Pac-Man creator worried about Brain Training claims

By Tom Bramwell Published 11 July, 2006

Wants to verify them.

Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani believes it's important to make sure that games like Nintendo's Brain Training series aren't based on poor science.

Speaking to Famitsu, partially translated by GameSpot, Iwatani said that next March he would be leaving Namco after 30 years in order to lecture full-time on game development - and the medium starts to reach a broader audience he's concerned about the validity of claims made by the games that took them there.

"Mental training games have become very popular lately," he points out. "[Tokyo Polytechnic University] has set up facilities to monitor brain activity so that we can thoroughly investigate the relationship between games and brain activation."

"It is necessary to verify that the claims are valid from a scientific viewpoint. As the impact of games on society grows, they will be subject to criticism," he told Famitsu.

Nintendo in particular has enjoyed enormous success with its Brain Training titles, several of which are available for the Nintendo DS in Japan - where millions of copies have been sold.

The games were inspired by Professor Kawashima, author of a series of books on the subject in Japan, who believes that a regimen of simple tasks performed daily can improve mental acuity over time.

Explaining his decision to leave Namco, Iwatani said that he was inspired to do it by the "passion" that young people have for games - something he experienced firsthand during a spell in 2004 when Namco and TPU put on a series of lectures on game planning.

Iwatani was so inspired that he went on to deliver more lectures - and now plans to do it full time. "I also realised how important teaching is," he says of that period in 2004. "So, when TPU told me they were beginning a new course on games, and asked me to become a full-time lecturer, I decided to do it."

Not least because, in Iwatani's view, training in the Japanese games industry "is on the verge of crisis".

"It will become very hard to train staff in-house, as was done in the past," he argues. "As a result, the educational institutions must follow through. However, Japan is far behind in the field of game education compared with the US, Europe, Korea, and China."

Having joined Namco in 1977, Iwatani came up with the idea of Pac-Man in 1980. The game was an instant success when it came out in May that year, and lead to countless sequels and derivatives.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (33) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Psi #1 6 years ago

    "If Pacman had affected us as kids we'd be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music." - marcusbrigstocke

  • MoFo #2 6 years ago

    Yeah that and seeing ghosts!

  • aine #3 6 years ago

    Wasn't it already proved to be a load of bollocks that doesn't really improve your mental capacity to do anything other than play Brain Training? Much like sudoku, really.

  • yiannis #4 6 years ago

    "Nintendo in particular has enjoyed enormous success with its Brain Training titles, several of which are available for the Nintendo DS in Japan - where millions of copies have been sold."

    And that is why we have to prove that it's all crap. How can a non game like that sell more than pac man?? Geeezzz...

    pac man my ar$e. i enjoyed pac man a lot back then. I played a lot. That was then.
    His impression of new games is very weird indeed.. add a bow on head make miss ,pacifier make baby pac man.. geez.

    He's going to teach? i think he has more to learn from modern game makers legends than teach..

    anyway... good luck pac man rapist...


    In Other news..


    "it already proved to be a load of bollocks that doesn't really improve your mental capacity to do anything other than play Brain Training?"

    It's not very clear what you're trying to say other than "bollocks"...

    It is proven that certain excercizes (like playing chess, doing somehow advanced math... ) improve your mental capabilities as long/short term memory, math functions etc. It is a FACT!!! And these are the functions these games like sudoku, Brain Training set of exercizes etc. claim to improve.

    They do NOT improve telepathy capabilities.. as some idiots might think..

    Edited by 1 at 11/07/06 @ 11:38

  • Kami #5 6 years ago

    I think a "Brain training" game is possible... but BRAIN TRAINING isn't it.

    Still, it gives a safe and comfortable illusion of doing so and I guess that's what people are buying into...

    Personally... I'm quite happy with New Super Mario...

  • smelly #6 6 years ago

    Its amazing how my psychologically trained brain doctors we have on this forum who can make such bold comments as to whether it does or doesnt work.

  • peterfll #7 6 years ago

    I didn't even realise that Brain Training was claiming to be 100% certified anyway.

    Shucks, if you enjoy it and you think it might be doing some good is it really a problem?

  • AcidSnake #8 6 years ago

    I don't know about you, but since I've started brain training my math has improved...
    I can now go through the 100 calculations in record time not messing up a single one...

    I have no idea when this'll ever come in useful though...

    'Soon in stores: Placebo Light!
    The same effect with less then 80% of the calories!
    Order now!'

  • Sko #9 6 years ago

    "If Pacman had affected..."

    I knew that line would be uttered somewhere in the thread when I saw the name of the article but well done for repeating again, first.

  • chupachups #10 6 years ago

    I dunno, I think the actual "brain training" aspect of the game is probably more like horoscopes: people sort of know it's all rubbish but find it fun to pretend it's not.

    OTOH there's been evidence that people who regularly do crosswords stay mentally fit for longer, so maybe any sort of mental exercise whatsoever helps keep your brain in working order.

    Whatever the truth about it is, I guess the really significant thing about Brain Training isn't whether it works or not, but the fact that it's shown there's an enormous audience for this kind of thing, an audience that doesn't even require any graphics in its games.
    Edited by 1 at 11/07/06 @ 12:14

  • Scientist #11 6 years ago

    "I don't know about you, but since I've started brain training my math has improved...
    I can now go through the 100 calculations in record time not messing up a single one... "

    That's why they taught us multiplication tables at school.
    Now if you had all paid more attention in class instead of playing Donkey Kong Game & Watch at the back you wouldn't need Brain Training all those years later. I'm sure the irony isn't lost on Nintendo.

    \waves finger like angry teacher

  • Markusdragon #12 6 years ago

    The idea of Brain Training is to keep your Brain active, not to improve your ability.

    @ Scientist:
    I never did bother to learn those multiplication tables :p.
    Edited by 1 at 11/07/06 @ 12:22

  • Psi #13 6 years ago

    yeah sko but i did at least credit marcus brigstocke for the joke :)

  • JetSetWilly #14 6 years ago

    What's bogus about the fact that doing simple calculations everyday makes me better at doing simple calculations? Doing keepy-uppys everyday makes me better at keepy-uppys.

    And I for one have never thought I'm improving physical brain age since what I clearly am doing is improving my score at certain tasks in relation to scores taken by a control group.

    No-one's having their leg-lifted here, it's just a bit of fun.

  • Aria #15 6 years ago

    It's pretty obvious that a single game won't revive the already rotten brains of many people in today's society whose only 'activities' are thinking about sex, eating takeaways and browsing through The Sun! But I think if it’s done alongside other positive activities, it can help improve the short-term functionality of the brain, but that’s only my opinion...

  • el_pollo_diablo #16 6 years ago

    Well I just wish him the very best of luck.

  • chupachups #17 6 years ago

    "The idea of Brain Training is to keep your Brain active, not to improve your ability."

    Yes, but the ultimate goal is to keep ability rather than losing it. The theory is that if you do a mental task, even if your ability doesn't improve, it's less likely to degrade with age.

  • AcidSnake #18 6 years ago

    @scientist
    Sure..that's easy to say now...back in my day our blackboard wasn't touchscreen...

    It still isn't probably...

    \go sits in corner

  • Carrybagma #19 6 years ago

    Awww this thread is going to go this way anyway, so I'll just get it over with early on:

    - Dr.Kawasaki's brain training only helps if you're a Nintendo-loving kid.
    - XBOX360 improves your brain; makes you more 'grown up' and super-cool.
    - PS2/PS3 makes you more untrustworthy and duplicitous.

    There you go.
    All scientifically proven - by scientists, studying science.
    100%.
    No need to argue any more.
    Elvis has left the building.
    Edited by 1 at 11/07/06 @ 13:57

  • AcidSnake #20 6 years ago

    Elvis has left the building?

    But how many Elvisses were in the building?
    And how many are entering right now?

    To find the solution to this problem try Brain Training by Dr. Kawashima....

  • Kami #21 6 years ago

    The problem with Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training is the same problem as any quiz/puzzle game in the world.

    You can only have so many puzzles/questions/problems in the game. Eventually, you'll just be repeating yourself rather than training anything. Also, being a game, you'll find that you can have the game in your hand... and cheat. But then, if you cheat you're not proving anything other than your desire to take shortcuts.

    You know, one day I do believe we will get a game which can be regularly updated (for free), providing a vast array of different puzzles and adapting to your own specific needs and rhythm. One day, we will get a game like that and it will be awesome (And break all known sales records I think).

    But Brain Training isn't it. It has to abide by the limitations of being a contained game, which ultimately makes it restrictive to X amount of problems. It shouldn't take someone with a PHd to tell you that much...

  • Carrybagma #22 6 years ago

    Oh - bear in mind it's cheap, compared to the usual titles.
    £12.99 from Movietyme & saw it in Game for £18.99.

  • AcidSnake #23 6 years ago

    Well ofcourse it has a limit...
    But that doesn't matter...
    Because some of the games are meant to help you remember...and therefore wouldn't benefit from an infinite amount of games...

    I'm not saying it does anything to my brain...just that I'm noticing that my math is getting back into shape...

    Oh and the lower price tag is exactly right...

  • Eraser #24 6 years ago

    As long as I see my scores improve in Brain Training I'm happy

  • lambtron #25 6 years ago

    Hmm of all the things that might keep me up awake at night in a cold sweat it isn't whether Brain Training turns you into a genius or not.

    I would have thought that the evidence that doing simple puzzles like a crossword or sudoku can be both fun and good for you was overwhelming. Don't think it was ever marketed as anything more than that...

  • wiintendo #26 6 years ago

    I don't think anyone is getting conned here.

    It's a bit of much needed mental taxation - with the added benefit of being a bit of a laugh when there's two of you competing. If only I could show you my girlfriend's drawing of Africa, blimey.

    @AcidSnake: 'maths' surely !?

  • kangarootoo #27 6 years ago

    I was going to say that someone on a previous thread suggested that the "training" aspect of this was not what it purported to be.

    Then I read on and saw ManicMinerUK's post. For it was he who commented about this before.

    @Markusdragon

    "The idea of Brain Training is to keep your Brain active, not to improve your ability."

    But that isn't quite how the product was sold. They test you, give your brain an "age" and then as you continue to use the product your brain age reduces (they don't claim to make your brain actually younger, so lets not get hung up on that again).

    Anyway, the point MMUK made previously was this (please correct me MMUK if I get it wrong).

    You play the game, it gives you a brain age. You continue to play and your brain age reduces. You then clear your profile and begin all over again. You would expect your brain age to stay the same, because it is testing your actual abilities right? In MMUK's tests (making them sound all official, rather than him just sat there in his pants, crisps in one hand and DS in the other) he found that restarting your profile also reset your brain age.

    So in fact (if he is to be believed) it simply pretends to be reducing your brian age, when in fact it is actually just reducing it over consecutive sessions.

    This specific issue isn't what the article is about though IMO. I think Toru is making a general point that games in the past have been able to get away with all sorts of claims (because frankly most gamers aren't that interested in checking the validity of these things). Once products like that start getting a mention in the Sunday Times, someone is going to start checking the validity of their "science". And they may find out it is bollox, undermining the whole genre and impacting the success of future products that are valid.

    EDIT: any typos I make swapping brain for brian will NOT be corrected. 'Cos it would just take too long.. :)
    Edited by 1 at 12/07/06 @ 09:09

  • AcidSnake #28 6 years ago

    @wiintendo
    Maths...that's what I said...You must have read it wrong...

  • kangarootoo #29 6 years ago

    p.s.

    Math and maths are both valid abbreviations of mathematics I believe.

    Where is Teeth when you need him...

  • AcidSnake #30 6 years ago

    See...I was right all along...
    Dr. Kawashima would be proud of me...
    Especially considering I'm not from an English speaking country...

  • wiintendo #31 6 years ago

    Ignore me AcidSnake, 'math' is just a pet hate of mine.

    What really sends me mental though is people writing 'of' when they mean 'have'.

    I'm angry even just writing that.

  • Teeth #32 6 years ago

    Oh! Oh! What about when Americans write "I could care less" when they really mean "I could NOT care less"?

  • AcidSnake #33 6 years ago

    No prob Wiintendo...
    I could care less... ;)