Brain Games - Do these minigame collections actually...work?
 

I recently bought Flash Focus (DS), Big Brain Academy (Wii) and Brain Age 2 (DS) and I've become a little obsessive about doing my "daily training" and getting my brain weight up.

I've only been at it for a week or so and I'm wondering if anyone who has played games like this has actually seen a significant difference outside of the game... how have these games helped you in your daily activities or activities in school, if at all?

EDIT: I just realized I entitled the thread "Brain Games" when in fact Flash Focus is for your hand-eye coordination and peripheral vision etc., but I still want to know if you've seen any improvements outside of the game.

I've played those games on and off and the only thing I've noticed is that they are rather effective sedatives. Seriously, if I wanted math, I'd have signed up for night classes at community college. I don't bother with crosswords or sudoku in the papers, why fuss with it in my videogames? Those games don't do a whole lot to stimulate the imagination which is the broad appeal of videogames for me. I don't mind learning but I'd like it to be of a sort that is more interesting than rote memorization.

I've found the games tend to be fun for a little while, but they'll often get tiring rather quickly. Most of them get frustrating since there's generally some exercises I'm really good at, and others I'm absolutely terrible. I don't mind doing ones I'm only good at, and I don't mind doing ones I'm only bad at, but when it mixes the two up in the "daily exercises" segment I get frustrated. Mostly because I realize how much I suck at certain activities even more since I'm able to nail perfects on my good ones, but totally bomb the others.

I really don't play those brain games. After a month of playing them; they get boring and hard. I did notice though my math scores went up alittle. But other then that there a waste.

I got the Brain Age games for relatives, figuring they would get more use out of it then I would, but circumstances had me ending up fiddling with it more often then they did, and I did see a bit of an improvement in my 'score'. The Sudoku puzzles included were far more time-consuming (Drawing me in) then they should have been, especially since I'm not a big fan of math.

They probably help you out in sharpening your attention, but I wouldn't go so far to say that you should use them for a serious mind-improvement regiment. More like... a bonus feature that they help you think a little bit faster after using the software for a while.

I managed to find my copy of Brain Training 2 from the depths of hell just yesterday and popped it in just to see how things were going. I hadn't played it for a year and a bit now, but I'd thought I'd see how close my scores would be:

-Brain Age: October 2007 - 21, December 2008 - 31.
-Missing Symbols: October 2007 - 16 seconds, December 2008 - 30 seconds
-Masterpiece Recital: October 2007 - 100%, December 2008 - 83%
-Word Scramble: October 2007 - 1 minute 29 seconds , December 2008 - 5 minutes 27 seconds

FAILURE ;__;.

Playing Brain Training everyday helped improve my score in the game, but as for helping out with school/uni I didn't notice much difference at all. I had quicker thinking, but quicker thinking is pretty much redundant if you don't have the intelligence to utilize it XD.

I played brain age 2 every day for 2 months and honestly? I felt it made me a little "sharper". Like, I could remember stuff I was going to do right after I thought about it as opposed to forgetting 10 seconds later.

And theres this "count the change" game in there that actually helped me--you guessed it!--count change better/faster/easier. I remember how to do basic math in my head instead of needing a paper and pen or a calculator at hand.

So I mean, I don't know, results may vary on games like these, I guess.

Except for flash focus. Flash Focus is total bullshit.

I found these games to be pretty interesting and amusing, but the others are right, they do get old after a while. I found them to be a great way to get my brain going again after a long day of school, or used the sudoku puzzles to relax at night. I don't know if they sharpened my brain that much, but it's better than not using your brain at all!

P.S. Dark Nation, if you don't like doing sudoku because of the numbers, you could always try it with shapes - triangles for 1, squares for 2, etc. - the numbers are completely arbitrary

I bought Brain Training. Then after playing it for a while I sold it. So yeah, it helped a bit. Just get this;

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Machine_3.png

That sir, is full of nostalgic win. Props too if you can get the old Incredible Machine rap they had along with it :tpg:

I think of all the Brain games I've played, Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training is perhaps the better of the lot. I tried getting into Big Brain Academy, but it didn't seem to exemplify (or give the impression) that I was getting smarter. Even so, the effects these games probably have are so minimum and gradual, that it would be hard to keep track on whether or not they actually work.