Computer games have a broad appeal that transcends gender, culture, age and socioeconomic status. Now, computer scientists think that creating computer games, rather than just playing them could boost students' critical and creative thinking skills as well as broaden their participation in computing." id="metasummary
Perhaps thinner and/or lighter projects would work better.
Thinner: spread the work even further across a class. Individual projects ->groups, groups ->whole class.
Lighter: even easier to use tools. Inform is pretty easy, though...
Interesting argument. I have a pretty mixed opinion of the movie, personally, but perhaps Avatar can help win a wider audience for gaming in education.
Several educational games, role-playing, based on the perspective of being an investigative journalist. One concerns Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, the other Latin American politics.
"Atmosphir is a free video game for Mac, Windows, and Linux, where you can create your own 3D adventures to play and share online with your family and friends."