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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.

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."

You've been reading an awful lot about Midway business minutiae over the last six months, so we won't bore you with too many unexciting details about THQ buying Midway's San Diego studio for $200k last week. The most important thing for you to know is that out of 100 employees, 40 have been offered jobs by THQ, and more positions may be opening, the Chicago Tribune reports.

According to the SEC filing, the TNA iMPACT! license wasn't part of the deal, a strange omission considering THQ publishes UFC games. The deal is all but finalized, awaiting Midway's bankruptcy court's approval and an agreement between THQ and Warner Bros. over the sharing of certain undisclosed IPs (the terms of which have already been settled). Considering the sad tale surrounding the shuttering of Midway Newcastle, we're glad to finally be writing something somewhat positive in the wake of Midway's collapse.

[Via Kotaku]

While the PC crowd is all about Spore this week, the Xbox 360 is all about hockey. We have not one but two different hockey games up for grabs. What's that? A sports league that isn't exclusive to a single publisher? It's bizarre, we know. So bizarre, in fact, that we almost forgot there are two other games on the list. So, which is it gonna be, hockey, robot animals, or spandex?

• NHL 2K9
• TNA Impact!
• NHL 2009
• Zoids Assault

[Via Joystiq]

In an official press release, Midway listed the titles that will make an appearance at E3. The PS3 titles are all multi-platform, but are also multi-genre. They'll be showing off Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Wheelman, TNA iMPACT!, Blitz The League 2, and This is Vegas -- most are due out this Fall, but This is Vegas has been pushed into 2009.

As Midway CEO Matthew Booty put it, "these games truly reflect our product strategy to develop top quality titles in a wide range of genres that appeal to all segments of the market." This is a fair statement: we've got a fantasy fighting game, an intense driving/action title, wrestling, football, and a sandbox-style simulation game. It's a wide spread, so we'll see if they get any thumbs up at E3 next week.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling has pushed itself to the limelight for wrestling fans and a suitable contender for title-belt raising WWE crowd. Midway, agreeing with TNA's ladder-climbing popularity, have scooped up the franchise and is set to release TNA iMPACT! in order to compete with THQ's WWE series later this year.

Today we bring your six fresh screens of the upcoming Xbox 360 and PS3 release, complete with body slamming action. While we can't say for sure which franchise looks like the true number one contender, we wouldn't mind watching these two go at it in a winner-takes-all cage match.

Note: Bonus points for anyone who can name all of my horrible wrestling references in this story.

What is TNA? Trilateral Nuclear Abominations? Trigonometric Narcissists Association? Tits 'n' a ... ah, nevermind, it's Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. And that's just about the best explanation for the TNA Impact trailer, which debuted last night on Spike's VGAs.

We're told wrestling is a very manly sport; however, we don't remember seeing it in Maddox's The Alphabet of Manliness, which is our reference guide for such things. (It should be noted that female wrestling is listed under section 'F.') Video embedded after the break; if in the event there is not enough manliness in the TNA Impact trailer, we've also embedded a video dose of menergy as supplement.