Nintendo markets newest video game to older population with brainy puzzles

Karl Peterson

If Nintendo’s newest portable gaming title can do for the American video game market what it did for Japan’s, baby boomers may soon be spotted furiously tapping away on portable video game systems.

On Monday, Nintendo is scheduled to release a game entitled “Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day” for its portable system, the Nintendo DS.

The game, which is based on the work of neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima, is designed to provide a regiment of brain exercises that improves cognitive ability. “Brain Age” is an adaptation of a game that achieved phenomenal sales and expanded the video game market in Japan to include an older demographic – baby boomers and the elderly.

Emily Ericson, graduate student in human computer interaction, said fun tasks and building mental improvement create an appealing combination.

“If you can tell people that its good for them as well as fun, they are going to want to do it,” she said.

Players who try the game are first presented with a number of tests to assess their “Brain Age,” supposedly a measure of their cognitive health.

They then have the opportunity to improve their performance through an ongoing series of exercises including simple math problems, puzzles and language challenges.

Many of the mini-games, as they are called, take advantage of the varied multimedia capabilities of the Nintendo DS. Users are required to draw on the system’s touch screen and read classic literature into its microphone.

Although the exact mental benefits of the game have received skepticism from psychologists, many have endorsed the idea of active “brain exercise” by older adults.

Craig Anderson, distinguished professor of psychology, said regular mental activities – such as crossword puzzles or reading – can benefit adults.

“Some of the bad effects of aging are minimized relative to those who don’t use their brains very much,” he said.

The potential rise in positive gaming comes after a decade of research showing the damaging effects of violent video games that promote aggression by Anderson and other researchers.

Kawashima himself published a study in 2001 warning that violent video games could foster aggression and stunt mental development.

“Brain Age” will be available at a retail price of $19.99. Its release will be followed by another brain training game, “Big Brain Academy,” which is scheduled for release May 29.