Nintendo announced that worldwide sales of their unique DS title Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day has sold over 4 million units worldwide. According to the press release, 3 million copies have been sold in Japan, 600,000 in the Americas, and 500,000 in Europe. The sales figures in Japan are phenomenal, reaching sales heights that few actual game titles reach. The American and Europe figures are also impressive for a non-game title; while not yet a million seller in the US, Brain Age does seem to be drawing a different demographic to the DS. Finding unique ways to expand their core audience has been a large part of the handheld’s success, and Nintendo will certainly hope to continue this with the launch of the Wii this holiday.

The full press release continues below.

NINTENDO’S BRAIN AGE SETS NEW WORLD RECORD, TRAINING MILLIONS OF BRAINS EACH DAY

Staggering Global Sales Top More Than 4 Million

REDMOND, Wash., Aug. 10, 2006 – The latest craze to sweep the planet is Brain Age™: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day for the portable Nintendo DS™. Selling more than 4 million units worldwide, including 600,000 in the Americas, 3 million in Japan and 500,000 in Europe, the top-selling title redefines how millions of people now think about video gaming.

Brain Age first took Japan by storm with its edition that includes a series of math and memory puzzles designed to keep the mind agile.  Even after selling 3 million copies in the 15 months since launch, Japanese sales are not showing any signs of slowing. The title was launched in the Americas and Europe this year and maintains a similar trend of steady weekly sales.  Around the world, game players, baby boomers and seniors are intent on keeping their minds sharp by making Brain Age part of their daily routine.  For many of them, Brain Age is the first video game they’ve ever played, showing Nintendo’s efforts to expand the audience of players is highly successful.
“Brain Age is so easy to pick up and play, regardless of your experience level,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications, whose “Brain Age” has improved to age 20 (the best score you can achieve). “You can play it for 10 minutes or an hour and keep yourself feeling sharp. As a baby boomer, it’s like a treadmill for my mind.”

Brain Age is a cornerstone of Nintendo’s new Touch Generations brand, which helps gaming newcomers identify which titles might be appropriate for them. The second title in the brain-training series, Big Brain Academy™, launched in the Americas on June 5 and already has sold more than one quarter million units. Both titles have helped to lay the foundation for Nintendo’s upcoming Wii™ console, which also will include fun, simple games that everyone in the family will want to try.

The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Nintendo DS™, Game Boy® Advance and Nintendo GameCube™ systems, and upcoming Wii™ console. Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.2 billion video games and more than 375 million hardware units globally, and has created industry icons like Mario™, Donkey Kong®, Metroid®, Zelda™ and Pokémon®. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company’s Web site at www.nintendo.com.