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The beauty of Kidman, the brilliance of DS marketing
That sound you hear is your mom opening up her wallet to buy a Nintendo DS because Nicole Kidman is playing Brain Training and refuses to recognize her brain age as 52. If Nicole Kidman can fight her brain aging, so can middle-aged baby-boomers who refuse to get old as well. Having spent thousands to keep the outside of their bodies looking young, what's a couple hundred to keep their brain young as well? The advertisement is simple, cute, stars one of the globe's most beautiful actresses in a pristine white setting, and sadly, it makes us want to get a DS for our mothers. Why couldn't Nintendo make Nicole sit panties around her ankles on a toilet or spaz and cry? The part of the commercial that will send up red flags for gamers, and we can't help but laugh about, is when Kidman goes, "Scissors ... scissors!" Did the voice recognition software not understand her (if they were just filming her play the game)? Did they give her an Australian version of Brain Training for her accent? The absurd fun of Brain Age barely recognizing the word blue is still one of the craziest parts of that game. We clearly remember with our copy saying, "Blue. BLUE! Bru? There we go." Adding sad stereotypes to software is never good.
Nicole Kidman enjoys Nintendo products*
Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman has joined the ranks of the brain-trained. The star of Practical Magic, Batman Forever, and Days of Thunder has agreed to become the official face of More Brain Training (well, the other official face) in a series of print and television advertisements to be shown across Europe. "I love the concept that Nintendo is reaching out to new audiences with their self improvement products like Brain Training," Kidman said. "Most importantly, I've quickly found that training my brain is a great way to keep my mind young." Maybe now Nintendo and Brain Age will finally be able to achieve some success.*For money.
Brain Age 2 boxart is BLUUUUUUUUUE
We don't necessarily make a post about the box design for every new game, but we pretty much had to for Brain Age 2, for the following reasons: It's a huge game We are too weak to resist the obvious joke (see title) hahahaha bluuuuuuuue We don't know if it's possible to be as excited about the return of Brain Age as the Japanese public continues to be, but we eagerly await the return of our teacher, friend and constant source of Photoshop inspiration, Dr. Ryuta Kawashima's Disembodied Polygonal Head.[Via GoNintendo]
DS Daily: Does YOUR brain need more training?
From the look of an AP photo from the Nintendo Media Summit, the US is going to be getting a little more face time with Dr. Kawashima after all. We're sure no one is surprised. We find this whole thing rather alarming, honestly. Didn't we get trained? Did our training fail, or is it just that we have more brain than the first game could handle? All jokes aside, are you going to go in for round two?
Non-Japanese brains need more training
Just when you thought you were free from the mocking head of Dr. Kawashima (or could at least pick it up cheaply), he's back for another round with More Brain Training. The sequel has been officially confirmed for Europe and will release in late June. There's been no official word yet on a U.S. release, but it's been showing up on retail lists for August, so we expect confirmation any time. Nintendo of America better start their marketing campaign now, or else they may face the wrath of Iwata again, and no one wants to see that happen.
More Brain Training coming to Europe, maybe US
The evil floating head of Dr. Kawashima returns! Gamasutra reports that More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain?, the sequel to Brain Age (known outside of the US as Brain Training), is coming to Europe this summer.The educational series has been a phenomenal success for Nintendo -- in Japan, the sequel sold over 400,000 in its first week of release. More Brain Training will cost €30/£19.99 (approx. US $41) at launch.There have been no plans announced for a US release, though Gamestop has listed Brain Age 2 as arriving August 1 for $19.99.
Hot Brain videos galore
PSP owners haven't had much of a chance to try the Brain Age fad. But no worries, Hot Brain should do just the trick. This brain training game, starring Fred Willard, is going to try and make you smarter by throwing tons of word and math puzzles at you. IGN has a video blowout of the title, showcasing tons of gameplay options from this mind-expanding collection of minigames.Check it out.
Get a degree in knowing how to play Big Brain Academy
We haven't read any research on the particular brain-embiggening properties of Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, and we're also quite certain that playing it won't result in an actual degree conferral (which is too bad, because we could use some more of those!) Whatever health or brain-bigness benefits it may have, the game certainly looks cute and fun. Siliconera has posted some impressions of the Japanese version, with plenty of screenshots and explanation of the various minigames involved. We suggest you check it out and dramatically increase the size of the area of your brain that holds Big Brain Academy gameplay details!
Train your Japanese-writing brain in minutes a day!
Kana DS won't teach you how to translate Famitsu magazine scans for your favorite games, but it will help you strengthen your hiragana and katakana skills. Think of the homebrew application as Brain Age for Japanese charsets, minus the floating, decapitated head. An alpha release of the project has been posted, demonstrating its "number sorting" mini-game. The only other implemented feature is a character reference mode, but we can already see a lot of potential for this polished application. Developer Julio Gorgé plans to include handwriting recognition, progress tracking, and difficulty scaling in future builds.It might not be as mind-blowing as Kanji Ken, but few games are. Check past the post break for a preview video of Kana DS. [Via DCEmu]
Genius DS wants to train your brain
With all this brain training going on, one wonders just how long before DS aficionados start racking up the patents and the Nobel Prizes. Maybe we're just not quite there yet. We need to train further. Well, don't despair, future genius inventors, there's yet another edutainment title on the horizon, and it's coming to stretch your gray matter. Genius DS - Equal Cards is slated for this summer, and seems to be primarily a math-influenced title, and the math puzzles use cards that must be sorted. Sounds riveting.
UK retailer celebrates Brain Awareness week with Brain Age deal
Did you know this week was Brain Awareness week? Neither did we, which might say something about the current state of our brain (see: mush). As part of this week's focus on the brain and the wonderful things it can do, UK retailer GAME is selling some bundles, along with a few games, at a discount to help you get the most out of that wrinkled little guy that rests snugly within your skull.The deals offered include the pink and onyx DS Lites, bundled with Brain Training (Brain Age for us Americans) at a discounted price. Also up for grabs are Big Brain Academy, as well as Brain Training by itself, allowing those of you who already have a DS Lite (as you should) to still get in on the action.
Browser-based brain training, PSP still innovating
PlayStation forum member AZ92 is currently hosting a series of Flash-based browser demos (in Japanese) of Sega's Brain Trainer Portable. The Brain Trainer series, which shares obvious similarities to DS's Brain Age game (it's even supervised by Dr. Kawashima), is actually based on Sega Toys's Nouryoku Trainer, a popular electronic device released in Japan back in October 2004. But never mind the game; it's the concept of a PSP Flash demo of a retail game that's the real innovation. Nice work.Use this link to play directly from your PSP.[Via PSP Fanboy]
Brain training on your internet browser
Did you know that the Nintendo DS isn't the only system that can train your brain? In Japan, Sega created their own mildly-successful edutainment games that required you to do math at the speed of light. AZ92 from the PlayStation forums is hosting a few Flash demos of the game, formatted for the PSP. You can use m.pspfanboy.com to play these short demos, directly from your PSP. Demo 1Demo 2Demo 3Demo 4 [Update 1: First server ran out of bandwidth. Updated links. Thanks, Crazy_Chris]!
Does brain training really work?
NPR's Morning Edition takes a look at competing theories on the effects of mental exercise on staving off dementia and mental degradation in old age. While the piece doesn't deal specifically with video games, the implications for brain training games like Brain Age and Mind Quiz and even puzzle and adventure games are pretty apparent. The results are decidedly mixed. One study of nearly 3,000 elderly people showed that a few hours of directed mental exercise could show effects up to five years later, but the improvement was rather modest for most volunteers. Another researcher cited in the NPR report thinks that building a "cognitive reserve" of mental skills before old age is more effective than taking up Sudoku in your autumn years. And then there's genetics, which may play a more important role in the proceedings than a simple crossword puzzle. The final takeaway? While games and puzzles might be a good way to keep your brain in shape, don't consider them a sure-fire way to prevent Alzheimer's disease. And whatever you do, don't get too frustrated while you play -- research suggests that's avoiding stress and depression can help you maintain good mental health.
Wired trains its brain
The January issue of Wired magazine includes a few short columns about writers trying to improve their abilities; Joshua Green's story about improving his brain functions relies on Nintendo's Brain Age game, a better diet, and more sleep. His non-scientific study left him with a brain age improvement from 44 to 34 after four weeks of work.Now that Brain Age has been out for a while, do you think it has sharpened your mind? Anecdotally, we like the game, but we think it just makes us better at Brain Age.
Brain training in schools
A grammar school in Melbourne, Australia is testing a program that involves encouraging children to play Nintendo. Where was that when we were in school, huh? Shenanigans! Teacher James Penson thought some of the 5th and 6th grade children could benefit from a fun way to practice math and memory skills, and so he cooked up the idea of using the ubiquitous Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training in the classroom. He contacted Nintendo and they sent 40 DS units to the school for the test program, which has been a resounding success. Penson said that the students were once reluctant to practice their time tables, but now they are beginning to see math as fun. And we have to admit, racing against your scores (and those of others) is way more fun than sitting in one of those hard plastic chairs picking at the years of snot stuck underneath the desk.[Via Go Nintendo]
Nintendo feel good moment: buying mom a DS Lite for her birthday
While we were navigating the tubes of the intertron today, we stumbled upon the flickr account of one edublogger documenting his mother's birthday and the DS Lite and Brain Training combo gift he bestowed upon her. Personally, it made us feel wonderful to see someone giving, and receiving, the gift of Nintendo. We've stolen included pictures of the gifting and unwrapping embedded into the post, after the break.
A-ha! Experience screens released
I'll be honest, I haven't heard much of A-ha! Experience until I've seen these newly-released screens. It seems like the game may be the PSP's answer to the DS' Brain Training games. A-ha Experience is a collection of three types of mini-games: A-ha Change, A-ha Movie and A-ha Cut.A-ha Change challenges the player to quickly tell the difference between two pictures. A-ha Movie features what at first looks like a picture, but is actually a short video clip, and the player has to find what is moving within the video. Lastly, A-ha Cut challenges the player to watch several similar-looking video files and find what has changed.The game is supposed to challenge a player's "brain reaction where you figure out something that had eluded you in the past," according to an IGN preview. The chances of this game making to the States probably isn't very good, but because the game focuses on video and pictures, it will probably make for an excellent import title when it's released Nov. 30.[Via Gamespot/IGN]
DS gets some love from BAFTA
It's the first time the U.K.'s gaming awards have been in their own spotlight (instead of relaxing in the shadow of the film and television awards), and the Nintendo DS has snared some of the attention. We would expect nothing less. Electroplankton and Brain Age both picked up nominations in multiple categories, and they'll be butting heads (brains?) when it comes to which game is Britain's choice for the most innovative of the year. Trauma Center got a nod as well in the simulation category. We're not sure the other nominees are even worth mentioning next to that one. Too bad there isn't a category for games that make you sweat, 'cause they're just that damned hard at times. Trauma Center has always made us idly wish for a third hand, but we love it like ice cream. Can't say we agree with everything they're doing across the pond, though -- they've got New Super Mario Bros. tagged as a children's game. Oh well. I guess we should all put it down and step away slowly. The winners will be announced on October 5. Check back for confetti and poppers when the DS snags some awards.
Brain Age bestowed Edge award, beats out Guitar Hero, others
Nintendo's Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! has received Edge magazine's 'Edge Award,' which recognizes games that show "the willingness to aim higher and try something new." Brain Age beat out cult hits like Guitar Hero (PS2) & Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan (DS), along with Amped 3 (Xbox 360), Dragon Quest VIII (PS2), Electroplankton (DS), Indigo Prophecy (PC/PS2/Xbox), and Killer 7 (GameCube). "Only Nintendo could make arithmetic fun," remarked Nintendo UK general manager David Yarnton upon accepting the award.Edge also presented an award to InfoSpace's Dirty Sanchez for best mobile game.
