Gamers have always wished there were more people like themselves - more people buying and enjoying games. They have always wanted everyone to play games just like everyone listens to music and watches movies. But since the days of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Genesis, the number of consumers purchasing video game systems has never significantly increased, even three hardware generations later. Last generation, after Gamecube was tromped by Sony’s Playstation 2, and even newcomer Microsoft’s Xbox, Nintendo decided to make a change, and in early 2005, they announced their next handheld. The DS would have two screens, one of them being touch-sensitive. Nobody really understood this move, and the DS was ridiculed by gamers, saying that it would likely fall to the might of Sony’s first foray into the handheld market, the PSP.

DS had a weak launch, with only one notable title (Super Mario 64 DS), and wasn’t a big hit with consumers until six months later, when, in Japan, Brain Age was released. This was Nintendo (and the gaming industry as a whole)’s first real push to grab the mainstream audience, and it worked. Since release, Brain Age has sold about eight million copies (as much as Halo 2), and its sequel, which hasn’t even been released in North America yet, has sold over four million copies. And it really has changed the industry and the way the it is seen. Gaming in Japan is especially different - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was just released there to great critical success and huge sales numbers, and has intuitive, touch-screen based controls, and is targeted very much to casual gamers.

So how about the game itself? Brain Age is completely original and overall a very good game. You “train your brain in minutes a day,” by completing a handful of math and language based puzzles, then testing your “brain age” by doing three randomly chosen puzzles as quickly and accurately as you possibly can. The game keeps track of how often you play, and graphs your progress in each of the training games, as well as your brain age. You can even compare graphs with others’ on the same cartridge. The handwriting and voice recognition aren’t perfect, but you get used to them, and soon wont have any problems with them at all. Dr. Kawashima’s floating head cracks jokes and gives personality to the whole game, and you’ll definitely want to be coming back to it day after day.

Brain Age is the most important video game released since the 1998 Nintendo classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time crafted what we all accept today as 3D gameplay. It’s not only the best representative for the shift that is happening in our industry, but it was the catalyst for it. You know things have changed when the only games Microsoft announce at E3 are an adaptation for Xbox 360 of Scene It? and a Viva Piñata party game. It’s got my mom and millions of others who never played games before playing video games on a Nintendo system every day, and that is a first for the industry.