Sight Training, Great Fun to Test Your Noggin

Nintendo was synonymous with frivolous fun but it is repositioning itself as a leader in lifestyle gadgetry. The Brain Training titles, exercise trainer Wii Fit and this Sight Training are more lifestyle accessories than games.

While it doesn't promise you'll get smarter, fitter or have sharper eyesight, there's a clear implication that spending time in daily training has benefits.

Sight Training wants to improve your focusing so you can distinguish moving objects, acquire more information, move your eyes quicker and react faster. It is pseudoscience given credibility by the endorsement of sports trainer Hisao Ishigaki - but who cares if it's fun?

But unlike the Brain Training games, great fun to test your noggin and pass between family and friends in pursuit of higher scores, most of Sight Training's activities are banal. Examples include tapping on boxes as quickly as possible, recalling a sequence of numbers flashed quickly on the screen, identifying matching shapes and tracking a moving box in a virtual version of Three-card Monte.

The more enjoyable activities are based on real-world sports. You'll hit incoming baseballs, pass or shoot a soccer ball, dodge American Football tacklers, enjoy table tennis rallies and smash volleyballs.

Like Brain Training, the idea is to play for a short time each day and your progress is tracked via graphs. But it's hard to summon the enthusiasm to return when the tasks are so dull, short and repetitive. It's also difficult to shake the feeling that it's your memory and reaction times being tested, not your visual abilities.

Sometimes you are told to take a break and roll your eyes. I didn't need to be told.

Review by The Sydney Morning Herald | View product details at Amazon