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ESA: Record number of game development classes offered in U.S.

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 1st 2009 at 3:30AM }

According to a report recently published by the Entertainment Software Association, colleges in 37 states (and the District of Columbia) currently play host to 254 courses in video game design, art and programming. That may sound like a skimpy sum, but it's up from 200 programs offered last year. We'd tell you what percentage increase that represents, but we didn't take many math courses throughout our collegiate career.

Rich Taylor, ESA's senior vice president of communications and industry affairs, said these figures are indicative of "the importance of the videogames industry, which is well-poised to create additional employment and professional opportunities in the coming years." We just see them as scholastic incubators for the next generation of Schafers, Carmacks and Wrights.

XSEED unleashing Drill Sergeant MindStrong on WiiWare

by JC Fletcher { Mar 25th 2009 at 7:45PM }

The ESRB ratings database has revealed the first WiiWare game from publisher XSEED: Drill Sergeant Mindstrong, which is, uh, a brain-training minigame collection. A weird one.

The description of the game mentions minigames "in which players train and compete in math, rhythm, and reflex/timing drills guided by a trainer named Sergeant Mindstrong." The whole thing has a military theme, including a saluting minigame and one about marching in time. All the minigames will have "Hell" at the beginning of the title, like "Hell Roll Call."

Siliconera speculates, because of the XSEED/Marvelous connection, that this is Discipline, the WiiWare game announced last year. The title fits, as well. However, Discipline is a sort of adventure about escaping from prison, and this is military brain training.

GameStop training video light on training, heavy on hilarity

by David Hinkle { Feb 25th 2009 at 7:32PM }

Oh, GameStop. We have plenty of reasons to laugh at you. You call us up during dinner to coax us into trading stuff in, and you ask us about strategy guides and pre-orders every time we try to shop in your store. Now, it would seem you also like to employ what we've dubbed the "poor man's Lara Croft," as this very real training video shows. The video is kind of like watching a clown get the crap kicked out of him. You want to intervene, but every time he gets punched in the nose and you hear that honk sound, you can't help but laugh. Watch Ima and her amazing Zack Morris impressions after the break.

Continued →

Nintendo offers free DS, Personal Trainer: Math to math-loving kids

by JC Fletcher { Feb 25th 2009 at 11:30AM }

What's the best way to entice middle-schoolers into their schools' math clubs? How about the promise of a free Nintendo DS -- and a math game? Personally, we think the best way would be to move the meetings to Steak 'n Shake and replace the "math" part with "vanilla malts." But, while delicious, it's not exactly educational, and wouldn't really make for a good PR opportunity for Nintendo.

Instead, the company has partnered with MATHCOUNTS, a "national enrichment, coaching and competition program" for middle school math, to bribe four middle school math clubs across the US with free DS systems -- and, of course, Personal Trainer: Math. They could hand out Fire Emblem or something -- but again, not so much of a PR opportunity.

First look at Nobilis' music training game

by JC Fletcher { Feb 12th 2009 at 9:00AM }

Maybe we're just suckers for video games as music teaching tools (as suggested by the dusty NES Miracle Keyboard in our closet), but we're pretty intrigued by Nobilis' MUSIC. The publisher has released the first screens about the training title, revealing the focus of some of the lessons, most of which seem to deal with reading music.

In addition, interactive quizzes ask players to identify notes, arrange notes to match sound samples, and match pitch contours to samples. MUSIC also features virtual keyboard and drums, along with a selection of songs to play. The minigames on the cartridge include activities like a rhythm game in which players pop balloons by clapping.

MUSIC comes out in Europe in April. No US release has been announced.

Gallery: Music (DS)

Professor: suggesting Brain Age helps is 'charlatanism'

by Chris Greenhough { Jan 26th 2009 at 6:00PM }

Brain Age games don't necessarily make you smarter, and it is "charlatanism" to make such a claim. Those are the conclusions drawn by one Alain Lieury, professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Rennes. The professor's findings were picked up by The Times, which loves itself a good story (from 2006).

Lieury surveyed 67 ten-year-old kids in his study, which compared the impact of Brain Age on intelligence with pencil and paper-based puzzles and going to school (in case anybody was seriously entertaining the thought of homeschooling their child with a DS).

The Times covers the precise results of the study in its article, but the long and short of it is: Brain Age won't help you raise an army of miniature geniuses and take over the free world. Boo. "The Nintendo DS is a technological jewel. As a game it's fine," writes Lieury in his new book, Stimulate Your Neurones. "But it is charlatanism to claim that it is a scientific test."

Which is great and all, but is anybody terribly surprised by this?

Gallery: Brain Age 2

[Via GamePolitics]

Nobilis reveals Music, the game

by Chris Greenhough { Jan 16th 2009 at 5:00PM }

If your entire musical career consists of playing third triangle in an elementary school production of Joseph (check), this may be of interest to you. This April, French publisher Nobilis will release Music, a title that promises to teach you about real, actual music, as opposed to teaching you how to work your way up to the orange button.

Nobilis is teaming up with "famous Japanese music teacher" Shiro Tsuji to deliver 21 lessons covering the basics of music theory. These will take the form of minigames that test your sense of rhythm, your memory, and your musical ear, amongst other things. There'll also be virtual instruments, such as a piano and drums, to practice your new skills on.

All of which sounds like it could be an intriguing addition to the DS training genre. We just wish we had some media to gawk at -- at the time of writing, even the official website, as included in the press release, isn't up.

[Via press release]

Nintendo: Kids don't like math. We checked

by David Hinkle { Jan 12th 2009 at 6:54PM }

Nintendo recently employed the services of Wakefield Research and had a survey conducted. The results of said survey show that 1 in 5 kids are more inclined to believe they'll be rich and famous than good at math. Who would've thought today's youth lacked so much self-confidence? Some other key items of interest include:

More than 1/3 of kids surveyed say math is their most difficult subject
Nearly 1/3 of the kids view math in a negative light; 18% called it "boring," while 13% called it "torture"
86% of parents surveyed say math is important to their careers, even though they thought they'd never need math back in school

This, of course, segues brilliantly into Nintendo's newest game for the DS: Personal Trainer: Math. Oh, and will you look at this? Why, look what game released this week. What a coincidence!

DS Daily: Fluent yet?

by Chris Greenhough { Jan 8th 2009 at 9:00AM }

A few months have passed since the last language trainer, My Japanese Coach, debuted on the DS, so now seems like an apt time to ask: if you bought one of the DS's numerous language titles, are you still returning each day to learn new lessons? Has the DS made you feel confident enough to converse with real people on the streets of Paris/Tokyo/Madrid?

Oh, and as this is sort of related, did anybody ever pick up the hilariously inappropriate Spanish for Everyone?

Gallery: My Japanese Coach

DS Daily: Walk with Everyone

by JC Fletcher { Dec 15th 2008 at 9:00AM }

Nintendo's Personal Trainer: Walking uses its wacky pedometer doodad to tabulate your step count every day and send the data back to the DS. This data goes to Nintendo for use in step count leaderboards. You can compete to top the charts like in many other online games, except the competitive activity here is exercise.

Does the idea appeal to you? Do you think vying for the top spot on a leaderboard will inspire you to walk more? Or are you extra awesome at walking and looking forward to the chance to show that off with numbers?

Gallery: Aruite Wakaru Seikatsu Rhythm DS

[Screens via Wiiz]

Pedometer-equipped walking game steps into Europe with a terrible new name

by JC Fletcher { Dec 12th 2008 at 12:00PM }

While Nintendo of America has settled on Personal Trainer: (Activity) for DS training games, and Japan takes a more freeform approach (the only constant is really, really long names), Nintendo of Europe's approach for training game titles (with the odd exception of Maths Training) is now (Title): (Question about title activity?) -- as in Cooking Guide: Can't decide what to eat? and Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How old is your brain?

The latest training game to use this naming convention is Walk with me! Do you know your walking routine?, which we know as Personal Trainer: Walking, the walking trainer that brings Miis to the DS for the first time, and also includes two wireless pedometer accessories. That accessory is known as the Activity Meter for the PAL release. Data collected by the device can be sent to Nintendo via Wi-Fi for use on leaderboards and a total worldwide step count of all users. The press release says that the data is transferred to your DS via infrared signal, but we're a bit skeptical since the DS doesn't have an IR port.

Nintendo of Europe will launch Walk with me! on February 20. You can see English screens in an obtrusive Flash interface at Nintendo's Walk with me page.

Gallery: Aruite Wakaru Seikatsu Rhythm DS

[Thanks, RICANJO!]

VC Friday: Resistance is futile

by Chris Greenhough { Nov 7th 2008 at 8:55AM }

EX-TERM-IN-ATE! EX-TERM-IN-ATE! Wait, no, those are the other ones. But whatever. The point is: after hearing nothing about Space Invaders Get Even! for months, the game has randomly appeared on the European and Australian Wii Shops. We are unashamedly jigging with joy as we type this. And the extra-terrestial goodness doesn't stop there, for Alien Crush Returns has also joined the line-up. Needless to say, we wholeheartedly welcome our new rulers (of all our spare time).

The other game is Brain Challenge. Sorry, Brain Challenge.

Alien Crush Returns -- WiiWare -- 800 Nintendo Points
Brain Challenge -- WiiWare -- 1000 Nintendo Points
Space Invaders Get Even! -- WiiWare -- 500 Nintendo Points

Gallery: Space Invaders Get Even!

Continued →

DS Daily: Buy? Or sell?

by Chris Greenhough { Nov 6th 2008 at 9:00AM }

Yesterday, in the "lolwut?" moment of November so far, we heard that Nintendo is making a game that will teach John Q. Public the ins and outs of the economy. Because Nintendo knows a thing or two about making games, we trust it will be an engaging experience, and the economy is something we'd like to be better informed about.

Then again, the subject matter also seems random, and something that wouldn't be overly useful to many DS owners. We can understand stuff like Professor Kageyama's Math Training (most of us use math every day, and increased mental sharpness with numbers is handy) and My Japanese Coach (Japan and its language are fascinating, and many gamers have an interest in the culture), but would you regard an economy-based training game as practical to your needs? Would you purchase it?

Eh?: Nintendo developing game about the economy

by Chris Greenhough { Nov 5th 2008 at 3:30PM }

Nintendo is teaming up with Tokyo stock market index Nikkei to develop a game that teaches us about the incomprehensible mystery that is the economy. Virtually nothing is known about the new title, except that it will make learning about the economy "fun," contain quizzes to test your newly acquired knowledge, and feature controls that are touchscreen-based. No longer will you have to make up awkward excuses to leave social gatherings early when the words "Dow Jones" pop up.

While obviously topical, the economy seems like an unusually dry subject for Nintendo to base a game on, even moreso than math. Still, if Sega can make a game about business fun, so can Nintendo. Also, is this a sign that Miyamoto's latest obsession is dabbling in shares?

[Via Eurogamer]

DS Fanboy Review: What's Cooking? with Jamie Oliver

by JC Fletcher { Oct 27th 2008 at 3:00PM }

For Atari's slightly weird cooking trainer/cookbook What's Cooking? With Jamie Oliver (technically the box says What's Cooking? Jamie Oliver, but I don't think I want to call it that), I decided a traditional review probably wasn't the best idea. So I decided to take cues from my colleagues, the Cooking Guide experts, and make a gallery of my experience cooking a recipe from the game -- in this case blueberry, banana, and mascarpone pancakes. As the perfect garnish for this food metaphor, a somewhat abbreviated review appears below, followed by a link into my pancakes gallery!