Education Games

Video Game Retailer Reports Skyrocketing Interest in Educational Games

Many education experts are concerned about the trend of unfocused, unmotivated children entering the school system. Part of this, they claim, is attributable to widespread passive entertainment activities that the children have become addicted to at home and at day care facilities, such as television and video games. Children whose parents consistently spend time reading to them have far superior concentration and comprehension in the classroom environment because reading requires active thought and engagement.

However, there's a growing trend of educators and homeschoolers using educational games and software as a means of engaging this computer-savvy generation of school-age kids in a fun and exciting learning experience. Virginia Swanson, of Atlanta based video game retailer Gogamerez, has found this to be a boon for her business, "It was a happy accident, really, but this past year our sales of educational titles has skyrocketed."

Swanson continues, "We are finding that many homeschooling mothers are extremely resourceful, and are really setting the trends for effectively using computer games as an educational tool. About 75 percent of our kids [games orders come from individual homeschoolers, or homeschool cooperatives. Another 25 percent is coming from independent-thinking teachers in the school system."

Big name game publishers like Broderbund, The Learning Company, and Simon and Schuster have created games with a wide variety of subject matter and for kids of all ages. Math, science, and reading games match up with traditional school curriculum. Interestingly, games in the "adventure and mystery, fun and games, and puzzles" genres also teach kids reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.

"Gogamerez gets appreciative emails from parents and educators all the time telling us what great resources our non-curriculum games are. They are significantly contributing to these kids' mental development, and the kids have a blast in the process," says Swanson. Gogamerez started as a retailer of the kinds of games that give the industry a bad rap, but after the success of working with the educational community, they are planning to launch a new site dedicated solely to educational software, games, and other products.

Boise to be Video Game Capital of the World

Earlier this week, the Idaho Statesman published a front page story revealing Twin Galaxies' plans to make Boise the "Video Game Capital of the World," featuring a state-of-the-art gaming stadium and an historical video game and pinball museum.

The Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard, a company that has conducted championship video game tournaments, monitored player rankings and tracked video game world records since the early 1980s, will move its headquarters to Boise, said Walter Day, founder and chief scorekeeper of Iowa-based Twin Galaxies.

Walter Day, Twin Galaxies founder, says: "Not only is the Boise facility intended to be the olympic center of video game competition - like Athens, Greece was to athletic excellence thousands of years ago, but it will also maintain a complete historical museum of video game history, similar to the role played by Cooperstown for the baseball industry.

The Video Game & Pinball Museum will stock between 20,000 and 40,000 different titles for visitors to play, featuring ongoing promotions on classic games as well as on today's hottest PC and console games like Battlefield 1942, Halo, Counterstrike and Unreal Tournament. It will be a hands-on facility and visitors will be invited to attempt to break current world records on any game and win a listing in the next edition of Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records, the industry's official record book.

"An historical resource of this magnitude has never been attempted before," explains Day. "Usually, when a game has run its marketing cycle, both the manufacturer and public abandon the game and it becomes just a forgotten memory."

"However, Twin Galaxies may prove to be the only place in the world that keeps the memory of all these forgotten games alive, offering contests and promotions on not just today's X-Box live and PS2, but also on the original arcade Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, Atari 2600, Sega Saturn and N-64."