Category Archives: amBX

amBX has finalized its Tools & Middleware License agreement for PS3, the firm announced today, paving the way for the lighty, rumbly games tech to make its way to the console.

“This is a major milestone in the development of amBX as a ubiquitous standard for entertainment sensory experiences,” said amBX CMO Jo Cooke.

“amBX has already proved incredibly popular and successful within the PC games, music, movies and apps markets and the Tools & Middleware License agreement with SCEI will allow us to bring amazing light, rumble, sound and air movement experiences to game users.”

The ambient technology’s been limited to PC thus far.

If you’re in San Francisco next month, the amBX engineering team will be doing free, on-stand developer tutorials at GDC, focusing on best practice techniques to create ambient experiences for games. The space around the booth will also be amBX-enabled.

The amBX booth number is 5519 in the North Hall Moscone Center.

Press release after the break.

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Philips announced this afternoon that Multiwinia is to be amBX-enabled, meaning the multiplayer strategy follow-up with flash and fan along with all amBX kit.

“Our agreement with Introversion builds on a hugely successful relationship between amBX and Introversion through DEFCON and Darwinia,” said amBX marketing boss Jo Cooke.

“amBX will produce an exhilarating gaming experience for Multiwinia players. As players fly higher into the sky, the amBX lighting will intensify and the desk fans will blow harder, to recreate the Jet Stream.

“The coloured satellite lights, fan bursts and wrist rumbler will recreate explosions and the wall washer lighting will even reflect the environment as players fly through the different landscapes. Multiplayer gaming has never felt or looked so good.”

The game’s going to be shown on the amBX stand at Develop this week.

Press release after the break.

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Ubisoft and Philips confirmed this afternoon that upcoming flight-shooter Tom Clancy’s HAWX will be amBX enabled.

If you recall, amBX and Ubisoft announced a deal at CES in January, the first part of which was to see the Philips sensory tech applied to Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway.

“Tom Clancy’s HAWX comes hot on the heels of our Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway amBX announcement with Ubisoft and further underlines our commitment to bringing amBX to world class gaming. Building amBX into the game during development maximizes the effects that can be achieved, guaranteeing an incredibly immersive gaming experience,” said Jo
Cooke, amBX, CMO.

“Tom Clancy’s HAWX is another example of a completely different genre of game that amBX can enhance and we’re looking forward to super realistic air combat lighting, wind and rumble effects that PC gamers haven’t been able to experience to-date.”

Press release after the link.

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According to this MCV piece, Gamecock games are to support amBX going forward.

The publisher’s games – such as Legendary and Velvet Assassin – will support the Philips “sensory” tech.

Jo Cooke, chief marketing officer for amBX, said, “Gamecock is another top drawer publisher signing for amBX. Our involvement with Gamecock at EIEIO allowed us to show off slick amBX trailers for Legendary and Velvet Assassin.

“Reaching out to the wider market is very much part of our strategy for amBX for 2008.”

While catching up with the entire games community at GDC ’08, we took some time out to talk about where Philips have now got to with their amBX lighting and multimedia feedback technologies, first revealed to the public in April 2005. The amBX stand dominated the main show floor at GDC ’08, and was showing off a number of the games now enabled with the tech, each one providing a contrasting visual and tactile experience.

We spent some time playing Quake 4, which was backed up with four ambient lighting units (one of which doubled up as speakers) four fans for “blast” type feedback, and a rumbling keyboard wrist pad. Looking at all this from a distance, it’s easy to dismiss until you have a play with the tech itself. After a few minutes the ambient effects do seem to tune you into the game, and the various feedback pulses seem quite natural. Philips are doing something quite unusual with this project, and it soon becomes clear that this testbed of technologies for PC gamers is actually part of a much bigger picture for what the tech giant want to achieve. We talked to Philips amBX’s chief marketing officer Jo Cooke, and asked her what the company that invented the lightbulb was up to in the gaming space.

Full interview after the link.

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Philips amBX is to announce new partners for its sensory technology at GDC, a PR spokesperson has confirmed this morning.

The company’s stand at the San Francisco show will feature pods split into four, with a publisher’s PC game hooked up to amBX-enabled peripherals in each segment. “We’re going to have Ubisoft, Codemasters and a few others that we’re going to announce at the show,” the rep told VG247. “We’re going to have seven or eight people doing demos on the stand, and we’re expecting it to be very busy.”

amBX is a Philips technology that allows developers to build physical, external effects into games, such as lighting, rumble and wind. Currently, amBX is only available for an ever-growing number of PC games, but a console solution is known to be in the works. The system announced its first major publishing partnership at CES with news that Ubisoft’s Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway and Far Cry 2 will support amBX.