National Geographic gets into videogames

The conservation boffins at National Geographic have created a studio to make videogames based on topics covered in the popular magazine and on the telly show.

The first of these - Herod's Lost Tome for PC, Mac and iPhone - will compliment the December topic of King Herod.

National Geographic Games will create titles for other platforms such as Wii and PS3 in the future, and will also seek partnerships with various videogame publishers.

National Geographic Panda is the first example of this, and will arrive on DS in the US later this month. It's supposed to be a bit like Nintendogs crossed with Zoo Tycoon.

Former Bethesda and Take-Two exec Chris Mate has taken the post of general manager at the studio.