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DS Brain Age & Big Brain Academy NA launch dates - Official PR

haha ^ c'mon..

I don't like the new titles. And the fonts suck. The inclusion of Sudoku rocks though. I imagine the European version is going to have a similar boxart.
 
Yoshi said:
Numbers one and three.

The brain training begins figuring out what's what, right? :)

So, are there 3 games planned for the US and Europe or these are just different names for the same product?

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day - April 17th
Big Brain Academy - May 30th
Prof. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? - Q2

Assuming Prof. Kawashima is the guy on the first jap cover I posted here, Prof. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? is actually the original Brain Training for Adults, right?
 
clearacell said:
quite possibly the worst boxart I've ever seen...

+1 sale though

What's your complaint? I think it looks pretty good: attractive, nice complementary colors, single dominant image, trademarked brand name prominently displayed, the images give a great indication of the content, the image of the DS gives a great indication of HOW the game is played, the Sudoku tease stands out without overpowering, the layout offers a lot of information without becoming overly busy ... it seems like a solid design.

This box is clearly trying to sell the product to non-gamers: the people who play Sudoku in the newspaper every morning and think Grand Theft Auto is a gangster rap group. Most game boxes are rather vague by comparison. This is the type of box art needed to gain the attention of non-gamers. It will stand out on a shelf.

I give the design a B+ or A-, depending on my mood.
 
radioheadrule83 said:
haha ^ c'mon..

I don't like the new titles. And the fonts suck. The inclusion of Sudoku rocks though. I imagine the European version is going to have a similar boxart.

The fonts are clean and readable and invoke a "newspapery" feel (that serif font looks like a pretty standard light headline font). What do you want, heiroglyphics?
 
Anyone who doesn't think these are gonna be runaway successes in America is... well... wrong ;)

Brain Training is fun as hell. Japanese taste is inarguably different from American taste, but nothing sells THAT well for no reason. I've played Brain Flex, and its really fun :)
 
I overlooked some info from the release.

So, this
otonanodstraining_dsjpboxboxart_160w.jpg
is Brain Age : Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day.

This is Big Brain Academy, for kids:
gentlebrain_dsjpboxboxart_160w.jpg


And this would be a Brain Age sequel?
mottonouwokitaeru_dsjpboxboxart_160w.jpg
 
Black_Mamba said:
I overlooked some info from the release.

So, this
otonanodstraining_dsjpboxboxart_160w.jpg
is Brain Age : Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day.

This is Big Brain Academy, for kids:
gentlebrain_dsjpboxboxart_160w.jpg


And this would be a Brain Age sequel?
mottonouwokitaeru_dsjpboxboxart_160w.jpg

Correct.
 
Unison said:
BrainAgeBox.jpg


Su Doku Rocks. I play that on my Palm Pilot all the time.

It's a game where there's a 3x3 grid of blocks of numbers 1-9 arranged in a 3x3 grid. You have to fill in the missing numbers to get each grid to have each number from 1-9 and each horizontal / vertical line to have each number from 1-9.

Here's an example:

contestpuzz_dec04.gif

hang on... comes with Su Do Ku? SOLD!
 
I was going to say that Brain Training was going to flop here, until I saw that they included Sudoku in the US version. Bazillion sales FTW now.
 
Su Doku = FTW

I want to get it just to see what all of the fuss is about, but the inclusion of Su Doku just sealed it for me.
 
Dunno what a sodoku is but it could use an english name for one. If either of these are $20 or less I'll pick one up. Anything higher = no.
 
Nice to see sudoku being included, though I wonder if many people are really willing to play it on a handheld instead of using pen and paper. Sudoku is already out in Europe for PSP at a budget price for example, but from what I've seen it hasn't exactly owned the charts (or even made a dent).

Anyway, I hope they keep this game at a budget price, I think that's part of its appeal in Japan.
 
Goddamn that US cover looks like crap. Lazy layout, freeware fonts, stroked type etc. Just translate the Japanese covers with a stylish font. Using Impact is the cheapest you can do - HTF KnockOut is about 1000% better.
 
What the hell is with that boxart?!

Impact with a stroke? God damn people on somethingawful get made fun of for using that font, and here it is showing up on a boxart.

Also Brain Age?? Why not Brain Training?? gah
 
Nintendo is making all the right moves lately. I went from thinking they were straight up getting out of the console business, to thinking they'd carve a nice niche in the console business, to thinking they have a decent shot at taking the console crown back from Sony.

The DS has just outperformed anybody's wildest dreams. It's an unstoppable monster.

Count me in for two sales of Brain Training.
 
Given the way the wind blows currently in the US, they should have called it SUDOKU with added Brain Training.

It would sell far far more.
 
The largest intangible regarding these releases is price. Computer is dead (yet again), but I'm assuming a price has not been announced yet?

Success depends on MSRP. Let's see how "smart" NOA can be.

Seeing that boxart does not give me much in the way of faith, however....
 
Dragona Akehi said:
The largest intangible regarding these releases is price. Computer is dead (yet again), but I'm assuming a price has not been announced yet?

Success depends on MSRP. Let's see how "smart" NOA can be.

Seeing that boxart does not give me much in the way of faith, however....

If they're smart, $19.99 ($24.99 max).
 
Kiriku said:
Nice to see sudoku being included, though I wonder if many people are really willing to play it on a handheld instead of using pen and paper. Sudoku is already out in Europe for PSP at a budget price for example, but from what I've seen it hasn't exactly owned the charts (or even made a dent).

Anyway, I hope they keep this game at a budget price, I think that's part of its appeal in Japan.

First, the DS's touch screen lets it handle like pen and paper. The PSP definitely doesn't. At the bookstore I work, we have these little electronic Su Doku games that just use a number pad directional buttons, and we can barely keep them stocked. I honestly don't know if this game will be a huge system seller, but I could see parents playing it on their kid's DS. Possibly buying their own when their kids get whiny. The biggest issue will be price. The game cost about 5 bucks and a box of donuts to make, so I hope Nintendo keeps the price low.
 
DSlite & 2 Braintrainings +1

I haven't touched a videogame outside of Guitar Hero in over a month, but this'll surely get me back into it.

Now...if they'd include online chess with it, my head would explode (which I know won't happen). Are there any plans for a chess game on the DS anytime soon?
 
GreenGlowingGoo said:
First, the DS's touch screen lets it handle like pen and paper. The PSP definitely doesn't. At the bookstore I work, we have these little electronic Su Doku games that just use a number pad directional buttons, and we can barely keep them stocked. I honestly don't know if this game will be a huge system seller, but I could see parents playing it on their kid's DS. Possibly buying their own when their kids get whiny. The biggest issue will be price. The game cost about 5 bucks and a box of donuts to make, so I hope Nintendo keeps the price low.

True, the DS has better potential regarding controls...but on the other hand, it's not like the PSP version is hard to control with d-pad + buttons. Also, my previous comment was more about the different feeling you get with a pen and paper, and less about the pure technical control aspect of it. And I think a majority of the sudoku players are happy with just solving a puzzle or two in the daily paper. Actually picking up a DS with the game is a totally different beast...but it's gonna be interesting to see how it pans out. :)
 
Kiriku said:
True, the DS has better potential regarding controls...but on the other hand, it's not like the PSP version is hard to control with d-pad + buttons. Also, my previous comment was more about the different feeling you get with a pen and paper, and less about the pure technical control aspect of it. And I think a majority of the sudoku players are happy with just solving a puzzle or two in the daily paper. Actually picking up a DS with the game is a totally different beast...but it's gonna be interesting to see how it pans out. :)

I have to disagree again, the Su Doku thing just exploded and we sell a ton of it. People are buying books and books of these things, not just playing on the daily paper. I also mentioned that our electronic sudoku is selling really well too. Also, sure the PSP isn't hard, but for non gamers the idea of just writing on a screen is much more attractive. My only argument is that I don't think you can compare the PSP's game sales to the DS's. In japan, the PSP has a brain training-like game made by Sega. It bombed compared to the DS's brain training games and I'd imagine that controls played a big part. Writing on a screen is much more intuitive to people who don't play videogames all the time, even if it's not "hard".
 
GreenGlowingGoo said:
I have to disagree again, the Su Doku thing just exploded and we sell a ton of it. People are buying books and books of these things, not just playing on the daily paper. I also mentioned that our electronic sudoku is selling really well too. Also, sure the PSP isn't hard, but for non gamers the idea of just writing on a screen is much more attractive.

Yeah, I didn't miss your part about selling a lot of electronic sudoku. But I mean...it's still anecdotal evidence, and even though I do not doubt that many people are buying books etc, picking up a handheld is a very different thing. But if people are willing to do that, DS is at least much cheaper than PSP (meaning the PSP sudoku doesn't have to be an indication of how well a handheld sudoku can perform).

And I agree that writing on a screen (assuming of course that it's actually possible in a very convinient and functional way in "Brain Age") is more intuitive and appealing among non-gamers. But I'm not sure if that's enough to convince people if the cost is too high.
 
"train your brain in minutes a day"

Sounds like a damn infomercial....and wheres the damn floatinf professor head?


Also, they should have kept the Japanese name. This is going to be another Final Fantasy... (ie, FF3 Japan = )
 
The box art looks exactly what i would expect it too. Just like card and other puzzel style games on a hand held. Not that that is good or fitting for the game but it is on point for games of its style.
 
i have a question here..

is the one that looks like it's for kids, really for kids?

i was going to buy both.. but now i'm curious if they made the difficulty level for the kids one for like 4 year olds or something..

has anyone played the japanese releases to know if that is the case?

if so i guess i'll just buy the brain age one...
 
:Motorbass said:
I hope it controls well...


I'd imagine the control will be similar to the Japan version, which has surprisingly good number recognition, considering how fast you have to write the numbers to beat your own scores. The only number I ever have trouble with is '5'. I had to teach myself how to write it in a way that the DS recognized more easily.
 
There are definite advantages to using an electronic version over paper. Beginner players can get hints and the like, while advanced players will appreciate the ability to save game states before making a "leap of logic" to attempt to prove or disprove something. If a contradiction comes up you can then revert back to the previous state and just apply what you've proved.
 
PkunkFury said:
I'd imagine the control will be similar to the Japan version, which has surprisingly good number recognition, considering how fast you have to write the numbers to beat your own scores. The only number I ever have trouble with is '5'. I had to teach myself how to write it in a way that the DS recognized more easily.
Oh I was referring to sudoku particularly. With the arrows on the touchscreen it looks weird. But let's see.
 
Unison said:
Oh shit, yes. Mario's Picross is seriously awesome.

gr47c.gif


I've replayed them on PSP. The hold up super-well.


I still own it. Just busted it out the other day on my super-bright SP. Looked great.
 
I've always wondered something about Prof. Kawashima's head in the Brain Training series....

I hope that his head is 3D and that it animates and has lip movement synched to a spoken voice... but I fear his head just cycles through a couple of different 2D images...

Can anyone verify this?
 
Gaia Theory said:
I've always wondered something about Prof. Kawashima's head in the Brain Training series....

I hope that his head is 3D and that it animates and has lip movement synched to a spoken voice... but I fear his head just cycles through a couple of different 2D images...

Can anyone verify this?

The head is 3D; it bobbles up and down and has animated expressions. Some of them (like when he gets angry at you) are quite fun. No voice acting (fortunately) but the animation is synced to some sounds and the scrolling of the text. The overall presentation of the game is very clean and minimalistic, but it works rather well.
 
PkunkFury said:
The head is 3D; it bobbles up and down and has animated expressions. Some of them (like when he gets angry at you) are quite fun. No voice acting (fortunately) but the animation is synced to some sounds and the scrolling of the text. The overall presentation of the game is very clean and minimalistic, but it works rather well.
Thank god.

Thank you.

I will be purchasing these games.
 
Gaia Theory said:
I've always wondered something about Prof. Kawashima's head in the Brain Training series....

I hope that his head is 3D and that it animates and has lip movement synched to a spoken voice... but I fear his head just cycles through a couple of different 2D images...

Can anyone verify this?

It's 3D, it bobs around, his mouth moves, but no voice. Also in the demo I played, he would make a very angry face on the title screen if you left him alone for a while.

That's when I realized I need this game.


Edit: =(
 
The professor's face also has certain reactions if you say certain words to it.
 
GreenGlowingGoo said:
The game cost about 5 bucks and a box of donuts to make...

:lol I'm going to start using that.

Anyway, I have no idea what Su Doku is, but if you guys say it's popular, then all is well.
I see these titles being a surprising success. Maybe another Nintendogs in the west?
 
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