Microsoft donating Xboxes to Japanese schools
Looks like Redlands, California isn't the only place where educators have decided that installing video games in schools is a good idea. Microsoft is donating 80 Xbox systems to schools in Tokyo. While the Redlands plan is based on the somewhat sketchy concept that playing games like Dance, Dance Revolution will help curb childhood obesity, Microsoft's project is even more dubious: the company says the Xboxes are being donated to help students become IT-literate by helping them to use video conferencing to study online and interact with other Xbox-enabled schools. Really? This wouldn't, perhaps, have anything to do with the fact that Japan is the home market of the Xbox's major competitors, and that reaching kids in school is a great way to expose them to a product that isn't quite as ubiquitous as those made by Nintendo and Sony?
