Mind Quiz

Mind Quiz
Developer(s)	Sega
Publisher(s)	JP: Sega WW: Ubisoft
Producer(s)	Rieko Kodama
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable
Release	Nintendo DS JP: September 14, 2006 NA: March 13, 2007 PAL: March 23, 2007 PlayStation Portable NA: October 31, 2006 AU: November 16, 2006 EU: November 17, 2006
Genre(s)	Educational
Mode(s)	Single-player

Mind Quiz, also known as Mind Quiz: Exercise Your Brain or Mind Quiz: Your Brain Coach (Nounenrei: Nou Stress Kei Atama Scan in Japan), is a mental training game for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable. It is similar to Nintendo's Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! It involves playing different training exercises to measure and improve particular parts of the player's brain, such as one's brain age and its brain stress degree.

The game offers over 40 training games,^[1] each being separated into four brain training categories:

1. Calculation — Tests the player's ability to apply mathematics skills.
2. Reflex — Displays problems that mostly require the player to rapidly press buttons.
3. Judgment — Examines how well the player can apply decision-making and thinking skills.
4. Memory — Tests the player's ability to memorize certain numbers, shapes, and the like.

Grades in Mind Quiz range from A+ to E,^[1] each being associated with a different level of performance.

Game modes include^[2]

• Datafile: measures performance in each of the five areas
• Save/Delete: allows the player to save or delete his data
• Brain Age Test: tests brain age with four mini-examinations
• Training
• Challenge

Take any one of five different exams in all four Mind Quiz fields.^[2]

View two different galleries: one containing animal pictures, and one containing Brain Trainer Awards.^[2]

Accessible from the Main Menu, this function requires two PSP systems with the Mind Quiz: Exercise Your Brain UMD inside, and with the WLAN switch on. One player selects "Player Search" and is the host. The other player selects "Participate" and is the recipient. Once a connection is established, the players prepare and start competing. Each player is given a set number of questions. Whoever gets all questions first wins.

After entering the Training Mode, the player is asked his first question. When the game is finished, a report card will show time, rate %, and letter grade, along with a comment from the teacher.

On June 29, 2007, Ubisoft, the game's publisher, voluntarily pulled the game from store shelves in the UK upon complaints that the word spastic, a term referring to a disability which is offensive in the UK, was triggered when the player incorrectly answered certain questions.^[3] Ubisoft stated "As soon as we were made aware of the issue we stopped distribution of the product and are now working with retailers to pull the game off the market."^[4]

The only country where the European English version of the game is sold is Australia since the term is not considered especially offensive there.

The same incident occurred with the game Mario Party 8, released for the Wii, just a month later. The same word caused controversy and was recalled in the UK. However, unlike Mind Quiz, that word was replaced by the word "erratic" and it was finally re-released in the UK on August 3, 2007.^[5]

The title received mixed reviews; garnering 51.20% on GameRankings. GameSpot gave the game 4.9/10 (Poor), stating that "Mind Quiz: Your Brain Coach is a shameless clone of Nintendo's brain-training DS game, Brain Age" and that "This game isn't good enough to serve as a game for Brain Age players who are looking for more of the same because it's too similar yet too shallow to entertain that crowd. If you fall into the group of people who haven't played Brain Age, you should go with that one rather than waste your time on a pretender like Mind Quiz."^[10]

• Mind Quiz: Your Brain Coach Nintendo Website
• Mind Quiz: Your Brain Coach Ubisoft Website
• BBC News article on the Controversy