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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%
'Dr. Kawashima's Body and Brain Exercises' ready to test North America and Europe in 2011
Dr. Kawashima's Kinect brain training will make its way to North America and Europe in 2011 as Dr. Kawashima's Body and Brain Exercises. The Namco Bandai title was previously announced for Japan with a November launch. We know Dr. Kawashima is qualified to train our brain, but we'll need to see his credentials for making us svelte. %Gallery-102404%
Brain Training celebrates 100th week in UK charts
Every Saturday, we document sales charts from the UK and other European countries, and every week, there's one game that appears in the UK top ten without fail: Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training. The sheer longevity of Brain Training's stay in the charts is genuinely exceptional, with this week marking the game's 100th consecutive week in the British charts.Since its June 2006 release, us Brits have seen the likes of Chris Tarrant (in happier times), Nicole Kidman and Patrick Stewart shilling Nintendo's mind-honing software, but we're curious: has it worked? Well, decide for yourselves.
Brain Training creator refuses millions in royalties
The Brain Training series of DS games has been incredibly profitable all across the globe, with 17 million titles sold worldwide. But Dr. Kawashima -- the floating head mascot and brilliant mind behind the series -- doesn't care about the money. In fact, he has refused to take any royalties from the games at all, proudly boasting that "not a single yen has gone in my pocket."The series' DS royalties alone are over 2.4 billion yen -- about 22 million dollars USD -- half of which Kawashima is entitled to (the other half going to Tohoku University, his employer). Rather than taking the money, Kawashima is content to support his family of four with his own wages, which are around $100,000 USD.A self-declared workaholic, Dr. Kawashima has dedicated his life to his research into the aging of human brain, which was the genesis of the Brain Training games. We're happy you like your job so much, but don't you think your wife and four sons could benefit from a bit of that brain money?
Brain Training rocked the UK in '07
A list of the top fifty best-selling games in the UK last year has surfaced, and the DS snagged six of the spots, though you may be somewhat surprised by what made it. Of course, considering that there are a lot more regular folks than there are "hardcore gamers" (and even the hardest of the hard like a little break now and again), you may not be that surprised after all.The original brain game, Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training, took the number two spot as the second best-selling title overall, and the sequel, More Brain Training, slid in at number five. Considering that Big Brain Academy turned up at number 37 (along with its console cousin at number 24), there must be a lot of healthy and exercised brains trundling around Dear Old Blighty these days. The other games that turned up were New Super Mario Bros., at number 13, Cooking Mama just above it in twelfth place, and way down near the bottom, Pokémon Diamond turned up at number 44. Perhaps our friends in the UK have already caught them all.
FIFA, Brain Training best selling UK games in 2007
EA Sports football (or "soccer" for the US audience) title FIFA 08 was the best-selling video game in the United Kingdom last year according to Chart-Track (via GamesIndustry.biz). The game reportedly sold 25% percent more than its closest rival, Dr Kawashima's Brain Training. Perhaps surprisingly, Microsoft's flagship Halo 3 came in sixth place with only half of FIFA 08's sales. Both FIFA 08 and Halo 3 were released in late September within days of each other. It should be noted that FIFA 08 was a multiplatform title available on six different consoles and the PC. Top ten list after the break.
Dr. Kawashima to ... cell phones?
Millions of DS users have found themselves charmed by Dr. Kawashima. Afterall, he's not bad looking for bodiless head, and he's a doctor. Mom would be so pleased!It seems, though, that the popular handheld is not enough to keep the good doctor satisfied, since later this month he'll be debuting on European cell phones (or mobiles, as they call them in those parts). The Brain Age ripoff game, called Brain Coach with Dr. Kawashima, will be licensed by Namco Bandai (not Nintendo), and will use daily exercises to track your level of brain aptitude. That sounds familiar ...And to think, we actually believed his sweet, encouraging words as we struggled with our math equations! When all this time he was just looking for younger, slimmer handhelds to play with. We thought you were different, Dr. Kawashima, but you just had to go and break our hearts.
Conjecture Countdown: 8 days to go
Even with a diminished E3, there's no controlling the wave of rumors that hit the Internet every year before the show. Why fight it? From now until E3 hits, we'll be posting one piece of wild speculation every day. Some may be patently ridiculous, and others just might turn out to be true. Even some of the ridiculous ones might turn out to be true! Rest assured, everything will be totally made-up and unfounded. Except, of course, when we speak about all the ass Reggie is going to kick. That part? Totally true.Rumor: The third Train Your Brain installment, Brain Age: With a Vengeance, will be announced for a late 2007 release. To keep the non-game series fresh, this third episode will come packed with popular gimmicks like customizable outfits, alternate endings, and a new, sinister villain -- Dark Dr. Kawashima!
Brain Training used to defeat dementia
According to a BBC report, Nintendo's hugely popular Brain Training titles are invading Japanese classrooms in an effort to help the older population get their minds in motion and running swiftly from encroaching dementia. How effective Dr. Kawashima's unnervingly polite floating head is at preventing or combating the condition (of which hallucination is a symptom) still hasn't been conclusively established, but for some people, keeping their minds active is enough.After demonstrating how to turn on the Nintendo DS and how to insert a game cartridge, the teacher has his elderly students engage in several different activities, not all of which are limited to Brain Training's repertoire of challenges. A golf game is used to train hand-eye coordination which, thanks to the DS' intuitive control scheme, seems to be quite easy to grasp. "It's not difficult to learn how to play them," says Atsuo Umetsu, one of the teachers. "After all I learnt, so everyone can do it." Though one of the students admits that she joined the class in order to better compete with her gamer sons, most are joining in the hopes of doing everything they can to avoid mental problems in a society where a large percentage of the population is older. Dr. Takao Suzuki, an expert when it comes to elderly affairs, points out that "nobody wants to get dementia so even if there is a very small possibility that it might work, most elderly people will want to do something in order to prevent dementia." And it's not just Nintendo that's reaching out to an older generation -- Namco has set up a day-care center allowing older people to bash drums and clobber cartoon crocodiles to their heart's content. Is this the key to defeating dementia? We don't know, but it sure sounds like fun, doesn't it?[Thanks Jon!]
