The Best Online Learning Games Of 2011 — So Far

I usually just do a year-end list on learning games and many other topics, but it gets a little crazy having to review all of my zillion posts at once. So, to make it easier for me — and perhaps, to make it a little more useful to readers — I’m going to start publishing mid-year lists, too. These won’t be ranked, unlike my year-end “The Best…” lists, and just because a site appears on a mid-year list doesn’t guarantee it will be included in an end-of-the-year one. But, at least, I won’t have to review all my year’s posts in December…

As usual, In order to make it on this list, games had to:

* be accessible to English Language Learners.

* provide exceptionally engaging content.

* not provide access to other non-educational games on their site, though there is one on this list that doesn’t quite meet this particular criteria.

* be seen by me during 2011. So they might have been around prior to this time, but I’m still counting them in this year’s list.

R U Revising is new from the BBC and lets you answer your choice of English, Math, or Science questions. It has separate links to versions for each subject, so the link here is to the main game page. It’s particularly nice for English Language Learners because it provides audio support for the text.

Bitesize Bingo is another game from BBC Schools. It’s played like…bingo, and you can choose questions from pretty much any subject. It provides a short explanation, and then the question you have to answer refers back to it. It’s particularly accessible to English Language Learners since audio support is provided for the explanation, the questions, and the multiple choice answers.

Play The News, a current events game where users play roles and make predictions, was the number-one ranking game in The Best Online Learning Games — 2008. Unfortunately, it’s been dormant for quite awhile — until now. They have just relaunched the platform in conjunction with University of Missouri’s Reynolds Journalism Institute.You can register and play it here.

Zondle is a pretty darn impressive for online learning games. It has tons of content in different subjects, and, if you can’t find what you need, it’s easy to just add your own. The ingenious part is that once you pick the topic you study, you have the option of studying the info in fortydifferent games! Plus, teachers can create their own virtual classroom and track student progress. And, it’s free.

QuizBreak! lets teachers easily create Jeopardy-like games for free that will be hosted online. What makes it really top-notch is that you can add images, video and audio to the questions, too. It’s one of several excellent and free online apps that is made available to teachers by The Center For Language Education and Research at Michigan State University (CLEAR). They have been included on several previous “The Best…” lists.

This one may not qualify as a game but it’s fun: “Twist Our Words” is a game from Channel 4 in Great Britain where you can first click on a selection of words to make a sentence. Then, a British “celebrity” will be shown speaking the words you chose. It now also lets you add your own “custom” word.

Cast Your Vote is an interactive game on the iCivics site. There are a lot of interactives there, but I think most of them are overly-complicated — even for native English speakers. “Cast Your Vote,” though, puts you in the role of a person at a political debate asking questions and evaluating the answers of the people running for office. It’s pretty good and useful.

Spelling City is already on several of my “The Best…” lists for learning games, and it’s now gotten even better — and changed it’s name. It’s now called called “Vocabulary and Spelling City” and has added quite a few new games, including ones using “sentence scrambles.” If you haven’t visited in awhile, I’d encourage you to do so now.

Mission US is a new site that will be providing interactive games to help students learn about United States history. It’s funded by the Corporation For Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment For The Humanities. Right now, it just has a couple of interactives online. It’s main one, For Crown Or Colony, is a very well designed “choose your own adventure” game (you have to register in order to play). The site also has a lot of supporting materials for teachers.

7 Free Online News Games That Are Based On World Affairs & News Events

Tucked away in the smorgasbord of online games is a genre called news games. Yes, you read it right. News games take any past or present global happening and turn into an interactive game. Newspapers and television inform and educate; so do games. Come to think of it, if news and games come together, they can really make us appreciate how events are panning out around the world.

Free news based online games are also important educational tools. We have seen how history can be spiced up with interactivity. The same holds true for teaching kids about current affairs and world events through a fun tool like news games.

The games may not reflect news as it is happening right now, but they are still fun to play. You can relive an alternate reality and again understand a bit of why an event became newsworthy in the first place. Here are seven news games for you to try out right now.

Breaking News Games

The name of this online Flash based game site reveals the purpose. We know that Hillary didn’t make it to the grand throne of the Presidency, but you can still help her along her campaign by collecting points as she marks her campaign trail. This game is really simple and in the genre of what we call ‘time-wasters’. All games are arranged under heads like – Politics, Business, Sports & Entertainment, and World. You can turn to a shooter game likeCelebrity Hitman: Terrorist Alert and win brownie points for world peace.

NewsGaming

The news gaming site has only two games on its roster but they are worth a few clicks of the mouse. Play MADRID reflects the attacks in Madrid on March 11th, 2004. September 12^th. It’s a simple game that pays homage to the victims. September 12^th is the other game – a game without a result – that is simply a simulation on urban terror and the civilian casualties that it inflicts. You have to pick out and shoot the terrorists who are moving around a crowded city sprawl.

Darfur is Dying

Darfur is Dying is a viral video game that was released in 2006. The very popular game promotes change and action for the benefit of the 2.5 million refugees in the Darfur region of Sudan. Players role-play a Darfurian refugee who must survive and keep the refugee camp functioning in the face of attacks by Janjaweed militias. Players also can understand the genocide in Darfur that had taken more than five million lives before the cease fire was signed. The Darfur genocide may have slackened off, but there are similar conflicts brewing around the world. The game gives a glimpse into history and encourages critical thinking.

Spent

This game on American unemployment remains topical, because joblessness continues under Obama’s presidency. Get a peek into what it really means and how prepared are you for the daily costs of living when you get the pink slip through this excellently designed game. I won’t go into the details of it because Angela did a great review as recently as three months back. Read up on – SPENT – An Online Game Designed To See If You Can Avoid Homelessness. As she recommends – I’d personally love to see high school students playing this before they leave home, go to college, get jobs and try to manage their own financial lives. It could prevent a few bad decisions along the way.

You Shall Know The Truth

If you are for free journalism then you will like this darkly satirical game about the attacks on Wikileaks. It’s a role-playing game and you play the spy tasked with the mission of retrieving leaked documents and biometric data among other things from a Wikileaks employee’s apartment. The game is like a treasure hunt where you have to click on every object and find clues. You are also up against a clock (timed at 999 seconds).

Leaky World

Let’s continue with Wikileaks and its socio-political impact with this slightly offbeat game that is an interactive version of the essay “Conspiracy as Governance” by Julian Assange. It’s difficult to understand at first, but gradually you can make out that the red dots on the world map are cities and your goal is to create a network interconnecting all these cities in a limited amount of time. Basically, you are connecting the dots and rendering the idea of conspiratorial interactions among the political elite on the map. The backdrop of the game is the essay by Assange and it is also interspersed with Wikileaks news items which you can pause to read.

Cutthroat Capitalism

This game is embedded on Wired.com’s site which is traditionally not a gaming site. The theme of the game is on high sea piracy around the Gulf of Aden which continues to this day. You play for the ‘other side’ as a pirate commander who has to capture a ship and successfully negotiate a ransom. The game is nicely designed and very addictive.

As online games go, news games are definitely not news reporting but they can fall under edutainment for children which is an ever growing genre these days. For us adults it is just entertainment because we can turn to regular news channels to get the scoop. What do you think of free online news games? Do you know any more cool ones that are newsworthy?

Online games for free

When you realize you need to play online games then you have to consider from which platform you are going to play the games. Some sites offering such services may charge but this site provides free access to over 20,000 online games that are available from the site. The games include jigsaws, educational games, adventure games, shooting games, fighting games and racing games among others. Within these wide groups there are several categories as you narrow down to particular games.

There are several benefits that you can derive from online games. The games provide useful features which can be used to discern valuable information especially from the young people. In the process of growing up parents struggle to help their children discover their talents and if possible to locate them along certain career lines which are deemed to be highly rewarding. Identifying the talents and interests of children can be very challenging and many parents end up trying to force their children to take up their careers. Most often children resent these attempts and end up taking their choices after constant disagreements.Instead of struggling to force your opinions onto others, you can use online games which are available for free to identify the talents of your children. You can still use the same online games to reinforce certain character traits that you consider desirable while giving less prominence to those not liked. This requires taking a little time to find out more about what is available from the free internet sites.

You do not need an instructor to help you learn about online games. It requires a little resilience and some effort to read the help information provided for each game. Added to the fact that there is no pressure to finish and leave room for other players, you have all the time and opportunity to learn the games at your own pace. Online games are available for you any time of day or night and so there are virtually no limitations to what you can do with the games. The games will allow you to have fun as you learn. This is why the games can help young people develop important skills in terms of decision making and strategy formulation which are often tested by the games.It is important to familiarize yourself with the contents of online games to be able to make accurate assessment of their value and potential. Since they may occupy the time and attention of your children for much longer, it is important to find out what they entail. This will also help in determining whether they are suitable to children of particular ages. But it is important to remember that games are often applicable and remain relevant to wider age group. At times people play certain games with their parents.

The Big Games and the Can’t Miss Events of Comic-Con 2011

Are you going to this year's San Diego Comic-Con? Then you must love video games, a medium that has a stronger presence than ever at the annual gathering of people passionate about comic books, toys, superheroes, sci-fi and everything nerdy enough to pack a convention center.

Video games are big—really big—at this year's show. Top industry players including Sony, Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, Capcom, plus many more, will give fans a chance to engage the creators behind the biggest games of 2011 and beyond. The action starts next Wednesday, July 20 with the Con's preview night, kicking off formally on Thursday morning and powering through until Sunday. The show is stuffed with industry panels, talent and new announcements.

Kotaku will be on hand to bring hands-on impressions of games, reports from creative panels, interviews, breaking news, and video and photos of all the Comic-Con shenanigans.

For a full list of video game related panels, including times and locations for the panels attendees shouldn't miss, visit the official Comic-Con schedule. For a quick rundown, read on.

Activision

The Call of Duty publisher isn't bringing Call of Duty to the annual pop culture gathering. Instead, it's bringing more appropriate fare, including Marvel games Silicon Knights' X-Men Destiny and Beenox's Spider-Man: Edge of Time, plus Prototype 2 and at least one unannounced game based on the James Bond franchise.

Activision is also holding its own panel at the Con on Saturday, July 23 at 10 a.m. Marvel maven Stan Lee will wax nostalgic with writer Peter David and Marvel VP of Games TQ Jefferson. Folks from Beenox and Silicon Knights will also be on hand to talk about their Marvel universe games. Activision's panel happens in room 5AB.

Blizzard

Activision's corporate sibling will be in attendance, largely to talk about the voluminous swag that fans of World of Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft will be able to buy in the coming months and years. The annual swag show features Chris Metzen (Blizzard Entertainment SVP of creative development), Nick Carpenter (Blizzard Entertainment executive art director), Christie Golden (New York Times bestselling author), Hank Kanalz (SVP Digital, DC Comics and World of Warcraft comics editor), Sean Gailey (creative overlord, J!nx Clothing), and Cory Jones (Cryptozoic Entertainment president and chief creative officer). The "World of Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft Swag Show" happens Thursday, July 21 in room 6BCF. It's actually pretty fun. You should go, Comic-Conners.

Capcom

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Dragon's Dogma, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Resident Evil Revelations,Street Fighter X Tekken, Asura's Wrath, Dead Rising 2: Off The Record and Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition—the company's E3 line-up for the most part—will all represent at Capcom's typically lively Comic-Con booth this year. At least one unannounced title—probably a Super-style expansion for Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, I'm guessing—will be present in some form.

Capcom also has a slew of panels happening at the show. Street Fighter and Tekkenproducers Yoshinori Ono and Katsuhiro Harada hold a Street Fighter X Tekken panel on Thursday, July 21 in room 6BCF. The potpourri event "The World of Capcom" happens the next day, featuring discussion of Dragon's Dogma, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record andAsura's Wrath. Saturday, July 23 sees Marvel vs. Capcom 3 producer Ryota Niitsuma offering a "behind-the-scenes peek" at something(!). For times and locations, check the full schedule out right here.

Deep Silver

The publisher of Techland's Dead Island will be in attendance for a most interesting panel discussion, "The Science of Zombies." From the schedule: "The top creative minds behind the acclaimed and highly anticipated Dead Island role-playing video game and an esteemed medical professional in the field of brain research and brain disease explore the pop culture fascination with the zombie genre as a whole and how creative talent is harnessing medical science to define and explore horror entertainment in more realistic (and therefore more frightening and engaging) ways."

EA

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Returning to Comic-Con this year will be the creative forces behind Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, including artist Todd McFarlane and Big Huge Games art director Tim Coman leading a panel of Reckoning designers who will "discuss the artistic process of creating a massive fantasy epic."

BioWare and LucasArts' massively multiplayer online game Star Wars: The Old Republic also gets some attention at the Con, with "new gameplay footage" and the hint of new surprises. That Star Wars video game panel happens Thursday in Room 6BCF at 3:30 p.m.

This year, even EA Sports is going to the San Diego Comic-Con, bringing SSX with it. If you're going to the Con, you can get some hands-on time with the snowboarding game at EA's booth (#5045).

Developer BioWare will also bring Star Wars: The Old Republic, Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age II: Legacy to the show, offering the media some hands-on time. We'll see those too. Again!

Epic Games

Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski, executive producer Rod Fergusson and "special guest contributors to the Gears universe" close out Thursday night with a panel discussion of this fall's Gears of War 3. Epic promises a live game demo and "key announcements" at its panel moderated by X-Play host Adam Sessler. Maybe you'll even get to see Cliffy B tweet live!

Gazillion Entertainment

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The maker of merry Marvel MMOs will bringSuper Hero Squad Online and the straightforwardly titled Marvel Universe MMO to SDCC 2011. If you're attending the show and want to learn more, you may want to hit up the Marvel Interactive panel on Saturday afternoon. Spider-Man: Edge of Time, X-Men Destiny, Captain America: Super Soldier, Super Hero Squad Online,Super Hero Squad 3DS and uDraw, Marvel Pinball, and the Marvel Universe MMO will all be featured, as will "the future of Marvel vs. Capcom 3." The panel also promises "exclusive trailers, surprise reveals" and a Q&A session with Marvel game creators. Nuff said!

Ignition Entertainment

We know that the company is bringing El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, but perhaps just to give it a proper launch party at Comic-Con. The game ships on July 26, just a couple days after the Con closes.

Konami

The home of Metal Gear and Castlevania will be hosting two must-attend events at the show. On Thursday, fans can attend an autograph session with Hideo Kojima, art director Yoji Shinkawa and Yumi Kikuchi, the voice actress of Raging Raven and Strangelove. The Kojima Productions signing event happens at 1:30 pm in meeting room 16AB. Then on Saturday, cosplayers who want to dress up in their best Contra, Castlevania, Metal Gear and Silent Hillcostumes can attend the Konami costly contest, also happening in room 16AB.

Konami will also bring games to the show for media to play. We'll play them.

LucasArts

Want to know more about Kinect Star Wars for Xbox 360? Of course you do. Studio head Jorg Neumann (Kinect Publishing) and lead producer Craig Derrick (LucasArts) will rap about the hands-free Kinect adventure, "sharing new game play from the iconic Star Warsuniverse, revealing an all-new mode, and unveiling an exciting announcement."

Microsoft

Halo fans might want to attend the annual "Halo Universe" panel lead by Frank O'Connor, Kevin Grace, and others from 343 Industries, plus special guests Greg Bear and Karen Traviss. If you want to be dazzled by the hardest of hardcore Halo fans and their deep wells of knowledge, plus learn a few things about Halo games, comic books, animation and novels, don't miss Friday's panel at 11:30 am in room 6BCF.

Namco Bandai

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Namco's fighting game franchises get special attention at this year's Comic-Con, with a look at the Tekken series lead by director Katsuhiro Harada. He'll bring a sneak peek at theTekken: Blood Vengeance 3D movie.

Producer Hisaharu Tago shows the latest onSoulcalibur V—including a look at at least two new characters—and Producer Hiroshi Matsuyama unveils details and a preview of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations. All that happens at "A VIP Look at the Upcoming Entries in Namco Bandai's Multimillion-Selling Fighting Games" on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. in room 25ABC.

NCsoft

MMO maker NCsoft says it will bring the latest updates to its superhero role-playing gameCity of Heroes to San Diego Comic-Con, as well as Guild Wars 2, both of which will be playable at the publisher's booth. Paragon Studios is hosting its own developer panel, "City of Heroes Freedom: The Future of Super-Powered MMOs," on Thursday, July 21.

ArenaNet will also host its own panel for Guild Wars 2 "set to examine how the lore, design, and gameplay of Guild Wars 2 combine to deliver a fresh, social approach to online fantasy RPGs. That happens on Saturday. The day before, NCsoft hosts a "meet and greet" at the Hard Rock Hotel where players can meet fellow players and the devs behind both games.

Sega

At the very least, expect Sega to bring the video game adaptation of Captain America to the Con.

Sony Computer Entertainment

PlayStation 3 games get strong representation at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. Sony's bringing Twisted Metal, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, Journey, Resistance 3 andStarhawk to the show, with each game getting its own panel.

thatgamecompany's Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago start off the Con with a look atJourney—one not to be missed, especially since Chen never fails to deliver engaging speeches.

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Twisted Metal designer David Jaffe returns to the Con to talk about the PS3 reboot. He'll reveal the newest Twisted Metal trailer and "shows off a near final cut of the game's opening live-action cinematic," portions of "the single-player campaign" and a sneak peak at a new boss: The Brothers Grimm. Naughty Dog brings us a look at Uncharted 3's performance capture at its panel, featuring creative director Amy Hennig and actors Nolan North, Richard McGonagle, and Emily Rose. Insomniac Games brings us a look at the Resistance universe and Lightbox Interactive hosts "The Evolution from Warhawk to Starhawk: The New Universe that Is Starhawk and the Characters Behind the Conflict" on Sunday.

Sony Online Entertainment

DC Universe Online gets more time at Comic-Con, offering exclusive hands-on time with the first add-on pack for the PS3 and PC MMO. SOE also brings new content from its other games, squad-based first-person shooter Payday: The Heist and adventure platformerSideway.

Square Enix

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Deus Ex: Human Revolution and turn-based tactical MMO Wakfu get another showing at San Diego Comic-Con with the former getting a discussion panel of its own, "The World of 2027 in Deus Ex: Human Revolution: The Line Between Science and Fiction." From the panel description: "How do video games incorporate real-life science into their storylines, weapons, and characters? This talk will provide fascinating insight into how "sci" was used to create the "sci-fi" in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, one of the most highly anticipated games of 2011. Mary DeMarle, lead writer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos Montreal) and Will Rossellini, CEO of Microtransponder and consultant on the game, discuss how they created a realistic future vision for transhumanism and a world where mechanical augmentations have changed the fate of the human race."

Telltale Games

The masters of episodic adventure games bring their comic book best to the Con, includingThe Walking Dead and Fables. We'll be taking a look at those games, plus Jurassic Park: The Game and Hector: Badge of Carnage at Telltale's suite. I'd invite you, but we're a bit limited on space. Fortunately, Telltale will be on the show floor at booth # 5337 giving away swag, conducting signings with Back to the Future: The Game's AJ LoCascio (Marty McFly) and Claudia Wells (Jennifer Parker), Sam and Max's Steve Purcell and "an additional unannounced very special guest."

THQ

Kotaku will get some eyes-on time with THQ's Darksiders II during the Con, which is already exciting enough. Perhaps even better, THQ will represent the video game arm of theVoltron panel. There, Voltron creative leads will touch on the "Nicktoons animated series Voltron Force, THQ's upcoming videogame, a cool Mattel line of toys, innovative comic books from VIZ Media and Dynamite Entertainment, and some blockbuster news of special Voltron events in the not-too-distant future." That happens Thursday, July 21 at 6 p.m. at the Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront.

Twisted Pixel

Maker of fine downloadable games and the rare Kinect game we're super excited about bring the recently released Ms. Splosion Man and the forthcoming Gunstringer to the Con.

Ubisoft

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Assassin's Creed fans won't want to miss the Saturday panel "Assassin's Creed: The Creation of a Universe." Assassin's Creed Revelations writers provide Con goers with a "behind-the-scenes look at how Ezio's final journey will unfold as he walks in the footsteps of his legendary mentor, Altair, on a perilous journey of doubt and discovery." Ubisoft will bring an "exclusive preview" of Assassin's Creed Embers, the animated short film and touch on the development of the Assassin's Creedseries. Room 25ABC at 3 p.m. Be there.

Warner Bros.

What else would the WB bring? Batman: Arkham City's Comic-Con panel happens Thurdsay evening, featuring panelists Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series), DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee, writer Paul Dini (Lost, Tower Prep), and game director Sefton Hill (Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City). Expect announcements.

The Other Stuff

It's not just the major publishers and household name developers bringing huge games to San Diego Comic-Con. Expect tons of great spin-off merch to be available for oohing and aahing at the show. Expect plenty of video game related action figures and merch from NECA, McFarlane Toys, SOTA Toys, DC Direct and more.

Legendary Pictures will be on hand to discuss the Mass Effect movie, just as it has in the past to talk about the stalled Gears of War movie.

Epic Mickey creator Warren Spector will even be there, signing copies of his new Ducktalescomic book.

Beyond that, expect the usual brand of madness from Comic-Con attendees, not limited to lots and lots of cosplay.

Hell, you'll even get to talk to people who have their own video game convention. Penny Arcade's Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik host a Q&A session on Saturday night where they'll talk about PAX, Child's Play, Penny Arcade: The Series and the recently announced animated feature film The New Kid.