Who Said That Learning A Language Wasn't Fun?

4th September 2006 - Improve your English skills in a simple and fun way with English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills when it launches across Europe on Nintendo DS on 13th October 2006. It is perfect for anyone who hasn't had the time, money or self-confidence to go on a course.

Following the recent success of Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old is Your Brain?, English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills is the latest title in Nintendo's innovative Touch! Generations range - a selection of software that will appeal to people of all age groups, irrespective of gaming ability or experience. In addition, the title has been rated for difficulty under the TOEICÆ testing system. For more than 25 years,the TOEIC test (,Test of English for International Communication) developed by ETS, has been used by academic institutions, companies, and government agencies worldwide to measure the business English proficiency of nonnative speakers.

English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills successfully combines the innovative gaming functions of the Nintendo DS with a strong and effective educational learning tool - providing the perfect way to learn English without the hassle of attending classes. The Nintendo DS touch-screen is used to test writing skills and users are given various dictation exercises to transcribe into English using the stylus and touch-screen. After they have completed the task, the written phrase is analyzed and mistakes in spelling and grammar are then highlighted. The Nintendo DS's voice-recognition function is also utilised when users are asked to read specific phrases aloud.

Depending on performance, users get ranked and all progress is recorded onto a progress chart through the game's in-built calendar, allowing users to keep track of their development and see their improvement over time. Tests include English Training Competition, English Word Test Competition and Dictation Race Competition. The title also allows players to wirelessly share a demo version of English Training with other DS owners.

English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills goes on sale across Europe on 13th October 2006 at the estimated retails price of around £20.

Click onto www.nintendo-europe-media.com for all of the most up to date official information on Nintendo.

For further information please contact the Nintendo Press Office on

020 7307 3103

Touch Generations

Nintendo recognises that everyone is different and has different interests and requirements from their games. Touch! Generations is a new range of software developed by Nintendo, which will appeal to people of all age groups, irrespective of ability or experience. All Touch! Generations software will be clearly labelled with the new Touch! Generations logo, allowing people to instantly identify these unique titles.

Touch! Generations titles currently available for the Nintendo DS include: Nintendogs, Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? Electroplankton, Big Brain Academy, Tetris DS

About Nintendo

Nintendo Co., Ltd. of Kyoto, Japan, is the acknowledged worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment. To date, Nintendo has sold more than 2.2 billion video games worldwide and more than 375 million hardware units globally, creating such industry icons as MarioÆ and Donkey Kong and launched franchises like The Legend of ZeldaÆ and PokÈmon. Nintendo manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home video game systems, including the Nintendo 64, NINTENDO GAMECUBE, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Game Boy - the world's best-selling video game system which has sold over 193 million units. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of Europe, based in Grossostheim, Germany, was established in 1990 and serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in Europe.

About ETS

ETS' mission is to advance quality and equity in education by providing fair and valid assessments, research and related services for all people worldwide. ETS customises solutions to meet the need for recruitment and training solutions, teacher professional development products and services, classroom and end-of-course assessments and research-based teaching and learning tools. Founded in 1947, ETS today develops, administers and scores more than 24 million tests annually, in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. ETS Europe facilitates access to ETS products and services in Europe, serving the needs of companies, language schools, academic institutions and government agencies. For more information, please

visit www.etseurope.org .

About the TOEICÆ Test

TOEIC is the acronym for Test of English for International Communication. The TOEIC test is a global standard for the assessment of communicative English ability in the international workplace. It is offered in some 60 countries around the world. The proficiency of the examinee is expressed as a numerical score between 10 and 990 rather than as pass or fail. The scale is constant. Besides individual examinees, some 5,000 companies, government and other public offices, schools, and other organisations used the TOEIC test in fiscal year 2005.