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Ubisoft Helps You Lose Weight
Posted by Mike Fahey at 5:20 AM on February 12, 2008
We know the Wii can make you healthier, but what about the DS? Ubisoft is putting Nnitendo's handheld to the test this summer with My Weight Loss Coach, a nutrition and fitness application aimed at making you more portable with your portable. The applications, developed under the guidance of a fitness coach and nutritionist, allows you to create a personal profile, evaluate your improvement potential, and set up objectives towards a healthier you. To aid in tracking your daily exercise, My Weight Loss Coach will come packaged with a pedometer peripheral that interfaces with the DS, which you can then shake all day long to make yourself feel better about sitting on the couch eating donuts for twelve hours. Mmmm, donuts.
UBISOFT ANNOUNCES MY WEIGHT LOSS COACHNew Game to Join "My Coach" Self-Improvement Line
SAN FRANCISCO -- February 11, 2008 -- Today Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, announced that it will publish My Weight Loss Coach for the Nintendo DS(TM) system. Developed in Ubisoft's Montreal studio under the guidance of both a fitness coach and a nutritionist, My Weight Loss Coach is a program designed to focus on taking positive steps to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
"My Weight Loss Coach allows us to approach casual gamers with something innovative," said Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft. "The game creates customized coaching sessions based on skill
level, and, for the first time on DS, includes a pedometer. My Weight Loss Coach not only allows users to take control of their physical well-being, but it does so in a fun and engaging manner."My Weight Loss Coach features include:
• Personal Profiles: Create your personal profile and evaluate your improvement potential, then set up your objectives following the recommendations based on your personal profile• Input Reward System: Log your progress on a daily or weekly basis, tracking your physical activity and nutrition habits
• The Pedometer: A peripheral device that comes with the game and can be easily updated through your DS, it's the best way to control your daily physical effort, challenge yourself and balance your food intake
• Real-Life Landmark Checkpoints: As a reward, all the physical activities you achieve and good nutrition habits you acquire are converted into measurable distances based on real examples
My Weight Loss Coach is rated E for Everyone by the ERSB and will be available this summer.
The "My Coach" brand, part of Ubisoft's Games for Everyone division, is made up of a series of games that encourages players to improve themselves while being entertained at the same time. Other titles in the brand include: My Word Coach for a stronger vocabulary, and My Spanish Coach and My French Coach for foreign language development.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
GingerMohawk
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
My girlfiend will like this, she is into the whole weight watchers thing........now if they brung out a DS game i'd never see DS again.
This is a good idea if somewhat of a money grab but people do need help and motivation to loose weight and if this helps then i'm all for it
GingerMohawk
cindersphere
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
The best game for this genre is either dance dance revolution or yourself!fitness.
cindersphere
Bisu
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
This game may actually get some casual gamers moving off of the couch. I doubt they'll stay interested for long though and just go back to their old ways. Sad...
Bisu
Hazzy
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
I'd pick turkey over running any day of the week.
Hazzy
tei
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
MAEK MOOOARR EXERCICES, DONT GROWN, LAZY
tei
Dudemeister
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
This is going to appear on a talk show somewhere along the line. I just know it.
Dudemeister
Tiger-Fever
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
I'd get this game if 9/12 months of the year, the average temperature wasn't BELOW 0 C. Or if it wasn't around -40 with the windshield through Dec-Jan-Feb where I live. God I hate this city.
Tiger-Fever
Onizuka-GTO
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
@Arkley: When McDonald stops putting crack in the food, people stop being fat, people get some backbone and just stop stuffing their face just because they got nothing productive to do or just because there isn't a shortage of the amount of food you can buy.
until then, bring on the fitness craze!
*spread fitness games to every female he meets*
Need a lot of them up here in the north....
*shudder in mock horror*
Onizuka-GTO
noelix
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
I'm buying this - this looks fantastic. There's no real good portable package out there for monitoring this kind of data right now. When is this coming out?
noelix
sadkermit
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
@geekgrrl: this is all the flimsy pretext I need..
LOL - Slurm Factory FTW
sadkermit
Passa
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
This is not gaming goddammit.
Passa
geekgrrl
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
btw, did natalie dee do the artwork for this? mad props. /kidding, i love her stuff, looks similar.
geekgrrl
geekgrrl
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
this is all the flimsy pretext i need to pick up a new cobalt & black DS :D
seriously, i can see myself using this. i can even use it while walking around. does bumping into people and/or getting hit by cars count for extra calorie burn?
geekgrrl
tehFluffz
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
Actually this looks pretty nice, though I'm not a fan of the whole health thing, I mean, if you can't get yourself to stop eating junk and exercise I highly doubt a video game will do it.
tehFluffz
SchoolBusDriver
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
Im sure alot of young boys lost weight when Ubi was pimpin Jade Raymond around pre-Assassins Creed release.
You know all that hand work .... "Carmen Electra".
SchoolBusDriver
BPM VII Crisis Core
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
@rawg:
Shiny next-gen graphics like My Weight Loss Coach? :P
BPM VII Crisis Core
Ghede
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
Perfect gift for my brother, who at the age of 19 is heavier than my dad was at 50!
Ghede
brello
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
I wouldn't mind have a digital readout of pedometer records. Though writing them down works almost as good.
brello
rawg
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
I'm not sure that this qualifies as a "game" even though it's on a gaming device.
It feels like the industry is only a few steps away from porting Microsoft Office and TurboTax onto consoles with bolted on motion controls and shiny next-gen graphics.
rawg
zoesch
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
Everytime I read pedometer I think about a device to count pedobear steps... I need professional help :(
zoesch
Candlejack
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
The DS is a handheld videogame console, isn't it?
Candlejack
Benjo
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
Also reported to help people lose weight: not sitting around playing games all the time.
Benjo
myDingling
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
I've got a team of level 50 muscles, who wants to battle?!
myDingling
dv8godd
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
I think I'll likely pick this up, if for no other reason than I walk... A LOT. It'd be cool to see how the pedometer works and stack that against something that does all the calculation for you.
It's definitely something more geared towards an older and/or less hardcore gamer crowd. At 37, working a desk job all day every day... my metabolism is not what it used to be, so this has some appeal to me.
Although I'm telling it right now: the first time it asks me to give up something like pork in order to maintain my relationship with it, the deal is off.
dv8godd
Witzbold
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
@Doomstink: Best comment of the story so far.
Witzbold
crewwolfy
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
Includes a pedometer, eh? Wonder if there are any fitness applications (for the gym), as opposed to just losing weight.
crewwolfy
elementary
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
If it included a database the caloric content of foods, I could see this being useful for me.
Of course, I'm the type that likes to input and track everything when I'm on a health kick. So having a mobile handheld program to track intake, exercise, progress, etc. could save me the hassle of maintaining my spreadsheets.
elementary
moremeds
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
just say no to Mcdonald's.
moremeds
Doomstink
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
As long as it is as good as Ubisoft's "Spanish for Everyone", I'm set. I wonder what kind of adventures this game will suggest for kids to get into.
Doomstink
BigBadBlender
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
Oh Dear, it looks like they finally managed to spend less money to make the game, then it costs a single person to buy it. And people were worried that there was no solution to the ever growing game budgets.
BigBadBlender
sadkermit
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
Sounds good, and pretty hard to screw up. Wonder if this supports multiple player saves so the wife and I can share a copy.
sadkermit
NeverSage
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
I recently got back into jogging and eating healthier and stuff. If this game were out now I'd buy it. But honestly, by the time it comes out I'll be back to Cheetos and chocolate shakes.
NeverSage
StupidityTries
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
So glad this one got an "E for Everyone" rating.
StupidityTries
Nex Antonius
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
@Arkley: When Nintendo ends. Which will be never.
And that may be the greatest picture I've seen in recent memory.
Nex Antonius
Setzer IIDX
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
Does the Pedometer detect how much of a Pedophile old men are? o_o
Srsly tho, I may get this game. Staying healthy needs to be more fun...because quite frankly the vegetables need the help.
Setzer IIDX
Chillblain
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
@Arkley: When people stop being fat :D
Chillblain
Arkley
Posted 5:02 PM 16/2/08
When will this Nintendo fitness craze end?
Arkley