Well, it s official. Starting Jan. 2 I will become the Rocky Mountain News first full-time video game writer. And don t worry (celebrate) this won t effect my Kotaku gig one iota. It just means I ll get to concentrate fully on gaming.

Despite being numb from happiness, I do have mixed feelings about the move. On the one hand I look forward to tackling game writing full-time for the newspaper and having the chance to have my articles run on the Scripps-Howard wire service. On the other hand I m really going to miss being a crime reporter.

I ve covered crime, public safety and police for about 11 years, nearly a third of my life, and it s really going to be hard to give that up.

The coolest thing about this move is what it signifies about mainstream media. The Rocky certainly isn t the first to create a full-time beat for covering gaming, but this shows that it also won t be the last. I expect to see a lot more of this happening in the coming years and it can only help gamers and the industry.