Nintendo DS the next alternative to smoking

We all have bad habits we’re trying to free ourselves from. Whether its drinking, speeding, or in my case caffeine and chocolate. One of the more popular vices everyone would like to see vanish is smoking. Yep, down with the nicotine sticks, no more dancing with cancer these days. But if you have friends who smoke like I do, asking them to stop will result in their telling you to ‘butt’ out or blow that defiant puff in your face.

It’s a habit that people find difficult to shake, especially if they’ve been smoking for quite a long time, rendering the nicotine patches, gums and carrot sticks useless. But in Canada, members of the Allen Carr Team – founded by anti-smoking guru Allen Carr – found a way to help smokers break their habit with the help of a Nintendo DS.

According to The Star Phoenix in Saskatoon, Canada, the team worked with Ubisoft’s Quebec City studio on a new game set to debut for the Nintendo DS in November.

Carr, who was a heavy smoker for 33 years and died in 2006, found that lectures and classes did not help him quit his habit. He found that he had to change by building up his willpower. Doing this with others helped everyone redefine the way they saw their habit. Carr also found that a lot of smokers who are in stressful situations have more desire to smoke. His team of experts worked with UbiSoft to create a personal coach that will also keep smokers occupied while they try to quit.

The games will be based on Carr’s “Easyway to Stop Smoking” method, allowing the player to input details of their smoking habits and select their own Easyway coach that they can carry with them everywhere while trying to quit. I’m sure the game can only help if the smoker is honest with their information, according to Register Hardware recently took a closer look at the games. The smokers begin by inputting how many cigarettes they smoke a day and other information needed, such as when they smoke and why they smoke, so the program can help them quit.

What could make this work for smokers is the fact that a Nintendo DS requires both hands to operate and smoking takes one. The program has 15 anti-smoking games to choose from and offers rewards for resisting the urge to smoke. It also tracks the player’s daily anti-smoking progress up to the day they finally break the habit. But it doesn’t stop there. The game also helps players deal with their lives after smoking and continues to monitor the player’s progress.

Ubisoft’s game will be available on the Nintendo DS in November

Read [The Star Phoenix] Read [Register Hardware News] Site [Ubisoft Group] Site [Allen Carr]