Respectable tech blogs typically don't rave about educational games, but one has caught the eye of VentureBeat, Mashable, Wired's GeekMom--you name it. They're all pretty jazzed about Hakitzu, the first title from London and Palo Alto-based Kuato Studios, which has been deadset since its launch last year to buck the trend of lousy learning games that don't resemble what kids get to play at home. (The company has some serious backers, including SRI International, the creators of Siri.)
The free iPad game features dueling robots in an arena, and kids take turn coding to make their mechs move and fight. So far the operations involve light JavaScript and XML. Later versions, says CEO Frank Meehan, will tackle more complicated functions like conditional statements. So while we're waiting for our coffee to finish, we'll be plotting ways to launch rockets at one another.
