This year the edutainment games seem to have been a hot topic, once again. The old truth concerning edutainment games is sadly something like this: If edutainment games are made only from the “school-like learning” point of view, they easily become boring and will actually not improve learning at all.
The best edutainment games are those that are not necessarily made to improve learning for purpose but that include for example historical facts weaved into imaginary stories. The core idea is to get the players excited about the things that go on in the game, not just make them feel like they were reading a text book. (And believe me, especially kids can smell if something is meant to be fun or just purely beneficial.)
It is not important for the edutainment game to look and feel like your textbook or lectures, but it should be able to provide you with “Fun, Friends and Feedback”, just as Gabe Zichermann states here on Ted talks.
So, making edutainment games is a hard artwork to master! Also the Online Universities site has acknowledged this and has recently given credits to those who can do it well: The list of some ”Greatest Gaming Scholars of All Time” can be found here.
