Gaming Giants Want A Slice Of Brain Training Pie

Video game makers are now looking to extend their reach beyond the youth segments as far as their clientele is concerned. And a really ripe market awaits them. For the aging population in Japan has taken to "Brain Train" concept like a duck to water.

Leading games manufacturer, Nintendo has sold 3.3 million of its "Brain Training for Adults" game, which was released in May last. "We wanted to reach out to those who were not interested in video games ... But we did not expect such success," said Ken Toyoda, a Nintendo spokesman. "We were able to ride the 'brain craze'." Even Sony has come out with a "Brain Trainer" version and people 35 or older are lapping it up. Even Rubik's cube has been selling like hot pancakes. It is a well-known fact that keeping the brain fresh and thinking can avert senility in addition to a lot of aging diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Brain scientist Kawashima says that people want to train their brains to elevate their inner-self, "There is the issue of aging society, but more than that, I think people want to train and elevate their inner self."