This site is a spin-off of the Games-To-Teach Program which was a Microsoft funded research initiative with MIT's Department of Comparative Media Studies. As that program (and I imagine its funding) ended in 2003, this site seems to be an attempt by those involved to continue working on creating conceptual frameworks that bring together game designers, educators and students who are interested in creating viable games that can be used within classroom settings. The "research" section has an extensive bibliography of articles (the only book cited is Jenkins's) and a cursory glance reveals that the site is basically a blog about games and education, with a long list of "users." Below I copies and pasted the section titled "Future Focus" under the "About" tab, which highlights a few obstacles that have limited the development of educational games on the market.
Having sponsored several annual conferences with the Entertainment Software Association at its E3Expo in Los Angeles and having now completed a series of landmark research projects in the field, the Education Arcade looks ahead to help drive new innovations by partnering with educational publishers, media companies, and game developers. Several challenges have severely limited broader development and availability of educational games in the market, including the collapse of the CD-ROM software market, the failure of educational media in retail spaces, strict state adoption requirements, expensive production costs, and limited collaboration across the variety of disciplines needed to create compelling and educationally viable interactive media. By working with partners in a variety of media, the Education Arcade aims to help overcome these formidable challenges by focusing on an initial set of strategically targeted, educationally proven, and expertly developed and produced on-line computer games that will be distributed through desktop computers and mobile devices.
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