One of the most prestigious universities in the country is offering a course in playing video games as part of a shocking 40,000-a-year curriculum. The University of California (UC), Berkeley will launch a course in'The Art of Fighting Games' - which aims to make students better at video games for its Spring 2024 curriculum. The class will focus on the Japanese video game, 'Street Fighter III 3rd Strike,' with homework assignments consisting of students actually recording themselves playing the game, according to the class syllabus. University of California Berkeley is offering a course in'The Art of Fighting Games' Prerequisites are not required and students will not be graded based on their performance. UC Berkeley labels the class as an'introduction to fighting games, geared towards people with less than 100 hours in the genre,' but the university does not explain how the class could help students enter and succeed in life after college. Enrollment continues through January 24 and the university has encouraged students to sign up by stating: 'The only thing you do need is a willingness to learn and fail!' The university continues to explain that students will be graded on their'eagerness, commitment to improvement, and effort in the course assignments.'

On the second floor of an unassuming office building in Shibuya, Tokyo, a process of transformation is happening. "We don't want to stand out," says Hiroko Minamoto, president and co-founder of video game translation firm 8-4. The company, named after the final level of Super Mario Bros, specialises in repackaging Japanese video games for English-speaking audiences, or vice versa. "When localisation is bad, that's when it stands out, and that's when people yell at us. We want it to be natural."