Sony Launches PlayStation-Edu

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You can go to school to learn how to develop games on a PC, but if you want to get your hands on console development tools, you had best get a job with a licensed console developer. Well, those days are falling by the wayside, as Sony has announced it's new PlayStation educational initiative.

As you can see, Sony will provide PS2 and PSP development kits for "computer science and engineering students who want to understand how the hardware works in the PlayStation consoles." Of course, schools will have to pay for the development tools, but these kits come complete with demo code, samples, documentation, and access to an exclusive support website. We don't see anything about PlayStation 3 kits, but then again, we imagine those are still extremely expensive for university programs. On the other hand, we expect this initiative will eventually include the PS3, because it'll probably continue on for quite a while. Remember, developers have been complaining about the inherent difficulty in producing games for PlayStation consoles for the past decade, so it only makes sense to initiate would-be developers beforehand. This is a great idea, as far as we're concerned.

Maybe by the time the PlayStation 4 comes around, this educational effort by Sony will have provided development teams with guys and gals who have an edge thanks to those tools. Of course, the PS4 might be so cutting edge and revolutionary, knowing the PS3 won't help one iota. You never know.

6/6/2008 Ben Dutka

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