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The Lightspan Story
Video games have always been on the short end of the argument stick when it came to determining its education value. No matter how many ‘edutainment’ titles companies would try and throw at the gaming community, very few of them ever stuck. In fact, outside of Oregon Trail and Carmen Sandiego, no one can remember a learning-type game without smothering a chuckle in the same breath. Enter Lightspan Technologies. Realizing there had to be a way to combine the two goals of educating and entertaining, they figured it would be cost-efficient to try and run these titles on a game system. Being considerably cheaper, and more acceptable to a child then a computer, they developed learning tools that would play on regular PlayStation systems that the children could take home with them. This idea lasted from about 1995 to 2002, but with declining success. Since all games were designed in-house, and being made up of smaller design teams, they could not keep up with the retail gaming software. With now outdated and very costly software doing nothing, Lightspan went from being very profitable to losing almost $5 Million dollars a year. Probable cause for this is usually associated with the research side of the project. With schools spending $300,000 for just 250 sets of CDs, no one could prove that the Lightspan project was actually helping students learn, or if it even improved their test scores. By 2002, most schools lost interest in the project and abandoned the program. Interestingly, there was a plan to try and start creating PS2 software to bring the games back up to speed, but it proved too costly. Attempts and making PC software also failed, so the company was sold off to Plato Learning, Inc in 2003. Considering the state of the gaming in general when partnered with the current educational economic climate, it seems destined that not even Plato will be able to keep the Lightspan system alive. Pundits put the company at staying on for 2 to 3 years at most before everything that was ever Lightspan is lost to landfills and distant memories. We hear at Game Rave were saddened by the effects of the Lightspan fall and Plato take-over. Various interviews and research has provided us with discoveries of lost technologies, boxes of abandoned software, and piles and piles of development and design papers that could have helped preserve the legacy of this now solitary and probably only attempt at truly combining learning with playing. Over 400 employees lost their jobs, and the few remaining will most likely follow suit. With the help of several people, Game Rave has created a comprehensive list of all known Lightspan titles, listed below in Alphabetical order. At the moment we have access to over 70% of the library, including variants and a beta. As time goes on, we will be filling out this section with the same passion we give the retail releases. Random Lightspan
Materials (Coming Soon) |
All Currently Known
Lightspan Titles 16 Tales 16 Tales 2 16 Tales 3 16 Tales 4 A Mars Moose Adventure - Walkabout 1: The Natural History Museum A Mars Moose Adventure - Walkabout 2: The Shakespeare Festival A Mars Moose Adventure - Walkabout 3: World Sports Day Calamity 1: The Natural World Calamity 2: People and Traditions Calamity 3: Around the World Cali's Geo Tools 1 Cosmic Cookoff - Language Arts Cosmic Cookoff - Mathematics Creative Camp Creative Isle 1 Creative Journey 1 Creative Voyage 1 Every Child Can Succeed 1 Every Child Can Succeed 2 Every Child Can Succeed 3 Every Child Can Succeed 4 Every Child Can Succeed 5 Every Child Can Succeed 6 Every Child Can Succeed 7 Faire Games - Language Arts Faire Games - Mathematics Family Connection Demonstration Disc Head to Toe 1 Head to Toe 2 Head to Toe 3 Head to Toe 4 K9.5 1: Live in Airedale K9.5 2: We are the Dogs K9.5 3: Webtunes K9.5 4: The Tail-Wag Tour K9.5 5: The Howlywood Premiere Kazmania 1: Trail of Gems Kazmania 2: Chaos in Kazmania Liquid Books 1: Lety's Favorite Stories Liquid Books 2: Amrita's Trees / Credito and the Coyote Liquid Books 3: Far-Fetched Frontier Tales Liquid Books 4: The Adventures of Adelita and Bo Liquid Books 5: Pop-out Prose Liquid Books 6: The Wandering Path Mars Moose - Cosmic Quest 1: City Sights Mars Moose - Cosmic Quest 2: Fairy Tale Island Mars Moose - Cosmic Quest 3: Race Through France Mars Moose - Stay and Play 1: In the Clubhouse Mars Moose - Stay and Play 2: In Mars' Bedroom Mars Moose - Stay and Play 3: In Lonnie's Classroom Math Gallery Collection 1 Math Gallery Collection 2 Math on the Move! 1: Addition / Subtraction - Advanced Math on the Move! 1: Addition / Subtraction - Intermediate Math on the Move! 2: Multiplication / Division - Advanced Math on the Move! 2: Multiplication / Division - Intermediate Mona & Moki 1: Drive Me Wild! Mona & Moki 2: Drive Me Wilder! Online Connection CD P.K.'s Math Studio 1 P.K.'s Place 1: Party on the Patio! P.K.'s Place 2: Hoopo at Sea P.K.'s Place 3: Carlos at the Races! P.K.'s Place 4: Daphne and the Seventh Wonder Road Writer Science is Elementary 1 Science is Elementary 2 Science is Elementary 3 Story Lane Theater 1 Story Lane Theater 2 Story Lane Theater 3 Story Lane Theater 4 Story Lane Theater 5 Str.at.e.s. 1: Match-a-batch Str.at.e.s. 2: Matchamania! Str.at.e.s. 3: Title This! Title That! Str.at.e.s. 4: Titlerama! Str.at.e.s. 5: Parallel Lives! Str.at.e.s. 6: Analogy-ology! Str.at.e.s. 7: Riddle Roundup! Str.at.e.s. 8: Riddle Wrangler! The Quaddle Family Mysteries 1: The Case of the Scarce Scarab - Lobby / Kitchen The Quaddle Family Mysteries 2: The Case of the Scarce Scarab - Garden The Quaddle Family Mysteries 3: The Case of the Scarce Scarab - Parlor / Family Room The Secret of Googol 1a: Reshaping Googol - The Submarine The Secret of Googol 1b: Reshaping Googol - The Tower The Secret of Googol 2a: Reshaping Googol - (The) Castle The Secret of Googol 2b: Reshaping Googol - Under the Ocean The Secret of Googol 3: The Googol Counting Fair - Midways The Secret of Googol 4: The Googol Counting Fair - Corral / Fun House The Secret of Googol 5: Googolfest - Party Isle / Toy Isle The Secret of Googol 6: Googolfest - Arcade Isle / Moon Feast Isle The Secret of Googol 7: Eggs All Around - Egg Trek / Balloon Pinic The Secret of Googol 8: Googol Gulch - General Store / Math Arcade The Three Decoders 1: Riddle of the Ring The Three Decoders 2: Key to the Carousel Timeless Jade Trade 1 Timeless Math 1: Maya / Search and Rescue Timeless Math 2: Maya / Observatory Timeless Math 3: Maya / King Jaguar's Village Timeless Math 4: Lunar Base Timeless Math 5: Space Flight Rescue Timeless Math 6: Brainswarm Timeless Math 7: Rover Recovery Unknown Variable 1: Masque Manor Unknown Variable 2: Raven's Ridge Write Away 1 Write Away 2 Write Away 3 Write Away 4 Write Away 5 Write Away 6 Write Away 7 Write Away 8 Write Away 9 Write Away 10 |
Lightspan
Game Library
(C) Game Rave 2004/05. All Rights Reserved. Game Rave is a (C) of Jason Dvorak.