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[DeKaFu]

Word Rescue!

Why yes, I did have access to almost nothing but edutainment games as a kid. Why do you ask?

[puke]

I learned to spell many words by playing the Police Quest games.

Kings Quest series might be better for kids, fewer adult themes.

[Neonivek]

I learned to spell many words by playing the Police Quest games.

Kings Quest series might be better for kids, fewer adult themes.

Given that media has decided that kids can't handle ANYTHING!

I doubt you want your kids to play a game where you can die by being bitten by a poisonous snake.

[Delta Foxtrot]

Hmm... Bookworm Adventures is basically scrabble that looks like a 2D fighter. It might be too advanced for the early grades since I sometimes had difficulty coming up with words if I got particularly bad set of letters. It can also get a bit too difficult at few points, not sure if that's good or bad. Aesthetically it probably hits all the right notes though.

[Sappho]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. I'm making a list and I'll look into all of these in detail. I agree that older games are generally more useful, but I don't know how these kids would react to them. They all have tablets and smartphones (ALL of them, even the first graders!), and they're used to shiny graphics and touch screens. It might be tricky to get them to give older games a chance (or even for them to find a way to play them, depending on what kind of computer they have at home and whether they use things like DosBox). Still, there's a lot of possibilities there if I can make it happen.

What about flash games? The I of It is a great one, but there must be plenty of other ones. I've been browsing Kongregate but most of the games there are too violent for me to put on the school web site. There can be some fighting, but it shouldn't be about blood and killing. The problem with most of the games that the kids would like is that they don't include much of any language in them at all. But if I can find some good ones, that's a very easy way for kids to play, and they're all pretty much guaranteed to be recent games and run fine on whatever computer they have.

[puke]

You can get SCUMMVM on smartphones and tablets (and computers) to play old stuff like monkey island, loom, full throttle, maniac mansion, etc.

But I'm not sure how much language is in those old point and click games.  I don't think you have to type and spell things like in the Quest games.

Radio.  Get RADIO.  it's burned in my fucking mind, 30 years later.

[Sappho]

It doesn't matter so much if they have to write or type. Just that there is some language there. That they have to read is enough. Better if there is voice acting, because these kids read very slowly in English (English spelling is ridiculous, guys). The key is whether the reading level is low enough for them, that the language isn't too difficult or fancy, and that the games aren't super violent or gory or otherwise inappropriate for elementary schoolers.

[hemmingjay]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. I'm making a list and I'll look into all of these in detail. I agree that older games are generally more useful, but I don't know how these kids would react to them. They all have tablets and smartphones (ALL of them, even the first graders!), and they're used to shiny graphics and touch screens. It might be tricky to get them to give older games a chance (or even for them to find a way to play them, depending on what kind of computer they have at home and whether they use things like DosBox). Still, there's a lot of possibilities there if I can make it happen.

What about flash games? The I of It is a great one, but there must be plenty of other ones. I've been browsing Kongregate but most of the games there are too violent for me to put on the school web site. There can be some fighting, but it shouldn't be about blood and killing. The problem with most of the games that the kids would like is that they don't include much of any language in them at all. But if I can find some good ones, that's a very easy way for kids to play, and they're all pretty much guaranteed to be recent games and run fine on whatever computer they have.

Sappho, check out Influent. It's actually a game about teaching language. The Learn English version is $9.99 and it's very fun and easy to learn a language with it. I used it for two weeks before going to Korea on business and I was able to add a bunch of words to my previously weak grasp of the language. I strongly recommend it for your purposes.

[Zangi]

Hah... I would suggest old RPG games(like Chrono Trigger) if that is possible.  They tend to be wordy.  Though I guess fighting is a feature for most of em.

[Sappho]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. I'm making a list and I'll look into all of these in detail. I agree that older games are generally more useful, but I don't know how these kids would react to them. They all have tablets and smartphones (ALL of them, even the first graders!), and they're used to shiny graphics and touch screens. It might be tricky to get them to give older games a chance (or even for them to find a way to play them, depending on what kind of computer they have at home and whether they use things like DosBox). Still, there's a lot of possibilities there if I can make it happen.

What about flash games? The I of It is a great one, but there must be plenty of other ones. I've been browsing Kongregate but most of the games there are too violent for me to put on the school web site. There can be some fighting, but it shouldn't be about blood and killing. The problem with most of the games that the kids would like is that they don't include much of any language in them at all. But if I can find some good ones, that's a very easy way for kids to play, and they're all pretty much guaranteed to be recent games and run fine on whatever computer they have.

Sappho, check out Influent. It's actually a game about teaching language. The Learn English version is $9.99 and it's very fun and easy to learn a language with it. I used it for two weeks before going to Korea on business and I was able to add a bunch of words to my previously weak grasp of the language. I strongly recommend it for your purposes.

I've heard of Influent, but I'm really not sold on it, to be honest. The vocabulary offered is extremely limited, and there's basically no grammar. Most of the reviews are bad. It seems like a very solid proof-of-concept, and I'd love to see it developed more, but as it stands I wouldn't encourage any of my students to spend money on it. I doubt they'd learn anything from it that they don't already know.

RPGs tend to be too difficult, with too much reading and too many difficult words for modern students. However, it is a useful genre (and a favorite of mine), so I will definitely be looking for some that aren't too hard. It's so tough to hit that sweet spot. It seems most games are either designed for adults who are fluent in English or else contain hardly any text at all.

I hope DuoLingo gets their CZ-EN version going soon. I've already shown it to my students and they are definitely interested, but they need the Czech in there to really make use of it.

[Spacefaye]

I want a game where you can "watch" as things happen, like watch as a culture evolves or develops or something.

[Delta Foxtrot]

Point & Clicks can be fiendishly difficult and obtuse though. But I guess that's game dependent.

Spacefaye:
All grand strategy games by Paradox let you pick some nobody country in the middle of nowhere and just watch the world play it's course. It's not specifically designed for that, but if you're into that sort of thing.
I remember reading that the new The Last Federation has an option where you can just watch the different races duke it out.

[Zangi]

I remember reading that the new The Last Federation has an option where you can just watch the different races duke it out.

I've never tried that, but I somehow expect the AI to not act any differently then dumb.

If you want to watch things happen. Distant Worlds is the game to spectate.  You can fully automate your empire and just watch as your people expand and do as they please with other races.  There is a 2-way street for diplomacy.  Reasons for different empires to become friends and hate each other are pretty apparent.

Albeit, it is much more expensive then The Last Federation...  The Last Federation is the poor man's version... if you want to compare spectator mode.

EDIT: Distant Worlds, you can control the level of your participation in your empire.  A single fleet commander for one, who goes around hunting pirates or raiding other races.  (You can even play as pirates in the latest expansion of it.)

[mosshadow]

I need to find a good WW2 rts game.

I have played Blitzkrieg II and company of Heroes. Company of heroes was fun but felt tank biased, there rarely seemed to be a reason to use other units like the M10 wolverine or AT guns.
Blitzkrieg II was fun only if the mission was a defense mission, everything else was terrible because the enemy lacked an AI and everything was scripted. 90% of gameplay was using one heavy tank to mow down hundreds of soldiers while driving backwards. Multiplayer was horrendous because it was impossible to play as america because the battle consisted of who had the tank with the best frontal armor.

[Draxis]

I need to find a good WW2 rts game.

RUSE is supposed to be good, it's basically an older version of the excellent Wargame series, only set in WW2.  I haven't played it, though.  Spring 1944 is a pretty nice one for the Spring engine, which means it is free and very flexible but also has few players.

Recommend me some good strategy games, please. Preferably real-time, but I'm not picky.

Zero-K and Wargame: Red Dragon.  Zero-K is an open-source RTS in the style of Total Annhilation, but it is much faster (at least in small games) and has probably the best RTS interface I have ever encountered.  WRD is a late Cold War operational-level game, and manages to have lots of strategy and unit variety (over 1400) while not making the system complicated or unintuitive.