THQ To 'Incinerate' Next-Gen Gaming .

Video game publisher THQ Inc. today announced the formation of a new development team called Incinerator Games. The studio will be based in Carlsbad, California and joins THQ's growing internal development talent, which includes Volition, Relic Entertainment, Rainbow Studios, Kaos Studios, Paradigm (a recent purchase from Atari) and others.

Incinerator itself is comprised of veterans that worked on such popular titles as Twisted Metal, NFL GameDay and MLB 2006: The Show (from Sony's 989 studios), as well as games in the Midnight Club franchise (Rockstar). A team size for Incinerator was not specified, however. According to THQ, the studio was established primarily to work on next-generation consoles.

"The addition of Incinerator Games is another example of our dedication to enhance and expand our internal development capabilities," commented Jack Sorensen, executive vice president of worldwide studios, THQ. "We're really excited to see the Incinerator team begin to bring its own ideas for next generation development to THQ".

Currently the Incinerator team is working on Disney/Pixar's Cars for next-generation consoles. The game is expected to ship later this fall. Cars has already performed quite well on current-gen consoles, with the PS2, GBA and GCN versions placing fourth, sixth and tenth (respectively) on the June NPD top 20. Given the popularity of the movie and the success the title's already seen on current consoles, it certainly makes sense for THQ to leverage the license on next-gen systems as well.

In addition to Cars, THQ said that Incinerator is also working on other yet to be announced projects for next-gen systems.