Ahhh, grammar school -- there was nothing quite like trying to hide that GBA under the desk in fear of Mrs. Rosencrantz confiscating our portal into Pokémon Fire Red. Back then, handheld games were little more than an obvious distraction in the eyes of our ruler-equipped teachers, but Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto plans on changing all of that. Speaking with the Associated Press in an interview recently, the legendary game developer explained his latest devotion: bringing the Nintendo DS and Wii into schools. He said that the DS would be making its way into "junior high and elementary schools in Japan starting in the new school year" (beginning this April).
Miyamoto didn't get too specific on how his company's consoles would help Japanese students with their education, only detailing it as part of Nintendo's initiative to expand the audience for gaming consoles. We have to imagine that the kids won't be using them to decide whether or not Resident Evil 4 on Wii is the best version (besides, we all already know that it is). Thankfully for our unborn children, Miyamoto didn't mention any amorphous plans to bring gaming consoles into North American schools just yet. Presumably they'll have to play it fast and loose like we did -- keeps 'em sharp!
Reader Comments (59)
Posted: Mar 19th 2010 10:04PM (Unverified) said
Hate to say this, but you will never get a DS into a classroom that doesn't have kids playing games on them or is heavily modified past the point it's classified as a 'DS'. Props to him though, if he figured it out and convinced schools, good for him (and hopefully the children).
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Posted: Mar 19th 2010 10:10PM Falcon6 said
Well, kids still use the computer for games in this day and age.
Hell, I used to play Super Mario Bros. 3 in my high school's computer class. And I'm sure it's still being done today, though it might be few and far between due to the deepfreeze programs.
It's definitely possible for the DS to be used for education. Question is, will it be done? Hard to say.
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Hell, I used to play Super Mario Bros. 3 in my high school's computer class. And I'm sure it's still being done today, though it might be few and far between due to the deepfreeze programs.
It's definitely possible for the DS to be used for education. Question is, will it be done? Hard to say.
Posted: Mar 19th 2010 10:13PM Shadowbender said
I really hope this somehow improves what I believe is a broken education system. I want kids to have a fun childhood, and this would be the right direction. Just make the games actually FUN Miyamoto.
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Posted: Mar 19th 2010 11:09PM blahblah55 said
"Hate to say this, but you will never get a DS into a classroom that doesn't have kids playing games on them"
College students do that on their laptops.
When my laptop worked, I did that.
If it was still working, I'd still do that.
Doesn't mean I didn't take good notes.
Of course you're going to run into that problem... but that's why the kids learn how to multitask, and makes the teachers more involving to earn their attention.
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College students do that on their laptops.
When my laptop worked, I did that.
If it was still working, I'd still do that.
Doesn't mean I didn't take good notes.
Of course you're going to run into that problem... but that's why the kids learn how to multitask, and makes the teachers more involving to earn their attention.
Posted: Mar 20th 2010 12:40AM (Unverified) said
"
Of course you're going to run into that problem... but that's why the kids learn how to multitask, and makes the teachers more involving to earn their attention."
It is not the teacher's job to earn a student's attention. It is their job to teach.
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Of course you're going to run into that problem... but that's why the kids learn how to multitask, and makes the teachers more involving to earn their attention."
It is not the teacher's job to earn a student's attention. It is their job to teach.
Posted: Mar 20th 2010 3:57AM blahblah55 said
It isn't the teacher's jobs, but it's what's best for the education of the children.
If everyone was just "doing their jobs" then...
Well you get what we have now. Corrupt cops and teachers just waiting for their smoke breaks. (Obviously that's overgeneralizing, but you get the point)
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If everyone was just "doing their jobs" then...
Well you get what we have now. Corrupt cops and teachers just waiting for their smoke breaks. (Obviously that's overgeneralizing, but you get the point)
Posted: Mar 20th 2010 7:05AM (Unverified) said
"It is not the teacher's job to earn a student's attention. It is their job to teach."
I laughed and cried at the same time.
I laughed because I thought the notion utterly ridiculous, and cried because thats how most teachers actually educate these days.
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I laughed and cried at the same time.
I laughed because I thought the notion utterly ridiculous, and cried because thats how most teachers actually educate these days.
Posted: Mar 21st 2010 9:14AM ashleydb said
Guy is only about 6 years and a few generations late: http://www.hiash.com/portfolio/gba/index.htm
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Posted: Mar 19th 2010 10:08PM Typicalgamer said
pokemon battles in class....sounds so exciting!!!
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Posted: Mar 19th 2010 11:27PM alexmlowgmailcom said
I've done that this year.
And I'm a senior in high school.
:(
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And I'm a senior in high school.
:(
Posted: Mar 19th 2010 11:28PM Typicalgamer said
a wise man once told me, " you are never too old for pokemon..."
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Posted: Mar 20th 2010 3:47PM bongoes said
I once brought Ruby on a field trip to play on the bus. Some one asked if he could play it. I let him thinking he'd just walk around in the grass and fight Pokemon. He started a new game and saved over my file. I had Regiice and Registeel, I only needed Regirock... I was so close and he smashed my dreams to pieces...
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Posted: Mar 19th 2010 10:11PM Shadowbender said
On one hand, this would be fun for kids to play in classrooms. The more fun the kids have, the better. On the other hand, I want Miyamoto to be putting his focus on ZELDA, MARIO, PIKMIN. The Golden 3. I don't play games for education, I play them to be compelled. Please don't tell me the games market will be cluttered with educational garbage. Dare I say it, but it's hard to take Nintendo seriously right now when they're saying this kind of stuff.
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Posted: Mar 19th 2010 10:22PM Shadowbender said
Yeah, we used to have a 360 Arcade in my HS. All they played was Guitar Hero though.
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Posted: Mar 19th 2010 11:26PM sonicspike41 said
We played Halo 2 in college once... but then again our teacher didn't really teach us much anyways. It was like 2-3 days of watching movies/surfing the web, and then the rest of the time was cheap exercises and easy tests.
We actually got a LAN setup going in the next room with a TV we brought in and one of these giant drawing board screen things. Awesome day.
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We actually got a LAN setup going in the next room with a TV we brought in and one of these giant drawing board screen things. Awesome day.
Posted: Mar 20th 2010 2:59PM MacabreArts said
Our school's computers weren't powerful enough to *download* call of duty 4. We played the halo demo- much more rewarding.
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Posted: Mar 19th 2010 10:16PM ColorblindMonk said
Well hey, whatever ISN'T an iPhone, I'm totally fine with it.
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Posted: Mar 19th 2010 10:17PM CaptainProtonX said
jeez....couldn't find a more up-to-date picture?
GBA games??? GTFOOH!
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GBA games??? GTFOOH!
Posted: Mar 19th 2010 10:25PM Shadowbender said
Well now, you can't forget the other heaping mounts of gold, now can you? Don't deny it!
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Posted: Mar 19th 2010 10:51PM TheMichaelJackson said
Kirby Air Ride was awesome. I thought I was the only one who liked that game.
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Posted: Mar 19th 2010 10:37PM Gate Stormer said
I recall playing Number Munchers & Oregon Trail on Apple IIe's in 3rd grade. We thought we thought we were so cool & bad ass & were going to hack into some government computers, not knowing then that they weren't even networked to anything or knew about networking. LMAO...fun times!
Fast forward to my senior year in highschool using the internet for the first time in 1997, downloading music video's on floppies, installing Windows 95 from like 25 floppies, & playing Duke Nukem in class.
Oh yeah...playing Scorched Earth in typing class also. Anyone else remember that one?
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Fast forward to my senior year in highschool using the internet for the first time in 1997, downloading music video's on floppies, installing Windows 95 from like 25 floppies, & playing Duke Nukem in class.
Oh yeah...playing Scorched Earth in typing class also. Anyone else remember that one?
Posted: Mar 20th 2010 1:25AM killdash9 said
I don't remember Scorched Earth or Turbo Math Facts, but I do remember all the Apple IIe and Commodore 64/128 machines in computer class during elementary school. Those machines were where I first encountered programs like Logo, Oregon Trail, Carmen Sandiego, and a simulation program where you played a hot dog seller at a baseball stadium. You had to project sales based on daily weather, buy supplies, and sell product. I remember doing the best in the class on that game. Ah, the good ol' days.
Does anyone remember The Learning Company's Think Quick?
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Does anyone remember The Learning Company's Think Quick?
Posted: Mar 20th 2010 12:11AM TraceurRyuk Prepping for LBP2 said
Not me, I use mine almost daily. I haven't found a good enough reason to upgrade yet... Maybe when the DS2 comes out. I find it so much better in every way than the Lite besides the screen.
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Posted: Mar 19th 2010 11:30PM (Unverified) said
kids don't need a ds or computer to play games in class. we still play tetris and block dude on our graphing calculators.
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Posted: Mar 19th 2010 11:58PM HighFiveJesus said
Yeah and Diet Dr. Pepper really wants me to buy it (every day)
Neither are gonna happen.
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Neither are gonna happen.
Posted: Mar 20th 2010 7:05AM blahblah55 said
I'm not even sure his head was ever in the "core game".
I think he just liked video games and saw what he could do with them.
...I doubt he was there to "shoo away casual players".
...I think more people should be casual when they play games anyways... it is afterall: a game.
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I think he just liked video games and saw what he could do with them.
...I doubt he was there to "shoo away casual players".
...I think more people should be casual when they play games anyways... it is afterall: a game.
Posted: Mar 20th 2010 3:16AM (Unverified) said
It will probably be used to learn kanji, but I hope it's done with special software developed for classroom specifically (instead of the school recommending commercial games that serve that purpose). It would also be nice if that was made via DLC, like in a DS download station, instead of having the school distribute game carts for that (specially because I don't think Nintendo would produce game carts in large quantity for that purpose).
Learning software that is used inside a school should be designed to be used inside a school, matching their learning schedule and grading/rewarding system.
Anyway, both the recharger and DS case in the pic are the same as mine. cool.
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Learning software that is used inside a school should be designed to be used inside a school, matching their learning schedule and grading/rewarding system.
Anyway, both the recharger and DS case in the pic are the same as mine. cool.
Posted: Mar 20th 2010 9:57AM Vegeta has a ps3 said
umm...you do realize that you don't have to buy any educational games right?
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