Tuesday 26 February 2013

Dr. Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training


Last year was a great year for those who like mysteries and puzzle games, with a brand new Professor Layton title that offered more brain teasers and mini games than ever before among the biggest releases of 2012. For 2013 though, Nintendo is continuing to help sharpen our minds with a new brain training game that promises to help us focus – or at least, asks us if we can.

Dr Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training: Can You Stay Focused? comes to the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL this April 12th having recently been delayed for a month, so what does the game feature and will it turn us from jelly-brained idiots into genius rocket scientist bods in a matter of days? Well, it’s unlikely, but why don’t we take a look at what the good Doctor is prescribing in this latest effort?

So once again, all the brain teasers here have been developed with the cooperation of the now infamous neuroscientist Dr Ryuta Kawashima. But while many of us are by now familiar with the series, this new Devilish Brain Training entry will be the first to be released specifically for the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL, with the last lot having appeared on the Nintendo DS. As you can tell from the title, the emphasis has been placed on improving the gamers’ concentration and focus, so if you feel like you’re getting a bit hazy in your old age, this could be the game for you.

The idea is that you play through some of the exercises just for a few minutes each day – and over the course of several weeks, you should start to see some personal improvements in how you are able to concentrate and focus your thoughts. This, it is claimed, will allow you to train your working memory in a way that will aid things like information storage and much more. Of course, there are still games out there like New Super Mario Bros. 2 that will offer you pure fun, but why not give Devilish Brain Training – with its 30 exercises and challenges – a spin after each bout of Mario action before you switch of your 3DS? You never know, it could make all the difference.

Refreshment

Last week myself and Mike unveiled a new-look BlastProcess.com. The changes have been explained in the post at this link. The biggest point was the change from Blogger.com to WordPress.com due to the extra bit of freedom it gave us. It also gave us multiple options to make the site look fresh and introduced a more 'professional' look.

Have a look around a let me know what you think. Hope you all like it!

I've had a busy old week however I am working on a piece with my thoughts about the Playstation 4 announcement. I'll post a link once its online, however for now I'll leave this link here summarising the event.

Just a few other links to share:

- Managed a couple of hours on Battlefield 3 with a few friends, of which one (thanks Chris!) decided to record a round. The result can be found on this post. It is something we are looking at doing more of in the future.

- I've also wrote a short piece regarding the full announcement of Destiny, Bungie's newest title.

- Finally, myself and Mike did a video review of Hauppaugue's latest PVR. It now records through a HDMI cable. For the full details check this link out. The video is also embedded in that post too.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

The Scale of EVE Online + Writing

I've always liked EVE.

Even though I have never been able to really devote the time it desires I still can't help but sit back in my chair and applaud it's achievements. It doesn't want to be 'Warcraft-in-Space', nor does consider going free to play. The term Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game describes EVE perfectly, for it is massive.

The galaxy in which you fly around in is quite simply huge. In some cases flying from point A to point B could take hours. But for all its size your trip across space is never a lonely one, as for all the MMOs that have since dropped the pay monthly tradition in the hope of gaining more players by going free to play (with you instead paying for 'bits') EVE only instead continues to charge people to play the game monthly.

EVE takes dedication, but rewards those who persist. Large parts of the galaxy are controlled by player-led groups known as 'Corporations'. Some of these Corporations join together to form alliances. While small battles between players happen on an hourly basis, every now and then something huge kicks off. Can you imagine being part of that?

Image thanks to Eurogamer.net.
For all it's praises, with my busy lifestyle I've just never been able to really 'get into' EVE, but really enjoy watching some of my close friends playing it and reading about the ongoing activities in the game.

So, when I saw an indiegogo project involving EVE Online doing the rounds on the internet I felt it needed a closer look. A number of university students alongside a couple of videogame journalists are planning to create a documentary regarding EVE and it's community. I'm seriously tempted to donate to it, as I feel the end product could be well worth the slight investment.

Perhaps it would even encourage me to play more of EVE?

After seeking advice from within the gaming industry I've recently decided to take on a Creative Writing course in an effort to improve, well, my writing. While I'm finding the course is mainly aimed at story/poetry writers I'm still finding it informative. I have been promised that later in the course journalism/content more aimed towards me should show its head. It's certainly inspiring me anyway.