THQ may have gone through some rough times lately, but it's not out of the fight yet. In fact  THQ president Brian Farrell announced that THQ's DS platformer Drawn to Life will eventually be making its way to the Nintendo Wii. Farrell also commented on other THQ franchises, such as the Stuntman and Juiced series. Read what he had to say after the jump.

When the going gets tough, the tough gets on a canceling frenzy - and it appears that THQ may be in for a rough time this year, as they not only cancelled the PlayStation 3 version of Frontlines: Fuel of War, but a handful of other titles as well. More details in the full article.

Analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan, popular for making infamous (and oft accurate, like the PS3 price cut) predictions, may be making another one by predicting that game developer studio THQ will have a significantly lower performance than was first predicted.

THQ, who owns Company of Heroes and Supreme Commander and the upcoming games Saints Row 2 (PS3, 360) and MX vs. ATV Unleashed (Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, DS), was once given a forecast of US$ 244 million for this quarter and US$ 1.15 billion for the fiscal year. Pachter lowered these estimates to US$ 225 million for the quarter and US$ 1.09 for the year.

The lowered estimates are due to the underperformance of THQ's games Stuntman: Ignition (PS2, PS3, 360) and Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (PS3, PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, PC, DS), and also their video game adaptation for Pixar's Ratatouille. Their earlier Pixar video game Cars performed very well in the market but Ratatouille failed to to live up to the success.

THQ once claimed that fees for making video games of owned intellectual properties (like Ratatouille) would be compensated with sales of the game. However, Mike Hickey of Janco has questioned this claim. He believes their line-up is overshadowed by the success of more popular games like Halo 3, Call of Duty 4 and Bioshock.

Furthermore, Hickey believes that THQ's casual games market will also be overshadowed by other more popular releases. He backs this up by saying that no THQ titles show up in the 50 top selling Wii games in Amazon. He concludes by saying it'll take "several more years of next-gen (that is, PS3 and Xbox 360 games) installed base maturity" before the line-up of casual games can get "meaningful traction."

In case you've got about 1.37 GB of space to spare, we're letting you know that the multiplayer demo for THQ's Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights for the Xbox 360 is available for download via Xbox Live Marketplace.

Aside from giving you the chance to compete online, Juiced 2's MP demo will allow you to customize your character, and one of four cars: the Nissan 350Z, the BMW M3, the Holden Monaro, and the Saleen Mustang.

The demo will also let you sample four of the game's five expected drift modes, as well as some of the the tracks. Just keep in mind that the demo's not available in Asia (although it hosts plenty of pretty Japanese cars), and you're good to go on Xbox Live. Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights is also available for the PlayStation 3, PC, PSP, and DS.

Buy: [Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (PS3)]

Buy: [Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (Xbox 360)]

Buy: [Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (DS)]

Buy: [Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (PSP)]

 

If you're a hardcore street racing fan and you prefer the chaos over the finesse of the craft, you might want to check out the upcoming release from Juice Games called Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights. It's all the raucous fun of blazing through city asphalt with an insanely deep customization mechanism.

This week we've got six new screens of Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights. Like its predecessor, this game features some pretty solid visuals that highlight the style of your customizable works of automotive art. Everything from the body, the rims, the tires, and right down to the interior is looking realistic and that's what racing fans love to see.

With a variety of drivers and a plethora of vehicles as a starting point, you'll immediately get a feel of how immersive the gameplay will be. There are some 10,000 parts to be juggled around come September 18 when this speedster launches, so make sure you check it out. Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights is set for the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PSP, PC, and Nintendo DS.

   
 

Buy: [Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (PS3)]

Buy: [Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (Xbox 360)]

Buy: [Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (DS)]

Buy: [Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (PSP)]

Drifting has become very important in racing video game titles. There's no denying that players like it very much because of the following: it's fun, it's a skill, and it's for showmanship. The same things were in Juice Games and THQ's minds when they've implemented the trick on Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights.

"We strived to make sure that the player, no matter how skilled they are, came away from the event with a positive experience. Our goal was to make the player 'feel' like they were a great driver, that they'd really enjoyed the game and that they wanted more," wrote one Juice Games developer over at IGN Blogs.

The said developer further explained that players can try five different drift modes in Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights:

• Solo Drift: A target score is set and you are given a set number of laps in which to rack-up the necessary points. If you reach the target before the end of the last lap the event is won.
• Drift King: This time the race is against a group of drivers and the clock. When the countdown reaches zero the driver with the highest score wins!
• Twin Drift: It's a two leg race with each driver taking the lead position. The ultimate winner is the driver with the most points over the two legs. The twist lies with driver who has to follow the leader.
• Drift Endurance: You've got as many laps as you need to get a high score. Simple until you learn that once you begin a drift then you have to sustain it. You'll need to keep your speed up and make sure you chain around all of the corners.
• Drift Obliterator: Races take place over a set number of laps and a target drift score is set for each lap. The rest of the race is simplicity itself, make sure you've reached the target score every time you pass the start line.

Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights will be available on platforms PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 2. The video clip below further explains the above mentioned drift modes.

See the video clip after the jump!

Here's a new video clip for Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights from Juice Games and THQ featuring the Driver DNA. The good thing about this option is that records a player's driving style and creates a strand of DNA for it. This then can be downloaded by other players from PS3's PlayStation Network and Xbox 360's Xbox Live.

There are different kinds of Driver DNA available in the game such as "Cool", "Wild", "Uncompromising", and "Calculating" among others. Needless to say, each one varies from each other and dictates how a driver handles his vehicle. When playing an online match, you can also examine your opponent's DNA to use it to your advantage.

Aside from the already mentioned versions, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights will also be available on platforms Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, PC, and PlayStation 2. It was recently reported that both the PS3 and PSP versions will be delayed.

A couple of goodies for the racing fans are now available for download on Xbox Live - Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights and FlatOut Racing and Derby. Now, before you run over to your 360s, take note that the Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights demo is not available in Japan or South Korea while FlatOut Racing and Derby is only available in Europe.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's go over the basics of the two video games. First off is Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights from Juice Games and THQ. It's a racing video game that centers around the real world event - Hot Import Nights. A number of character and car customization options will be available in the game, plus a lot of cars and tracks to choose from.

Empire Interactive and Bugbear Entertainment's FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage on the other hand, takes the more painful side of racing (read: ragdoll physics). For the lack of a better term, we can probably say that demolition derby is the video game's forte.

Anyway, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights weighs around 1.31GB while FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage will take up around 751.1MB of your drive space.

More eye candy for the racing fans. We've got some screenshots from the upcoming video game from Juice Games and THQ, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights.

This racing sim is based on the real auto show event called Hot Import Nights and boasts of features like character and car customization, a good number of cars to choose from, and a wager system (pink slip, anyone?). Well, in the new screenshots, we see some of the cars - the muscle cars and the BMW Z4 especially caught this writer's eye.

Anyway, before we prattle too much, we'll leave you to check out the screens for yourself. Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights is still scheduled for a September release. Stay tuned for more eye candy and info on this title.

More screenshots come right after the jump!

Just how much do you love those shiny cars with great decals? If you can't get enough of them, Juice Games and THQ's Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights will surely fire up your engines.

Today we've got a new video for the racing title showcasing its cars, customization features, the race modes, girls, and generally the culture of Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights. We see the real life Hot Import Nights event with the steroid shot cars drifting around the track. The title looks fine, but how will it shape up to the big boys of the racing genre? We'll see that in the finish line.

Anyway, this multiplatform video game (PC, PSP, PlayStation3, Xbox 360, and DS) will smash onto the shelves in September this year. In the meantime, check out the video.