Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! - Nintendo DS

The lowdown:
Nothing about this game is ordinary, from the price to the way you hold the DS while playing it (vertically, as if you were reading a book). The basic idea is that you play through a series of puzzles each day, for about 10 minutes, and at the end of each session the "age" of your brain is calculated. The puzzles themselves range from simple maths questions to spot the difference, memorisation and comprehension. All of the answers are inputted either by drawing the answer on the touchscreen or speaking it into the DS’s in-built microphone. There’s also a multiplayer mode for up to 15 people where you can try and compete to record the youngest brain age.

Most exciting moment:
A brand new addition to the game, not included in the Japanese version, is a special DS version of Sudoku. This works great on the DS’s touch screen and is worth the already low price of admission on its own.

Since you ask:
A sister title to Brain Training, named Big Brain Academy, is due for release in July and offers to "weigh" your brain and improve specific skills such as memorisation and analysis. A direct sequel to Brain Training has also been released in Japan but is not yet scheduled for released in the UK.

The bottom line:
The only game that really is for the whole family – from kids to OAPs.
Harrison Dent

Manufacturer's Description
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.