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Current Events & News Blogs - Blog Rankings

Royal Navy issuing PlayStation Portables to Ships’ Officers

November 29, 2009 · Filed Under Current, Lore of the Sea

sony-psp-3000-gaming

This sounds like an interesting use of technology so long as we don’t hear of ship collisions due to watchstanders being distracted by playing Grand Theft Auto on their PSPs.

Navy hopes the PlayStation will help officers sail through exams

The Royal Navy has begun issuing handheld PlayStations to sailors to encourage them to study while at sea.

Sailors will be able to use the PlayStation Portable (PSP) to read and listen to coursework and practise on-screen tests in confined quarters.

The idea was developed at the maritime warfare school at HMS Collingwood in Fareham, Hampshire, which trains electrical engineers for the Navy. Alarmed that a quarter of ratings were having to drop out and retake courses, instructors decided on a new approach.

Consoles will be issued to sailors three months or so before they begin studying at HMS Collingwood, enabling them to prepare subjects in advance, particularly maths, which is crucial.

The consoles are preloaded with study packages, comprising slides and commentary prepared by instructors, compacted into “bursts” of between eight and twelve minutes each.

Lieutenant-Commander Mark “Beasty” Williams, who developed the programme, said: “On most ships, the space people have is quite small. Many have bunks with just a couple of feet above. This is the sort of thing that can be used in a bunk space.”

Initial trials were popular with sailors, who tended to be familiar with the PSP commands and needed no help to start using them. Sony’s target market of largely male users aged between 18 and 30 matches that of the Navy’s weapons engineering technicians, although there are women among them. Sailors are free to play games on the console as well as study after naval chiefs decided against disabling its disc drive.

Another reason for choosing the PSP over other consoles was it was deemed the most “Jack-proof” — sailors have a reputation for breaking equipment. A Sony representative visiting HMS Collingwood hurled one against a wall to prove its durability.

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