RPGs are so popular in Japan that they’re invading educational textbooks.
Namco Bandai is known for developing RPGs from the Tales series, such as Tales of Vesperia, and has also put out other RPGs including Eternal Sonata and Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon. The next RPG from the company is not hitting a game console, but an elementary school homeroom.
News coming out of Japan today (translated by Andriasang) reports that Namco Bandai is working with textbook publisher Gakko Tosho to develop educational textbooks with RPG elements. These textbooks will have sections with titles such as “Math Adventure” where students follow RPG storylines while they work.
Teachers are encouraged to induce amnesia by hitting students on the head with a log, after which the students will have to solve endless random equations to try to build up enough skill to kill the principal. In an ideal world, anyway. Really though, solving problems correctly will earn students keys, which then unlock a treasure. The treasure is either a successful career later in life, or a sticker.
Namco Bandai and Gakko Tosho plan to also produce books for science and language arts. The RPG textbooks will be released as early as spring. With RPG textbooks and Shigeru Miyamoto wanting the Nintendo DS in schools, pretty soon there won’t be any aspect of education in Japan that isn’t associated with games.
Source: Andriasang
