Music students at New York City's East Side Community High School are throwing out their guitars, pianos and cowbells, with one program at the school instead teaching kids with PSPs and copies of Rockstar's Beaterator.
"It a fully featured studio that runs on a pocket-sized device," says an instructor at the school. "They're able to learn music theory in a different format. It's the same information; just a different way of presenting it".
According to a piece on CBS - which spends a great deal of time dealing with how many budget cuts the school is facing - East Side students are just thrilled, one saying "This is music. You're making your own music and it's really fun", with another, Isiah Martinez, adding "I learned that you can make beats on the PSP".
Education as advertising? It's worked before, and by golly Rockstar, it's working again.