Washington - Hoping to extend its brand to a younger audience, Washington-based National Geographic on Tuesday announced the launch of a new division that will develop and publish video games based on the organization's core themes and media properties.

The move is part of the organization's strategy of extending beyond print and television to a host of new platforms and devices.

Paul Levine, a senior vice president at National Geographic Ventures, will lead the new division, known as National Geographic Games (NGG), which also has hired former Take2 Interactive and Bethesda Softworks executive Chris Mate as its vice president and general manager.

In addition, NGG has partnered with Namco Bandai Games America and Sony Computer Entertainment to publish and distribute titles.

"Our global audiences love to play games, and we plan on creating games in-house as well as working with leading global publishers to develop entertaining games that engage those audiences in a relevant way," said Levine.

NGG plans to release four games by year's end.

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