Kick the Habit With Nintendo DS
Kick the Habit With Nintendo DS
May 29, 2008
Ubisoft has announced that it will release a handheld video game designed to help users kick the cigarette habit.
Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking is scheduled for November release on the Nintendo DS. The game is based on the smoking cessation program of the same name, which currently features books, DVDs and clinics. According to an Ubisoft press release, over 10 million people have already availed themselves of the Carr method. Ubisoft exec Christian Salomon commented:
Ubisoft’s creative team has worked hard to deliver a game that successfully communicates Allen Carr’s Easyway method via play. 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, added:
There was an amazing synergy between Allen Carr’s Easyway team and Ubisoft as we worked on this project. 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.
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Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:37am
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
Copyright © 2007 ECA. All rights reserved.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
First.
And yet I have nothing to say to this.
Posting "first" without actually having any real content is almost as bad as replying to a first post without really referring to it just so your comment shows up closer to the top of the pages.
But that's not really why I replied; I just thought you'd be interested in my 300-page manifesto on whether or not mustelidae will eat Jell-O. (Spoiler alert: no, they don't.)
(I promise not to do this more than once a year.)
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The Mammon Industry
I realize the goals of this game are to benefit health, but some watchdog group is going to say it promotes the idea of smoking. I am very curious to see how a DS program can help people quit smoking.
Gay. Also lame.
So: glame.
Homophobic. Also unoriginal.
So: homoriginal.
I dunno... If it works, wouldn't that be proof that video games CAN influence people's behavior?
Maybe, but it still won't prove the "games = instaviolence" people right either.
Everything influences everything. Your (purposefully, I hope?
) ridiculous comment here influenced my decision to write this response, for example. You didn't make me write this response, however, just as no video game ever made anyone do anything.
....What...?
Aren't nicorette gum and rehab enough anymore?
If I'm so thick that I require a video game to make me stop smoking, dying of cancer would probably be best for mankind.
I can't stand the smell of smoke, so I cannot help but applaud any effort to help more people stop, but... "synergy"? "illuminating"? "a new, dynamic, and highly effective way"? What does that even mean?
I believe that is code for "we would like to exploit money out of people who have been unfortunate enough to gain an addiction to a harmful substance because either way they are wasting money and its better in our hands than in the hands tabacco companies." I can't remember that last time I seriously listened to any PR jibberish...
This is rapidly becoming my drum to beat it seems...but what is political about this? Not getting any hint of politics from this story whatsoever.
I don't think its about the article being inherently political, but that its something that could be used politically. If it actually works, and helps someone quit smoking, it could be claimed as proof that games can influence behavior despite the fact that its simply another method of teaching a method already taught through other media. It also shows a way that games can be used for something good, which goes against what all of the anti-game pundits claim. I'd like to see Jack Thompson, Bill O'Reilly, or Hillary Clinton say that a game that reinforces a stop smoking program is a bad thing.
Or it could be the fact that GP doesn't have to be entirely political if Dennis doesn't want it to be. So long as the majority of articles are of a political nature, which they are, the name GamePolitics still fits the bill. I wouldn't call articles about gamers helping their local communities political either, but they show up here and serve as an example that gamers aren't evil murderers like some people would have others think and that games aren't something that will turn you to being one.
@ Hannah
"I can't stand the smell of smoke, so I cannot help but applaud any effort to help more people stop, but..."
Yeah, well I can't stand the smell of Aqua Net. I think fuckers should all be coerced to walk around with frizzy hair just so I don't have to smell it. And before you retort that Aqua Net won't kill you, I'd like to see you huff a few cans and tell me it isn't deadly.
All joking aside.
I think it's kind of pointless to bring it to a game system since the books seem to work just fine. But if it really helps someone who wan't to quit do so, then I guess that's cool.
Sooooo... Does the DS shock the person if they smoke when they aren't supposed to? Play the hamster dance while you're allowed to smoke? Or simply scream over the speakers, "It's smokey time help this person light up! [Start Puff the Magic Dragon music]"
If it doesn't then it's pointless.
-Loudspeaker
"Volume helps to get a point across but sharp teeth are better."
Interesting. So, which method did you use to stop smoking?
I used the method that involves never starting in the first place.
-Loudspeaker
"Volume helps to get a point across but sharp teeth are better."
I used the 'stop smoking because I have willpower and am not a complete pussy' method to stop smoking. But apparently, kids these days need a DS to help them quit.
You know why people have trouble stopping smoking? Because of those goddamn anti-smoking commercials reminding them about ciggarettes!
-GRIZZAM PRIME(c)is property of the U.S. Marine Corp. Wetworks Dept., and also The Incredible Hulk-GRIZZAM PRIME is not to be associated with GRIZZAM 512 or any other GRIZZAM entity under penalty of law, so sayith ZARATHOS.
You know I've never had any desire to smoke whatsoever, but whenever I see one of those commercials I consider it just out of spite. Maybe there just really,really good reverse psyciology.
I quit smoking three years ago using Allen Carr's book. Basically went from a pack every two days to zero, with only about two weeks discomfort and no supplements of any sort. Nowadays whenever anyone I know even mentions the *idea* of quitting, I buy them the book right away, for the cost of two packs of cigarettes it's the best money I've ever spent.
What makes it so effective is that it's expressing ideas about *why* you smoke, and *why* you're afraid to quit, that no-one else seems to discuss. It would be interesting to see those same ideas and how they would be presented in a DS game, but the book itself is so effective (and undoubtedly a lot cheaper) that I wonder how useful it'd be.
I wonder how long this was in development? Part of me thinks they got the idea from that guy who used Pokemon to quit smoking.
Myself, I only smoke when I'm out drinking, and I only drink on days ending in y. "Backdaywards" is my least favourite day of the week.
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The Mammon Industry