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All Aboard the Nerd Boat
Forbes is running an article detailing a most unusual cruise. 180 Computer Science profs were brought together on a Royal Carribean ship to talk about bringing computer games to the classroom. Despite the topic, there was a lot of serious discussion. From the article: "After Microsoft's Luehmann praised the technical sophistication of three new Xbox 360 games (Mass Effect, Too Human, and Gears of War), a silver-haired professor raised his hand and commented: 'You just showed us three very sophisticated and very violent games, and I'm sure they're good for something--though I don't really know what that is--but what I want to know is, when will you make a videogame that's really useful? When will you make a videogame that's going to teach my students chemistry?'"
Sup at least in Japan, all three of Nintendo's educational Brain Training series games have sold over 1 million units since May. Brain Training 2, released 5 weeks ago, has already sold over 1 million units. So...if educational games can work in one area of the world, they might work in others. Maybe not, but still, there's a new and powerful precedent. Not to mention, educational games are exceedingly cheap and quick to develop compared to blockbuster titles. So in terms of a business perspective, it's blatantly obvious that such games have merit.