Video games for grandparents
Nintendo is now producing games toys for adults including one specifically for the seniors market. Its latest program “No wo Kitaeru Otonano DS Training” (“Brain Training Game for Grownups”) has been released in North America after selling more than 3 million units since it was released in Japan in May 2005.
“Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day” is the ‘brain child’ of Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata who was inspired by the findings of the prominent neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima on the positive effects of word and mathematic exercises on brain health. Doctors have begun placing Brain Age in their waiting rooms and recommending the game to their older patients, encouraging them to use it to stimulate their brains regularly at home.
Brain Age features 15 short mental brain-training activities including the highly popular sudoku number puzzles. Designed for use on the Nintendo DS portable console (which is held upright and opens like a book), the Brain Age program has some special features that appeal to older users including the ability to increase font size and a stylus and touch pad rather than a complicated set of game controls.
The importance of stimulating your brain – at all ages – has become even more apparent since the release of recent global research showing evidence that mental exercise can reduce the risk of dementia. For more information, visit Nintendo: http://www.nintendo.com/home (enter keyword Brain Age)
