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Publisher SouthPeak's legal troubles continue, with developer Paradox Interactive filing an injunction against the company for disagreements that start with a familiar issue: lack of payment. Gamasutra reports that Paradox, developer of Europa Universalis 3 and the recently unveiled Lead & Gold, claims SouthPeak owes it $585,382, revenue from distribution of its games that the publisher has not passed along.

"SouthPeak has failed to comply with its payment obligations even for game units which it previously reported to Paradox, and SouthPeak's executives have informed Paradox's executives that SouthPeak is currently financially unable to satisfy its payment obligations to Paradox under the Agreement," the legal filing reads.

After Paradox terminated its distribution agreement with SouthPeak last month, according to Gamasutra's summary, SouthPeak "threatened" to request that unsold inventory be returned by retailers -- and it's this action that Paradox is trying to prevent with its injunction. In addition, it is seeking a receiver to collect the money it claims SouthPeak owes.

The avalanche of bad days keeps rolling at the SouthPeak offices as today the UK High Court has once again sided against the publisher in its longstanding legal battle against distributor CDV. In the most recent decision, the court ruled in favor of CDV that SouthPeak was liable for inducing copyright infringement. In 2009, the same high court ruled that Gamecock, a SouthPeak subsidiary, had failed to submit four titles early enough for the 2008 holiday season, costing the publisher to the tune of about $3.1 million.

In the current legal battle, German distributor CDV claimed SouthPeak had induced copyright infringement and breach of contract and legal costs. While the new ruling favors the distributor's claims of infringement and legal costs, the court did not find SouthPeak in breach of its contract with CDV. SouthPeak also faces claims from other former partner companies.

In a statement to the court, the preceding judge said she had noted that CDV was able to prove SouthPeak US "has both participated in, and authorized, the infringing activities in relation to the making, distribution, and sale." According to GamesIndustry.biz, SouthPeak's recently reported loss of $2.6 million for its second financial quarter ending on December 31, 2009, can (in part) be attributed to the UK high court's previous ruling.

Wake up! After that headline, we saw you start dozing and we wanted to make sure you were with us for the next hundred-ish words of pure, unbridled excitement. According to SouthPeak Interactive's fiscal 2010 second quarter financial results released this morning (which make up the last three months of calendar 2009, ending December 31), the publisher netted $10.1 million, a 42% decline from fiscal 2009's second quarter results of $17.3 million.

In one of the report's few positive notes, company CEO Melanie Mroz notes that the My Baby franchise grew 45 percent "compared with the last holiday season" -- and we were so worried about SouthPeak's baby! Notably, the decline in revenue was blamed on "a decrease in the number of titles released in the fiscal 2010 period." Also, the games that the company did publish weren't the pricier Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 titles. We've got a free solution for you though, SouthPeak -- My Baby Next-Gen: Future Baby for the aforementioned consoles.

That one's for free, guys. The next one'll cost ya.

The possibility of jetpack-rich, Tribes-esque action on PS3 just got a little less nebulous. Speaking with IGN, a TimeGate spokesperson said that the developer's Section 8 would be coming to PS3 at some point, though no formal release window has been settled on.

The news shouldn't come as a surprise to the Joystiq faithful, as we reported last December that TimeGate had alleged that publisher SouthPeak entered into an unauthorized PS3 licensing deal for the game with Russian company 1C. Whether or not the suit will keep the game in legal limbo (and for how long if so) remains to be seen.

It seems SouthPeak's taking its recently acquired role as European publisher for 3D Dot Game Heroes pretty seriously -- according to a recent press release, the company will release the PAL version of the bizarre action-RPG on May 14, just a few days after North America gets its hands on the game.

In addtion, attendees of the Midlands MCM Expo, held February 20 in the heart of Shropshire, England, will be able to get their first hands-on time with the game. We'd book our flight to the event post-haste -- if we only knew how to speak Shropshirian.

360 players must be jealous of their PC brethren no longer, as they can now finally download the "Seek and Destroy" DLC for Section 8, which PC players have been exploring since late November. Despite the passage of time, the pack, which adds three new maps -- "Devil's Backbone," "Hornet's Nest," and "Azure Basin" -- and 10 new achievements, is still priced at 560 points ($7).

That seems a little steep for a game we haven't seen a lot of people playing online lately ... or ever. Don't you think?

Here's an announcement for those of you across the pond, uncertain whether you'll experience the PS3's retro revival in From Software's 3D Dot Game Heroes this May. SouthPeak Interactive recently announced the European release of 3DDGH via its Euro distribution arm. The game is also set for a May 2010 release, though no date is specifically given -- it's said to be "in line with the North American release."

For what it's worth, US publisher Atlus is totally stoked to be working with SouthPeak on the title. VP of sales and marketing at Atlus Tim Pivnicny noted in the announcement release, "SouthPeak Games is the perfect publisher for 3D Dot Game Heroes in Europe." He cited SouthPeak's "shared enthusiasm" for the title as a motivator for the partnership, not to mention the US publisher's desire to ship the game day and date in European markets. "[SouthPeak] also recognize the frustration of many European gamers to not get exciting releases until months after other regions, which is why we're working closely together to deliver a simultaneous launch for North America and Europe."

The spectrum of available games distribution is wider than ever before, but we're not sure we've ever seen this exact configuration. After previously appearing as a downloadable PC game, fantasy footballer Blood Bowl will come to Xbox 360 and PSP, with an additional retail version on PC, courtesy of SouthPeak. The Warhammer-inspired game will take the field in January on 360 and PC, followed by the PSP in the more nebulous "Spring."

Now's the time we turn the post over to your comments, and we can't wait to see what you have to say. We're sure someone has to be offended by this release constellation.

Chalk up another frustrated party accusing SouthPeak of wrongdoing. The company has been sued by Section 8 developer TimeGate, which alleges that the publisher has withheld royalty payments and entered into a PS3 licensing deal on the game with Russian company IC, an arrangement that TimeGate claims SouthPeak had no right to make.

In legal documents obtained by Joystiq, TimeGate also alleges that this SouthPeak T-shirt promotion was unauthorized, that the publisher had mislead TimeGate about sales figures and that the publisher has stated it should not have to adhere to TimeGate's original agreement, as it had been made with Gamecock, which SouthPeak purchased in late 2008. We've reached out to SouthPeak for comment.

If you prefer your language far more formal, the lawsuit puts it like this: "[SouthPeak] failed to provide a sufficient sales report, withheld royalty payments and did not adhere to the obligation to act in good faith and fair dealing when they established the sham transaction in order to deprive TimeGate of royalties despite the special relationship between the parties and being in a position of trust."

No specific amount is mentioned in the suit, with TimeGate asking only for "compensatory damages in an amount to be determined" following an independent audit of Section 8's sales.

Jools Watsham's prediction of a "February-ish" release for Dementium II seems to have been right on target -- though Nintendo's release schedule wasn't. Rather than the February 2 date listed on that schedule, The company announced that the DS horror FPS will ship in North America on February 16 of next year. Europe will be subject to the horror two weeks later on March 5.

SouthPeak reports that some Dementium II posters are still available to those who pre-order and send pictures of their receipts. Presumably more people will take advantage of the offer now that they now when the game they're pre-ordering will be released.

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.