sega brain checker asks just how stupid are you?
If you haven't gotten a chance to play either of the Brain Age games on the Nintendo DS, you might want to check out this gadget from Japan's SegaToys. Thanks to my limited knowledge of the Japanese language, I'm not 100% sure what the Brain Checker does …
Context & Ripple Effects
Nintendo's Brain Age pair turned self-testing into a mass-market DS genre, and by late 2007 the format was spilling off the handheld entirely: Nintendo itself pushed the DS toward non-game uses with the camera accessory and Face Training software announced in July, while the console's chronic Christmas shortage kept shelves hungry for alternatives. SegaToys — Sega's toy arm, not its game division — is now selling the Brain Checker in Japan, a standalone gadget that quizzes users in the same spirit, though even the covering outlet concedes its exact functions are unclear without Japanese.
First-order effects
- SegaToys is selling directly into a category Nintendo's Brain Age defined, courting buyers who want the brain-test experience without buying a DS or its cartridges.
Second-order effects
- With Nintendo extending the DS into training hardware via the July 2007 Face Training announcement, the two companies are now competing for the same casual, non-gamer customer with gadgets rather than game lineups.
Third-order effects
- If toy makers keep shipping standalone assessment devices, 'brain training' risks hardening into its own hardware category outside video games — one where Nintendo set the template and rivals like SegaToys compete on price and novelty rather than software libraries.
The trend: Mid-2000s consumer electronics is folding self-assessment and mental exercise into everyday gadgets, with Nintendo's Brain Age serving as the template that toy and peripheral makers like SegaToys now imitate.