Product Description

Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: "How Old Is Your Brain?" is the latest Japanese phenomenon on Nintendo DS - and now it's hitting Europe! If you're bored of playing games that don't stretch your brain cells and you'd like to give your grey matter an extensive workout, pick up this program. The tests have been devised in cooperation with Dr. Kawashima himself, a renowned neuroscientist. With Brain Training you can train both your mental awareness and your memory. Hold the DS vertically, like a book, and write your answers with the stylus on the touch screen. The exercises are quick challenges that help stimulate your brain. There's a combination of arithmetic, reading and memory tests, and the program calculates your score in the form of a 'brain age' by assessing the speed and accuracy by which you perform these simple tasks. The title has sold over 1.4 million copies in Japan and is hugely popular with young and old alike. And that's hardly surprising - because playing regularly for just a few minutes a day has been found to stimulate parts of the brain related to thinking, creativity and concentration. So if you want to tone your intellectual muscle, Brain Training is a fine way to get started!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Nintendo
• Model: 45496737122
• Published on: 2006-04
• Released on: 2006-06-09
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Nintendo DS
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .62" h x 4.95" w x 5.70" l, .25 pounds

Features

• Dr Kawashima's Brain Training for Nintendo DS is a fun
• rewarding form of entertainment everyone can enjoy
• as it helps players flex their mental muscles.

Amazon.co.uk Review
In a nutshell:
The portable phenomenon that has taken Japan by storm finally hits the UK. Part puzzle game, part self improvement tool this is the only game that’s both lots of fun and good for you – and that’s before you even start on Sudoku!

The lowdown:
Nothing about this game is ordinary, from the price to the way you hold the DS while playing it (vertically, as if you were reading a book). The basic idea is that you play through a series of puzzles each day, for about 10 minutes, and at the end of each session the "age" of your brain is calculated. The puzzles themselves range from simple maths questions to spot the difference, memorisation and comprehension. All of the answers are inputted either by drawing the answer on the touchscreen or speaking it into the DS’s in-built microphone. There’s also a multiplayer mode for up to 15 people where you can try and compete to record the youngest brain age.

Most exciting moment:
A brand new addition to the game, not included in the Japanese version, is a special DS version of Sudoku. This works great on the DS’s touch screen and is worth the already low price of admission on its own.

Since you ask:
A sister title to Brain Training, named Big Brain Academy, is due for release in July and offers to "weigh" your brain and improve specific skills such as memorisation and analysis. A direct sequel to Brain Training has also been released in Japan but is not yet scheduled for released in the UK.

The bottom line:
The only game that really is for the whole family – from kids to OAPs.
Harrison Dent

Manufacturer's Description
If you spend a lot of time with your favourite gaming handheld in public, you've probably heard this sentence once or twice before. While most people have no problem subscribing to beliefs that attribute increased reaction times and better hand-eye coordination to regular exposure to games, "making you smarter" isn't usually a trait associated with gaming.

This game was designed in collaboration with Professor Ryuuta Kawashima, who believes that regular "brain exercises" can counteract forgetfulness, help train memory and creative thinking. MRI (Magnetic Resonance Image) diagrams that measured brain activity of 120 test subjects between the ages of 20 and 70 at the university's Future Science Collaborative Research Center show the difference in brain activity in a variety of situations.

DS Brain Training takes the theories from Prof. Kawashima and runs with it. The software challenges players to perform a variety of exercises every day, from solving simple math problems to reading on-screen text out loud.

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly entertaining
I must admit, having heard about Brain Age (the US title of Brain Training) some time ago, I wasn't immediately interested. It seemed to me to be nothing more than a 'mini-game'; something frivolous and not to be taken seriously, all the more so when you notice it is priced at a lower point than other DS games.

However, suspending disbelief I purchased a copy to play with on my new DS Lite and was stunned at how good it is. Firstly, you must have your 'Brain Age' calculated, which involves completing a Stroop Test -- that is, coloured words appear and you must speak their colour into the microphone. Sounds easy? You'd think so, but it really isn't. When the word "Red" written in blue comes up, you have to say "blue". Surprisingly tricky. The voice recognition works almost-perfectly, slightly hiccupping on the word 'blue', but working very well other than that.

After that, you must perform small daily tasks that constitute your 'brain training'; tasks such as Calculations x 20 in which a series of small mental arithmetic puzzles appear on screen and you must work them out and write the answer on the touch-screen, which is then transcribed for you. Again, quite boring-sounding, but doing it against the clock -- and against your previous record -- is more fun than you might think. And the handwriting recognition works a charm too.

Other functions include the built-in Sudoku, not particularly well-integrated with the 'brain age' daily training (it forms more a separate add-on game) but still very worthwhile nevertheless. I found it far easier to use than doing a sudoku on paper, not least because you can easily write in miniature 'suggestions' in the corners of blank squares and delete them later on.

All-in-all, this is an excellent game to add to anyone's DS. It's charming, easy to pick up; you can play it with friends or family (it can link up with up to sixteen other DS units with just one game card) or just do a sudoku on your own. And -- more amazing than any of these things -- it makes maths fun! Scary stuff.

Doesn't recognise verbal answers ...
... most of the time.

It is, however, great fun. You start to compete against yourself to see if you can better your previous scores.

The multi player game choice is a little poor, but the solo play is great fun. The Doctors, tips can be a little long winded and I tend to find myself hitting the "next" button a lot.

It also contains a lot of sudoku puzzles - I'd never tried these before but they're actually quite addictive.

Addictive, accessible and great value
A very addictive experience and one that anybody who can read and count will enjoy. It's less unique now then it was a year ago because of the glut of similar titles inspired by it's success. But the original Brain Training still stands tall as one of the best games on the market today.
Through short daily activities and personal performance statistics Brain Training soon has you hooked. As you improve you unlock new games which give more variety to play.
The game really comes alive with 2 or more players. There's no wifi multiplayer, but players have their own files in the game which automatically compares performance stats and pictures. Perfect for a competitive family!
My only criticism is that you can get bored with the games after a month or so. But having said that, most full price games I've bought have only hooked me for about a month and loose a bit of sparkle after that so at the budget price that Brain Training retails for you can't really loose.
This is one of the only games that has instantly grabbed everyone I've have ever shown it to, right across the age range. Every family with a DS in the house should get a copy and this game is one of the reasons to own a DS in the first place.