Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day
Encyclopedia
Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (released as Sight Training: Enjoy Exercising and Relaxing Your Eyes in Europe
and Australia
) is a Touch! Generations
puzzle
video game developed by Namco Bandai
and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS
handheld
video game console
. It was released in Japan
on May 31, 2007 as and released in North America
on October 15, 2007.
The software was developed with the supervision of Hisao Ishigaki of the Aichi Institute of Technology. The game trains players how to relax their eyes and train them to be better.
Reception has been lukewarm. Critics were unimpressed with the training exercises. It won an award at the Games Convention in 2007.
in the sense that it retains the same calendar interface, requires the player to sign his or her name in a box, and allows the player to design the calendar stamps. It also has a "check" program and a list of exercises, and players gradually unlock further exercises as they accumulate stamps, like Brain Age. Unlike Brain Age, the player holds the game horizontally instead of rotating it 90 degrees. Unlike the Brain Age series, where the face of creator Ryuta Kawashima
prominently appears in the game, Ishigaki's face does not appear in Flash Focus.
The first part of the program is the "Eye Age Check," where players do several training exercises. The game then displays a number that tells the player how old his or her eyes are.
The training exercises are split into two groups: the "Core Training" and the "Sports Training." The Core Training games were described as the type of tests seen at an optometrist's office. The "Sports Training" involved strengthening vision through sports games such as table tennis
, basketball
, and baseball
. For instance, in baseball, players tap the screen when the baseball enters the strike zone
. Reviewers found the Sports Training games to be more visually impressive than the Core Training games.
The game was developed with the help of Hisao Ishigaki, a professor in the field of sports medicine who specializes in vision research, and has helped developed computer-assisted vision training programs for professional athletes.
Ishigaki states that there are two types of eyesight, the typical check at the doctor's office and visual ability, where the eye does things such as identify several objects at once. There are five types of visual ability:
Ishigaki thinks of this game as training the brain rather than the eye muscles.
, which is based on 22 reviews.
Reviewers were not impressed with the training exercises. Jeff Gerstmann said that the games were "a little too easy to be fun for long" and were not as empowering as Brain Age. Craig Harris said that the games could have been in any mini-game collection and thought that at least one of the games was more hand-eye coordination than actual vision training. Gamespy simply said that there just wasn't that much to do, and that the game only allows the player to record a performance in the exercises once a day.
Both Gamespy and IGN said that the lack of an extra game (such as Sudoku
or Dr. Mario
in the Brain Age games) was a drawback of the title.
In the end, Gerstmann concluded that the bargain price ($US 20) was just right for this set of games, and recommended it as a fun alternative to other training games. GameSpy mostly said the same thing, recommending it to gamers who like to put their brains to the test. Harris, however, said that Nintendo needed to do "a lot better" and that the game didn't have enough to make it a "full Nintendo product."
At the Games Convention
in Germany in August 2007, Flash Focus was nominated by a jury as one of the three "Best of Nintendo DS" games presented at that conference. The jury later picked the game as the best one, citing that it was "great fun."
Chicago White Sox
C A.J. Pierzynski stated that playing this game has helped him better recognize pitches while batting.
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...
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...
) is a 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:...
puzzle
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....
video game developed by Namco Bandai
Namco Bandai
, also known as the Bandai Namco Group, is a Japanese holding company formed from the merger of Namco and Bandai. It has interests in toys, video games and arcades, anime, and amusement parks. The new entity was founded on September 29, 2005...
and published by Nintendo 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...
. It was 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...
on May 31, 2007 as and 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...
on October 15, 2007.
The software was developed with the supervision of Hisao Ishigaki of the Aichi Institute of Technology. The game trains players how to relax their eyes and train them to be better.
Reception has been lukewarm. Critics were unimpressed with the training exercises. It won an award at the Games Convention in 2007.
Gameplay
The interface of Flash Focus was compared much to Brain AgeBrain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
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...
in the sense that it retains the same calendar interface, requires the player to sign his or her name in a box, and allows the player to design the calendar stamps. It also has a "check" program and a list of exercises, and players gradually unlock further exercises as they accumulate stamps, like Brain Age. Unlike Brain Age, the player holds the game horizontally instead of rotating it 90 degrees. Unlike the Brain Age series, where the face of creator 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...
prominently appears in the game, Ishigaki's face does not appear in Flash Focus.
The first part of the program is the "Eye Age Check," where players do several training exercises. The game then displays a number that tells the player how old his or her eyes are.
The training exercises are split into two groups: the "Core Training" and the "Sports Training." The Core Training games were described as the type of tests seen at an optometrist's office. The "Sports Training" involved strengthening vision through sports games such as table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
. For instance, in baseball, players tap the screen when the baseball enters the strike zone
Strike zone
In baseball, the strike zone is a conceptual right pentagonal prism over home plate which defines the boundaries through which a pitch must pass in order to count as a strike when the batter does not swing.-Definition:...
. Reviewers found the Sports Training games to be more visually impressive than the Core Training games.
Core Training
- Puzzle Match
- Use C Order
- Numbers Counting
- Matching Game
- C Tap
- Spot Count
- Draw C
- Number Adding
- Spot Draw
- Spot Tap
Sports Training
- Volleyball Power
- Bowling
- Shooting
- Hockey
- Golf
- Tennis
- Billiards
- Swimming
- Archery
- Canoeing
Development
Flash Focus was first shown at E3 2007, where Nintendo showed off two mini-games.The game was developed with the help of Hisao Ishigaki, a professor in the field of sports medicine who specializes in vision research, and has helped developed computer-assisted vision training programs for professional athletes.
Ishigaki states that there are two types of eyesight, the typical check at the doctor's office and visual ability, where the eye does things such as identify several objects at once. There are five types of visual ability:
- Dynamic visual acuity - Seeing moving objects
- Momentary vision - Process a lot of information at once
- Eye movement - Be able to move eyes around fast
- Peripheral vision - See in a wide range
- Hand-eye coordination - See with the eye and accurately move with the hands
Ishigaki thinks of this game as training the brain rather than the eye muscles.
Reception
Flash Focus currently has an aggregate rating of 60% on Game RankingsGame Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
, which is based on 22 reviews.
Reviewers were not impressed with the training exercises. Jeff Gerstmann said that the games were "a little too easy to be fun for long" and were not as empowering as Brain Age. Craig Harris said that the games could have been in any mini-game collection and thought that at least one of the games was more hand-eye coordination than actual vision training. Gamespy simply said that there just wasn't that much to do, and that the game only allows the player to record a performance in the exercises once a day.
Both Gamespy and IGN said that the lack of an extra game (such as 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...
or Dr. Mario
Dr. Mario
Dr. Mario may refer to:* Dr. Mario , a 1990 arcade-style puzzle video game by Nintendo- People :* Jorge Mario García Laguardia, also known as Dr. Jorge Mario García Laguardia, a Guatemalan jurist...
in the Brain Age games) was a drawback of the title.
In the end, Gerstmann concluded that the bargain price ($US 20) was just right for this set of games, and recommended it as a fun alternative to other training games. GameSpy mostly said the same thing, recommending it to gamers who like to put their brains to the test. Harris, however, said that Nintendo needed to do "a lot better" and that the game didn't have enough to make it a "full Nintendo product."
At the Games Convention
Games Convention
The Games Convention, sometimes called the Leipzig Games Convention and abbreviated as GC, was an annual video game event held in Leipzig, Germany, first held in 2002. Besides video games, the event also covers Infotainment, Hardware, and Edutainment...
in Germany in August 2007, Flash Focus was nominated by a jury as one of the three "Best of Nintendo DS" games presented at that conference. The jury later picked the game as the best one, citing that it was "great fun."
Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
C A.J. Pierzynski stated that playing this game has helped him better recognize pitches while batting.