Browsing around a local Tesco the other night I picked up Big Brain Academy for the Nintendo Wii. The game has been out on the DS Lite for a while now, so I was intrigued to see how the Wii version would fare.
The whole game uses the format of an academy for presentation, so you visit the Hall as your main menu, enter the Office for enrolment and wotnot, and the exam rooms for your daily test. Your Miis can be seen walking up and down the corridor (Including visiting Miis from other players) as you browse the menu options, and you can enrol several Miis in your save file so that visiting friends and family can have a play as well.
The games are of the short-but-fun type with an emphasis on mental agility. There are simple things like popping numbered balloons in order or a removing blocks to leave a particular sum. Other games include a version of Tetris and Whack-a-mole, there’s even a cute little train set where you need to tell the engine which direction to take to reach the exit. All of the games are straightforward but require quick, accurrate mental input to complete quicky and correctly.
There are 15 games in all and yhey are split into five types: Identify; Memorise; Analyse; Compute and Visualise:
Identify
Solve as quick as you can.
Whack Match
Use the Wiimote to whack the highlighted items.
Fast Focus
Identify the picture as quickly as possible.
Species Spotlight
Use the torch to find the animals.
Memorise
Covered Cages
Keep track of the birds as they are switched around.
Face Case
Identify the face that was shown earlier.
Reverse Retention
Remember the pictures in reverse order.
Analyse
Match Blast
Remove blocks to make up a given shape.
Speed Sorting
Pick the correct picture according to the criteria.
Block Spot
Which of the four block buildings matches the main one?
Compute
Balloon Burst
Pop the numbered balloons lowest to highest.
Mallet Math
Remove numbered blocks to leave the target figure.
Colour Count
Keep track of the number of Red/Blue balls in the cup.
Visualise
Art Parts
Place the picture parts in the correct locations.
Train Turn
Guide the train engine to its destination.
Odd One Out
Which picture is not like the others?
In addition to the usual single-player games of the DS version, there are a few multiplayer games that can be played one-on-one or as a team. Team games are potentially more entertaining, since the game will highlight who did best, and worst, after each round. The one-to-one games like Mind Sprint are particularly frantic, since you not only have to complete the game in a good time to score good points, but beat the other player as well.
The Multiplayer games are:
Mind Sprint
Race to complete a set number of questions. Each team can have up to 4 players who share a Wii Remote.
Mental Marathon
Maintain a perfect winning streak as long as possible in a limited amount of time. 1-8 Players with 1 Wiimote
Brain Quiz
Take turns selecting mental-activity panels on a party board to win points. Up to 8 players, divided into 4 teams.
The multiplayer games are made up of the 15 main games as well, so there’s nothing new to learn. Once you’ve played a single player game, you’re ready for multiplayer.
All in all, Nintendo Wii Big Brain Academy is a fun set of games that actually sharpens your brain’s reactions and helps with mental agility. At a touch under £18 it’s more than worth it, even if you don’t take the results too seriously.
Over the last year or so there’s been a dramatic rise in the number of 4×4s on our roads here in the UK, with a corresponding backlash from the non-4×4-owning population. A major part of the problem is that people are buying these so-called off-road cars to drive around town. The problem is so prevailant in the London borough of Chelsea that they’ve been nicknamed ‘Chelsea Tractors’.
Why all the hate? Obviously 4×4s, by nature of their very design, are noticably higher than other vehicles. Many of them are much larger, too, creating a situation where normal road users feel threatened by these seemingly hulking machines. Add into the mix the ’school run’ where.. well let’s quote the great Al Murray:
Everybody’s driving their kids to school so they don’t get run over by the people driving their kids to school.
Anyway, bigger vehicles on the road causing obstruction, intimidation and inevitably damage when driven by someone who doesn’t have a frickin’ clue. Perhaps we should have a Basic Proficiency Test for such vehicles. If your car is over a certain length, width or height, then you should have to pass a proficiency test in it before you are allowed to take it out on the road.
Such a test would not have to be as in-depth as the current UK driving test, since everyone who passed their test (legitimately, but that’s another story) has done it already. The problem is that driving instructors generally use smaller cars because they’re cheaper, easier to run and less likely to get trashed.
Back to the point! Reversing, parallel parking, navigating around cones or through gaps are all everyday manouvers that cause hassle when the inexperienced try them out in a larger vehicle, and as such, users of said vehicles should be tested on them in those vehicles. You already have to pass an extra test for a lorry or a limo, but there’s nothing to stop you, once you’ve passed a test, going out any buying one of those huge MitsuHondaNissan Warrior things. Besides money, anyway.
Let’s have proficiency tests! £50 a time and covering the basics of driving around other people. It’s a winner, you know.
I’ve reinstated the old Broadband Speed Test since NTL were rebranded Virgin Media, and put it back online at www.speedtest.d04.netwww.updn.co.uk for you all to play with. This is seriously broadband only, and it’s really only good for Virgin Media Broadband users.
K and myself have definately been upgraded to the new 20MBit package. Upload speeds (using other broadband speed tests, since mine only does download) have topped out somewhere around 720Kbit and my downloads this morning look ike this:
Virgin Media Speed Test - Click to Enlarge
It may be that I am limited by my cable modem. Despite being good got approx 40MBit, the Motorola Surfboard SB4100 that us oldies (K, BB and myself) use is getting on a bit. At this time of the morning I can consistently download at 12MBit using IE, with FireFox being slightly slower.
23rd July ‘09:
I’ve added the list of current service tickets as well, so you can see if there’s a problem in your area that may affect your download speed.
It seems my trusty old Linksys WRK54G is on it’s last legs, with frequent disconnects that require a power cycle every day or so. Time to get the old wallet out again and buy a new router.
K and I went in to PC World yesterday and looked at the N version and associated PCMCIA card, but the staff would only knock £20 off the combined £200+ price tag despite my best Dominic Littlewood impression, so I made my excuses and left. K bought a nice wireless mouse/keyboard combo, however.
Fishing around the Internets again this afternoon, I decided to get the same router Bootblock bought recently, and eBuyer turned out to be cheapest, with the Netgear WNR854T at £86 and free delivery. An order was placed, and it should be here in the next few days.
