Renowned test preparation firm Kaplan and Aspyr Media, publisher of — well, just about any decent port you’ve ever played on Mac — announced today a partnership to develop an SAT prep game for the Nintendo DS.
Newsweek’s Level Up games blog has the scoop, as well as this early mock-up of the title. Mac and PC versions are also in development.
Doesn’t look much like schoolwork, eh? But just when we were thinking this might be — ‘gasp’ — fun, Aspyr’s Ted Staloch ruins it for us. “This is not a study break,” he told Newsweek, “This is a way to prepare for the test.”
We can’t say we’re sold on the vaguely three-dimensional stick figure, but then again neither can Aspyr themselves — they don’t seem to know what exactly to make of it. An Aspyr publicist told Newsweek:
This yet-to-be-named character is a big part of our game. He/she/it is your in-game companion. It will either be an active part of a game or it’ll just be there to guide you along or cheer you on. To hear our designer describe it, it’s also a visual representation of the player and his or her progression in the game. The character will “evolve” as you play, doing different animations, opening up different customizations, etc.
Regardless of where this leads, Kaplan will likely find a contingent of new admirers among high school students for providing an ironclad excuse to bring more portable gaming into the classroom. Spencer Putt’s work notwithstanding, it’s about time gamers retired their TI-83 graphing calculators.
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