If you want to know more, you can check out Hikaru Wakana's blog (NSFW linkage), who is the film's star.
Posts with tag brain-training
Japanese adult film takes Brain Age approach
If you want to know more, you can check out Hikaru Wakana's blog (NSFW linkage), who is the film's star.
I'm learnding -- UK school picks up the DS
It's not just one tyke campaigning for Ninteducational powers. Head teacher Andrew Davies said using DS software is an "exciting and alternative way of approaching education." Capital idea, old bean. Just make sure this mother's kid doesn't enrol at your school anytime soon.
Clunbury was voted as the top Information and Communications Technology (ICT) school in England, using mp3 recorders, blogs and podcasts to teach the tots. Where was all the awesome technology when this blogger was battling with the Commodore 64?
Survey: Casual games keep the vices at bay
The survey asked 4,537 respondents between December 28, 2007 and January 11, 2008 about casual gaming. Of the 4,537 individuals, 2,784 of them said they watched their weight and 60% of those individuals said they use games as a way to keep from snacking and overeating. That's not all, though.
Of the 1,324 survey respondents that said they were smokers, 42% said that gaming provided a distraction from smoking. While the focus of the survey is more about casual games, we do know one title that's pretty good with helping smokers quit. Any of you trying to curb your bad habits with some gaming?
Another exhaustive list of Japan's best-sellers of 2007
Remember that haaauuuuge list of Japan's 500 highest-selling games of 2007? Well, sorry, but you'll have to forget them all. Yep, every last one of 'em. That's because we now have a new list which is also claiming to feature the 500 best-selling games of 2007 in Japan. This one has been compiled by Enterbrain (the original was from rival data-gatherers Media Create), and it's ever so slightly different.The good news is that, despite the origins of each list being different, the overriding message is still the same, and that message is: DS rules all yaaay. Both lists agree that Wii Sports was top dog, but the top DS games have been jumbled about. Now, for example, it is the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers games that are top of the DS pile, while Mario Party DS drops to second. The changes are subtle, but definitely exist. Hit the break to see the top ten DS games!
Continue reading Another exhaustive list of Japan's best-sellers of 2007
DS Fanboy poll: Demos: do you dabble?
The Wii's Nintendo Channel, then. It's enjoyed a somewhat shaky start if you ask us, particularly where DS demos are concerned. Although we love occasionally receiving bite-size portions of games such as Arkanoid, most demos are ... well, to be frank, they're old. Not just regular old, either, but Jesus and his pet triceratops trekking across the ravaged plains of Pangaea old.
The situation is especially grim in Europe, where Tetris DS (original release date: April 2006) has just joined a list that includes (amongst others) the ancient likes of Big Brain Academy, Brain Training, Mario Kart DS, 42 All-Time Classics, and Sight Training. Needless to say, we've only downloaded a small handful of games since the service debuted. To us, a demo of Brain Training is about as useful as a plasticine climbing frame.
Then again, maybe we're being overly critical, grumbly bastards. Maybe some of you good people actually get quite a lot of use out of the service. So we thought we'd throw this issue open to you, our beloved readers, and ask: how often do you use the Nintendo Channel demos?
Promotional Consideration: The Usual Suspects
This week's creative but confusing installment comes from Leo Burnett Milan, the same advertising firm behind "Communion Day," the first Promotional Consideration ad (and one of the smartest) we ever featured. The print piece presents a police lineup of criminals and ne'er-do-wells, suspects for an unspecified crime -- really, it's less of a "whodunit" than it is a "what does it mean?" Step past the post break and peer through this one-way mirror to solve the mystery yourself!
Continue reading Promotional Consideration: The Usual Suspects
PAL Nintendo Channel DS demos are training-tastic
Training, training, training. That's all us Europeans and Aussies want, right? Day in, day out, there we are, blurting "blue" into our handhelds like obedient farmyard animals, and being told that we're doing it wrong and that we're thuddingly simple. We know this happens, because the sales charts tell us so, and now the first DS demos on the local Nintendo Channel (released on all PAL consoles today) reflect the self-improvement obsession that has swept many PAL countries.
So, instead of getting demos of totally rad, new games such as Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (which is what the U.S. got), we get four training games (only one of which came out this year) from the seven titles available, and adverts for Nintendogs and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The only bright spot? A couple of tracks from Mario Kart DS, and a Picross demo, but those are hardly fresh titles.
We're not usually the types to look a gift horse in the mouth, but there's a stunning lack of variety on display here, Nintendo. Hit the break for the infuriatingly vanilla list.
Continue reading PAL Nintendo Channel DS demos are training-tastic
The DS Life: Going out to eat
Have you ever gone out to a restaurant for dinner with a group of friends, only to find yourself completely uninterested with your company's conversation, their tired stories and trivial grievances?
Your eyes drift to nearby tables, hoping to find something else that better deserves your attention. You chew on the ice cubes in your drink, crunching out the chatter around you. You nod your head absentmindedly to agree with your companions whilst reflecting on the reality television shows you plan to watch when you get home -- "I wonder if Greg is gonna knock out that sucka Will for kissing his girl?"
When you're stuck in situations like this, don't you wish you could just pull out your Nintendo DS until someone brings out the food?
Another Week in Europe
Didja hear? Doctor Who is back from the future to save the DS in Europe! Hurray!
Haha. Not really. In fact, even though Top Trumps: Doctor Who is the only new Nintendo DS game to appear in a European chart this week, it still only managed a risible 33rd spot in the UK. Still, that should keep you David Tennant fans happy, and we even included a shot of Dave to aid your celebrations. Aren't we nice?
Aside from that, it's the usual tiresome faces, which means lots of Professor Kawashima and ... actually not so much of Mario and Sonic. Yep, there's no doubt about it: the pair's Olympics game is slowly dropping off the pace, appearing in only two top tens this week.
As usual, hit the break to peruse the charts, though please accept our profuse apologies for the lack of an Irish top ten.
Another Week in Europe
And now look what you've done! There are bits of Brain Training and Mario and Sonic everywhere! Eww.
Brain Training celebrates 100th week in UK charts
Every Saturday, we document sales charts from the UK and other European countries, and every week, there's one game that appears in the UK top ten without fail: Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training. The sheer longevity of Brain Training's stay in the charts is genuinely exceptional, with this week marking the game's 100th consecutive week in the British charts.
Since its June 2006 release, us Brits have seen the likes of Chris Tarrant (in happier times), Nicole Kidman and Patrick Stewart shilling Nintendo's mind-honing software, but we're curious: has it worked? Well, decide for yourselves.
Germany: Give Mom some smarts this Mother's Day
Flower service Fleurop in Germany is suggesting something other than the usual bouquet and pleasant card for your mom this Mother's Day. It would seem they're teaming up with Nintendo to suggest your mom get some good old Brain Training in. And buy some flowers, of course.For 199 Euros, customers can get a nice floral arrangement with a DS Lite and Brain Training. Sadly, we have no idea what DS Lite model consumers will be getting in this bundle.
DS 'turned kids into monsters'
Everybody's favorite scaremongering rag the Daily Mail is at it again. Regular Mail scribe and middle England mom Rosie Millard has written about how a Nintendo DS "turned my delightful, curious and funny children into argumentative demons full of aggression." In the 1,000-word article, Millard laments that her blissful domestic existence was disrupted by her offspring squabbling over the console, and knows exactly where the blame lies: the "hideous" DS.So far, so predictable, but whereas we'd usually be irked by something like this, we actually found most of it amusing. For example, Millard unwittingly admits to purchasing pirated games ("The pale blue, £150 Nintendo finally arrived last November, fresh from Hong Kong, crammed with a 'bundle' of 20 games including Brain Trainer, Fifa 08, and Nintendogs"), while some of the language used is so ridiculously over the top and inflated that we couldn't help but smirk -- apparently, the DS encouraged a "mood [...] of anger, confrontation, pain and frustration." Eyes. Rolling.
Our advice, Rosie? Get a Wii -- they're lots of fun, and more suited to social gaming than the DS. As far-fetched as it seems, maybe you'll even crack a smile and have a go.
[Thanks, Matt!]
Another Week in Europe
For a continent that gave the world tiramisu, Audrey Tautou, and the Renaissance, Europe sure does disappoint us at times. Yep, it's another week of gray, predictable drudgery when it comes to sales of DS software.All you truly need to know is that More Mario & Dr. Kawashima's Olympics Training sold really, really well, and almost everything we care about didn't. Except for Animal Crossing: Wild World, which popped in to the German top ten, and Mario Kart DS, which secured eighth place in Ireland, and fifth in Germany. So maybe the world isn't all that rubbish, after all. And if you really believe that, we advise you go and rent Eurotrip.
Another Week in Europe
Featuring charts from across the region, Another Week in Europe documents the buying habits and quirky tastes of a whole continent of DS lovers.It's business as usual for the DS in Euroland, where Brain Training and Mario & Sonic have once again ruthlessly harvested the wallets of gullible (probably non-DS Fanboy-reading) consumers. We would love to suggest that this madness will end soon, but Brain Training has been around these parts for almost two years now, while the for-real Olympics will surely only boost people's interest in assaulting their DS's poor touch screen. In a word: gah.
More pleasingly, there's been a mini-renaissance for (of all games) Mario Kart DS. Sales of the game rose in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, and Sweden, and we're pinning this sudden rebirth on the success of Mario Kart Wii, which continues to run down the opposition at an alarming pace. Then reverse back over it, just to make sure.
More charts await your attention past the break, though we're sorry to say that the Spanish top ten is taking a siesta this week (see what we did there?). With any luck, it'll be back next Saturday.
