Blizzard is at it again, dedicating an entire mini-site to its annual April Fool’s Day prank. This year’s project is set to shake up the Edutainment video game genre. A blend of education and entertainment – a complex and little invested design challenge – the market has never grown like its strict entertainment cousin. Blizzard is not your average developer.
The upcoming lineup includes a demo of Zergling Teaches Typing, a frustrating game with far too many Zs and seemingly no end. But hey, it’s beta. If your skills at slamming the keyboard to produce incoherent gibberish for those of non-hiveminds, Reader Ravager may be more to your liking. Reader Ravager teaches children that reading isn’t just fun, but also delicious. Turbo Science Vessel informs those under 10 years old the basics to modern science as they travel through the Koprulu Sector. Warp drive, supernovas and the daily activity of scanning colonists for deadly diseases are ingrained in the junior scientist’s brain. Strat Blaster with Edmund Duke trains children 12 and up the finer points of warfare.
The crown jewels of the are Where in Sanctuary is Deckard Cain and The Westfall Trail. Two aspects to know about these titles; you’ll never be good enough at Rated M for Mature puzzles and everyone gets dysentery.
Check out screenshots from each of the games after the jump.