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Brain Training doesn't help old brains after all
For those of us hoping to clutch onto a DS and listen to the sage advice of Brain Age's Dr. Floaty Head (his real name's so hard to remember these days) in order to lessen the rate of our inevitable mental decline, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal's science journal is sure to come as bad news. According to a recent study, constant mental exercise does nothing to slow down the rate of cognitive decline. Timothy Salthouse of the University of Virginia notes that "there is no convincing empirical evidence that mental activity slows the rate of cognitive decline," a message that stands somewhat opposed to Nintendo's Brain Age campaign. "The research I reviewed is just not consistent with the idea that engaging in mentally stimulating activities as you age prevents or slows cognitive decline." While the rate of mental erosion is labeled as constant by the study, it suggests that the minds that remain sharp are merely dropping from a higher point. The higher you start, the longer it takes you to hit bottom. The mental usefulness of the innocent crossword puzzle also comes under attack assault fire, with Salthouse concluding that there is no evidence that habitual puzzle players experience "a slower rate of age-related decline in reasoning." What's a five-letter word for bummer? Still, the article points out (perhaps obviously so) that the greatest benefit of games like Brain Age is that the constant training improves an adult's ability to perform the given task well. One thing's for sure--we'll soon be glorified experts at saying "Blue!" [Thanks Vlad! Linked article requires membership to access.]
Ad agency seeking older looking Brain Trainers
If you live in New York City, you'd best be on the lookout for decrepit looking, stylus-wielding strangers who may challenge you to a Sudoku puzzle just as you're biting into a Starbucks bagel. Apparently, an ad agency is recruiting and paying people to scurry about the streets of New York and show people Nintendo's "new game for older people"--most likely Brain Age given the Sudoku mention and the fact that it's the only game likely to get away with an older marketing street team. After all, a creepy 30-something stranger suddenly sitting next to you and urging you to check out Super Princess Peach is a bit creepy. So, if you look about 30 years old and are desperate to make $20 an hour, you may be well on the way to starting your Brain Trainer career. It looks like Nintendo is really going after that mythical non-gamer demographic, no doubt hoping to recreate Brain Age's massive success in Japan. I'm not sure how well this particular marketing strategy will work, but don't be surprised if you hear more people in Manhattan randomly shouting "BLUE!"Check out the full Myspace bulletin (use BugMeNot if you don't have a login) for more information by clicking the "Read" link.[Thanks Michael!]
Real scientists use Duke Nukem
According to a study by a group of Belgian scientists, having a good night's sleep could improve your chances of finding your way around a foreign city or a map from a first person shooter. After being trained up in a custom version of Duke Nukem, volunteers were asked to find landmarks around a virtual city while their brains were being scanned with MRI. They were then split into two groups: one group was allowed a good night's sleep and the other was not.When the volunteers were asked to play the game again, the scientists found that the group that were allowed to sleep used a different region of their brain to find their way around the map which allowed them to make almost automatic decisions about where to go. However, the sleep-deprived players used the same region of the brain as they used when they were being trained which required more thinking. What the study suggests is that sleep accelerates the normal process of memory retrieval -- a well rested individual will "somehow know that [he/she has] to turn left, or right or carry straight on." A great example of the usefulness of games in scientific research, but what we want to know is: did anyone take any pictures of the massive scientists-only LAN party at the end?![Thanks, Nik G]
Some Doctor: Brain Age is good, but don't get fat
According to an article over at Gamasutra, Nintendo is adding some more marketing push to Brain Age: Train your Brain in Minutes a Day in the form of Dr. Elizabeth Zelinski, dean and executive director of Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California. Her smarty-pants opinion on Brain Age:"Nintendo's Brain Age should be just one element of an active lifestyle that includes mental stimulation, exercise and a good diet. Brain Age is a great way for people to keep challenging themselves."That's right. You could train yourself on Brain Age for hours a day until you become a hyper-intelligent supergenius, but if you don't exercise and eat healthily, you'll become an obese hyper-intelligent supergenius. And as anyone will tell you, that's the worst kind.
Brain Maiming: New Sudoku game
Nintendo sends word regarding a matter of gray importance: Sudoku. Not to be confused with the murderous little Japanese girl that crawls out of the television on a weekly basis (that would be Sadako), the puzzle game has addicted many with its gentle massaging of that most intelligent and squishy of organs, the brain. With 400 different puzzles (all selected by the original creators of Sudoku), however, Sudoku Gridmaster is likely to be less of a massage and more of a brutal mashing. Not content with sticking some Sudoku puzzles in the upcoming Brain Age, Nintendo is releasing a stand-alone title featuring four difficulty settings and input via the touch screen. If you're keen on subjecting your brain to that sort of thing, make a mental note of Sudoku Gridmaster's June 26 release date.
Engineering the DS Lite: 2 Nintendo hardware vets speak
Ever wonder what decisions go into a hardware redesign? Thanks to the latest edition of Nintendo's Japanese online mag, we finally get a portable peek into the DS Lite.Two Nintendo engineers who worked on the cuter DS sibling reveal how they pulled off the svelte new look while maintaining things like usability, battery life, and cost.Who knew that the new stylus was made "longer and wider to accommodate older users" (the Brain Age demographic who'd taken such a shine to the now shinier little system)? Durable, reliable hardware: it's what Nintendo does best. Let's hope they continue that trend with the Lite, as well as whatever other slicker iterations of the handheld that we're tempted to purchase -- or repurchase -- in the future.[Thanks, Princess Zelda; also via DS Fanboy]See also: Nintendo DS proven toilet-safe Playstation 2 goes silver (redux)
Brain age? What's your brain speed?
If you weren't lucky enough to score a Nintendo DS Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! game at GDC this past week, here's a cheaper way to benchmark your brain with this quick online game that purports to test your brain's clock speed from your microphone to your central processing unit. Take the test, then share your score. I scored a 32 on my first run and a 31 on my second. [Via GeeksAreSexy]
GDC: Notes on (and in) Brain Age
Nintendo gave away copies of their upcoming DS title, Brain Age, following Satoru Iwata's keynote Thursday morning. Included in the special GDC edition* was the above note, urging all of us to be ambassadors, if you will, of Nintendo's ideology of inclusive gaming. Having only been back in Philly for a half day now, my girlfriend has already logged a couple hours training her brain: math puzzles, drawing, reading aloud, and--of course--sudoku. The goal is to achieve the ideal "brain age" of 20; I began at 30 (not far from my real age of 26), my girlfriend encountered a slightly steeper learning (not being a lifelong gaming-nerd) giving her an unrepresentative brain age of 74. After retrying the test, she achieved the more accurate score of 34. I plan on continuing my daily training in Brain Age, charting my progress, competing with my girlfriend, and reporting it all here. First impressions: Nintendo has another hit on their hands.*see below for the specially embossed package. Actually, it's really just a sticker. Brain Age is due to be released April 17th at the discount price of $20.
Walt Mossberg gets his brain (DS) trained
They've sold Brain Age in Japan by the millions, used it to demonstrate disruptive market strategies (in multiple keynotes), and now the folks at Nintendo have dropped their brain-sharpening baby into the hands of Walter S. Mossberg.Mossberg, the powerful Wall Street Journal tech writer, has wielded quite a bit of influence in the gadget world, even giving praise (with strong reservations) to the PSP and Xbox 360 when each of those platforms launched. But what does he have to say about Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (for the DS)?Walt actually likes the game... with a caveat, of course: his ability to knock down his purported brain age down to 20 (the youngest possible) in the course of a day "didn't inspire confidence in the program's scientific accuracy." But at least it was fun. And even if that creepy Kawashima head isn't fully localized yet ("the setting sun sure does put spots in my eyes"), at least the older mainstream--okay, Engadget--crowd will get some exposure to this supposedly beneficial game through this coverage.[Thanks, Michael; image from the Radio And Internet Newsletter (RAIN)]See also: GDC: The Nintendo keynote blow by blow [free Brain Age for all!] Japanese doctors recommend Brain Training for seniors Walt Mossberg on the 360 PSP: Wall Street Journal gives us its impressions
Japanese doctors recommend Brain Training for seniors
Nintendo's line of brain-training games for the DS has found success among a wide range of ages in Japan, but its success with seniors has now been noted even among doctors and hospitals over there.According to the Associated Press, some hospitals have started placing DSes in waiting rooms and wards for patients. An administrator of a "memory loss clinic" in a Kyoto hospital said that doctors there have gone so far as to recommend the purchase of a DS and a game for elderly people to "stimulate their brains regularly at home," even watching patients play as an informal method of diagnosing dementia.Apparently, "Sony rushed out its own version of brain-training software in October but has yet to release sales figures." It's unlikely that the title could match the millions of units sold by its DS-based rival, but regardless of who's ahead, the gaming community should be pleased that 67-year-olds are now eager to "play a little everyday before going to bed," maybe even beating their grown-up children at the game someday.[Thanks, madgamer & samsoon; via Go Nintendo & GameDaily BIZ]
Demo download stations hit NYC
Though they weren't due until next month, an avid Flickr user has discovered that the Nintendo DS download stations are already operational in the Nintendo World Store in New York City. After enterting the store and hitting "Download Play" in the DS' main menu, she grabbed a trial version of Brain Age, strangely ignoring the presence of Tetris DS. It shouldn't be too long now before the download stations roll out to the rest of the US and bathe countless gamers in free software, videos and deadly Wi-Fi radiation. If you see these glorious structures appearing in your area, let us know![Thanks dwarpdesign!]
Train your brain for less than $20
If there's anything that truly excites and delights me, it's the sight of a budget price label on a brand new game. When I burst into stores (I usually kick over a kiosk or two as well) this coming April in order to pick up Brain Age: Train Your Brain in an Unspecified Number of Minutes a Day, it seems that I'll will be greeted by just such an image.According to an article on MTV's website (yes, that's right), the game will be launching at the sweet price of $19.99, a significant drop from the usual $34.99 tag that accompanies new DS releases. That's like what, a $60 difference? No? I guess I'll have to flex my cortex, batter my gray matter and yes, train my brain on April 17. [Via Go Nintendo]
America: Nintendo will make you smarter
Nintendo have officially announced that the Brain Training series is coming to the North American DS under the wordy moniker, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day. Though it doesn't specify exactly how many minutes a day, we feel that it's probably safe to assume that if you own a DS, you can't possibly be that dumb. As for Gizmondo owners, well...Ah, but we jest! We know that everyone enjoys a bit of mental gymnastics, be it word conundrums or tricky mathematical enigmas. Brain Age looks to provide just that via an easy interface and the guiding hand of Japanese mad neuroscientist, Professor Ryuta Kawashima (his work inspired the game). Our dear friend, The Reggie, also chimes in to point out that Brain Age is like a trip to the gym for that squishy thing inside your skull."Our brain-training series, led by Brain Age, builds on the popularity of word and number puzzles and acts as a treadmill for the mind."Brain Age hits on 17 April and is followed shortly by Big Brain Academy, which releases on 30 May. The latter title is the second one in the Brain Training series, offering some more cerebral challenges and even multiplayer capability. The Brain Training games have already sold more than a million copies each in Japan and we expect it to do just as well on this side of the pond. We'd be stupid not to buy it.[Via Joystiq, thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
