Ubisoft's doing some wild stuff on the fringes these days, from experimental climbing with Grow Home to...a medical game called Dig Rush to aid with the treatment of Amblyopia?!
The company announced the collaboration between Ubisoft Montreal and Amblyotech today.
Dig Rush is meant to help treat what's commonly referred to as "lazy eye," which can cause blindness if not treated properly. Other forms of treatment, such as eye patches, aren't entirely effective, and researchers have been looking for new, inventive ways to encourage better eyes.
Here's how Dig Rush works:
"Using 3D glasses and a tablet provided by their physician, players work both the dominant and lazy eye in order to train the brain to improve visual perception. Dig Rush will submit each eye to differing levels of contrast for the objects displayed in the game. The physician can adjust the game's settings in order to customize the experience for each patient. So every person using this method will have just the right level of contrast to suit their weak eye's condition."
In other words, this isn't exactly something you can download on Steam tomorrow.
The folks involved are currently seeking FDA approval to bring this to the US.
You can reach the author of this post at patrick.klepek@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @patrickklepek.