Those of you with an Innovations catalogue next to your toilet should be familiar with the idea of 'mood lamps' and 'ambient colour projectors'. Supposedly these are capable of producing visual effects to rival ELO gigs from the '70s, but nobody ever buys them because they're obviously rubbish.
The £239 Philips amBX Premium Kit promises the same sort of techno-glitterball experience, only synchronised with your games and helped along by a 2.1 speaker system, two fans and a device that vibrates your wrist.
The main 'wall washer' unit sits behind your monitor, connects to your PC by the supplied USB cable, and in addition to splashing light about the place acts as a hub for all the fans, speakers and the wrist rumbler. There's an audio cable that runs from your hardware's line-out to the subwoofer, and both the wall washer and sub require separate 240V power.
On a page in the Innovations catalogue, pictured without the bird's nest of wires that makes it all work, this would seem like the height of awesome.
You can imagine hunkering down to play DEFCON or Supreme Commander (the former comes bundled in every Premium Kit) with amBX painting a Mardi Gras of vibrant colours over walls and ceiling before exploding in a thundering climax of shocking white light and blasts of air when nukes hit home.
The reality is that it's rather hit-and-miss. The speakers and subwoofer do a fine job, but the rest of it - the actual nuts and bolts of amBX - have little noticeable effect unless you're playing a compatible title in a dark room with the lamps positioned no more than two feet from a blank wall.
That simply wasn't possible at the office, nor at home where my PCs are in the middle of the room and back onto one another, so I had to spend half an hour re-arranging tables only to discover that people complain when you draw blinds and turn off lights in the middle of the day.
The wrist rumbler is also an annoyance, vibrating your hands for no reason I could fathom, and causing pens, batteries, screws and other loose items to shimmy their way onto the floor. It also bounces about itself when you're not resting on it, such as when using a wheel to play driving games.
When the conditions are just right, the amBX system works surprisingly well. Alone in the house and armed with a copy of Windows Media Player (it will choreograph itself to music) and the rather unusual RTS Darwinia, I had a taste of why amBX might yet be a great idea.
While it's true that any on-screen action will always eclipse the efforts of lights and fans, it is capable of adding a missing dimension to slower-paced, atmospheric titles - think the likes of Fahrenheit, BioShock or Silent Hill - that you'd probably play in a dark room anyway.
The reality is that it's rather hit-and-miss. The speakers and subwoofer do a fine job, but the rest of it - the actual nuts and bolts of amBX - have little noticeable effect unless you're playing a compatible title in a dark room with the lamps positioned no more than two feet from a blank wall.
That simply wasn't possible at the office, nor at home where my PCs are in the middle of the room and back onto one another, so I had to spend half an hour re-arranging tables only to discover that people complain when you draw blinds and turn off lights in the middle of the day.
Well, I would say that you're not giving it a fair appraisal then. Personally, I think this is a good step on the road to awesomeness. Of course, its effectiveness will no doubt depend heavily on developer support to make sure the effects are as relevant as possible. Unfortunately, I doubt this will happen.
We are sure at the beginning of the road for game peripherals .. check for example http://www.a-r-e.nl which incorporates advanced AI to identify in game events for translation into real world effects!!
I have their system for 2+ years for my gaming station, arcade cabinet, and living room media center, and it's awesome.
The reality is that it's rather hit-and-miss. The speakers and subwoofer do a fine job, but the rest of it - the actual nuts and bolts of amBX - have little noticeable effect unless you're playing a compatible title in a dark room with the lamps positioned no more than two feet from a blank wall.
That simply wasn't possible at the office, nor at home where my PCs are in the middle of the room and back onto one another, so I had to spend half an hour re-arranging tables only to discover that people complain when you draw blinds and turn off lights in the middle of the day.
Well, I would say that you're not giving it a fair appraisal then. Personally, I think this is a good step on the road to awesomeness. Of course, its effectiveness will no doubt depend heavily on developer support to make sure the effects are as relevant as possible. Unfortunately, I doubt this will happen.
Or a fair appraisal depending on your home setup!
I saw a video of this all working and it looked very close to rubbish. The lights turned red when the action got fast paced, what on earth is the point in that? The fans could be good as long as they react instantly to any action (and I mean instantly!). I can't believe there is no rumble mouse to go with all this either.
I think the thing about this ambx is that its an experience which is hard to convey in an article. I saw it at i32 last year with Quake4 and it definitely added something to the game, the fans were actually instantly responsive.
I think the effects need to become deeper. This is obviously first-generation/prototype stuff. Rather than simple glows, they need to make proper light effects.
Imagine playing Bioshock with a blue, dancing water effect on the wall, or (in games with fire) dancing, flickering orange on the wall with simulated heat haze effects...
It could be f**king ace, so I hope this stuff is embraced & doesn't fall by the wayside. The price is a bit steep though. This should be no more than £100.
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
