Educational video games

I do believe video games have unique properties that can be incredibly educational. I believe they have value, and aren't just an extension of "case based" instructional methods. As an individual interested in second language acquistion, I can envision how a video game environment would be ideal for language practice, in a context rich, meaningful environment. We have the technology and know how to create these games now, but hardly and of these "educational games" could stand alone as good games by themselves.
So what's to be done? Well from the academia side, I see the need to view and treat video games as an authetic text, just like literary works, music, and cinema. We need to treat video gaming as a legitmate arena worthy of research, inquiry, and criticsm. Research must be done both to provide the quantiative and qualitative evidence of the positive effects of educational video games, and also to investigate principled and effective ways of using video games as a pedagogical tool.
From the game designer side, I believe the focus should be on creating good games first. We want people by their own volition to play these games because they are strong games that happen to be educational. It is imperative that educational game designers make it fun. Otherwise, I think we'll be wasting our time.
Schoolwise, I don't support a video-game based education replacing traditional schooling. However, I do believe it deserves shelf space up there with pictures, books, movies. Video games are rich in educational opportunities and wothy of study, discussion, and debate. Let us regard them as legitimate texts, not high tech toys.