DS to be used in Japanese schools and McDonalds

Forget Mario and Zelda. Nintendo's next big DS franchises are the Japanese education system and McDonalds's training program.

Speaking to the Associated Press before picking up his BAFTA Fellowship, Nintendo EAD General manager Shigeru Miyamoto said that education "is maybe the area where I am devoting myself (the) most."

Miyamoto then went on to say that Nintendo will be rolling out Nintendo DS systems packed with educational software "in junior high and elementary schools in Japan starting in the new school year."

Nintendo has also announced that the DS will be used in Japanese McDonalds restaurants for training purposes. In a new programme called "eSmart", the DS will be used because of the familiarity of the device.

Each fast food outlet will be provided with two DS systems, which means this venture, considering that there are over 3,700 McDonalds restaurants in Japan, is expected to exceed 2 billion yen (approximately £15 million)

This isn't the first time that Nintendo has dabbled with non-game applications. The DS was used at a Seattle Mariners baseball game for live statistics and instant replays, and at The National Museum of Western Art in Ueno Tokyo for navigation and contextual information.