Brain Training Goes Simple

Nintendo's Otona no DS Training (known as Train Your Brain in America) was the surprise hit of 2005 over in Japan and will likely go on to sell a million copies before its sequel arrives in a couple of weeks. With success comes the copycats. Enter D3 Publisher.

The publisher of the Simple 2000 series of budget PS2 titles and Simple 2500 series of budget PSP titles revealed this past week plans for some brain training games of its own. Both the PSP and PS2 will get versions of Mitsuo Kodama Sensei Kanshuu The Unou Drill. The name translates to The Right Brain Drill Supervised by Mitsuo Kodama. Kodama is a college professor who apparently knows enough about intelligence testing to get his own game.

Those who chose to try out this latest brain maker game will be able to select from a number of modes, including a mode that measures your IQ based on your test scores and a mode for beefing up your right brain. The game's World Tour Mode trains your right brain while showing you pictures from around the world. For all these levels, you can select to play on three difficulty settings.

On the PS2, The Unou Drill will appear as volume 93 of the Simple 2000 Series. On the PSP, it will be volume 4 of the Simple 2500 series. Yes, the PSP version will cost more, just because its in a series that costs 500 yen higher. Smart.