Instead of spending your precious tax dollars on a gross of My Stop Smoking Coach for the DS, the U.S. Department of Defense has given a grant of $3.7 million to researchers to develop a new video game that helps soldiers quit smoking or not start in the first place. Seems that soldiers are smoking more than ever before and Uncle Sam doesn't like it. Read on to find out more about the new game that'll have soldiers switching back to CoD after two minutes.

"I totally get 'The Black Experience.'"

Alexander Prokhorov, M.D., is currently hard at work developing the game, which will be based on Escape With the Life (pictured above), his original smoking-cessation video game that apparently has zero buttons and one joystick. He plans on calling it Project Combat.

The new game, designed to help U.S. soldiers kick the habit and avoid lighting up for in the first place, is being made at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for almost $4,000,000.

"The tobacco use rates in the Army are alarming - 38 percent of service members smoke cigarettes and 15 percent use smokeless tobacco," said Prokhorov, a professor in the behavioral science department. He blames the increase in tobacco use on the stresses of war. Thank you, twenty-two years of professional schooling.

The U.S. Department of Defense, who is footing the bill for the game, is worried that soldiers who smoke are experiencing shortness of breath, duller senses, and increased fatigue. 2,000 troops based in Fort Hood, Texas, will be beta testers for the game.

"Tobacco is usually regarded by young people as a dull subject. The video game-based education program is anything but boring," said Prokhorov. "It provides a highly interactive, engaging, and exciting experience."

Players will be able to use a customizeable avatar (someone notify Rare; they might want to sell in-game D.A.R.E. t-shirts). During the game, they'll learn how to resist peer pressure, cope with withdrawal symptoms, and prevent relapses. Soldiers will be able to re-access the game at any time they wish if they start to feel cravings.

Quitting smoking is hard, and it's good to see the government want to help our soldiers. But do it after they've come back home to the U.S. Personally, I think that soldiers who put their life on the line every day in a guerrilla war can have a fucking bit of tobacco now and again.

Texas Medical Center News via PSXExtreme.

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