The transition to the next generation of consoles will not be without a few casualties, says Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

"If you're not capitalized for the transition, you can find out that you're not there for the transition. And historically, in every transition that's occurred in this business, one or two third-parties have gone out of business."

Last night THQ announced that it had entered into a forbearance deal with Wells Fargo, who represents the company's creditors. The deal protects the troubled publisher from any possible legal action from missing payments related to outstanding debt - at least until January 15. The deal also includes provisions that allow the company to get additional funding at a later date, though specifics on that were not disclosed because that part is still being negotiated.

In an interview with NowGamer, chief technical officer at Metro: Last Light developer 4A Oles Shishkovtsov said probably the most disparaging thing you can say about a brand new console: it has no power. When asked if the new game would be on the Wii U, Shishkovtsov said that it was not possible because Wii U's processor was "horrible and slow." Not exactly what the folks at Nintendo headquarters want a developer to say...

Over the weekend Joystiq reported about an interesting lawsuit filed against THQ by a tattoo artist named Chris Escobedo. Escobedo alleges in his lawsuit filed against THQ for using a tattoo he designed for MMA fighter Carlos Condit. Condit's likeness appeared - with the tattoo designed by Escobedo - in THQ's UFC Undisputed 2010 and UFC Undisputed 3.

Following yesterday's poor financial results for the fiscal second quarter, THQ had delayed several titles and has an outside firm to explore its options. The titles getting pushed included South Park: The Stick of Truth, Metro: Last Light and Company of Heroes 2. THQ recorded a loss of $21 million during its fiscal 2013 second quarter on sales of $107.4 million. The company says that it has about $36.3 million of cash and equivalents, down nearly half from the $76 million it had a year ago.

While THQ's Darksiders II has sold an estimated 1 million copies so far, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter says that the game is having a very hard time making it past the 2 million milestone it needs to reach for THQ to break even on the title.

"Darksiders II's performance and a history of game delays and cancelations leaves us skeptical that THQ can successfully execute its turnaround strategy, which centers on a streamlined release slate," says Pachter.

Continuing to push the envelope ever-so-slightly, THQ announced that the next retail release to its popular and sometimes adult themed third-person sandbox action game Saints Row The Third will happen on November 6 and will be called "The Full Package." No one will ever think there's something sexually suggestive about that title... Whatever happened to calling this kind of compilation a "Game of the Year" Edition?

While THQ's layoffs announced this week pale in comparison to OnLive's last week or reductions in staff at PopCap and the outright closure of Studio Liverpool, a layoff is a layoff and it doesn't matter if you are one of one-hundred or one of ten affected.

Director Guillermo Del Toro's inSANE video game project has been canceled by THQ as the company announces financial results for its latest quarter. In a conference call with analysts and media to discuss its latest results, THQ president Jason Rubin said that the game had been canceled as part of the company's ongoing cost cutting, belt tightening and restructuring.

Publisher THQ has managed to avoid being delisted from the NASDAQ by reaching the minimum market share price before it hit a deadline set by the exchange. The company made the announcement today.

"[THQ] has received notification from NASDAQ that it has regained compliance with the minimum bid price rule for continued listing on The NASDAQ Global Select Market because the bid price of its common stock has closed at $1.00 per share or greater for at least 10 consecutive business days," it reported in an update for investors.

THQ continues to cut costs by closing down operations it believes it can live without. Unfortunately for the employees of the company's Quality Assurance operations in Phoenix, Arizona that means a round of layoffs. THQ has decided to consolidate its QA teams into its Montreal location and will be closing its Phoenix, Arizona-based operation in response. According to GII THQ will close the QA center and lay off 57 employees.

A case that was ultimately kicked into high gear over a licensing inquiry by THQ has put one songwriter on the warpath against World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Michael Seitz (aka Michael 'P.S.' Hayes from the Fabulous Freebirds), and others. According to a lawsuit filed by songwriter James D. Papa the defendants in the case redirected royalty payments to several wrestling related songs he either wrote or co-wrote by securing the rights to music unlawfully.

New York City-based law firm Levi and Korsinsky filed a class action lawsuit against publisher THQ this week over what it told shareholders about its uDraw drawing peripheral. The lawsuit alleges that THQ misled investors by not disclosing important information about the sales performance of the peripheral for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The lawsuit is open to stockholders who bought the company's stock between the May 3, 2011 - February 3, 2012 period.

THQ Australia confirmed that it will honor all Darksiders II pre-order DLC bonuses purchased through retailer GAME Australia. The retailer announced this morning that it would close its 15 remaining stores on July 8.

GAME Australia had offered Australian customers who pre-ordered THQ's upcoming game the Deadly Despair DLC pack, but then it went into liquidation. Obviously if the retailer is no longer in business it won't be able to fulfill those promised pre-order bonuses.

THQ has returned the rights to the Devil's Third back to its creators. The promising third-person shooter from Ninja Gaiden producer Tomonobu Itagaki and his development team at Valhalla Game Studios will have to find another publishing partner. During E3 THQ unloaded the rights to another major franchise - UFC - on EA for an undisclosed amount of cash.

THQ CEO Brian Farrell knows his company was in a bad way and part of getting back onto the road to recovery is proving that they know what to do next. The company was in freefall after it announced that its little UDraw experiment had failed miserably, costing the company millions of dollars. Ultimately that led to a series of studio closures, layoffs, and sales of major licenses like UFC. On Monday the company announced that it would do a one-for-ten stock split July 9 to keep it from being booted off the NASDAQ.

THQ announced this morning that stockholders have approved an amendment to THQ’s Certificate of Incorporation to initiate a reverse split of its common stock and have authorized the company's Board of Directors to determine the ratio and the effective date of the reverse stock split. That vote took place at the company’s Special Meeting of Stockholders on June 29.

Following that meeting the Board of Directors determined that it would initiate a 1-for-10 reverse stock split on July 9, 2012.

THQ’s vice president Teri Manby has resigned from the company, according to a report from Develop. Manby also served as THQ's corporate controller and chief accounting officer. She will exit the company officially on July 6, with senior director of financial reporting Rose Cunningham taking on the role of VP and corporate controller. THQ chief financial officer Paul Pucino will assume the role of chief accounting officer.

One of THQ's biggest franchises right now, Saints Row The Third, was supposed to get an expansion later this year, but the company announced today that it has decided to turn that huge content pack into a full blown sequel. Depending on your perspective this could be considered good news, but for investors it means less revenue in 2012. To that end THQ lowered its financial target for the year by $20 million.

According to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, THQ sold the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) license to Electronic Arts because its latest game based on it did not meet expectations. Pachter claims that THQ management told him that UFC Undisputed 3, released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in February, didn't even hit the break-even mark of 2 million copies sold.

What started out as rumors on Twitter and in this Kotaku story has been confirmed: THQ has quietly shut down its San Diego studio and has let everyone that works there go today. Some have speculated that the company did this on the first day of E3 press conferences to avoid media scrutiny.

THQ and UFC owner Zuffa announced that they have reached an agreement resulting in Zuffa licensing going to Electronic Arts. The agreement allows THQ to step away from yet another major license and it gives EA the right to publish videogames based on the Ultimate Fighting Championship brand. The agreement results in an undisclosed cash payment to THQ as well and THQ will continue to publish its existing console and mobile titles through March 31, 2013.

THQ's longtime executive vice president of its core games division has left the company, along with Dave Davis, the SVP of core studios. In their roles in the core games division, both Bilson and Davis helped lead the company away from licensed titles to focus on key franchises such as Saints Row and Darksiders.

In the hopes of avoiding being delisted from the NASDAQ stock exchange, THQ announced plans to offer a reverse stock split. The company needs to do this in order to maintain $1 per share, a key requirement of the exchange.

THQ will not have a booth at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, according to what a spokesperson has told GamesIndustry International. While the company won't have a massive display on the show floor as it has in past E3's, a company spokesperson said that it will be at E3 taking appointments and showing off its new titles for 2012 and beyond.

THQ has sold off its ValuSoft division to a budget software company called Cosmi. THQ acquired the value-based publishing distribution company ten years ago. The company saw a moderate amount of success with the value division over the years and used it to publish titles that the parent company would never publish alongside its AAA brands.

Cosmi has been selling budget software for 30 years. Cosmi says that this acquisition makes them the second largest PC publisher in North America and the biggest value software publisher.

THQ announced that it expects better fiscal 2012 fourth quarter results, noting that the company had exceeded prior expectations. Let's just say "prior expectations" were not very high. For the fourth quarter, THQ predicts non-GAAP net sales of $160 million to $170 million, which is above the company's previous outlook of non-GAAP net sales in the range of $130 million to $150 million.

Update: Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has issued a short statement to Game Informer apologizing for his comments about THQ:

"While discussing our strategy I spoke out of turn about someone else’s. It was inappropriate and I regret it."

THQ is shifting its game Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium from an MMO to a single-player game with multiplayer components. The company said in a press release issued today that the shift will result in hundreds of layoffs across multiple studios.

Sportswear company Adidas has sued THQ for breach of contract, according to The Oregonian. The lawsuit was filed last Wednesday in the Multnomah County Circuit Court. The company claims that THQ signed an agreement to create a "miCoach" digital exercise software product, which it was to deliver in January of this year. THQ failed to deliver said software and Adidas claims this breach of the agreement has caused more than $10 million in damages.