Nintendo Special | Cubed

Dr. Kawashima appears to have taken over the world. Just like Alexey Pajitnov's Tetris struck the right chords in the hearts of gamers around the world from the 1980s onwards, Ryuta-san's ideas about how to train people's brains have transformed the world of gaming as we see it. Now those that had never even looked at a game before are being tempted, lured towards picking up a DS, all in the effort to bring their brain age down to the youngest possible state (the ultimate aim being '20).

Cubed3 reviewed the training programme back when it was first released here in Europe on 11th June and since it hit the streets it has emulated the success found in Japan. Over in the Land of the Rising Sun the first product has sold roughly 2.5 million copies since launching in May 2005, whilst here in Europe it has already racked up a pleasing 250,000 units in just one month. But how does it hold up over time? Does the whole novelty start to wear thin or is there such a lasting effect that it is difficult to put down? Adam Riley took on the challenge to see if he could train his brain to be closer to his real age of 24 (ignoring the mental age of about six for a few days...). Read the results of this exercise below in his Brain Training Diary...

12th June, 2006: Well, I have just got back from a three-day festival on the Isle of Wight. Headline acts of Prodigy, Foo Fighters and Coldplay...Totally knackered from the whole experience and the ferry trip / drive back from Southampton to Manchester, but hey, why not give this baby a whirl? Okay, it is asking me to do an initial brain age check, which involves shouting out the actual colour of the words that appear on the screen, rather than the words themselves. Quite tricky at first, and reminds me of when I was younger trying to do tongue-twisters like 'Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry' repeatedly, increasing in speed. Anyway, after finishing this test (called 'Stroop Test), it seems that my brain is a lowly 47 years old! Not good, but then again not bad considering the state I am in and the fact that now, at 8:30am it has been over a day since I last slept! Moving on, I learned how to play Sudoku for the very first time ever! Can you believe that? So far I had avoided the craze...It is quite challenging, but great fun! I worked my way up to 5% complete before succumbing to the dream world. Oh, and I was asked to draw Africa purely from memory...nice.

13th June: Okay, day two and I got back from a long day at work, fell in and out of sleep more than I should have and am now going to do brain training at 10:15pm after eating and watching Brazil scrape a victory against Croatia. So what is my brain age tonight? 48?? WHAT??? I know I am tired, but that is ridiculous. I had to do Word Memory, which drove me crazy as I found it too hard to remember all the words. It is kind of like the Generation Game