LeVar Burton Wants to Bring "Reading Rainbow" to Xbox and PlayStation

Actor LeVar Burton wants to bring his upcoming Reading Rainbow project to a host of new platforms, including gaming consoles like Xbox and PlayStation systems. For that to happen, though, funding for the Star Trek actor's newly launched Kickstarter campaign needs to reach $5 million.

Right now, the campaign stands at $2.8 million from more than 64,000 backers. "Let's do this, ya'll. I'll see you later. But you don't have to take my word for it," Burton said in a Kickstarter video update today. The campaign ends on Wednesday, July 2.

Burton's new Reading Rainbow project was originally announced as a web application only, but after considering comments and suggestions, it was decided that to be "accessible to more kids and families," the initiative would also need to expand to new platforms.

In addition to the unspecified Xbox and PlayStation consoles, if the $5 million stretch goal is met, the new Reading Rainbow program will be released for mobile devices, as well as over-the-top boxes like AppleTV, Roku, and Kindle Fire TV.

Burton's overall ambition for his new Reading Rainbow initiative is to bring the program to "every child, everywhere." The service will include an "unlimited library" of books and video field trips for "today's digitally connected kids." He's calling on people who grew up with Reading Rainbow to help fund the new Kickstarter to support the children of the next generation.

Reading Rainbow went off the air in 2009. It originally aired on PBS and Burton was its host and producer.