Next time your teacher tells you to put away your PSP in class, point them to this. In Hong Kong, a program called the "Mobile Learning Platform" takes advantage of various electronic devices (PSP included) and uses them to give students quizzes. According to the PlayStation HK site, "students can use mobile devices including PDA, mobile phones or mobile gaming devices to log in to the mobile learning platform and then test their own knowledge anytime and anywhere."

The program will be used for an "inter-school mobile quiz" contest to be held on July 8th. Eighteen schools will participate in a challenge that tests their knowledge of the Olympics, and other trivia. Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong is one of the sponsors.

Y'know, when we were kids in school, we wouldn't be able to use our Game Boys in class. But now, these students can use PSPs and win prizes. You guys have it so good.

[Thanks to Siliconera!]

Sony-hating Joystiq once talked about the new gaming Oreo: a DS Lite placed into the Value Pack PSP sock. When a junior high school teacher from 4 color rebellion (Disclaimer: it's a Nintendo blog) tried putting a PSP in a DS carrying case, all he did was make his students sad. One child even cried.

You see, my students had become accustomed to playing with the ever-present DS lite. After class, some girls came up as sasked, "Can we play Mario?" I explained that I didn't have my DS with me, but one girl pointed to the case and its DS logo. I opened the case and watched their faces fall as they saw the PSP. I asked, "Would you like to play with this instead?"

They replied, "No."

The blogger goes out to point that he was surprised by this response, considering how the much-better graphics of the PSP didn't attract the kids at all. "To these students however, it is not an end-all multimedia device. It is just some shiny black thing that doesn't play Animal Crossing." As amusing as this story is, if Sony wants to extend their reach, they somehow have to steal part of the lucrative children's market.