Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch is heading to Europe. Nintendo confirmed that the Brain Age followup is launching January 3 in that region. The publisher still hasn’t confirmed a North American release, though.
Nintendo previously only announced Brain Training in Japan. The game got a trailer reveal in that country where it is debuting December 27. As with the Japanese version, Nintendo of Europe has a trailer that shows the game in action. It has a player doing rapid-fire math equations (also known as “maths”) to get the age of her brain. It also shows off the two-player modes as well as the official stylus, which Nintendo is including with the physical version.
Brain Training also got a website, where Nintendo confirmed additional details. For example, it will have online leaderboards. Nintendo is also planning events called World Brain Training Championships. So basic arithmetic is esports now.
Will Americans get their brain age?
North American players are waiting. Nintendo of America may announce the game at any moment, but it’s possible that it’s holding off. In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission began cracking down on the brain-training industry for misleading claims.
A study from 2016 found reasons to doubt the claims of people like Dr. Ryuta Kawashima. While games like Brian Age and services like Luminosity suggest that simple stimulating tasks like counting can keep a brain fit, the research didn’t bear that out:
“We find extensive evidence that brain-training interventions improve performance on the trained tasks, less evidence that such interventions improve performance on closely related tasks, and little evidence that training enhances performance on distantly related tasks or that training improves everyday cognitive performance.”
Nintendo’s lawyers are probably weary of that. So, for now, only Japan and Europe will get to enjoy having young, squishy brains.
Author: Jeff Grubb
Source: Venturebeat
