National Geographic makes foray into gaming

LOOKING AT STUNNING photography from a climb up Everest just doesn’t do it for today’s yoof, which is why National Geographic has decided to branch out – into video games.

The glossy picture magazine is teaming up with the likes of Namco and Sony to bring science, history and the environment to consoles, PCs and mobile devices large and small.

The firm states that its main aim is to reach out and inspire people to care about the planet and the species inhabiting it, however, National Geographic also admits making the move into the gaming space reaches out to new, younger punters, who might otherwise never buy its products.

Apparently first up to get the video game treatment is King Herod, star of the National Geographic’s King Herod, architect of the ancient world. The game will be called Herod's Lost Tomb and will be free to download from the National Geographic website.

Other games in the short-term pipeline include Namco's National Geographic game Panda, Sudoko Traveler: China and Sony's National Geographic game Africa. Then, if all goes according to plan, next year the organisation intends to release three more games, Rain Forests, Greencity, and From the Bottom Up.

The Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS handheld, PlayStation 3/PS3 Network, PCs and mobile devices including the Iphone are all platforms National Geographic intends to use in its attempt to capture the short attention span of the species known as homo-teenage-gamer.

They might find it easier sticking to scaling Everest though. µ