Nintendo summons demonic Brain Age spin-off for 3DS

Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata today unveiled a devilish new chapter in the Brain Age series. Introduced under its working title, Oni Training (“Demon Training”), the three-dimensional puzzle game will star the good doctor as a half-man-half-ogre... thing... who challenges players with a whole new set of brain twisty exercises.

"We agreed that if we were to make another game it would only be when we had some kind of special new idea for it," explained Iwata, continuing, "And for this reason, six years have passed. However, brain science has continued to progress, and three years ago, Dr Kawashima came to me with new brain science."

Iwata said the game will flex players' gray matter in two new ways, the first being through concentration-based tasks that test one's ability to solve problems while remaining focused; and the second being a series of working memory challenges, which targets the part of the brain that temporary stores and manipulates information. All together, Oni Training is said to offer a serious challenge to players (hence the devil theme), but one that will adjust to each player's ability, so as to avoid too much frustration.

Oni Training is due in Japan this summer, however it's almost a guarantee Nintendo will launch a western version shortly thereafter. Here's hoping they get a demonic Nicole Kidman to promote the spin-off when and if it makes it to North America.