brain age
Latest
Nintendo’s reimagined ‘Brain Training’ for Switch is coming to Europe
Nintendo revealed that Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training will come to the Switch on January 3rd, 2020 in Europe. The mental workout game will feature classic exercises from previous Brain Training (called Brain Age in North America) games, as well as new mini-games and puzzles. The news follows the Japanese reveal of the game, which has a hilariously long name: Nintendo Switch Training for Adults with Brain Training Supervised by Prof. Ryuta Kawashima, Research Institute for Aging Medicine, Tohoku University.
Brain Age now training European Wii U owners too
Brain Age, the first DS game on Wii U Virtual Console, traveled to the eShop in Europe over the weekend. As per Japan the brain-teaser is a free download, with the European promo ending on July 10. There's no word yet, but it's now likely North America will eventually also get reacquainted with the detached cranium of Dr Kawashima. Last month saw Nintendo re-release the 2005 game in Japan, following through on plans to add the DS to the Wii U Virtual Console. The brain-trainer is one of the handheld's all-time best sellers, shifting an impressive total of 19 million units worldwide. Nintendo's yet to discuss any other DS games on Wii U, so we'll just have to unravel this rather long wish list. Let's see here... The World Ends with You, Elite Beat Agents, Rhythm Heaven, all the Professor Layton games, Trauma Center: Under the Knife, Advance W-okay this could take some time. So, what DS games do you want to see on the Virtual Console?
Wii U plugs first DS game into Virtual Console in Japan
Puzzle-poser Brain Age is the first DS game to arrive on Wii U Virtual Console, and it's out now in Japan for free until June 30. Nintendo revealed plans in January to add the DS to Virtual Console on Wii U, but it's unknown if Brain Age is headed West or when other DS games may come to the system. When approached on the matter, a spokesperson for Nintendo UK told Joystiq, "We have nothing to announce at this time." To use its oh-so-catchy full title, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! hit Japan's store shelves back in 2005. The West didn't see it until 2006, but that didn't stop the brain-teaser going on to notch 19 million sales worldwide. It also didn't stop our love affair with Dr Kawashima's floating polygonal dome, even if he couldn't understand our thick Manchester accent. [Image: Nintendo]
Brain Age: Concentration Training delayed to February
The US localization of Brain Age: Concentration Training for 3DS is now due out on February 10, 2013, pushed back from the original release date of December 3, 2012.Brain Age: Concentration Training has players perform mental gymnastics designed to improve "working memory." Some tasks have players answer problems on a delay, forcing them to wait and see the next problem before writing the solution to the previous one. It's like a backflip for your amygdala.
Fill your head with Brain Training info in next Nintendo Direct
The next Nintendo Direct for Japan, airing July 18, is a ten-minute special all about "Onitore," the demonic new 3DS Brain Training game. The presentation has yet to be given a specific time but, being for the Japanese audience, expect it to be really late at night in our time zones.In the segment, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will meet with Brain Age inventor-slash-mascot Ryuta Kawashima, who we're desperately hoping will show up in demon makeup.
Brain Age returns with devilishly difficult training
Nintendo has been criticized for not getting edgy with some of its franchises. Well, it's about to do just that in the most unexpected way. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata announced a follow-up to the Brain Age series this morning with a devilish Dr. Ryuta Kawashima.As translated by Andriasang, the new title focuses on concentration and working memory, with some of the challenges so tough they are referred to as "Oni Training," which you can translate as devil or demon training.The normal Kawashima will now be replaced by a devil form. Yup, this is going to go over well in the States with the firebrand crowd. Somehow we have a hard time imagining Nicole Kidman giggling through this Brain Age.
Nintendo looking to develop 'new genres' again
Much of Nintendo's success in the DS/Wii era came from games in unusual, previously unpopular, or brand new genres -- like, say, the daily math minigame genre invented for Brain Age. During an investor presentation, president Satoru Iwata said that Nintendo is wisely working on inventing some new kinds of games to get the wide appeal that Brain Age and Wii Fit achieved, planning to release some games in new genres over the next fiscal year. Iwata noted that it is more difficult now to invent surprising new styles of game with smartphone developers doing weird stuff by the boatload. "However," he said, "the company will aim to develop and launch products that can provide meaningful surprises to the public by taking advantage of the company's position of being able to make new proposals that integrate both hardware and software, and of its ability to develop products that can be accepted by a wide variety of consumers, irrespective of age, gender or past gaming experience." After all, you can't bundle an iPhone game with a balance board or something like that. Well, you could, but wouldn't. Nintendo still has that advantage.
Dr. Kawashima's Body and Brain Connection preview: Brain Age meets Kinect
What if Nintendo made a game for Kinect? Namco Bandai does its best to answer that question with Dr. Kawashima's Body and Brain Connection, a "Brain Age" game for Microsoft's motion-control peripheral. This family-oriented minigame collection, featuring Xbox Avatars alongside the ever-digitized Dr. Kawashima, makes for an experience that seems more than inspired by Nintendo's recent efforts -- it's a total knockoff. The UI, the music and the gameplay all feel ripped from the Brain Age series and Nintendo's Wii Fit games. In some respects that's a compliment, but gamers who have already written off edutainment and exergames won't find much reason to give Body and Brain Connection a try. You know exactly what to expect from this game. %Gallery-102483%
Three plus eight equals Yoshi: How to cheat at Brain Age
If you're having some trouble whittling your Brain Age down to that elusive 20-year-old benchmark, a clever player named Ryuto has developed a sure-fire method of lowering that all important number: Cheat. Or, better yet, cheat while drawing fun doodles of Nintendo trademarks.
Nintendo launching Limited Edition DSi bundles featuring Mario, 'brain teaser' DSiWare packs
This Black Friday, November 27, Nintendo will release DSi bundles containing pre-installed software to the value of $20. The metallic blue DSi bundle (a new color for the States) will feature Mario-themed DSiWare, while the white is for those with "a passion for brain teasers." Blue version: Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!, Dr. Mario Express, WarioWare: Snapped!, Mario Calculator and Mario Clock. White version: Brain Age Express: Arts & Letters, Brain Age Express: Sudoku, Brain Age Express: Math, Clubhouse Games Express: Card Classics, Photo Clock. There is no altered price to go with the announcement of these bundles, so we're guessing the units will retail at the normal $170 price. Of course, it is Black Friday, so check various retailers for the best deals. .nounderline a { text-decoration: none; } Check out Joystiq's Black Friday Game Deals Hub or jump to a retailer guide below: Best Buy | GameStop | Kmart & Sears | Target | Toys"R"Us | Walmart For more Black Friday coverage, check out Black Friday Deals, Cyber Monday Sales, And other Black Friday 2009 stories today from Walletpop.com
NintendoWare Weekly: NyxQuest, Super Star Wars, Brain Age Express
This week starts an initiative to bring classic LucasArts titles to the Virtual Console for the next month. Today, Super Star Wars for the SNES is available, however Nintendo also promises its sequels, Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, in the coming weeks. Considering these are among the top Star Wars experiences out there, you can bet we're pretty pumped. It feels kind of like when you bullseye a womp rat in your T-16!%Gallery-69468%
VC/WiiWare Friday: Cute Overload
The latest Hanabi Festival on the European Wii Shop is ending in just about the most aww-inducing, candy-colored way possible: with Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Detana!! Twinbee. These two cute classics are joined by a WiiWare game called ColorZ, which features a color-shifting mechanic similar to Treasure's Ikaruga in a sort of maze-navigating game. Also on WiiWare this week: Heracles Chariot Racing. And on DSiWare, A Little Bit of ... Brain Training Sudoku, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Detana!! Twinbee (Turbografx, 1-2 players, 700 Wii Points) Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Super NES, 900 Wii Points) ColorZ (WiiWare, 1-3 players, 700 Wii Points) Heracles Chariot Racing (WiiWare, 1-4 players, 800 Wii Points) A Little Bit of ... Dr Kawashima's Brain Training Sudoku (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)
Nintendo sponsors British game show
Nintendo has made a deal with UK TV station Five to fully fund one of its new shows, MCV reports. The Advertiser-Funded Programming deal means that Nintendo will pay for eight episodes of the new Britain's Best Brain show, which subjects contestants to five tasks, each designed to test a different brain function: "memory, co-ordination, numeracy, recognition and risk."Obviously, we suspect Nintendo will use this opportunity as a promotional platform for the Brain Training series. If it were, say, Capcom looking for Britain's best brain, there would be cause for concern. MCV notes that in-show product placement is illegal, meaning that Nintendo will have to relegate the DS mentions to ads.
VC Friday: Let's Catch a Kindred Spirit
This week, the European Wii Shop is granted with a somewhat anticipated new title, and one we're glad is launching there before it does here. We're intensely curious about the platform action title Icarian: Kindred Spirits, and the fact that it's coming out in Europe first means we'll get to read reviews. We hope those 100 soundtrack downloads are claimed by now, by the way!Also available for download this week: Let's Catch on WiiWare, and some more Brain Training on DSiWare.WiiWare: Icarian: Kindred Spirits Let's Catch DSiWare: A Little Bit of ... Brain Training: Maths Edition
Life-to-date sales of the biggest Nintendo games
We know that Nintendo is doing very well financially as of the end of fiscal 2008. And, of course, we know that hardware sales play a major role in that windfall. But how is Nintendo doing in terms of software sales? Very well, thank you! The company released a list of every million-selling first-party title on the Wii and DS as a supplement (PDF link) to its financial report, with no real surprises other than, perhaps, the monolithic bigness of some of the numbers. The best-selling Wii title, of course, is Wii Sports, which sold 45.7 million copies across North American and European bundle sales and standalone Japanese sales.The best-selling DS game: Nintendogs, at 22.3 million copies! We're just happy to see the wonderful Rhythm Heaven on the list, though there is something odd about it: according to the data, Rhythm Heaven sold 140,000 copies outside of Japan -- but the game didn't even come out in the West until April 5, after the end of the fiscal year.The full list is after the break. Spoiler alert: if you are the type of person who gets angry about Nintendo's success in the expanded market, this will anger you.[Via Kotaku]
DSi Shop's American lineup is ... diverse
So, Nintendo has announced all the games you'll be able to purchase for your brand new DSi in the online DSi Shop on April 5. The list is ... well, we were going to say "eclectic", but it's just plain weird. You can Nintendo's full descriptions after the break, but here are the titles: WarioWare: Snapped! Bird & Beans Brain Age Express: Math Master of Illusion Express: Funny Face Art Style: AQUIA You can level a lot of complaints at Nintendo and be well within reason, but you can't say that it's not trying some different stuff. As previously announced, you'll also get $10 in credit (1,000 DSi Points) if you log on to the store by October 5, which leads us to ask: Which game will you be picking up?
DSiWare Master of Illusion, Brain Age, Art Style rated by OFLC
While we can't be sure what the launch lineup for the DSiWare shop outside of Japan will look like, we can guess that the Australian shop will feature at least one of these games, thanks to OFLC ratings: Master of Illusion Express: Shuffle Games Master of Illusion Express: Funny Face Master of Illusion Express: Deep Psyche A Little Bit Of ... Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: Maths Edition D-Code (probably Art Style: Decode) The standard ratings board disclaimer applies: we don't know when these will be out, or if this release implies other regions. But if you wanted to know if Nintendo planned to localize any of its Japanese DSiWare lineup, here is evidence that yes, it is. Also found on the OFLC: The WiiWare version of Rainbow Islands (yay!) and Adventure Island: The Beginning. Also, Karate Phants. %Gallery-39571%
Watchdog group: Brain Age doesn't help
Another organization is blowing an imaginary whistle on Brain Age and other similar products designed to sharpen minds. Consumer group Which assembled a panel of three neuroscientists to test the ideas that brain training games improve memory and help prevent dementia. The panel found "weak" or no evidence to support the claims."There is no evidence that using this product will have any functional impact on your life whatsoever," Dr. Chris Bird, one of the scientists involved with the study, said. The panel concluded that "surfing the internet or chatting to friends" would have the same prefrontal cortex blood flow effect as doing DS-based math. Basically, it means that, in terms of brain activity, Brain Age seems to work about as well as any other mentally-stimulating pastime."If people enjoy using these games, then they should continue to do so -- that's a no-brainer," said Which's Martyn Hocking (perhaps with pun intended -- emphasis ours). "But if people are under the illusion that these devices are scientifically proven to keep their minds in shape, they need to think again" (Hocking is just full of puns, isn't he?).Nintendo responded, saying that it has never claimed scientific proof of Brain Age's effectiveness: "What we claim is the Brain Training series of games, like playing sudoku, are enjoyable and fun. These exercises can also help keep the brain sharp." It also helps your organization make the news!
Professor: suggesting Brain Age helps is 'charlatanism'
Brain Age games don't necessarily make you smarter, and it is "charlatanism" to make such a claim. Those are the conclusions drawn by one Alain Lieury, professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Rennes. The professor's findings were picked up by The Times, which loves itself a good story (from 2006).Lieury surveyed 67 ten-year-old kids in his study, which compared the impact of Brain Age on intelligence with pencil and paper-based puzzles and going to school (in case anybody was seriously entertaining the thought of homeschooling their child with a DS).The Times covers the precise results of the study in its article, but the long and short of it is: Brain Age won't help you raise an army of miniature geniuses and take over the free world. Boo. "The Nintendo DS is a technological jewel. As a game it's fine," writes Lieury in his new book, Stimulate Your Neurones. "But it is charlatanism to claim that it is a scientific test."Which is great and all, but is anybody terribly surprised by this?%Gallery-3436% [Via GamePolitics]
DS Fanboy's DSiWare screen round-up
Thirteen DSiWare titles will be released to Japan's DSi Shop on December 24, so we thought we'd construct a one-stop post where you can gawk at games most of us can't have. Past the jump, you'll find screens for all launch titles, as well as the price and size of each. How would you spend the free 1,000 DSi Points you get with the system? Because we love the series, we'll kick proceedings off with a look at A Little Dr. Mario (500 DSi Ware Points, 29 blocks required): %Gallery-39567%
