THQ announced it has acquired the worldwide publishing rights to the highly anticipated S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Oblivion Lost (working title). Developed exclusively for PC by Ukraine-based GSC Game World, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Oblivion Lost is the first game to utilize GSC Game World's proprietary X-Ray engine that allows for massive indoor/outdoor environments, real-time physics and the capability to push more than one million polygons per frame at 60 frames per second. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Oblivion Lost provides players with an intense first person action experience that incorporates elements of survival horror and role-playing while taking place in the forbidden zone of the Chernobyl nuclear facility. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Oblivion Lost will be available in 2004.

Well, we told you that this game was going to be hot when we first saw it at GDC earlier this year. We would like to pass along our congratulations to the crew at GSC Game World on getting this publishing/distribution deal done. As we explained in our reports from GDC, this is only one great example of some of the hot titles that are in development in Russia and the Ukraine. It is our hope that we will hear more about such deals for other developers next week at E3.

You can read the full THQ Press Release Here.