How can games be used to learn a new language? There are many apps and “games” for language learning but most of them focus on repeating and memoizing words and phrases without context.

Kioku Island is an adventure game that teaches language by telling a story.  The game is designed as a point-and-click game where you explore an unknown island where all inhabitants are speaking Japanese. The player learns new words, phrases and characters by reading signs, listening and actually talking to the inhabitants of the island. Correct pronunciation is verified by using speech recognition. The idea of the game is to use context-based learning combined with an engrossing story that engages the player.