Tag Archives: jo cooke

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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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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