I love the idea of students playing video games as a way of learning. My kids go nuts over just a simple board game, heck I can call anything a game and all of a sudden they love it! HA! This year I've been using a lot of online game on my promethean board. The kids love interacting with the board and getting feedback right away. When they do a page out of their math book they do not find out if they are right or wrong until I get to them or we go over our answer. One thing I love about games is that it eliminates this problem.
Today we played a super fun game called Fruit Shoot Coins. In the game the kids are given a shooter that has coins attached to it. They need to aim the shooter at the fruit that has the matching amount on it. It they get it right they fruit splatters all over the screen. If they get it wrong the fruit shows an X. The smaller the fruit the more points you get. The kids love playing this game. I love it because I can see right away who gets the skill and who does not. The kids even enjoy watching their classmates play. The game provides a relaxed mode and a timed mode. The relaxed mode is great for modeling and teaching. The timed mode brings an element into the game that the kids love. They love to race the clock and see how many points they can gather.
Today I had a kid ask me if we were counting this as indoor recess...I guess they were having that much fun!
I would love to hear what games/websites you have found to be helpful in your teaching.