Stop smoking with your DS

Ubisoft is fast becoming king of the self-help titles having already announced My Weight Loss Coach and My Life Coach for DS. But today it has surpassed even itself with the unveiling of Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking, which it revealed at its annual 'Ubidays' press event as coming out on DS this November. Thin, happy with life and a non-smoker – what more could you ask for?

The game then is based on Allen Carr's cult best-selling books, which have sold a massive ten million copies worldwide. His methods take away a smoker's feeling of deprivation, although they must already be feeling a bit deprived now they've had a roof and seat taken away from them when they want to spark up.

Unlike a book, on DS the stop smoking guru's philosophies are able to be carried that step further. So onscreen images show how many cigarettes you'll get through in a lifetime if you carry on puffing, while quizzes drum home various smoking-related facts. Users create their own unique profile that details their smoking habits at the start of the game, then an Allen Carr coach takes them through the process of quitting.

If it doesn't suggest a crafty suck on the DS stylus in times of great willpower loss, it's clearly missing a trick.

First screenshots released of the game show how some of the exercises will work. There's also a photo of a lady accompanying the screenshots above who seems to be facing a similar dilemma to me most mornings when I'm meant to be reviewing the latest Dora the Explorer game.

We're not sure how popular Allen Carr will prove on DS, but it'll be interesting to keep a watch on. If only because if it's a winner, how many other books and self-help programmes can we expect to end up interactive on DS? One thing's definite, if we ever enter a game shop and see diet guru Gillian McKeith's smug face peering at us from the shelves, we're giving up gaming for good…