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Yesterday's announcement that TNA Impact!: Cross the Line would be heading to DS and PSP by way of SouthPeak Games (a game left over from the collapse of Midway Games) wasn't exactly a shock to ardent followers of the franchise. The question of whether or not TNA would pursue additional games on current-gen consoles (360/PS3/PC), however, remained up in the air. We spoke with a TNA representative last evening who told Joystiq that the company is "working on a long-term solution" for the development of said games.

"We absolutely want a long-term partner for video games, and it's super important to TNA to have a long-term partner for games on the current consoles like 360 and PlayStation," the rep said. And though he admitted (after much prying, in fairness) that development of that next TNA game on 360/PS3 is "kind of open to the market" in terms of a developer/publisher, the company "likes SouthPeak as a partner now" and "would like to continue to work with them." For now though, SouthPeak will only retain the right to publish the TNA back catalog and the upcoming handheld title.

Truth be told, loyal readers, we kind of already told you about SouthPeak Games scooping up the right to publish the Midway-developed TNA Impact!: Cross the Line for the PSP and DS. So when the company recently announced that it would be publishing Cross the Line "later this Winter," we weren't exactly flabbergasted.

However, when SouthPeak's Q1 2010 financial report revealed the aforementioned last month, it wasn't clear whether the game publisher had secured rights to future TNA Impact! games or not. Speaking with representatives for SouthPeak this morning, we were declined comment on who owns said rights "other than what's in the [press] release." We've followed up with TNA and will update this post if we hear back.

TimeGate has announced an expansion of its multiplayer-focused shooter, Section 8, with the "Seek and Destroy Map Pack," which adds three new maps and 10 new achievements for 560 ($7). Though the game is available on Xbox 360 as well, the company is only making mention of PC availability for the content at the moment.

The industry has become so skewed towards a console focus as of late, it's kind of nice to see PC players getting some exclusive love. Now, let's all be real quiet and see if we can detect the exact moment their heads explode when they hear they have to pay for it.

[Via BigDownload]

Timegate has released a title update for Section 8, which should fix several bugs in the game and tweak a few things. The main fixes include improved matchmaking, a fix for faulty Achievements and improved tank controls. AI bots will now also follow and defend human players, and the update also fixes latency problems and lost stats. There's a host of other smaller tweaks and changes as well, which you can read about on the Section 8 forums.

Likely not fixed by the patch, a precipitous drop in players since November 10.

Having not played Renegade Kid's first survival/horror-FPS on the Nintendo DS back in 2007, Dementium: The Ward, I had few expectations going into my recent hands-on with the game's sequel, the aptly titled Dementium 2. I knew that the first game enjoyed critical acclaim for more than adequately bringing survival/horror tropes to Nintendo's handheld, and ultimately scored pretty well with reviewers, but ever since Metroid Prime Hunters I've been wary of first-person mechanics on the DS.

Thankfully, when first faced with manipulating Dementium 2's main character, it became quickly obvious that the game's slow pace helps to account for any discomfort issues that might arise from the control scheme. Over the course of 45 minutes, I put together puzzles, traveled between two dimensions multiple times, and even fought a boss who tried to throw up on me from the ceiling (what a jerk!). Though its content and storytelling seems to be a carefully crafted amalgam of games from the three or so genres it mashes up (fps, adventure, survival/horror) – a handheld Half-Life meets Silent Hill on Monkey Island, almost – the time I spent with a preview build of Dementium 2 earlier today felt like the beginning of what could be a very interesting game.

Having gotten the obligatory joke out of the way in the first post about SouthPeak's Crime Scene, we're now free to look at, you know, the game and stuff. And it certainly delivers on the promise of the title! It's basically a crime scene on the DS for you to explore. You have to comb through whole rooms, collecting fingerprints, footprints and other evidence. You get to tweeze -- and swab.

Crime Scene is one of the few M-rated games on DS -- joining an elite club comprising games like Resident Evil: Deadly Silence, the Dementiums, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, and, of course, Touch the Dead. With that rating, it may turn out to be a more realistic, serious take on crime than the other cop games on DS.

After oodles of 2009 delays, this is one that really hurts. We're talking about a "getting bit on the finger by Charlie" level of pain here. Are you braced? OK. Two Worlds II -- which is not Two Worlds: The Temptation -- has been delayed by SouthPeak until the spring of 2010, according to GameSpot.

The bigger question, of course, is, "What joke are we going to make about Two Worlds II being delayed?" We've gone back and forth, because we're worried about being too mean. We soon realized though that if you picked the joke, we wouldn't have to feel so guilty. Do our dirty work right after the break.

Remember way back in August when THQ picked up around 40 percent of Midway San Diego (following that whole full collapse thing), but left off the TNA Impact property? It would appear that the reason for this exclusion was due to SouthPeak Games snatching up the license, as revealed by a recent Q1 2010 financial report released by the company.

The "acquisition" is first noted in the report's "Highlights of the Quarter" section. "Acquired in bankruptcy certain assets owned by Midway relating to video games based on the TNA iMPACT wrestling brand." We asked SouthPeak who would be in charge of developing the next game in that series, said in the report to be released "this year" (2010), and found out that such information has yet to be announced, unfortunately. Currently, SouthPeak is only known to be publishing TNA Impact: Cross the Line for the PSP and Nintendo DS.

When we explored the SEC filing from Midway on the sale, the wording got much more ambiguous. One notable exclusion from the $100k purchase is, "the TNA License and Sellers' rights thereunder." When we asked SouthPeak to clear up exactly what the company bought, we were told that, while it "can confirm the details of the release and filing," no comment is currently available – though we were assured that we'll be hearing more details "soon."

Though SouthPeak is keen to point out that its net revenues rose from last year by $7.2 million, the company's profits for the year remain firmly in the red, with a $12.1 million posted loss for the 2009 fiscal year ending June 30. SouthPeak's loss report comes confusingly paired with a 100% increase in units sold from fiscal year 2008 (from 1.2 to 2.4 million units) -- 2009's posted $12.1 net loss gets explained away by "approximately $12.5 million invested in game development and intellectual property for future title releases," among other things.

The report also allows "$1.6 million of expenses relating to the Gamecock acquisition," hopefully some of which went to paying Gamecock debt now owed by SouthPeak -- this on top of another $4.6 million or so for "charges relating to write-downs on software values and sequel right values to certain titles." Unsurprisingly, the publisher hopes that upcoming titles Two Worlds 2 and My Baby: First Steps, as well as a "highly-anticipated sequel to Dementium," will bolster its next fiscal year. We're just hoping the games the company does sell will actually garner some profit this time around.

Unless your title begins with Halo or Gears -- or ends with Duty -- it's hard to get your shooter recognized on the Xbox 360. It seems that the cats at SouthPeak understand this, and have come up with a particularly sneaky contest. You see, the contest asks fans to design the official shirt for the game. Naturally, the winner will receive a fabulous prize, in this case a 32" HDTV, an Xbox 360 and a copy of Section 8.

The ingenious part is this: It's a contest, which is designed to generate interest in the game. But the goal of the contest is to design the official shirt, which will also be used to generate interest in the game. Pretty sneaky, SouthPeak. The contest opens September 11 and closes on September 30. For more details, head over to the official contest page.

First off, as the headline eloquently suggests, Section 8 has been blessed with a release date. The game will hit North American shelves on September 4, the UK and Asia / Pacific regions on September 11 and the rest of Europe on September 18. So there's that. In other mechanically enhanced soldier news, TimeGate has announced its plans to open a clan and stat portal for the game.

The clan portal will allow users to access lots of special features, including automatically updating clan tags, establishing clan hierarchies, and reviewing the stats of new applicants. Meanwhile, the stats page will (obviously) list comprehensive stats for the game, including career statistics, records achieved in a single "life," as well as the number of badges earned and feats accomplished. Leaderboards can also be organized by overall stats or restricted to just those within an individual clan. Finally, both Xbox 360 and PC players will enjoy "mutually exclusive" stats, which should hopefully avert any potential "mouse vs. keyboard" flame wars.

The stats page, located here, will launch next week alongside the North American release of the game.

While PS3 users are still waiting for the PSN release of thiefy-wizardy-knighty-platformer Trine, SouthPeak has announced that the PC version of the game will soon be headed to retail. The retail version of the game will land on shelves September 8 -- peep its box art above.

So, if you've been waiting for a chance to own a copy of Trine that actually comes with a box, you're wait is almost over. If, on the other hand, you've been waiting to download the game on a certain, special console, you'll have to continue settling for nothing but deep sighs and long, wistful looks out the window.

We have to admit that we really dig the concept of Section 8. First, you've got power-armored super soldiers that drop into the battlefield from 15,000 feet -- kind of like ODSTs without those pansy drop pods. Players can run across the battlefield in seconds, jump 20 feet in the air, and even have a tank hot-dropped right into the action.

We liked what we saw of the game at GDC, and now everyone can get their hands on the game, thanks to a demo that just dropped (geddit?) onto Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo allows players to try out the game's multiplayer mode. It's similar to Battlefield, in which points are earned by performing team objectives, only with a twist. The objectives aren't determined by game type, but pop up dynamically during gameplay. One minute you might be disrupting an enemy caravan, and another you could be escorting a VIP to your base.

Check out the video above for a quick explanation, then download the demo and give it a try.

[Thanks, scott!]

The story of Gamecock Media Group never had a very satisfying ending. Created by industry entrepreneurs Mike Wilson, Rick Stults and Harry Miller, the company set out to buck-buck-buck the trend -- a perceived sequence of retreads, rehashes and remakes that characterized a rapidly expanding games industry. The games were undoubtedly indie, the choices bizarre and the rooster costumes touted by Wilson and the gang were just plain weird. But not nearly as weird as the David vs. Goliath scenario that ended with the lowly rock slinger shaking hands with his imposing foe.

But in October of 2008, SouthPeak Interactive Corporation stepped out of the role of opposition, instead donning the chivalrous and sharply dressed persona of corporate savior. A shaky economy had compelled Gamecock's main investor to tighten the belt, an act which former Gamecock CEO (and subsequent co-founder of Devolver Digital) Mike Wilson notched up as a swift and unexpected crisis. "He and his board decided that with their main business bleeding so badly, they needed to cut off anything 'ancillary'," Wilson said, "such as his investment in outside businesses, one of which was our company." With the timing sitting uncomfortably close to the Christmas rush and promising titles like Legendary and Mushroom Men on the verge of completion, Gamecock needed help.

"And suddenly there was NO money. So, we literally had to find someone to acquire us immediately ... someone who knew the business, could see the imminent revenues versus liabilities, and move very fast." And wouldn't you know it: for a Goliath, SouthPeak was pretty fast. "A week later, we were bought, and all we could do was put on a happy face and hope for the best."