Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
Encyclopedia
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!, also known as Dr. Kawashima's
Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? in PAL regions, is an entertainment
video game that employs puzzles
. It was developed and published by the video gaming company Nintendo
for the Nintendo DS
handheld
video game console
. Nintendo has been careful not to claim the game has been scientifically validated
, however stating that it is an "entertainment product 'inspired' by Dr. Kawashima's work in the neuroscience
s."
It was first released in Japan
, and was later released in North America
, Europe
, Australia
, and South Korea
. It was followed by a sequel titled Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!, and was later followed by two redesigns and Brain Age Express for the Nintendo DSi
's DSiWare service which uses popular puzzles from these titles as well as several new puzzles.
Brain Age features a variety of puzzles, including stroop tests
, mathematical
questions, and Sudoku
puzzles, all designed to help keep certain parts of the brain active. It was included in the Touch! Generations
series of video games, a series which features games for a more casual gaming audience. Brain Age uses the touch screen and microphone for many puzzles. There has been controversy over the game's scientific effectiveness.
Brain Age is designed to be played a little each day, similar to the Nintendogs
titles and Animal Crossing: Wild World
. The Nintendo DS is held on its side, with the touch screen on the right for right-handed people and the left for left-handed people. The game is entirely touch and voice-controlled – the player either writes the answer to the puzzle on the touch screen or speaks it into the microphone. Before the player can begin a Brain Age session, he or she must input information. First, players must confirm the date and select which hand they write with. The player then inputs his or her name and date of birth.
At the end of all Brain Age Check puzzles, Training puzzles, Quick Play puzzles, and Sudoku puzzles, the player is shown how quickly he or she completed it, the player's speed (according to metaphors such as "bicycle speed" and "jet speed", the highest being "rocket speed"), and a tip for either improving the player's brain or a game-related tip. If the player's time or score in Brain Age Check or Training is high enough, it will appear on one or both of the Top Three. The Top Three shown is the player's own top three attempts at a puzzle, while he or she can also compare the top three with those of other saved players.
While the player is navigating the menus outside of the puzzles, Professor Kawashima appears to prompt and encourage the user. Brain Age allows up to four players to save profiles on one DS game card, and these players can interact with each other in several different ways. There are five modes of play – Brain Age Check, Training, Quick Play, Download, and Sudoku.
When starting a session, Kawashima may ask the player to participate in a Picture-Drawing Quiz, which requires the player to draw a person, place, or thing by memory using the touch screen. After the player has done all three, the game will compare his or her drawing to an example created by the game developers, along with advice of what to emphasize on below its image. If more than one player profile is saved on the game card, images for the day can be compared to those of other players.
Kawashima may also ask the player to participate in a Memory Quiz, which requires the player to recall a recent event, such as what the player ate or the most interesting thing you saw on television the day before. Several days later, it will ask for the answer you provided, and will then compare the answer given several days ago and the answer given on the current day to test your recollection skills. The player is not scored on his or her ability to remember. The purpose of these tasks is to help the player improve his or her recollection.
Once the player confirms whether or not he or she can speak into the microphone, Professor Kawashima will describe the first puzzle. If the player answered that he can speak, the game begins with a Stroop test
; if the player cannot use the microphone, the game picks a random puzzle from the following: Calculations X 20, Word Memory, Connect Maze, Number Cruncher, and Speed Counting.
During the Stroop Test, the game will display one of four words: blue, black, yellow, and red. A random word will appear on screen, one after another, each appearing in a random color (which may not match the color denoted by the word). The player is instructed to say the color of the word, rather than its semantic meaning (e.g., if the word Yellow appears in blue letters, the player should say "blue" – see Stroop effect
for details).
In Speed Counting, which requires speaking but does not use the microphone, the player counts up from one to 120 as fast as he can without slurring the names of numbers.
Word Memory gives the player a list of 30 four-letter words. The player is given two minutes to study the list and memorize as many words as possible. After this two minutes is up, the player must write down as many words as he or she can in three minutes. Another puzzle called Connect Maze gives players a randomly created group of circles, with letters and numbers in them. There is one circle for every letter in "A" through "M", as well as a circle for every number from 1 to 13. The player must then connect a line between a letter and a number, starting with "A". The player must connect the letter "A" to the number one, and then connect it to the letter "B" and then the number two, and so on until the player reaches 13.
Calculations X 20 presents the player with 20 mathematical equations, including addition
, subtraction
, and multiplication
. On the top screen are the questions, which scroll up as they are answered (whether correctly or incorrectly), while the touch screen is used to write out the answer.
In Number Cruncher, the player is presented with a series of screens displaying several numbers, which vary in their appearance and on-screen behavior. For instance, a screen may display five blue numbers, three red numbers, and one moving yellow number, and above it is a question, such as "how many blue numbers are there?", which the player must answer as quickly and accurately as possible.
1. Calculations X 20 which is the same as the one found in the Brain Age Check. One question will appear on the top screen, and the player must hand-write the answer on the touch screen. There are a total of 20 questions, including addition, subtraction, and multiplication.
2. Calculations X 100, which is the same as Calculations X 20, although with 100 questions instead of 20. It features a Hard mode, which has the same mechanics but adds division problems.
3, Reading Aloud, which gives the player an excerpt from a classic story such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
or Little Women
, and tasks the player with reading the story aloud to see how quickly he or she can do it. The player progresses through the excerpt by pushing Next, until he or she reaches the end of the excerpt. If the player pushes Next too quickly, the puzzle will end prematurely.
4. Low to High features several boxes on both screens, each in the same pattern as each other. The game will count down at varying speeds, and when it hits zero, numbers will appear in these boxes for a short period of time. Afterwards, the player must touch the boxes on the touch screen from lowest number to highest by memorizing the numbers on the top screen. Afterwards, the game will introduce one puzzle after the other in a similar fashion. The quantity of boxes to memorize increases after each correct answer, and decreases after each incorrect answer, with the minimum quantity of boxes being four.
5. Syllable Count shows several phrases, one after the other, on the top screen, and the player must write the number of syllable
s in each phrase on the touch screen.
6. Head Count features a group of people on the top screen (e.g. 4). After a few seconds to allow the player to count the number of people, a house falls over them. The player must watch the screen carefully, as the people inside will leave the house and more people will enter the house. This will eventually cease, and the game asks the player to write down how many people are currently in the house. The puzzle gets more difficult as the player progresses in it. There is also a hard mode in which people also come in and out of the chimney.
7. Triangle Math has a series of mathematical equations that the player must solve. It is designed similarly to the Calculation puzzles, in that the equation appears on one screen, and the player writes the answer on the touch screen. The equations involve three numbers and two mathematical operations (e.g., 3 + 4 + 8 or 3 − 4 + 8), and are solved by performing the first operation, and then the second. This also features a hard mode where an extra tier is added to the triangle.
8. Time Lapse displays two analog clocks (eg. one at 2:45 and one at 7:30), and requires the player to calculate the difference in time between these clocks.
9. Voice Calculation, which is similar to the Calculations puzzles. However, this puzzle requires the player to speak the correct answer into the microphone instead of write it on the touch screen, similar to the Stroop Test.
Included in the North America
n, Europe
an, and Australia
n versions of this game is a Sudoku
mode, which features more than 100 puzzles across three different modes – Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Sudoku involves a 9x9 grid with numbers in every square. Some of these numbers are visible, while others are not. The objective is to fill in the hidden numbers using the visible numbers as hints. Each row, column, and 3x3 grid has nine squares in it, and each must contain each number in the range from 1 to 9.
One study involved 600 Scottish students with one group of students who played twenty minutes of Brain Age before class daily for nine weeks and a control group that studied regularly. The students were tested at the beginning and end of the study. In the end, the group that played Brain Age improved test scores by 50%. The time to complete the tests in the Brain Age group dropped by five minutes, and this improvement doubled that of the control group.
Another study involving 67 ten-year-olds found no evidence to support claims that Brain Age improves cognitive function better than other means of training one's brain. Professor of cognitive psychology Alain Lieury at the University of Rennes, France said, "The Nintendo DS is a technological jewel. As a game it's fine. But it is charlatanism to claim that it is a scientific test." Helping children with homework, reading, playing Scrabble or Sudoku, or watching documentaries, matched or beat the benefits of Brain Age. The children were split into four groups. The first two completed a seven-week memory course on a Nintendo DS, the third did puzzles with pencils and paper, and the fourth went to school as normal. Researchers found that children playing Brain Age failed to show any significant improvement in memory tests. They did do 19% better in mathematics but so did the pencil-and-paper group, and the fourth group did 18% better. In memorization, the pencil-and-paper group had a 33% improvement, while the Brain Age group performed 17% worse. In logic tests, the Brain Age group had a 10% improvement as did the pencil-and-paper group. The children who had no training improved 20%.
It has also been stated that the same effects of "keeping the brain sharp" can be achieved by either playing Sudoku
, Tetris
or talking with friends.
was looking for something new to develop that would appeal to both traditional and casual gamers. In one of the meetings, the Chief Financial Officer of Nintendo's Japanese division suggested reviewing a published book titled Train Your Brain: 60 Days to a Better Brain
, which was enjoying a great deal of success in Japan. Satoru Iwata
, the president of Nintendo, arranged for a meeting with Professor Ryuta Kawashima
, the author of the book.
As both Iwata and Professor Kawashima were too busy to meet under normal circumstances, they both agreed to meet for an hour during the Nintendo DS
launch. The original meeting became a brainstorming session that lasted for three hours, in which Professor Kawashima explained the basics of his studies. Iwata assigned a team of nine developers to develop the game and to have it ready in 90 days for demonstration.
Brain Age' s sound director was Masami Yone, while the music was composed by Minako Hamano and Akito Nakatsuka, both having composed music for Nintendo games as early as 1993 and 1987 respectively. The main menu song from this game was later used in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
.
Brain Age met with positive sales figures. The game debuted selling around 43,000 copies in May 2005, considered a good number for an educational title. Although most titles only stay in the Japanese weekly top ten list of games for a couple of weeks, DS Training for Adults managed to stay, as of January 2006, between the most sold games for 34 weeks (except three weeks). As of June 11, 2006, Brain Training has sold 2,322,970 copies in Japan alone. It was the 94th best-selling game in Japan in 2008, selling 140,992 copies, with total lifetime sales of 3,750,890. During its first three weeks on sale in North America, Brain Age sold 120,000 copies, becoming the fifteenth title in the top U.S. video game charts during the month of May in terms of units sold. The title has stayed in the top ten of both Amazon
and Best Buy
list since its release. In Europe, Brain Training received critical acclaim, becoming number 1 in the Nintendo DS
sales chart, and number 4 in the all-platforms chart on debut, and selling more than 500,000 units in just over two months. As of January 22, 2007, Brain Training has sold over 2 million copies in Europe. As of October 30, 2007, Brain Training has sold over one million copies in the United Kingdom
. As of March 31, 2009, Brain Age and Brain Training combined have sold 17.41 million copies worldwide, according to Nintendo. It was the 10th best-selling Nintendo DS game of December 2008 in the United States.
The game was received with generally positive reviews in the Western market, though some criticized the game for poor voice and handwriting recognition at times. The game's design earned it Edge magazine
's EIEF06 Edge Award for innovation. In 2007, Brain Age received the Interactive Achievement Awards for handheld game of the year. The game has also been featured in numerous media apparitions including newspapers and television in different countries, including the United States (Time
magazine and Discovery Channel
) and Australia (featured in Seven News). Wired
included the game in its list of "The 15 Most Influential Games of the Decade" at #5, due to how it "bucked the dominant trends" and "ushered in the era of games that are (supposedly) good for you, like Wii Fit
."
puzzles of different levels of difficulty. Nintendo gave out copies of the North American version of Brain Age at the 2006 Game Developers Conference
. They also shipped free retail versions to special members of the Nintendo NSider Forums. Both groups received their copies before the official release date. It has also been given away to certain retailers with the purchase of a Nintendo DS Lite
.
The game was released as "Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?" in the UK and Ireland. Like the American version, this version also features Sudoku. All 3 parts are saved on one cartridge. In the UK, its initial television commercials featured Chris Tarrant
. Nicole Kidman
, Ronan Keating
, and Patrick Stewart
feature in current European commercials for the Brain Training series.
Nintendo Australia
featured an ad campaign that coincided with its Australian release. During the period of June 15, 2006 to July 17, 2006, Nintendo Australia stated that for every copy of Brain Training purchased, Nintendo would donate $1.00 to Alzheimer's Australia.
The game was one of the launch title
s for the DS Lite
in South Korea
, along with English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills!. It was released on January 18, 2007.
Ryuta Kawashima
is a Japanese neuroscientist known in PAL regions for his appearance in the Brain Training series of video games for the Nintendo DS -Biography:Kawashima was born...
Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? in PAL regions, is an entertainment
Entertainment
Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...
video game that employs puzzles
Computer puzzle game
Puzzle video games are a genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles to be solved can test many problem solving skills including logic, strategy, pattern recognition, sequence solving, and word completion....
. It was developed and published by the video gaming company Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
handheld
Handheld game console
A handheld game console is a lightweight, portable electronic device with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are run on machines of small size allowing people to carry them and play them at any time or place...
video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
. Nintendo has been careful not to claim the game has been scientifically validated
Empirical validation
An empirical validation of a hypothesis is required for it togain acceptance in the scientific community. Normally this validation is achieved by the scientific method of hypothesis commitment, experimental design, peer review, adversarial review, reproduction of results, conference presentation...
, however stating that it is an "entertainment product 'inspired' by Dr. Kawashima's work in the neuroscience
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
s."
It was first released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and was later released in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. It was followed by a sequel titled Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!, and was later followed by two redesigns and Brain Age Express for the Nintendo DSi
Nintendo DSi
The is a handheld game system created by Nintendo and launched in 2008 and 2009 in Japan, North America, PAL territories, and other regions. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival is Sony's PlayStation Portable...
's DSiWare service which uses popular puzzles from these titles as well as several new puzzles.
Brain Age features a variety of puzzles, including stroop tests
Stroop effect
Purple Blue Purple----Blue Purple RedGreen Purple Green----the Stroop effect refers to the fact that naming the color of the first set of words is easier and quicker than the second....
, mathematical
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
questions, and Sudoku
Sudoku
is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 sub-grids that compose the grid contains all of the digits from 1 to 9...
puzzles, all designed to help keep certain parts of the brain active. It was included in the Touch! Generations
Touch! Generations
is a Nintendo brand used for the Nintendo DS and Wii showing games created to appeal to a broader audience than the traditional gamer. Nintendo have announced that they will be retiring the brand with the launch of the Nintendo 3DS.-Games:...
series of video games, a series which features games for a more casual gaming audience. Brain Age uses the touch screen and microphone for many puzzles. There has been controversy over the game's scientific effectiveness.
Gameplay
Nintendogs
is a real-time pet simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was first released in Japan, and was later released in North America, Australia, Europe, and other regions. It was originally released in three different versions:...
titles and Animal Crossing: Wild World
Animal Crossing: Wild World
is a 2005 social simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console, and is the second game in the Animal Crossing series....
. The Nintendo DS is held on its side, with the touch screen on the right for right-handed people and the left for left-handed people. The game is entirely touch and voice-controlled – the player either writes the answer to the puzzle on the touch screen or speaks it into the microphone. Before the player can begin a Brain Age session, he or she must input information. First, players must confirm the date and select which hand they write with. The player then inputs his or her name and date of birth.
At the end of all Brain Age Check puzzles, Training puzzles, Quick Play puzzles, and Sudoku puzzles, the player is shown how quickly he or she completed it, the player's speed (according to metaphors such as "bicycle speed" and "jet speed", the highest being "rocket speed"), and a tip for either improving the player's brain or a game-related tip. If the player's time or score in Brain Age Check or Training is high enough, it will appear on one or both of the Top Three. The Top Three shown is the player's own top three attempts at a puzzle, while he or she can also compare the top three with those of other saved players.
While the player is navigating the menus outside of the puzzles, Professor Kawashima appears to prompt and encourage the user. Brain Age allows up to four players to save profiles on one DS game card, and these players can interact with each other in several different ways. There are five modes of play – Brain Age Check, Training, Quick Play, Download, and Sudoku.
When starting a session, Kawashima may ask the player to participate in a Picture-Drawing Quiz, which requires the player to draw a person, place, or thing by memory using the touch screen. After the player has done all three, the game will compare his or her drawing to an example created by the game developers, along with advice of what to emphasize on below its image. If more than one player profile is saved on the game card, images for the day can be compared to those of other players.
Kawashima may also ask the player to participate in a Memory Quiz, which requires the player to recall a recent event, such as what the player ate or the most interesting thing you saw on television the day before. Several days later, it will ask for the answer you provided, and will then compare the answer given several days ago and the answer given on the current day to test your recollection skills. The player is not scored on his or her ability to remember. The purpose of these tasks is to help the player improve his or her recollection.
Brain Age Check
The game includes four modes: Brain Age Check, Training, Quick Play, and Sudoku. The Brain Age Check gives the player three puzzles to complete. The first is usually a Stroop test, although the player can choose to skip the Stroop test if he or she is not in a quiet environment or is otherwise unable to speak into the microphone. At the end of the Brain Age Check, the game reports on the players "brain age", a theoretical assessment of the age of the player's brain. The higher the brain age, the worse the player performed. The best possible score is 20, according with Kawashima's theory that the brain stops developing at 20. The player may replay the Brain Age Check, but it will not change the brain age for the day.Once the player confirms whether or not he or she can speak into the microphone, Professor Kawashima will describe the first puzzle. If the player answered that he can speak, the game begins with a Stroop test
Stroop effect
Purple Blue Purple----Blue Purple RedGreen Purple Green----the Stroop effect refers to the fact that naming the color of the first set of words is easier and quicker than the second....
; if the player cannot use the microphone, the game picks a random puzzle from the following: Calculations X 20, Word Memory, Connect Maze, Number Cruncher, and Speed Counting.
During the Stroop Test, the game will display one of four words: blue, black, yellow, and red. A random word will appear on screen, one after another, each appearing in a random color (which may not match the color denoted by the word). The player is instructed to say the color of the word, rather than its semantic meaning (e.g., if the word Yellow appears in blue letters, the player should say "blue" – see Stroop effect
Stroop effect
Purple Blue Purple----Blue Purple RedGreen Purple Green----the Stroop effect refers to the fact that naming the color of the first set of words is easier and quicker than the second....
for details).
In Speed Counting, which requires speaking but does not use the microphone, the player counts up from one to 120 as fast as he can without slurring the names of numbers.
Word Memory gives the player a list of 30 four-letter words. The player is given two minutes to study the list and memorize as many words as possible. After this two minutes is up, the player must write down as many words as he or she can in three minutes. Another puzzle called Connect Maze gives players a randomly created group of circles, with letters and numbers in them. There is one circle for every letter in "A" through "M", as well as a circle for every number from 1 to 13. The player must then connect a line between a letter and a number, starting with "A". The player must connect the letter "A" to the number one, and then connect it to the letter "B" and then the number two, and so on until the player reaches 13.
Calculations X 20 presents the player with 20 mathematical equations, including addition
Addition
Addition is a mathematical operation that represents combining collections of objects together into a larger collection. It is signified by the plus sign . For example, in the picture on the right, there are 3 + 2 apples—meaning three apples and two other apples—which is the same as five apples....
, subtraction
Subtraction
In arithmetic, subtraction is one of the four basic binary operations; it is the inverse of addition, meaning that if we start with any number and add any number and then subtract the same number we added, we return to the number we started with...
, and multiplication
Multiplication
Multiplication is the mathematical operation of scaling one number by another. It is one of the four basic operations in elementary arithmetic ....
. On the top screen are the questions, which scroll up as they are answered (whether correctly or incorrectly), while the touch screen is used to write out the answer.
In Number Cruncher, the player is presented with a series of screens displaying several numbers, which vary in their appearance and on-screen behavior. For instance, a screen may display five blue numbers, three red numbers, and one moving yellow number, and above it is a question, such as "how many blue numbers are there?", which the player must answer as quickly and accurately as possible.
Training
The Training mode allows the player to play a variety of puzzles, with all but one of the puzzles being exclusive to the Training mode. Once the player completes at least one puzzle, Kawashima awards him or her with a stamp, which he places on the current date. If the player places at least three puzzles, the stamp will expand in size. After accumulating a certain number of stamps, Kawashima will award him or her with a new puzzle, difficulty mode, or additional feature under the Options menu. Each puzzle can be played as many times as the player likes, although only the first play-through of the day will count in the graph for that puzzle.Puzzles
There are nine puzzles in Training mode:1. Calculations X 20 which is the same as the one found in the Brain Age Check. One question will appear on the top screen, and the player must hand-write the answer on the touch screen. There are a total of 20 questions, including addition, subtraction, and multiplication.
2. Calculations X 100, which is the same as Calculations X 20, although with 100 questions instead of 20. It features a Hard mode, which has the same mechanics but adds division problems.
3, Reading Aloud, which gives the player an excerpt from a classic story such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in Birmingham, England, and first published in 1820...
or Little Women
Little Women
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott . The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869...
, and tasks the player with reading the story aloud to see how quickly he or she can do it. The player progresses through the excerpt by pushing Next, until he or she reaches the end of the excerpt. If the player pushes Next too quickly, the puzzle will end prematurely.
4. Low to High features several boxes on both screens, each in the same pattern as each other. The game will count down at varying speeds, and when it hits zero, numbers will appear in these boxes for a short period of time. Afterwards, the player must touch the boxes on the touch screen from lowest number to highest by memorizing the numbers on the top screen. Afterwards, the game will introduce one puzzle after the other in a similar fashion. The quantity of boxes to memorize increases after each correct answer, and decreases after each incorrect answer, with the minimum quantity of boxes being four.
5. Syllable Count shows several phrases, one after the other, on the top screen, and the player must write the number of syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
s in each phrase on the touch screen.
6. Head Count features a group of people on the top screen (e.g. 4). After a few seconds to allow the player to count the number of people, a house falls over them. The player must watch the screen carefully, as the people inside will leave the house and more people will enter the house. This will eventually cease, and the game asks the player to write down how many people are currently in the house. The puzzle gets more difficult as the player progresses in it. There is also a hard mode in which people also come in and out of the chimney.
7. Triangle Math has a series of mathematical equations that the player must solve. It is designed similarly to the Calculation puzzles, in that the equation appears on one screen, and the player writes the answer on the touch screen. The equations involve three numbers and two mathematical operations (e.g., 3 + 4 + 8 or 3 − 4 + 8), and are solved by performing the first operation, and then the second. This also features a hard mode where an extra tier is added to the triangle.
8. Time Lapse displays two analog clocks (eg. one at 2:45 and one at 7:30), and requires the player to calculate the difference in time between these clocks.
9. Voice Calculation, which is similar to the Calculations puzzles. However, this puzzle requires the player to speak the correct answer into the microphone instead of write it on the touch screen, similar to the Stroop Test.
Quick Play
Quick Play can be played by anyone, whether he or she has a saved file or not. Quick Play allows the player to play three modes – Quick Brain Age Check, Quick Training, and Quick Sudoku, all only providing the player with one of the easy puzzles in each of these modes to try. Quick Brain Age Check only allows the player to play the stroop test. In Quick Training, the game only allows the player to play Calculations X 20. And in Quick Sudoku, the play may only play the easiest Sudoku puzzle available. At the end of each session, the player's brain age or time will be assessed, and Kawashima will give a preview of the full game.Download
A player with a copy of Brain Age can send certain game data to other Nintendo DS consoles using the DS Download Play feature. He or she may either download Quick Play mode to this player's Nintendo DS, or Calculations X 30, a variation of the other Calculation puzzles which can be played by up to sixteen people.Sudoku
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an, and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n versions of this game is a Sudoku
Sudoku
is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 sub-grids that compose the grid contains all of the digits from 1 to 9...
mode, which features more than 100 puzzles across three different modes – Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Sudoku involves a 9x9 grid with numbers in every square. Some of these numbers are visible, while others are not. The objective is to fill in the hidden numbers using the visible numbers as hints. Each row, column, and 3x3 grid has nine squares in it, and each must contain each number in the range from 1 to 9.
Scientific effectiveness
Although the game was developed in conjunction with Professor Ryūta Kawashima, the effectiveness of the game in maintaining mental fitness amongst its users remains unclear. While studies have found an inverse correlation between level of mental stimulation and risk of dementia/Alzheimer's, it remains unclear whether users of Brain Age games achieve any preventative benefit from use of the games. Nevertheless many neurologists recommend the game for prevention of dementia/Alzheimer's. Nintendo of America has refused to support any scientific claims to the benefits of the game, stressing that they are in the entertainment business.One study involved 600 Scottish students with one group of students who played twenty minutes of Brain Age before class daily for nine weeks and a control group that studied regularly. The students were tested at the beginning and end of the study. In the end, the group that played Brain Age improved test scores by 50%. The time to complete the tests in the Brain Age group dropped by five minutes, and this improvement doubled that of the control group.
Another study involving 67 ten-year-olds found no evidence to support claims that Brain Age improves cognitive function better than other means of training one's brain. Professor of cognitive psychology Alain Lieury at the University of Rennes, France said, "The Nintendo DS is a technological jewel. As a game it's fine. But it is charlatanism to claim that it is a scientific test." Helping children with homework, reading, playing Scrabble or Sudoku, or watching documentaries, matched or beat the benefits of Brain Age. The children were split into four groups. The first two completed a seven-week memory course on a Nintendo DS, the third did puzzles with pencils and paper, and the fourth went to school as normal. Researchers found that children playing Brain Age failed to show any significant improvement in memory tests. They did do 19% better in mathematics but so did the pencil-and-paper group, and the fourth group did 18% better. In memorization, the pencil-and-paper group had a 33% improvement, while the Brain Age group performed 17% worse. In logic tests, the Brain Age group had a 10% improvement as did the pencil-and-paper group. The children who had no training improved 20%.
It has also been stated that the same effects of "keeping the brain sharp" can be achieved by either playing Sudoku
Sudoku
is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 sub-grids that compose the grid contains all of the digits from 1 to 9...
, Tetris
Tetris
Tetris is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in the Soviet Union. It was released on June 6, 1984, while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic...
or talking with friends.
Development
NintendoNintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
was looking for something new to develop that would appeal to both traditional and casual gamers. In one of the meetings, the Chief Financial Officer of Nintendo's Japanese division suggested reviewing a published book titled Train Your Brain: 60 Days to a Better Brain
Train Your Brain: 60 Days to a Better Brain
Train Your Brain: 60 Days to a Better Brain is an English language version of a Japanese book written by Ryuta Kawashima. The original book sold over a million copies in Japan. Dr. Kawashima found that by performing simple mathematical calculations and reading books aloud, one could retain mental...
, which was enjoying a great deal of success in Japan. Satoru Iwata
Satoru Iwata
is the fourth president of Nintendo, succeeding the long-standing previous president of the company, Hiroshi Yamauchi in 2002. He was responsible in great part for defining Nintendo's strategy both before and during the release of its Nintendo GameCube video game console in 2001, a vision which...
, the president of Nintendo, arranged for a meeting with Professor Ryuta Kawashima
Ryuta Kawashima
is a Japanese neuroscientist known in PAL regions for his appearance in the Brain Training series of video games for the Nintendo DS -Biography:Kawashima was born...
, the author of the book.
As both Iwata and Professor Kawashima were too busy to meet under normal circumstances, they both agreed to meet for an hour during the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
launch. The original meeting became a brainstorming session that lasted for three hours, in which Professor Kawashima explained the basics of his studies. Iwata assigned a team of nine developers to develop the game and to have it ready in 90 days for demonstration.
Brain Age
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl, known in Japan as , often abbreviated as SSBB or simply as Brawl, is the third installment in the Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games, developed by an ad hoc development team consisting of Sora, Game Arts and staff from other developers, and published by...
.
Reception
Initial reactions from retailers was concern about the new title's ability to sell. The most important retailers in Japan were given the game for 15 minutes to test it out. In the end, Nintendo secured nearly 70,000 orders for the first shipment, an amount above most expectations. In comparison, the sequel had over 850,000 orders placed before its launch.Brain Age met with positive sales figures. The game debuted selling around 43,000 copies in May 2005, considered a good number for an educational title. Although most titles only stay in the Japanese weekly top ten list of games for a couple of weeks, DS Training for Adults managed to stay, as of January 2006, between the most sold games for 34 weeks (except three weeks). As of June 11, 2006, Brain Training has sold 2,322,970 copies in Japan alone. It was the 94th best-selling game in Japan in 2008, selling 140,992 copies, with total lifetime sales of 3,750,890. During its first three weeks on sale in North America, Brain Age sold 120,000 copies, becoming the fifteenth title in the top U.S. video game charts during the month of May in terms of units sold. The title has stayed in the top ten of both Amazon
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
and Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
list since its release. In Europe, Brain Training received critical acclaim, becoming number 1 in the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
sales chart, and number 4 in the all-platforms chart on debut, and selling more than 500,000 units in just over two months. As of January 22, 2007, Brain Training has sold over 2 million copies in Europe. As of October 30, 2007, Brain Training has sold over one million copies in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. As of March 31, 2009, Brain Age and Brain Training combined have sold 17.41 million copies worldwide, according to Nintendo. It was the 10th best-selling Nintendo DS game of December 2008 in the United States.
The game was received with generally positive reviews in the Western market, though some criticized the game for poor voice and handwriting recognition at times. The game's design earned it Edge magazine
Edge (magazine)
Edge is a multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. It is known for its industry contacts, editorial stance, distinctive anonymous third-person writing style, yearly awards and longevity....
's EIEF06 Edge Award for innovation. In 2007, Brain Age received the Interactive Achievement Awards for handheld game of the year. The game has also been featured in numerous media apparitions including newspapers and television in different countries, including the United States (Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine and Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
) and Australia (featured in Seven News). Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
included the game in its list of "The 15 Most Influential Games of the Decade" at #5, due to how it "bucked the dominant trends" and "ushered in the era of games that are (supposedly) good for you, like Wii Fit
Wii Fit
is a video game developed by Nintendo for the company's home video game console, Wii, designed by Hiroshi Matsunaga. It is an exercise game consisting of activities using the Wii Balance Board peripheral...
."
International release
The positive sales figures and overall reception in Japan led to Brain Age being released in various countries around the world. In the North American market, the game is known as Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day and was released on April 17, 2006, and included 108 SudokuSudoku
is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 sub-grids that compose the grid contains all of the digits from 1 to 9...
puzzles of different levels of difficulty. Nintendo gave out copies of the North American version of Brain Age at the 2006 Game Developers Conference
Game Developers Conference
The Game Developers Conference is the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers, focusing on learning, inspiration, and networking...
. They also shipped free retail versions to special members of the Nintendo NSider Forums. Both groups received their copies before the official release date. It has also been given away to certain retailers with the purchase of a Nintendo DS Lite
Nintendo DS Lite
The is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It is a slimmer, brighter, and more lightweight redesign of the Nintendo DS, designed to be aesthetically sleeker, while taking styling cues from the Game Boy Advance SP, and to appeal to broader commercial audiences...
.
The game was released as "Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?" in the UK and Ireland. Like the American version, this version also features Sudoku. All 3 parts are saved on one cartridge. In the UK, its initial television commercials featured Chris Tarrant
Chris Tarrant
Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
. Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
, Ronan Keating
Ronan Keating
Ronan Patrick John Keating is an Irish recording artist, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Keating debuted on the professional music scene alongside Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Stephen Gately, in 1994 as the lead singer of Boyzone. His solo career started in 1999, and...
, and Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
feature in current European commercials for the Brain Training series.
Nintendo Australia
Nintendo Australia
Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd. established in 1994, located in Victoria is Australia's local head office, sales, licensing and distribution centre for products and other Intellectual Properties created by Nintendo Co., Ltd of Kyoto, Japan and is owned by Nintendo Co., Ltd in Japan. Prior distribution...
featured an ad campaign that coincided with its Australian release. During the period of June 15, 2006 to July 17, 2006, Nintendo Australia stated that for every copy of Brain Training purchased, Nintendo would donate $1.00 to Alzheimer's Australia.
The game was one of the launch title
Launch title
A launch game, or launch title, is a video game released to consumers synchronously with the release of its respective video game console, meaning they are the only available games at the time of the console's launch. Several of these games are also packaged with the console...
s for the DS Lite
Nintendo DS Lite
The is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It is a slimmer, brighter, and more lightweight redesign of the Nintendo DS, designed to be aesthetically sleeker, while taking styling cues from the Game Boy Advance SP, and to appeal to broader commercial audiences...
in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, along with English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills!. It was released on January 18, 2007.
See also
- Dual n-back - method of attempting to improve fluid intelligence
- Brain Age 2
- Big Brain AcademyBig Brain AcademyBig Brain Academy, known in Japan as , is a puzzle video game published and developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was first released in Japan on June 30, 2005, and was later released in North America on June 5, 2006, in Australia on July 5, 2006, and in Europe on...
and Big Brain Academy: Wii DegreeBig Brain Academy: Wii DegreeBig Brain Academy: Wii Degree, known in the PAL region as Big Brain Academy for Wii and in Japan as , is a video game released for the Wii. A sequel to the game Big Brain Academy for the Nintendo DS, it too measures a player's brain's weight, but with new games and puzzles to solve... - Brain BoostBrain BoostBrain Boost, also known as The Professor's Brain Trainer in Australia and Europe, is a series of three brain-training games developed by Interchannel for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. Brain Boost was originally released in 2005 in Japan...
- Brain ChallengeBrain ChallengeBrain Challenge is a mental exercise video game similar to Big Brain Academy, featuring "brain exercise puzzles". The game was developed by GameLoft for mobile phones and iPods and released on September 5, 2007. It was followed by a Nintendo DS version on January 8, 2008, an Xbox Live Arcade...
- Minna de Kitaeru Zenno TrainingMinna de Kitaeru Zenno Trainingis an arcade game released only in Japan by Namco Bandai Games on December 21, 2006.-Introduction:This game, like Brain Age, was supervised by Professor Ryuta Kawashima of Tohoku University. It uses the Rewritable Stage arcade cabinet...
- NeurodegenerationNeurodegenerationNeurodegeneration is the umbrella term for the progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, including death of neurons. Many neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s occur as a result of neurodegenerative processes. As research progresses, many...
- Touch! GenerationsTouch! Generationsis a Nintendo brand used for the Nintendo DS and Wii showing games created to appeal to a broader audience than the traditional gamer. Nintendo have announced that they will be retiring the brand with the launch of the Nintendo 3DS.-Games:...
Further reading
- Interview with the localization team at 1Up.com and Game Informer
- Mail interview with professor Ryūta Kawashima