As part of its earnings announcement this morning, THQ revealed that it had acquired Mass Media Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The Moorpark, California-based studio began the decade by making Game Boy Advance titles such as Pac-Man Fever but has since become something of a PlayStation 2-port specialty shop. It helped bring Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, Full Spectrum Warrior, and Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers to the system.

　　Though Mass Media is now wholly a part of THQ's 16-studio in-house development stable, it doesn't look like its role will change much. Speaking to analysts in a conference call, THQ CEO and president Brian Farrell said, "We love their cross-platform development tools, and so I wouldn't necessarily think of them as a product shop that actually is going to produce an individual game. They're a technology shop that we think is going to be a great enabler for our PS3 cross-platform development tools."

　　Farrell's query was in response to the revelation that Mass Media is working on a new, unnamed next-gen title. Called "Project X" on the studio's site, it is described only as "an AAA next-generation title, so cool and cutting edge, that we cannot talk about it." So far, THQ's highest-profile PlayStation 3 port is the forthcoming version of its Xbox 360 hit Saints Row.