Keep in mind that Dr Kawashima's Brain Training is suitable for people aged three-plus.īut the games appeal to the 10-year-old and even the three-year-old inside me. My children are already fans of Big Brain Academy, another Nintendo brain-training game, and when we played it together this week I learned that I'm definitely not smarter than a 10-year-old.
I borrowed my daughter's Nintendo DS Lite so I could try Brain Training and considering that I didn't even know how to work a Nintendo DS Lite before this, I'm managing to cope with the disappointment of having a mental age of 75. While children can spend hours playing a game, Nintendo's brain training is designed to be played in small chunks of a few minutes - which is as much leisure time as most mums have. And considering that Mum is probably the only person in the family without a games console, it makes sense. Without doubt, Nintendo has discovered the Mum market.
And when you see Kidman in the ads, lying on a white sofa in a luxurious white living room in front of a roaring fire whispering flirtatiously to her ice-white DS, you want what she's having, thank you. The fad for brain training has taken off faster than you can say Botox - that other little trick beloved of the stars. My new Japanese neurologist friend tells me that I need to spend many more hours exercising my prefrontal cortex before I can reach the ideal brain age: 20. And my brain age, Prof Ryuta Kawashima cheerfully informs me on our first acquaintance, is 75. But can a new wave of games really exercise your brain and make you look longer? Kate Holmquistputs one to the testĪfter 20 minutes of exercising my grey matter with Dr Kawashima's Brain Training, I'm looking up from the sofa and asking, "Do I look like Nicole Kidman yet?" Obviously not. Continued abuse of our services will cause your IP address to be blocked indefinitely.Until now, playing computer games had not been high on most m ums' list of priorities. Please fill out the CAPTCHA below and then click the button to indicate that you agree to these terms. If you wish to be unblocked, you must agree that you will take immediate steps to rectify this issue. If you do not understand what is causing this behavior, please contact us here. If you promise to stop (by clicking the Agree button below), we'll unblock your connection for now, but we will immediately re-block it if we detect additional bad behavior.