brain age

by [name redacted]

Week thirty-six of my ongoing, irreverent news column; originally posted at Next Generation

Game of the Week:

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day
Nintendo
Nintendo DS
Monday

Times sure are a-changin’. Even given that this game is the biggest sleeper hit in perhaps all of Japanese history (or at least since Godzilla), I dare you to imagine it getting released over here even five years ago. No, wait; Seaman came out in 2000. Let’s say seven years ago, then.

Not so much a game as a utility for daily life and health, Brain Age is essentially a set of mental exercises – math, especially – that you’re meant to run through once a day to keep your brain limber. Even for math dumbos like me, it’s nothing hard or frustrating; that would go against the whole point. The idea is just to see how quickly and how well you process information – then to flex that, gently, over an extended period. The “younger” your brain is, by the game’s measurement, the further you are from senior onset dementia.

With a population aging as rapidly as Japan, you can see where the appeal lies. Over here, the trick is in unconventional marketing. Nintendo’s trying to play up how much fun the product’s quizzes are. They’re… kind of not, for their own sake. Sure, the overall package is charming as hell. It’s not really a videogame, though. Try to get it on Oprah, guys. That’s the real test.