More DS Goodness Coming Our Way

The Nintendo DS has a couple of unique games coming to it in the spring. Games that are designed to make you smarter. That's right. Smarter. The games are Brain Age: Train Your Brain In Minutes A Day and Big Brain Academy. While they may have the dumbest names, they've garnered rave reviews from around the world and will finally be washing up on US shores in April and May, respectively.

So what's so special about these games? Here's some info:

Based on the works of neuroscientist Professor Ryuta Kawashima, both games emphasize brain over brawn by presenting the user with a series of puzzles based on mathematics, analysis, and memorization, as well as ever-popular sudoku puzzles. The entire game is controlled via the touch screen and stylus, and a multiplayer mode allows would-be Einsteins to compete brain-to-brain.

I think this is a great thing for gamers. Not only because it helps provide examples to point to when battling those who spew forth their incessant "videogames corrupt the minds of the youth" rhetoric, but also because they can be played in just a couple of minutes at a time. That's a huge selling point for me. Heck, it's the reason why I still occasionally play Meteos and not Lumines, despite actually enjoying Lumines more. It just takes too damn long. The article over at Gamespot has some more info and a link to a video of one of games being played. Here's the link.