Skip to main content
If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Watchdog slams Nintendo for discrimination against Northerners

Good grief. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training made a five-minute appearance on British TV show Watchdog tonight ater it emerged that the game doesn't actually recognise northern British accents.

One woman from Manchester moaned, probably through a mouthful of pie, "Basically you have to say the different colours that flash up on the screen as quickly as possible. I'm saying, blue, blue, blue and it's saying no, even though it was blue. Then it got to yellow. I'm going, 'yeller' and everyone's saying to me you need to be a bit posher. You need to say, 'yellow' and as soon as I did, it picked it up."

The show's presenter, Nicky Cambell, claimed that Brain Training "clearly discriminated against" certain accents, especially Northern and Scottish.

We really don't know what to add. Read the rest of this sorry tale here.

Sign in and unlock a world of features

Get access to commenting, homepage personalisation, newsletters, and more!

In this article

Dr Kawashima's Brain Training

Nintendo DS

Related topics
About the Author
Patrick Garratt avatar

Patrick Garratt

Founder & Publisher (Former)

Patrick Garratt is a games media legend - and not just by reputation. He was named as such in the UK's 'Games Media Awards', the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award. After garnering experience on countless gaming magazines, he joined Eurogamer and later split from that brand to create VG247, putting the site on the map with fast, 24-hour a day coverage, and assembling the site's earliest editorial teams. He retired from VG247, and the games industry, in 2017.
Comments