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Got Game Entertainment LLC has announced a North American retail publishing deal for MindHabits for both Mac and PC. Based on more than a decade of research and findings by Dr. Mark Baldwin of McGill University in Montreal, MindHabits “...presents simple and fun challenges that can help you maintain a more positive state of mind, resulting in reduced stress, boosted self-confidence, reduced exam anxiety, improved work performance, and even a better golf game.”

You know, those are the exact same reasons I play Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. I’m just sayin…

“We hear so much about the negative impact of games, but here is scientific proof that games can also have the very real ability to create a positive impact,” said Got Game Entertainment President Howard Horowitz.

MindHabits for PC and Mac features scientifically designed training challenges, as well as measurement tools, to help you gain and maintain a more positive frame of mind. In one challenge, for example, you must find the smiling faces in a crowd of frowns, which studies have shown can help train your mind to react to positive information. Similarly, word challenges associate certain concepts with your own personal words, reinforcing positive personal associations and activating positive patterns of thought.

Sounds kind of freaky to me, but cool. I tend to be one of those frowns in the crowd, so maybe this game will turn all that around and make me a more pleasant person. According to a decade of research, it could. MindHabits has shown:

• People can actually train themselves to develop positive mental habits using specially designed games such as MindHabits
• Playing can help reduce the stress hormone cortisol by up to 17%
• Benefits can be gained from playing in just five minutes a day

Well, that’s certainly one benefit of Quake Wars; there’s no benefit to playing that for just five minutes a day.

As 1st Prize Winner in the Great Canadian Videogame Competition across all categories, MindHabits also clearly proves its gaming chops. MindHabits for Mac and PC features:

• 200 levels of game play in 4 core games
• Daily tracking of results and measurement of progress over time
• Customizable male/female only option
• Over 1,500 face images in higher levels
• Game play adaptable to player skill level
• Ability to customize for age, neighborhood, and facial characteristics
• Science lab that explains how and why MindHabits works

Customized neighborhood? Are they going to have my neighbor’s little yappy dog barking incessantly in the right speaker? How’s that supposed to reduce stress?

Scheduled for release August 2008, MindHabits will include double the number of levels and game playing time previously available in the online version. MindHabits will retail at $19.99 (USD), and is not yet rated by the ESRB. I guess the final rating will be determined by your mind’s habits. Scary.

Regardless of the rating, I’m really looking forward to checking this game out. I’m a regular user of Brain Age 2 on the DS, and this could prove just as entertaining and useful…or, it could brainwash me into a life of alien servitude. I guess we’ll find out come August.

Product [MindHabits]