Full title: Touhoku University's Future Technology Collaborative Research Centre's Professor Ryuuta Kawashima presents: DS Brain Training for Adults IMPRESSIONS!
As requested in another thread, here are some impressions of the latest (non-)game from Nintendo.
Before I get into the meat of the (non-)game, I'd like to give a little bit of background. It's based on a book with a similar title, written by Professor Ryuuta Kawashima. The book is designed to invigorate adults' brains, to sharpen you up. I bought it on Monday last week, and since then have played it religiously every day. So has my wife... and she hates games.
You start by rotating the DS - there are settings for left- and right-handed people, and you hold it like a book, with the screens representing the right and left pages. The static screen displays questions and you write/draw your answers on the touch screen. There are some parts that require you to speak the answers too.
The (non-)game includes a calendar, and you can put a stamp on the calendar when you complete some training that day. You start off with three different types of training. 20 sums, 100 sums and reading aloud. As you play the (non-)game more, new training exercises will open, including syllable counting, people counting, and others I have yet to unlock. There are smaller bonuses, like being able to edit the stamp you use on the calendar, and things like that too.
You can also test your brain's age once a day. To do this, you are subjected to 3 random tests which differ from the exercises above. Everyday (at least so far), you'll start off with a test where you have to read the colours of words aloud. Say you have "black" and it's displayed in red, you have to say "red". There are four different colours. Another couple of tests and the software determines the age of your brain today, based on speed and accuracy of your responses. The first time I played it, my brain was 54, and now I've got down to between 20 and 25. 20 is the youngest for this software (20 is the age you become an adult in Japan).
Overall, it's like a serious version of Made in Wario. It's fun, the exercises and tests are short and sharp, and you get actual real results out of it. As an aside, in June there is another piece of software coming out that is supposed to get your brain to work in different ways. That looks like another must-buy!
And finally, some obligatory pics:
The parts of your brain used for simple thought
The parts of your brain used for multiple calculations
The parts of your brain used when doing quick sums
The parts of your brain used for reading a book aloud
As requested in another thread, here are some impressions of the latest (non-)game from Nintendo.
Before I get into the meat of the (non-)game, I'd like to give a little bit of background. It's based on a book with a similar title, written by Professor Ryuuta Kawashima. The book is designed to invigorate adults' brains, to sharpen you up. I bought it on Monday last week, and since then have played it religiously every day. So has my wife... and she hates games.
You start by rotating the DS - there are settings for left- and right-handed people, and you hold it like a book, with the screens representing the right and left pages. The static screen displays questions and you write/draw your answers on the touch screen. There are some parts that require you to speak the answers too.
The (non-)game includes a calendar, and you can put a stamp on the calendar when you complete some training that day. You start off with three different types of training. 20 sums, 100 sums and reading aloud. As you play the (non-)game more, new training exercises will open, including syllable counting, people counting, and others I have yet to unlock. There are smaller bonuses, like being able to edit the stamp you use on the calendar, and things like that too.
You can also test your brain's age once a day. To do this, you are subjected to 3 random tests which differ from the exercises above. Everyday (at least so far), you'll start off with a test where you have to read the colours of words aloud. Say you have "black" and it's displayed in red, you have to say "red". There are four different colours. Another couple of tests and the software determines the age of your brain today, based on speed and accuracy of your responses. The first time I played it, my brain was 54, and now I've got down to between 20 and 25. 20 is the youngest for this software (20 is the age you become an adult in Japan).
Overall, it's like a serious version of Made in Wario. It's fun, the exercises and tests are short and sharp, and you get actual real results out of it. As an aside, in June there is another piece of software coming out that is supposed to get your brain to work in different ways. That looks like another must-buy!
And finally, some obligatory pics:
The parts of your brain used for simple thought
The parts of your brain used for multiple calculations
The parts of your brain used when doing quick sums
The parts of your brain used for reading a book aloud
