Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?

If you spend a lot of time with your favourite gaming handheld in public, you've probably heard this sentence once or twice before. While most people have no problem subscribing to beliefs that attribute increased reaction times and better hand-eye coordination to regular exposure to games, "making you smarter" isn't usually a trait associated with gaming.

This game was designed in collaboration with Professor Ryuuta Kawashima, who believes that regular "brain exercises" can counteract forgetfulness, help train memory and creative thinking. MRI (Magnetic Resonance Image) diagrams that measured brain activity of 120 test subjects between the ages of 20 and 70 at the university's Future Science Collaborative Research Center show the difference in brain activity in a variety of situations.

DS Brain Training takes the theories from Prof. Kawashima and runs with it. The software challenges players to perform a variety of exercises every day, from solving simple math problems to reading on-screen text out loud.