THQ Buys Australian Polar Express Developer

Officials from THQ have announced that the company has acquired Blue Tongue Entertainment Limited. The Australian developer recently completed work on Robert Zemeckis-created movie tie-in Polar Express for the company, and is currently developing two cross-platform releases for late 2005. The developer, which was founded in 1995, has previously worked on titles including Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis for Vivendi Universal, Starship Troopers for Hasbro Interactive, Riding Star, and Australian rules football simulator AFL Finals Fever. The company also recently won the Melbourne B3000 Business Of The Year award, acknowledging the achievements and innovation of local Melbourne, Australia businesses. Steve Dauterman, vice president of product development, THQ Asia Pacific, commented: "Consistent with THQ's strategic objective of utilizing internal development to improve product quality and operating margins, we are pleased to tap into the growing base of development talent in Australia as we continue to build our internal development capabilities." THQ now has studios in both Brisbane, where the company opened a studio from scratch in early 2003, and Melbourne, making THQ one of the best represented international publishers in Australia.