Super Mario could be appearing on classroom projectors in the U.S. sometime soon, if Nintendo design guru Shigeru Miyamoto has his way.
In an interview with the Associated Press, the man behind videogame titles like Super Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong, and Legend of Zelda said that, since the Nintendo DS already sees educational use in Japanese museums, there is no reason not to deploy the system as a teaching tool for the classroom.
Speaking to the AP through a translator, Miyamoto said that his company was planning to roll out the DS "in junior high and elementary schools in Japan starting in the new school year."
Some experts, like Christopher Dawson of ZDNet, have speculated as to the possible use of the Nintendo DS - a touchscreen device that features a split screen - in the classroom. Dawson said that "a look at the Japanese pilots of the DS in schools shows that language instruction might be an easy target, using the built-in microphone and sound processing capabilities. As early as 2008, NintendoWorldReport featured a story on ways in which the small devices were improving English instruction in Japan."
