US games developer makes quitting smoking child's play

Smokers are about to get help in kicking the tobacco habit: an interactive computer game that aims to "coach" cigarette users away from their addition.

Based on the successful "Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking" method which reportedly has helped more than 10 million smokers to stub out their cigarettes once and for all, the game, designed for Nintendo DS, will be developed by California-based Ubisoft. It is expected to go on sale in November.

Ubisoft is the company that has brought the world games that pit players against an invasion of demonic rabbits or allow them to learn a foreign language using the Nintendo DS, with its interactive touch screen.

In the anti-smoking game, players will "input the details of their smoking habits and even select their own Allen Carr's Easyway coach to take them through the process of quitting," according to a press release issued by 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," said Christian Salomon, vice president of worldwide licensing at Ubisoft.

A spokeswoman for Ubisoft was not immediately available to explain just how the game would work.

(c)2008 AFP