Following the mammoth success of Nintendo's Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old is Your Brain? as well as Big Brain Academy (on the DS), it wasn't going to be long before copycat titles started to surface, especially on mobile devices and handheld consoles. Brain Juice and Brain Challenge were two suspiciously similar (and somewhat rubbishy) experiences offered up for mobile handsets last year.

With all that in mind, Midway has announced Hot Brain for Sony's PlayStation Portable handheld in an attempt to appeal to the type of casual audience reeled in so successfully by the Nintendo DS. The title aims to raise activity and increase temperature, (hence the game's name) in various parts of the brain by challenging the player in five categories, which are logic, math, language, concentration, and memory.

“With Hot Brain for PSP, we’re able to tap into our experience with the casual market to create games that work perfectly with the unique controls and features of each portable system,” explained Steve Allison, chief marketing officer for Midway.

Hot Brain is being developed exclusively for the PSP, includes a three player ad-hoc connection, and promises to appeal to people of all ages. Whether it can replicate the success of its rival system's counterparts is unlikely, but with the 'memory' genre so popular at the moment, stranger things have happened.