Nintendo Taps Doctor For U.S. Brain Age Launch

Nintendo Of America has officially announced the North American launch of its Nintendo DS title Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, a game designed to keep people's minds active with mental workouts that incorporate the voice-command and touch-screen capabilities of Nintendo DS, and also includes more than 100 sudoku puzzles. The Brain Age series of games has collectively sold more than 5 million copies in Japan, with the first instalment already topping 2 million, and was a key part of Satoru Iwata's GDC keynote, in which he described the making of the title, noting that the idea emanated from an older Nintendo director who complained that his peers did not play games. For the U.S. release of the game, Nintendo has Brain Age added the opinions of Western medical experts to that of Professor Kawashima, who developed the Japanese book that Brain Age is adapted from. Dr. Elizabeth Zelinski, dean and executive director of Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California, is quoted as noting: "Nintendo's Brain Age should be just one element of an active lifestyle that includes mental stimulation, exercise and a good diet. Brain Age is a great way for people to keep challenging themselves." Nintendo also commented that the game "is expected to be priced as low as $20 at retailers throughout the United States", making it clear that pricing below the more traditional $30-$35 price point for Nintendo DS games is meant to make the title more acceptable to the mainstream.