It's a dictionary! It's a translation tool! It's a brain teaser! It's a math tutor! It's all for your Nintendo DS!
Nintendo Japan has just announced three new games for the Nintendo DS. Well, they're actually not really games. They'd much better be classified as applications for the system.
The first, titled Nou o Kitaeru Otona no DS Training ("Brain Training for Adults on the DS"), will use the game's touch screen for the user to write-in their answers to match problems, and the microphone to recognize the correct spoken answers to word problems or read text. The game, developed in conjunction with Japan's Touhoku University, is due out in the country in May, for the low, low price of ¥2,800 ($27).
Second, Yawaraka Atama Juku ("Prep School Brain Flexing") is similar to the first game, except all the tasks use on-screen graphics instead of text or number prompts. This way, the game can appeal to all ages and skill levels. It will also support an eight-player multiplayer mode. This one is due out in June, at the same price as the first.
The third new "game" announced by Nintendo appears to be the most useful of the three. DS Rakubiki Jiten is a Japanese dictionary for the DS, which also includes English-Japanese and Japanese-English translation tools. The most impressive feature of this DS dictionary is that users can write in the characters they want to look for on the touch screen, and the program will recognize the characters and give the appropriate results. This dictionary program will also hit Japan in June, but will be a little more pricey, ¥4,800 ($46).
As these three titles were just announced for the Japanese market, nothing was said about plans to release English versions of these applications into North America. We'll keep an eye on these interesting offerings from Nintendo, and maybe we'll even hear more about them at E3.
