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« The Violation Zone | Main | Where were you people during the election? » The Brain GameNintendo has come out with a game designed to stimulate the brain with puzzles and arithmetic. It's being marketed to older people, or "grey gamers," as a way to offset dementia and Alzheimers. The game was scheduled for U.S. release on April 17th. Designed by a prominent neuroscientist, Brain Training for Adults, a package of cerebral workouts aimed at the over-45s by the Japanese game console and software maker Nintendo, is said to improve mental agility and even slow the onset of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Not everyone's convinced that this sort of brain stimulation will actually do anything for you. "You might get better at sudoku, but you don't get better at much else," said Guy Claxton, a learning expert at Bristol University. The kewl part is that some Japanese hospitals actually have the game and the consoles in their waiting rooms and wards. Not only don't they have the PMRC and other crazy orgs trying to sell the "video games breed violence" meme, but they're actually providing access to video games to their sick people. And the older generation is actually interested in playing the games. It's like an alternate reality over there. If puzzles help at all with slowing down the occurrence of dementia, i wish i could get a Chinese language version of it and get some of my family members interested. It would make the holidays more interesting, too. By min | May 12, 2006, 8:54 AM | Science & Video Games CommentsOh man. I don't want this game. I don't want to know how dumb i am. |