When I was in school, we’d sometimes play “quiz shows” based on popular television game shows using paper and the chalkboard to keep track of things. With the advent of Microsoft’s PowerPoint, the computer hooked to a projector replaced the chalkboard with snazzier graphics.
Now, word comes from the Daily Telegraph that British gaming company Relentless developed a quiz show for British school children that runs on the PlayStation 2: Buzz! The Schools Quiz. The game was developed under a grant from the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The teachers act as “game show host,” and are in charge of tempo and topics. The PlayStation 2 is quite inexpensive right now, and could well serve as a useful tool in classrooms that would be cheaper to implement than a traditional computer.
Alas, infamous anti-gamer Jack Thompson, a Florida attorney who has leveled many charges against the gaming industry and videogames in the past, was offered a quote in the story belittling academic potentials of gaming.
Interestingly, Thompson was not noted as an American commenting on a British academic initiative.
References:
Sony sells PlayStation quiz game to schools. (2008, January 12). The Daily Telegraph. [Online.] Retrieved January 12, 2007 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?
xml=/connected/2008/01/12/dlquiz112.xml

January 12, 2008 at 6:58 pm |
[...] John Rice: [...]
January 12, 2008 at 7:02 pm |
[...] PlayStation 2 Quiz Game to be Used in British Schools PlayStation 2 Quiz Game to be Used in British Schools Now, word comes from the Daily Telegraph that British gaming company Relentless developed a quiz show for British school children that runs on the PlayStation 2. The game was developed under a grant from the Department for Children, … more… [...]
January 13, 2008 at 5:17 am |
I don’t believe I was ever contacted. If I had been, I would have been delighted to have commented.
January 14, 2008 at 7:24 pm |
Mr. Thompson – it’s possible your comments were taken from elsewhere and used by the reporter in the context of the article. The originating article, now that I’ve looked, seems to be from the Daily Mail. It has generated several posts regarding the kafuffle, including this one: Thompson Criticizes Buzz! For Schools. Best regards, JR