Face Training Hands-On

At Nintendo's recent "Mind, Body, and Console" event in London, one room was dedicated to "body" games. Among those showcased were Wii Fit, as well as Sight Training (known as Flash Focus in the US), and Face Training for the DS. Can gurning really make you look younger? We got a chance to go hands-on (or face-on) to find out.

Face Training is based on the principles of "facening," or facial yoga, which aims to exercise the facial muscles to improve tone and therefore appearance. The game ships with a camera peripheral, which slots into slot two, and ends up on the right-hand side of the handheld because it is held in "book" view to play. The camera enables you to see your own face on the right-hand screen, alongside the instructions on the left.

The version of the game we played was in Japanese (the game, titled Otona no DS Kao Training, is already out in Japan), so a translator talked us through what appeared to be standard introduction and instruction screens.

The initial exercises we tried were straightforward. First, we had to close our eyes slowly to a count of five, which is counted down by the game's instructor, and also shown on the right-hand screen by circles that contained the numbers one to five. We then had to look as far as possible to the left and right, as well as up and down, again to the count of five.

After that, we moved on to the muscles around the mouth with a variety of exercises that ranged from saying the letters "A," "E," and "O" for a count of five, to moving the mouth to the left and right while opening wide. Although it may well be helpful for facial toning, it does feel quite odd at first. We found it hard to maintain the positions while watching ourselves onscreen, given that the image did cause some giggling. These are exercises to be undertaken in the privacy of your own home; it would take serious nerve to "face train" in public.

Like its stablemates Brain Training (Brain Age in the US) and Sight Training, Face Training is designed to become a part of a daily routine of self-improvement, and to attract a wider audience than traditional games. Nintendo asserted at the event that 66 percent of adult owners of DS handhelds in the UK are female, and this is clearly the target market for Face Training. It's certainly a novel concept, and we look forward to seeing more of the game when an English-language version is available.

Face Training has been confirmed for release sometime in 2008 for both Europe and the USA.