It looks like WWE fans will be taken to the gaming mat sooner than they thought. In his latest column on the official WWE site, talent coordinator and trainer Dr. Tom Prichard revealed that Chicago-based Studio Gigante is developing the newest addition to the WWE game catalog.

　　According to his column, on February 15, Prichard "headed to Los Angeles to work on some motion capture for the latest yet-to-be-named WWE video game." Once in LA, Prichard supervised the mo-cap session, "which basically means I would suggest or request various things throughout the day," he said.

　　Besides thanking "Studio Gigante’s Mike Vinikour and Richard Ho," Prichard also gave an approximate release date for the as yet unnamed game. "It looks like THQ will be coming out with the new game by early next year," he said.

　　THQ and Studio Gigante could not be reached for comment as of press time. However, according to its Web site, Studio Gigante is "ramping up" its development crew, with open positions for a 3D character artist, 3D face sculptor, and 3D motion animator.

　　Given that Yuke's is doing the next SmackDown! title for the PS2, it is likely the unnamed WWE game will be either for the Xbox or GameCube. To date, Studio Gigante's sole title is the Xbox-exclusive fighting title Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus.