brain training
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.
Nintendo's Brain Age series is back as a Switch exclusive
Warm up your gray matter and get ready to flex your neurons, because Nintendo's beloved Brain Age (or Brain Training depending on where you live) series is coming to the Switch. The company has announced a new version of the game to be released in Japan at the end of the year.
Answer: Don't Be Stupid game impractically expects just that
Answer: Don't Be Stupid is a game that makes you feel ever so slightly, well, stupid. That's because it's based off of simple math problems most of us learned in the first grade. However, when put in this format, it's not so easy. The objective is to determine if the number on the left is less than, equal to or greater than the sum of the numbers on the right as quickly as possible. If you're not quick enough, you lose. If you're wrong, you lose. Time to recharge that brain with fast-moving numbers. The game is free for iPhone and iPad and requires iOS 7.0 or later. In every round, a blue box holding a random number is steadily in place on the left. A mathematical expression slides in on the right in its own box, creeping closer to the other number. Before the two boxes touch, you must use the three buttons below: the less-than symbol, the equal symbol or the greater-than symbol. Tap these in accordance with the numbers and expressions and how they relate to each other. Don't worry, the expressions don't get too out of hand. For instance, if the number in the blue box is nine and the expression is eight plus one, tap the Equal button. The game is in a constant rapid fire mode, so there's no time to pause and celebrate each time you finish. After the first level, you're on to the next. As Answer progresses, it gets more difficult. The expression on the right starts sliding at a faster pace giving you less time to choose the correct answer. The numbers get more complex, too, growing larger and eventually broadening to include all integers rather than solely natural numbers. This means you might come across some negatives. I have yet to get far enough to see if Answer transitions into harder problems like multiplication or division. There's some subtraction at times, but my suspicion is that it doesn't go beyond that based on the app description stating it's for "practicing addition." Answer has two modes to boot: Normal and Hard. The Hard difficulty seemingly just starts off on a similar intensity to when Normal is about 25 levels in. Math was always a pretty strong subject for me in school, but don't let that fool you. The "Don't Be Stupid" slogan in the title gets somewhat challenging to fulfill. To score well, you have to act quickly, wisely and under pressure. The game integrates with Game Center to store your rankings and unlock badges for each level you pass. You won't find a multiplayer mode, in-app purchases or settings. Down the road, it might be nice to have modes for multiplication, division and other kinds of math so Answer can train your brain to learn more than just addition. Answer is a fun title that simultaneously gets easier and harder the more you play. The levels get more difficult, but it really does train your brain to respond quicker and with the correct answers. "Fun" and "educational" are two concepts that don't always coexist, but Answer: Don't Be Stupid accomplishes just that. Get it in the App Store for free.
The Art of Wushu: The limits of human reaction time
We're finally back on track with the kung-fu lessons, and today we're going to talk about something very important: how being human limits what you can do in an Age of Wushu duel. Like a lot of skills relating to dueling and strategy, this is a fairly broad skill that can be applied to a lot of games. Reaction speed is one of the most difficult things to train in Age of Wushu, especially for old-timers like me. Reacting to things in a timely matter is a massive advantage; it lets you punish feints, interrupt sluggish normal attacks, and stun people out of dance-like moves. The trouble is, we're human, and humans are slow. This time, we're going to look at exactly what that means in hard technical terms.
Lumosity brings it brain-building quizzes to the iPad
Lumosity tops the chart in the educational category for the iPhone and now the "brain-enhancing" app has landed on the iPad. Similar to the iPhone app, the iPad version provides you with a personalized training program for your brain. Lumosity is known for its cognitive activities that give your body's most amazing organ a workout. The app asks you a series of questions that make you think about your answer. In the early parts of the training that I have used, the app doesn't resort to questions with false answers or frustratingly complex scenarios like some brain teasers. It has a nice balance of being challenging, but not impossible to solve. Lumosity started off as a web-based service and then branched out to mobile, which has been hugely successful for the company. Lumosity has logged 20 million overall downloads, and its updated iPhone version, which launched last month, has been used to play 21.5 million mobile brain games. You can download the Lumosity iPad app and the iPhone app from the iOS App Store. The apps are free, but require a US$79.99 yearly subscription if you want to dive deep into brain training offered by the service.
Nintendo 3DS gets first downloadable titles next week: Super Mario and Brain Training sequels
As Nintendo attempts to get its eShop up to speed with Sony's PS Vita provision, it's finally announced a July 28th launch date for its first two downloadable games. Alongside the in-store release of the 3DS XL, the full versions of both Super Mario Brothers 2 and the latest iteration of Dr. Kawashima's Brain Age / Training will be available for online purchase in Japan, priced at 4,800 yen (around $61) and 3,800 yen ($48), respectively. Nintendo already offers a mixed bag of retro titles and demos to download, but this is the first time it'll wheel out fully-fledged 3DS games.
There's a new Vita brain training game for you, 'Smart As'
Sony is boldly experimenting with the idea of a brain training game on a handheld. "Smart As," coming to Vita this fall, is a "social brain training experience" that calculates players' Brain Power through daily exercises based on 20 different puzzle games – and then encourages them to compete with their friends with online leaderboards and Facebook integration.The 20 brain games fall into the categories of "Logic, Arithmetic, Language, and Observation," and use all of the Vita's input methods, including cameras, AR, and both touchscreens. Regional challenges will give you more to do based on where you are when you play it.What part of the brain makes you able to understand Near? Because we don't have that.%Gallery-155563%
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.
Make a Body and Brain Connection Feb. 8
You'll be able to play the weird Kinect Pac-Man minigame on February 8. That's also when you'll be able to play the rest of Namco Bandai's Body and Brain Connection, the brain training/exercise collection from Brain Age consultant Dr. Ryuta Kawashima -- but it's more interesting to think about it as the Kinect Pac-Man thing, with bonus brain training and exercise-based minigames. Namco Bandai also sent out a bunch of new screens of the intellectually stimulating minigames contained within Connection. You get to work out with an animated light bulb! How many games let you do that?%Gallery-108683%
NinjaBee publishing indie brain training game on WiiWare
NinjaBee Games is continuing the process of taking over the downloadable game market, making its first second move into WiiWare by publishing Grubby Games' The Amazing Brain Train, which manages to have both indie cred (it was a 2008 PAX 10 title) and WiiWare marketability (it's a brain training game). The Amazing Brain Train features educational minigames in five categories: Search, Planning, Spatial, Memory, and Numbers. In addition to the obvious "Test Mode" and the single-game practice mode, Brain Train has a Quest Mode that offers players "quests and epic deeds." NinjaBee has announced no release date for The Amazing Brain Train -- being WiiWare, we probably won't have any idea until it's released. In the meantime, you can download a free demo of the PC version here. %Gallery-70993%
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]
Japanese adult film takes Brain Age approach
We're not ones to peruse the seedy underbelly of the adult film industry (hard to believe, with us working on the internet and all), but this story is too much to pass up. Does the above cover remind you of anything? Well, if it doesn't, you probably never played the Japanese title Brain Training (also known as Brain Age). Look at the game's boxart. See what we mean?If you want to know more, you can check out Hikaru Wakana's blog (NSFW linkage), who is the film's star.
I'm learnding -- UK school picks up the DS
Awright, what's all this then? Clunbury Primary School in merry old England has brought on a fleet of DS Lites to help combat stupidity in children. It's safe to say the kids aren't sitting around playing Mario Kart, but instead picking up any one of the maths, language or brain games available.It's not just one tyke campaigning for Ninteducational powers. Head teacher Andrew Davies said using DS software is an "exciting and alternative way of approaching education." Capital idea, old bean. Just make sure this mother's kid doesn't enrol at your school anytime soon.Clunbury was voted as the top Information and Communications Technology (ICT) school in England, using mp3 recorders, blogs and podcasts to teach the tots. Where was all the awesome technology when this blogger was battling with the Commodore 64?
Survey: Casual games keep the vices at bay
According to a recent survey conducted by Information Solutions Group (on behalf of casual games company RealGames) shows that casual gaming might be more than just a quick diversion (or frustration, if the game refuses to understand your speech). Other than providing a quick round of Sudoku, that copy of Brain Age 2 could have other health benefits.The survey asked 4,537 respondents between December 28, 2007 and January 11, 2008 about casual gaming. Of the 4,537 individuals, 2,784 of them said they watched their weight and 60% of those individuals said they use games as a way to keep from snacking and overeating. That's not all, though.Of the 1,324 survey respondents that said they were smokers, 42% said that gaming provided a distraction from smoking. While the focus of the survey is more about casual games, we do know one title that's pretty good with helping smokers quit. Any of you trying to curb your bad habits with some gaming?
Another exhaustive list of Japan's best-sellers of 2007
Remember that haaauuuuge list of Japan's 500 highest-selling games of 2007? Well, sorry, but you'll have to forget them all. Yep, every last one of 'em. That's because we now have a new list which is also claiming to feature the 500 best-selling games of 2007 in Japan. This one has been compiled by Enterbrain (the original was from rival data-gatherers Media Create), and it's ever so slightly different. The good news is that, despite the origins of each list being different, the overriding message is still the same, and that message is: DS rules all yaaay. Both lists agree that Wii Sports was top dog, but the top DS games have been jumbled about. Now, for example, it is the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers games that are top of the DS pile, while Mario Party DS drops to second. The changes are subtle, but definitely exist. Hit the break to see the top ten DS games!
DS Fanboy poll: Demos: do you dabble?
The Wii's Nintendo Channel, then. It's enjoyed a somewhat shaky start if you ask us, particularly where DS demos are concerned. Although we love occasionally receiving bite-size portions of games such as Arkanoid, most demos are ... well, to be frank, they're old. Not just regular old, either, but Jesus and his pet triceratops trekking across the ravaged plains of Pangaea old.The situation is especially grim in Europe, where Tetris DS (original release date: April 2006) has just joined a list that includes (amongst others) the ancient likes of Big Brain Academy, Brain Training, Mario Kart DS, 42 All-Time Classics, and Sight Training. Needless to say, we've only downloaded a small handful of games since the service debuted. To us, a demo of Brain Training is about as useful as a plasticine climbing frame.Then again, maybe we're being overly critical, grumbly bastards. Maybe some of you good people actually get quite a lot of use out of the service. So we thought we'd throw this issue open to you, our beloved readers, and ask: how often do you use the Nintendo Channel demos? %Poll-15495%
Promotional Consideration: The Usual Suspects
This week's creative but confusing installment comes from Leo Burnett Milan, the same advertising firm behind "Communion Day," the first Promotional Consideration ad (and one of the smartest) we ever featured. The print piece presents a police lineup of criminals and ne'er-do-wells, suspects for an unspecified crime -- really, it's less of a "whodunit" than it is a "what does it mean?" Step past the post break and peer through this one-way mirror to solve the mystery yourself!
PAL Nintendo Channel DS demos are training-tastic
Training, training, training. That's all us Europeans and Aussies want, right? Day in, day out, there we are, blurting "blue" into our handhelds like obedient farmyard animals, and being told that we're doing it wrong and that we're thuddingly simple. We know this happens, because the sales charts tell us so, and now the first DS demos on the local Nintendo Channel (released on all PAL consoles today) reflect the self-improvement obsession that has swept many PAL countries.So, instead of getting demos of totally rad, new games such as Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (which is what the U.S. got), we get four training games (only one of which came out this year) from the seven titles available, and adverts for Nintendogs and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The only bright spot? A couple of tracks from Mario Kart DS, and a Picross demo, but those are hardly fresh titles.We're not usually the types to look a gift horse in the mouth, but there's a stunning lack of variety on display here, Nintendo. Hit the break for the infuriatingly vanilla list.
The DS Life: Going out to eat
Have you ever gone out to a restaurant for dinner with a group of friends, only to find yourself completely uninterested with your company's conversation, their tired stories and trivial grievances?Your eyes drift to nearby tables, hoping to find something else that better deserves your attention. You chew on the ice cubes in your drink, crunching out the chatter around you. You nod your head absentmindedly to agree with your companions whilst reflecting on the reality television shows you plan to watch when you get home -- "I wonder if Greg is gonna knock out that sucka Will for kissing his girl?"When you're stuck in situations like this, don't you wish you could just pull out your Nintendo DS until someone brings out the food?
