Question about Lightspan games in PlayStation database

[Hollenscythe]

Just curious, obviously their rating hints at them being impossible to find - but I see no mention of them anywhere else on the internet. I'm looking for them, or at least images of them, but I can't find anything on them. Even GameFAQs, which has some pretty wild lists full of crazy things I'm determined arem't real, has no mention of these games.

Am I on a wild goose chase... what's the deal with 'em? Thanks.

[PapaStu]

Welcome to the Edutainment section of the PlayStation library. Published by LightSpan these games were geared towards elementary schools and were never officially released to the public. I even went the route to try and use my moms school that she teaches at to get a set or 3 for us DP collectors. No dice. They are findable on ebay (well the more common titles are) and I think currently we've discovered something like 80 titles. Some of which are VERY rare.

[Hollenscythe]

Jesus!! Well, I'll be bumping those to the back of my priority list - think I'll just concentrate on everything else first. Wow though.

Thanks for the 'fo! 8-)

[Dangerboy]

Easier list for reference:
http://www.game-rave.com/psx/playstation_perfect_guide/lightspan/index.html

There are now at least 100+ I think.

Jason

[vintagegamecrazy]

Good heavens, how many more do you estimate to turn up?

[PapaStu]

No clue, we've made a friend who was a former LS employee and we've gotten info and stuff from him (well Dangerboy has). Some of the games print runs look incredibly small, and what exactly happened as and after they were aquired by another company recently might prevent us from ever completely knowing the full range that they once had.

[Hollenscythe]

Oh man that's even crazier. I suppose you've tried calling up schools in your local area to see if they had sets just laying around in a storage room somewhere? I noticed you [PapaStu] had tried to get some through your mom's school - shame that didn't work out. I've actually got a lot of free time - I wish it sounded like it was as simple as calling or driving around different schools, but given the age [even if some are only a few years old] of them I'm guessing they would have been tossed out -- or recalled by the company after the PlayStation was "retired".

[PapaStu]

Well I wanted to go an official route to get the games so we could get paperwork and all the goodies untouched by the hands that destroy. They wanted to come out and do a site review and all kinds of other crazy things. My mom tried like 3 or 4 times to even get a price for them only to get routed back to we want to deck out the school kinda idea they had.

I've not personally called up any schools or anyhthing to get the games as ive got just over 40 Lightspan titles myself. I get more when I do, or i dont. Its not a huge deal to me. They show when they do because i'm not really in the hunt for them. Now Dangerboy on the other hand...

[Dangerboy]

I actually tracked down a specific school from the online beta disc that I have for the lightspan program, and they even still list lightspan in their web-page...the problem is that I

a) Lost the web-page

b) Lost the will after realizing what Plato had done (read: Tossed...EVERYTHING)

c) Lost even more faith because all I had to have done was sent out an email a month earlier, and I could have had my hands on actual design sheets, whole boxes of games / marketing materials, and more. That caused quite a depression in me that I haven't quite recovered form.

As for the "final list" of games, right now the one listed on Game Rave that I showed is the confirmed known list of all games. SlapDash helped add two more of the 16 Tails discs, so right now that's everything. I think Unknown Variable was the last kit, made in 2002, and according to my source, only 200- 300 of those discs were made.

Considering I got mine out of a promotional / LS Rep marketing kit, they may never have seen the light of day at most schools, if any.

One of these days I'll need to get back to the hunt of the online beta stuff, but I'm most likley too late.

Jason

[Hollenscythe]

Wow, even so I'm truly in awe of the devotion of you two - it is a real eye opener, that's for sure. Damn, what a bummer, though - all that stuff just tossed in the trash - damn, I would have been just as ticked off.

On the off (extremely minute) chance I ever uncover anything in the next few months I'll be sure to let you guys know - anything substantial that is, as you've already got some stuff between you. My only requirement for my site is images and a day to review them, after that I won't need them at all.