Kotaku: Brain Age 2

Patrick Stewart Engages Brain Age 2 Pitch Engines At Shill Factor Ten

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:00:00 MDT

It's hard not to think of Patrick Stewart in his creepy Extras faux persona, in which he talks about his screenplay that involves him telekinetically removing women's clothing. We're just thankful that he's not tearing the clothes off of his fellow female traveler while she plays Brain Age 2 in this commercial. We're going to need a higher quality version of this for animated GIF purposes. That "The synapses are firing!" moment is gold.

Forbes Predicts Future Classics

Mark Wilson — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:00:56 MST

The financial minds at Forbes have taken off their big business hats for a moment to focus on a more pressing topic: classic video games. Which of today's titles will become immortalized in our hearts, marble statue-ized into our next Super Mario Bros 3s that we can't put down a decade later? Well, they've compiled a list of their top ten and it's...actually not that bad. And of course, Mario has made an appearance.

Portal Brain Age 2 Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass BioShock Puzzle Quest Rock Band Super Mario Galaxy Wii Sports The Witcher WoW: Burning Crusade

Needless to say, a fiery debate will rage in the comments and give this list a good sorting. I'm actually not so sure about BioShock, of all choices, as single player FPS experiences don't seem to stand the test of time (meanwhile, multiplayer is a whole different story).

And now that the industry has become so successful at creating high quality, more polished sequels, will any of these titles really be in play a decade from now?

The Future Of Videogames [Forbes via WiiWii]

Brain Age 2 Impressions

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 24 May 2007 22:20:39 MDT

With over 4.2 million copies of More Brain Training for the Nintendo DS sold in Japan, a Western release of the sequel to the original Brain Training was inevitable. The North American iteration, Brain Age 2: More Training In Minutes A Day doesn't divert too far from the brain game formula established by the original, but adds a few new tricks to keep it fresh.

There's still a focus on tricky math exercises, including Sign Finder, a spin on the original's Calculation. Sign Finder asks players to fill in the missing operator (÷, ×, + or -) instead of the final number. Math Recall takes a different angle on Calculation, giving you a sequence of math problems that scratch out a number carried over from the previous equation, forcing you to keep up while quickly computing.

Other creative exercise types include games like Word Scramble, a jumbled word that rotates on the left screen, and Word Blend, which will vocalize multiple words on top of each other and require great focus (and, sorry senior citizens, decent hearing). Memory Sprint sees the return of the Head Count man who races at varying speeds requiring you to remember in what position he's placed. Change Maker and Piano Player are aptly titled descriptions of their challenges, with the latter adding a welcome musical challenge.

While most of the mini-games seem harder at first blush, they're simply more difficult because they're less traditional than the first. Rock Paper Scissors, for example, forces you to rethink as it will randomly ask you for a winning or losing hand form. And you have to speak the answer.

For those looking for more traditional handheld gaming fun, Brain Age 2 includes an unlockable version of Dr. Mario (redubbed Virus Buster) and an additional 100 Sudoku puzzles. There's plenty to do for $20 and while it may look very familiar, the puzzle are less dry stuff when compared to the first Brain Age.

Brain Age 2 was a surprising amount of fun and, as a Brain Age sudoku junkie, an easy purchase. Check out 10 new shots in the gallery below. Michael McWhertor