“Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree is the first Touch Generations title to be released on Wii, and is extremely approachable for anybody, no matter what gaming experience they happen to have,” says Rob Lowe, product manager at Nintendo.
“This new game is a continuation of the series that started on DS, where the players compete to find out their ‘brain weight’ based on different types of mind-boggling tests. The game fully integrates a player’s Mii characters found on the Wii, and up to eight players can play against each other using only one Wii Remote.”
The lateral thinking mini-games are divided into five categories: visualise, memorise, analyse, compute and identify. Players are guided around the game by Dr Lobes – a floating, talking segment of a cranial lobe. Just in case the visual simile was lost on some players, the game’s surreal host also sports a pair of glasses and a mortar board hat in an unashamed cocktail of ‘brainy’ stereotypes.
In the test mode, the ever-present Dr Lobe calculates your brain weight based on your reaction speed and number of correct answers given to a string of questions. A spider graph is also generated showing players their individual strengths and weaknesses within the game in these five areas.
In multiplayer mode, social academics can compete in three ways. In Mental Marathon speed is key, as completing tasks buys more time to stay in the game. One to eight players can play against each other or as a team. In Mind Sprint players form a team and compete against a system-controlled competitor that is programmed to think like a specified student record, in which one to four players can play on one remote or two to eight players on separate teams on two remotes. Brain Quiz takes a game-show format where up to four teams compete in a total of 20 activities.
The Wii version is compatible with Mii data, which allows players to record results within the game and keep track of progress in each category. The WiiConnect24 function allows players to send and receive student-record books to other owners of the game, send their Miis to walk the student halls with other remote players and compete against them in Mind Sprint.
The Wii has always been very much about targeting as wide an audience as possible, and Big Brain Academy is no exception. This version will, however, be targeting a slightly older audience than previous Wii games, while still making sure the game is accessible to younger players (who the console probably belongs to).
“With Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree the target audience is really 5 to 95,” continues Lowe.
“In terms of media, we’ll be targeting kids and adults aged 25 to 54, so we are going slightly older than we have with previous Wii titles. This is because Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree on Wii really allows kids and adults alike to flex their brain muscles in a competitive way – this kids and adults dynamic will be represented in the advertising we are creating for the title, showing sons, daughter, mums, dads and grandparents all wielding the Wii Remote and solving fiendish puzzles and challenges featured in the game.”
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