Brain Age or Big Brain Academy?

Two mental exersize games for the DS, which is right for you? Let's take a look at each game.

Brain Age, Train Your Brain in Just Minutes a Day (yes, that's the complete title) is a daily workout for your brain. They 'award' you stamps each day that you do practice in the games they provide. They have the head of the game's creator (Japan's leading neurologist, or something like that) be your guide in the game. They greet you each day, and give you interesting tasks to do, within the game itself (well, outside the game, I guess). They'll ask you things like "What did you have for lunch today?" and then, a week later, ask you to recall what you had for lunch the previous week.

Once in the game, you play math games (20 simple math problems). The faster you complete it, the better grade you get, and the 'faster' your brain is working. They display something moving (a car, a bike, a train) to illustrate how well you did. Other games include, reading speed, 100 math problems, sylable count, word memorization (30 words, 2 minutes), Head Count (they'll show a house with some people, then, hide the people inside. Then, a series of people coming in and out of the house will begin, and after, you need to figure out how many people are left), and several others. The optimal age (according to him) is 20, and they'll give you a age count when you do the Brain Age test. The best I got (after several weeks, coming down from 70 somthing, freaking depressing as hell, considering I'm actually 20) is 21 years old, and that was hard.

Big Brain Academy is also heavy on mental exersizes, but is less like a daily workout with a guide. It has games that will show stacks of money, and you need to say which side has more, show animals on weights, Animal sounds that plays out like "Simon" does, written math (three plus four equals ?), connect the dots (They display an image on the top screen, with black lines, and a red line telling you what line to draw, on the bottom screen, there's a copy of the top image with black lines but no red lines. It could be flipped, up side down, NO black lines at all, etc, it gets harder), Memorizing cards (they'll show 3 images, and you'll need to remember what was there), and various games. There's 5 catagories, each with 3 games, and 3 difficulties, and they 'weigh' your brain to tell you how well you do, and award you medals per difficulty, per game, to mark that you completed it (gold is the best).

This flows in a different way compared to Brain Age, and would probably appeal to a wider audience. One is more dedicated in logical processing (Brain Age) and one has more creative games and is less serious (Big Brain Academy). What's right for you? I hope this helps you all a bit.

And for you whom don't have a DS, aren't interested in either game even though you have a DS, or don't care at all, something for everyone!


And last but not least, Happy Birthday Nathan. We're going to go watch Superman Returns together with a bunch of freinds, and hang out, get some food, and give him some stuff. What stuff? Gifts? We're a bunch of guys, nerdy guys. Probably magic cards and computer stuff. IN FACT, that is what we're getting him. =P