Japanese Schools Make Nintendo DS Compulsory

A regional board of education has implemented plans which compel some 10 elementary and middle schools to distribute Nintendo DS handheld consoles amongst their pupils, along with appropriate software.

Starting in January, the schools began distributing the devices and software to children.

The plan has been approved at the highest levels of the Osaka Board of Education, and a specialist post has been created to oversee matters. The plan will see schools attempt to harness the device for educational ends, with lists of approved software being made available.

Predictably, the bold plan has come under fire; however, the main criticism appears to focus on the issue of taxpayer’s money being directed into Nintendo’s coffers, certainly a legitimate concern considering the potential for abuse. Such criticism appears to have been dealt with however, so full implementation seems assured.

Other issues raised are who gets to select the software approved, and of course the “games will corrupt the youth” line of argument, proving a favourite of assemblymen.

Via Sankei.

Nintendo has had much success marketing DS games as aids for mental exercise, using scientific sounding doctors and studies to promote its products as semi-medical, and a significant number of educational titles also exist on the platform.

Thus, the notion of distributing these amongst those few schoolchildren who do not already have one is not as far-fetched as it might at first appear; a number of doctors have already staked their reputations on the effectiveness of the device in combating senility… Children would be the next logical step.

Whatever the case, Nintendo cannot help but profit from their innovative marketing.