Brain Training Catches on in the West
Steady update on both sides of the Atlantic provides encouraging evidence that Nintendo is on to something.
The Brain Training series has become a phenomenon in Japan, selling millions of copies and spawning several imitators. Nintendo had no way of knowing how it would do in the West, but new numbers suggest things are going well.
Nintendo said this week that Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? has sold more than 500,000 copies across Europe, and things are looking just as good in the US, where sales now stand at more than 600,000.
All this mental sweating is the latest justification of Nintendo's somewhat controversial strategy of trying to attract people who wouldn't normally play games. Nintendogs was just the start, and that sold more than 6 million copies - most of them in Europe.
The next big step is opening up console gaming in the same way, which the company is hoping to do with the Wii. Nintendo's motion-sensitive controller is the latest attempt by the company to level the field for all. The company hasn't said when the Wii will be released, but current speculation points to some time during November.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games