Gaming News Round-Up: January 10th, 2005

Today's wrap-up includes news of some major Rockstar titls for PSP, a significant movement in the game journalism industry, and EA's acquisition of yet another football license. - Rockstar has announced their upcoming PSP lineup, which includes one of the heaviest hitters for Sony's platform: a portable Grand Theft Auto game. The PSP version of the GTA series will be developed by Rockstar Leeds rather than Scotland-based Rockstar North, though Rockstar North and Rockstar San Diego (formerly Angel Studios) will assist with development. Grand Theft Auto and the also-announced PSP version of Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition will not be available at the platform's launch, currently believed to be sometime in March, but will hit shelves not long afterward. - IGN Entertainment has hired Dale Strang as its new executive vice president and general manager of the media division, overseeing sales, marketing, and editorial content for IGN's many and varied channels. Strang was most recently the vice president of Ziff-Davis' Game Group, which has had a difficult time over the past few months, with significant layoffs and the closing of two of the Game Group's five magazines, XBN and GMR. Before that, however, Strang had helped his division to record revenue and profit, and IGN CEO Mark Jung praised his "impressive background and experience in the video game and tech publishing sectors." - Weeks after their exclusive deal with the NFL, Electronic Arts has snatched up another exclusive football license, this time for the Arena Football League. EA will produce a game based on the league to be released near the beginning of their 2006 season, which will be the league's fourth televised season. Some had suggested Arena Football as a possible alternative subject for Visual Concepts, makers of Take Two's ESPN Football line, but EA's exclusive deal with the league makes such a scheme impossible.