500,000 Europeans train their brains

Nintendo is celebrating the continued European success of its innovative DS title, Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?, selling half a million units in just nine weeks.

Part of the publishers growing Touch! Generations range - which includes titles such as the globally successful Nintendogs - the game is inspired by a series of tests by Dr Ryuta Kawashima, a renowned Japanese neuroscientist.

Players can undertake a series of short tests designed to stimulate and energise their brains in as little as five to ten minutes each day, and the popularity of the title has exceeded even Nintendo's expectations.

More than 500,000 copies have been sold in just nine weeks since the European launch, outstripping the title's performance in native Japan, where it took 16 weeks to reach the same number of sales.

North American sales of the title are showing equally impressive figures, racking up in excess of 600,000 units sold since its June 5th debut in the region.

Unusually, week-on-week sales of the game have increased since launch, and Nintendo reports that the title is currently selling more than 60,000 copies every week, with no signs of a decline in its performance.

Available for around GBP 20, sales of the title have been bolstered somewhat by the recent launch of the Nintendo DS Lite, which is in itself breaking records, shifting around 140,000 units each week since it's European debut on June 23rd.

Laurent Fischer, Marketing Director for Nintendo Europe commented: âWe are delighted that Dr. Kawashimaâs Brain Training has been such a huge success in Europe with thousands of people training their brains with this unique title."

"We hope that the continued success of this and other Touch! Generations software will help gaming as an industry expand and begin to appeal to entirely new audiences," he added.