Following the brouhaha of DJ Hero maker Activision buying Scratch: The Ultimate DJ developer 7 Studios and Scratch publisher Genius Products then accusing the duo of sabotage, Genius has now hired Commotion Interactive to finish the music title. The studio was described as "the music and party game division of Bedlam Games," an independent Canadian developer formed in 2006 by Rockstar, EA and Ubisoft veterans. Bedlam's involvement with DJ Hero seemingly constitutes its first announced project.

With the development of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game firmly back on track, Scratch: The Ultimate DJ now expected to arrive in "early 2010," and as such, will no longer be facing off against rival DJ Hero upon its respective release in October.

As the legal battle between DJ Hero developer Activision and Scratch: The Ultimate DJ publisher Genius Products continues to unfold, "sources with knowledge of the game's development" have told Kotaku that Scratch is now in the hands of a new studio.

Scratch was originally being developed by 7 Studios, but following Activision's purchase of the developer, Genius Products terminated the agreement. Activision and 7 Studios were then ordered to turn over the source code for the game and its development tools.

"[The code] is theirs. It belongs to [Genius and hardware maker Numark]. They paid six million dollars for it," said Judge James Chalfant, reports Gamasutra. "I'm done."

According to Kotaku's sources, Scratch is now under development at BottleRocket, which recently made headlines when its Splatterhouse project was confiscated by publisher Namco Bandai and then handed off to another developer.

While the L.A. Superior Court refused to grant "any restraining order" against Activision last week, that apparently changed today, as Genius Products and Numark today announced that they now have a temporary restraining order against Activision.

Publisher Genius Products and hardware maker Numark allege that Activision tried to sabotage the development of Scratch: The Ultimate DJ by buying its developer, 7 Studios, to benefit Activision's upcoming DJ Hero. Activision claims that it bought 7 Studios to "bolster its development capabilities" and did not interfere with Scratch.

The announcement specifies that Activision and 7 Studios must turn over "all source code related to Scratch"--including the code for 7 Studios' "pre-existing" development tools--by the end of today due to a ruling from last week, and also sees Genius and Numark reiterate their strongly worded accusations.

Scratch DJ Game LLC, a joint venture between Genius Products, LLC ("Genius") and Numark Industries LLC ("Numark"), announced... Read more

Activision has denied Genius Products and Numark's recent allegations that it bought 7 Studios, which is developing Scratch: The Ultimate DJ for Genius Products, in order to sabotage Scratch and benefit the upcoming Activision-developed DJ Hero.

According to Activision, the allegations are "nothing more than an attempt by Genius to place blame for the game's delay" and an attempt to hide Genuis' financial situation. Activision says it simply bought 7 Studios to "bolster its development capabilities."

An L.A. Superior Court hearing found "no evidence of any wrongdoing by Activision," the company said. Activision further claims that it did not "interfere with or delay" Scratch, and actually helped the game by providing 7 Studios with "much needed financing."

The lawsuit will have no effect on DJ Hero, Activision stressed, with the company's complete response following below:

Activision Publishing strongly denies the allegations made by Genius Products and Numark Industries and believes that the claims are disingenuous and lack any merit. Yesterday, the L.A. Superior... Read more

The war over the lucrative music game genre escalated today, with the publisher of Scratch: The Ultimate DJ suing DJ Hero publisher Activision and Scratch developer 7 Studios over "intentional interference with contract, breach of contract, conversion and misappropriation of trade secrets."

Publisher Genius Products and peripheral manufacturer Numark Industries are claiming that Activision recently purchased Scratch: The Ultimate DJ developer 7 Studios in order to benefit its own upcoming DJ title, DJ Hero.

The suit alleges that Activision and 7 Studios "conspired to withhold the current version of Scratch in an effort to delay the development and release of Scratch and to gain access to proprietary technology."

Scratch explains its version of events in a release:

Prior to undertaking these wrongful actions, Activision approached Genius with an offer to acquire Scratch. The offer was rejected. It is alleged that Activision then commenced the... Read more

Bostjan Cadez' independently developed physics game Line Rider will be released for the Wii and Nintendo DS this summer, publisher Genius Products announced today.

Conceived as a project for Cadez' college illustration class, Line Rider was originally released on the PC as a Flash-based toy in September of 2006.

Line Rider is built around the simple gameplay concept of a boy and a sled riding atop landscapes drawn by the player. The game spawned a craze of YouTube videos created by players showing off their best runs and level designs.

The publisher added that the DS and Wii versions of Line Rider will feature over 40 puzzles created by TechDawg, who heads up an unofficial Line Rider fan community website.