A screenshot from the new game 'Brain Age' / Nintendo 3DS

Emails to check, term papers to write, YouTube videos to watch and Facebook to update. How do today's kids learn to focus in a world where multiple media sources are constantly vying for their attention?

Nintendo thinks it has the answer with its new "Brain Age: Concentration Training" game for the Nintendo 3DS. The game is meant to be explored for five minutes a day, during which you play one of eight "Devilish Training" exercises. These activities purport to train you to better use your short-term or "working memory." Does it work? Maybe. The more I played, the better I got at remembering things in a distracting environment.

Here's how the game works. The floating head of Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, a Japanese neuroscientist (who has starred in the previous two "Brain Age" games), greets you from the top screen. As your host and mentor, he delivers Brain Seminars to explain how your brain functions and occasionally he gets silly.





In addition to the eight Devilish Training games, this assortment of brain games also includes nine other activities designated as Supplemental Training. These hail from the two previous games in this series: "Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!" and "Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!" Plus there are nine more activities designated as "Brain Training" which are a combination of brand new games and some from the previous "Brain Age" games. Several of the new games are versions of Solitaire. My favorite new game is Block Head, where you take turns with a virtual opponent to claim the largest part of a gridded game board.

"Brain Age: Concentration Training" also contains three games to help you cool down after your vigorous mental workout. Called Relaxation Mode, the games include listening to music while watching peaceful imagery, or playing two gentle match-three puzzlers.

Dr. Kawashima fills his motivational lectures about why to train your working memory with lots of hedging words such as "may" and "might." He says that the activities may bring improvement to things like executive function, self control, and prediction and judgment. They might help with improved focus on schoolwork or playing sports.


Score: 3 stars (out of 4)

Rating: E (Comic Mischief)

Best for: 10-up

Publisher: Nintendo, http://brainage.nintendo.com

Platform: Nintendo 3DS

Cost: $29.99 (available as a download or in a box)


Copyright 2015 USATODAY.com

Read the original story: Learn to concentrate with new 'Brain Age' game


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