal music and games from the Internet. In rendering its decision, the court did not detail the reason for the order of suspension that was made public Tuesday.

According to a Re/Max listing for the Austin, Texas area, Richard Garriott (you know, the guy that created Ultima and Ultima Online) is selling his home, "Britannia Manor II," for the low, low price of $4.1 million. From the listing:

An amusing post on the Huffington Post from senior political reporter Amanda Terkel posits that Republican presidential candidate and former Godfather Pizza CEO Herman Cain's 9.9.9 tax plan draws was inspired by a video game. According to HuffPo, Cain's plan is identical to the default settings in SimCity 4.

GDC Online organizers announced two programs that will grant free Expo Passes to video game and tech industry locals (to Austin and the state where the event takes place next month) and qualifying students. The new program is part of the event's outreach to local talent including students and working professionals.

A Texas appeals court has reversed sanctions against an attorney who was accused and found guilty of accusing opposing counsel of suborning perjury in a lower court ruling. The case is of particular interest only because it involves attorneys for MumboJumbo and PopCap Games International. Attorney Oscar Rey Rodriguez, a partner with the Dallas office of Fulbright & Jaworski, represented PopCap Games International in a contract dispute with MumboJumbo.

Texas wants more video game companies creating jobs in the state, so in an effort to make the state a more enticing location, the Texas Film Commission announced plans to increase incentives for the gaming industry to a level equivalent to what is currently given to film and television projects. Under the new rules, video game companies will be able to apply for grants that will give back up to 15 percent "of eligible in-state spending paid to Texas residents." This is a five percent increase over previous incentives.

On Monday Texas Governor (and presumed future presidential candidate) Rick Perry spoke at a press conference at EA’s BioWare Austin campus. The Governor, along with top executives of Electronic Arts confirmed that the company plans to expand operations in Austin - and in the process - adding 300 future jobs in the area. EA plans to expand its EA Sports division in the region and will hire 150 full-time positions, along with an additional 150 "contract workers."

During the official announcement Monday, Gov. Rick Perry said that Texas is "the perfect place" for video game development to thrive.

"'If it’s in the game, it’s in the game,' and right now Texas is where the game is being played," Perry told the press in attendance. "Much like the video gaming industry, our state is built on the foundation of competition."

A Saudi national who was arrested for plotting to "blow up" former President George W. Bush's Texas home and other targets in America has been connected ever so slightly to violent video games - particularly the Resident Evil series from Capcom. The 20-year-old chemical engineering student at Lubbock's South Plains College, described by authorities as a "jihadist" plead not guilty to charges last Wednesday in a Texas federal court. The charge was attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. According to an affidavit in the Northern District of Texas, Aldawarsi, who was came to the US in 2008 on a student visa, had allegedly researched how to make a chemical-based, improvised explosive device (IED) online.

The New York Post reports that enjoyed watching game videos from five titles in the Resident Evil series on YouTube - information the paper found while sifting through his blog.

Community leaders in city of Ciudad Juarez and the El Paso County Sheriff's Office line up to complain about Ubisoft and Techland's latest game in the Call of Juarez series. The new game, Call of Juarez: The Cartel, is set in the present day, which has put it on the radar of people that are dealing with real-world violence from Mexican drug cartels.

Community leaders in Ciudad Juarez, say that Ubisoft’s new game glorifies the violent lifestyle of drug cartels and being "a hit man."

"Lots of kids say they want to be a hitman, because they are the ones that get away with everything," youth worker Laurencio Barraza told Reuters.

That city, according to Reuters, averaged eight murders a day last year and - at the start of this year - at least 40 residents from El Paso have been murdered while visiting. Barraza works for the  Independent Popular Organization, which tries to keep the youth of the city out of the violent drug cartels.