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Kawashima ditches the DS for the PSP in Europe
Dr. Kawashima, the jovial floating head accompanying you on your travels through swift mathematics problems and furiously shouting "brew!" at your DS whilst playing Brain Age, has decided to float on over to the competition with Mind Quiz for the PSP in Europe. Ubisoft, the publisher behind Mind Quiz, looks to bring the same experience to Sony's handheld, sans touch-screen capable and voice-recognizing gameplay. One thing that makes Mind Quiz stand out from its Brain Age cousin is that it will feature online gameplay and mock exams to quiz your mind.[Via Joystiq]
Brain Age math challenge exploit
We're pretty sure that at least one of you have solved the 10 math problems exercise in Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day. We aren't sure, however, that some of you have done it in 8 or less seconds. Considering this individual is exploiting the system a tad through the use of chicken scratch writing, we can't give him much credit. OK, maybe we're just jealous...As always, video is embedded into the post after the break.
Brain Age sells 4 million worldwide
Nintendo recently sent out a press release where they went over the latest numbers for their popular brain-trainer DS title Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day. In revealing the numbers for the three major regions of North and South America, Europe, and Japan, Nintendo stated they have sold over 4 million units worldwide. 600,000 of the units were sold in the Americas, 500,000 total in Europe, and an insane 3 million units have been sold in Japan."Brain Age is so easy to pick up and play, regardless of your experience level," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "You can play it for 10 minutes or an hour and keep yourself feeling sharp. As a baby boomer, it's like a treadmill for my mind."[Source: Nintendo Press Release]
Touch Generations slogan ideas
We don't normally post about advertisements, instead leaving that up to the ad critics, but this Touch Generations ad just brought some hilarious commentary to our mind. We envision a nice evening out, maybe the couple's 23rd anniversary, and after a few glasses of wine, the husband is feeling a bit frisky once the couple arrive home. "Not right now," she says, shouting "brew" into her DS Lite during an intense round of Brain Age. "I have to get my brain's age down," she quickly follows with. The husband, upset, rolls over and firmly fixes a frown upon his face, falling asleep. In the spirit of cruelty, we decided we'd come up with our own ad slogans for the Touch Generations brand. Here goes: Touch Generations: Now having a headache doesn't have to be your only excuse. Touch Generations: Because you're too old for most stuff anyway. Touch Generations: "Paddles" are too complicated nowadays. Touch Generations: You'll be damned if you're paying for another dog from the pound. 6 is quite enough! Touch Generations: Because reading is for dummies. Touch Generations: Because you should at least be able to kick your kid's ass in one game. What kind of brilliant marketing ideas are swimming around in your noggin?
Nintendo's top 10 games of 2006 (so far)
With the year half-way over, Nintendo of America's Rufus has seen fit to put out his list of top 10 games so far this year. What's surprising is that Big Brain Academy comes in at the number one spot, a place which we're fairly sure should be given to New Super Mario Bros. instead. What isn't surprising, however, is that the list is dominated by DS titles. Big Brain Academy (DS) New Super Mario Bros. (DS) True Swing Golf (DS) Drill Dozer (GBA) Super Princess Peach (DS) Chibi Robo (GCN) Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll (DS) Tetris DS (DS) Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (DS) Odama (GCN) What would your own personal list look like?[Via Infendo][Note: This has nothing to do with sales numbers. This is a list purely based on personal opinion of one Nintendo of America employee.]
Cellphones are dangerous/not dangerous, Italian edition
We may not know whether your phone is going to kill you, but we can tell you that it excites your brain. This, uh, exciting news comes to us from a team at Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Milan, which used transcranial magnetic stimulation to monitor brain activity during subjects' phone calls. More often than not, brain cells adjacent to the phone went into an "excited" state during the call, but returned to normal within 45 minutes. What this means for your long-term health we're not exactly sure -- and neither is the Italian group. They do note that it might be of special relevance to folks with epilepsy, since excited brain cells have been linked to the disease. "It should be argued that long-lasting and repeated exposure to EMFs (electromagnetic frequencies) linked with intense use of cellular phones in daily life might be harmful or beneficial in brain-diseased subjects," says their report. "Harmful or beneficial" -- thanks, guys; that really clears things up for us.[Via I4U News]
Brain Age striking it rich in the mainstream media
First up, CBS News has some rather extensive coverage, both in article and video form, on Nintendo's brain-tickling title Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day. With the focal point of the piece being that these types of "brain games" are excellent for senior citizens, allowing them to keep a nimble mind through continuous use of the title, it paints one excellent picture overall. The debate as to whether these types of games actually can benefit your health is one that is sure to be without resolution for some time to come, but getting seniors and those who would otherwise be disinterested in games, playing and enjoying themselves, is a huge win for Nintendo. CBS isn't the only news affiliate covering the Brain Age story, however, as a local Arizona news team also covered the game. This local Fox News team actually took the game to the streets and got it into the hands of average citizens, recording their reactions. What's also surprising is that the team even brought up the voice recognition problems that so many of us have had, which shows they really put their time in with the game.Embedded video after the link.
Competitive Brain Age: Joystiq pwns
At the Nintendo booth, people have been constantly queueing for Brain Age. Calculating by yourself is fun, but it doesn't come close to the competitive thrill of remembering your times tables faster than the next guy.We're proud to say we won our tournament, coming in with the respectable (for day three of E3) time of 28 seconds. Interestingly, the runner-up (with a very close time) was also a girl, with the two guys taking over twice as long to finish -- draw what conclusions you will from that.
DS Lite and Brain Age not playing well together
No doubt you're too occupied with charting your brain's age and calculating simple arithmetic with the quickness of a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick to read this post. That's OK, we'll forgive you and just post this blog here for when you encounter this most horrible issue while playing on your newly-acquired DS Lite. Seems the device doesn't recognize the word blue, a word that is so critical to success in the "game." Reader Sean even went so far as to knock upon the doors of Nintendo, demanding an answer to this most heinous issue. The response he received was:Hi Sean,Thanks for your e-mail. We appreciate your comments. The problem that you are describing is very likely because the Nintendo DS Lite is not designed for use in North America. That means that we have not tested it for use here. I will be sure to forward your e-mail along for further review, just in case.So far, the redesigned Nintendo DS has only been released in Japan. Look for any further announcements on this product by checking the news section of our website at the following address:www.nintendo.com/newsmainKeep checking our website at www.nintendo.com for the latest on Nintendo games, systems, and promotions. And, while on our site, also check out the My Nintendo program. With this program, not only can you check on the status of asubscription, part order or repair order, but you can also register your games and systems, and participate in the Nintendo Forums.Nintendo of America Inc.Lauren TaylorThe funny thing is, the "game" can hardly recognize when I say blue either, and that's on an original phat DS. Maybe it's my rough Philly accent, which makes me say "wooter" instead of "water."
Brain Age site launches
The website for Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! has launched, and in following with Nintendo's goals for the game, features a lot of different types of people, young and old, having at it with DS in hand and commenting on their own performance. The website also showcases a comprehensive how-to on playing the game, taking the viewer through the motions and undoubtedly causing their mouth to salivate with the wish to taste the succulent delicacies the game will soon have to offer. Do yourself a favor and go check the site out to tide you over these next few days until you can get your hands on your own copy (unless you were one of the lucky in attendance at GDC).[Thanks Josh!]
Smarter gamers pre-ordering Brain Age?
Yesterday's Amazon.com computer and video games sales chart showed Nintendo's upcoming mental-massaging Brain Age : Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day for the DS jump from the abysmal rank of #135 to that of a fit #5. Looks like gamers with a thirst for mental acuity are thinking this game will be hard to acquire once it is released. The idea isn't that far-fetched considering the game has sold 3.3 million copies to date in Japan. Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day releases on the 17th.[Via Infendo]
Nintendo reports underestimation of profits
All this selling-out of the DS over in the land of the rising sun has equalled huge profits for Nintendo, shattering company expectations by an almost 30% gain. With wonderful games like Brain Training and Nintendogs, no wonder the Japanese are snatching up every last handheld they can get their hands on. Add in the newest redesign in the form of that sleek, almost hypnotizing DS Lite, and you have a potential powder keg just waiting to blow in Japan. World War III will not be started with nukes or assassination folks...no, in fact it will come from one conquering body republic united under two massively bright, beautifully-blinding screens. All joking aside, we're absolutely thrilled to see that Nintendo is profitting so much from just being creative and inventing new ways to game! The latest estimations from the big N place their earnings for the year ending March 31st at 95 billion yen, which comes out to $807 million US.
Brain Age footage
Etoychest has a video up of Jason Dobson taking a crack at the upcoming Brain Age. The video shows him explaining the interface of the game and going through some drawing and calculation exercises. While Jason admits his Brain Age is not very high, it's likely due to his lack of stylus use (seriously, you'd draw a lot better and get more numbers right it you used the stylus). So while upon start his Brain Age is only in the 40s, it's very possible this could be improved by switching that finger with a stylus on the touch screen. Regardless, the video has a lot of information and should interest everyone looking forward to getting their brain in shape come later in April.[Note: the video requires Quicktime]
Information on Brain Age
DS-X2 has some additional information on the forthcoming Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day. The upcoming title aims to energize your mind through various minigames and improving your overall "brain age." "When users start a new game, they will take a series of tests and get a score that shows how old their brains are. This number is called the "Brain Age." As they use the software over a series weeks and months, their mental acuity will improve and the Brain Age will drop, indicating a younger, healthier brain. Progress is charted in graph form." Also included is a list of some of the minigames included in Brain Age. Such tasks charged to the player are memorizing words, quickly counting people in a crowd, and reading classical literature aloud as fast as possible.
