Ubisoft Montreal takes their players’ health to heart and puts it at their fingertips, with the launch of a video game designed for the Nintendo DS game console.
My Weight Loss Coach, developed in collaboration with a kinesiologist and approved by the Montreal Heart Institute, helps users chart a course towards better physical health. To get started, the software collects personal information and calculates the player’s body mass index (BMI), to be kept in a “passport.” The more the “Coach” knows, the more it can help. If you list that you have a dog, for instance, the game will suggest taking it for a walk. Players can also create a personalized program to help achieve a balance between diet and energy expenditure.
The game offers a wide range of challenges, more than 160 tips to stay in shape and coaching sessions. The Coach dispenses a different challenges for each day, including sit-ups, push-ups or to walk 6,000 steps. The game comes with a pedometer, which can be connected to the DS to generate a daily report. My Weight Loss Coach sells for $39.99 and is available at electronic retailers across Canada.
Cedric Orvoine, director external communications and public relations for Ubisoft Montreal, said the company has dedicated the last two years to developing interactive entertainment products that have a positive impact on the day-to-day user.
“The [My Weight Loss Coach] game is a tool to use to make better choices in terms of food habits and exercise,” he said. “It’s not restrictive. It’s about maintaining your overall health position.”
Ubisoft launched “My Word Coach,” a vocabulary-building tool, last year, and will release the “I Quit Smoking” game sometime next year.
Ubisoft presented the to journalists in Toronto and Montreal this month, and will support the game’s launch with radio, print, in-store materials and a microsite.
A Facebook page went live earlier this month, radio spots will run July and August, and print ads will run in Chatelaine and Flare in August and September.
Publicis and ZenithOptimedia in Montreal handled the creative and media buy, respectively. The PR efforts were handled in collaboration with Allard Hervieu in Montreal.
