Do you have trouble choosing between computer games that are educational and ones that involve doing battle in outer space? Now you can have it all! My daily dose of dino doggerel at Dinosaur Comics brought me face to face with ‘Speare: The Literacy Arcade Game, and yes, you choose a type of ship (I chose Star Crossed) and shoot at other ships while “collecting the poetic code.”

I didn’t play long enough to really understand much of what was going on, but it involves identifying words that are contained in excerpts from Shakespeare (as well as synonyms and antonyms of these words). I don’t think kids will give up Halo or Spore for this game, but it’s a fun idea.