Welcome to Modojo, 
Ubisoft Wants to Slap That Butt Out of Your Hand
Written by Lance Wang on Friday, May 30, 2008
"Sam Fisher doesn't smoke and neither should you, kids."
In one of the more bizarre developments of the year, Ubisoft has announced that it's making a game based on Allen Carr's Stop Smoking methodology. His method attempts to remove a person's belief that smoking provides them with any genuine pleasure or crutch. Supposedly, it takes away their feelings of deprivation makes the process a lot easier.
Scheduled for a November release on the Nintendo DS, the title is as much a personal instructor as it is a game. Players will input the details of their smoking habits and select their own stop smoking coach to ease them through the process of quitting.
"Ubisoft's creative team has worked hard to deliver a game that successfully communicates Allen Carr's Easyway method via play," said Christian Salomon, vice president of worldwide licensing at Ubisoft. "The player experiences a truly interactive engagement with the game through which he or she learns that it can actually be enjoyable to quit smoking."
Robin Hayley, managing director of Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking, concurs. "There was an amazing synergy between Allen Carr's Easyway team and Ubisoft as we worked on this project," he said. "Our experts worked hand in hand with the Ubisoft team to create an entertaining and illuminating game that delivers Allen Carr's Easyway method in a new, dynamic and highly effective way."
This whole thing is kind of insane really, but I suppose ex-smokers in training need some kind of distraction and videogames are certainly some of the more engaging ones available. Still, I can't help feeling that if I was quitting, I'd rather be playing Castlevania or something instead.
