Created by Philips, amBX is the latest in ambient intelligence technology, designed to bring the game world into the immediate present of the gamer’s living room. Using a scripting language, software engine and architecture, amBX will be able to deliver a full ‘sensory surround experience’ by creating hardware that can control the light, colour, sound and even air flow of your surroundings. Developers will work with a range of amBX PC Gaming Peripherals products including LED colour-controlled lighting, rumble peripherals and desktop fans, which can be strategically placed around the player’s room.
‘In all honesty we were initially a bit skeptical about amBX – a lot of peripherals have been released on the PC that have added very little to the experience’ remarked Mark Morris, Managing Director of Introversion, ‘but we recently visited the AmBX team in person and sat in their demo room, and the stuff they showed us just blew us away. The potential for this technology is enormous; we have only begun to scratch the surface, and there is undoubtedly a lot of exciting further experimentation we can do to maximize the gaming experience.’
DEFCON is the latest offering from indie-developers, Introversion, which enjoyed a successful launch in September 2006. DEFCON is an online multiplayer strategy game simulating global thermonuclear war. The game, inspired by the 1983 cult-classic film Wargames, superbly evokes the tension, paranoia and suspicion surrounding the Cold War era.
‘amBX and DEFCON are ideally suited to each other’, commented Chris Delay, Lead Developer at Introversion, ‘With our third game DEFCON we spent a huge amount of time trying to create the atmosphere of being buried deep within an underground bunker, slowly ending the world in the last war that will ever be fought. amBX is ideally suited to enhancing that atmosphere, taking it out of the confines of what’s right in front of you on-screen, and expanding it into your whole room.’
Combining DEFCON with amBX brings the whole messy scenario of nuclear war direct to the player’s bedroom. Flashes of blinding white light and gentle rumbles indicate when your missiles have hit home. Whilst a spine-chilling rush of air announces the raining down of fallout on millions of innocents. Meanwhile the dread of realisation approaches as the lights fade, the music slows, and your population withers. DEFCON amBX is a harrowing experience that will ensure you’re never so blasé about thermonuclear global war again.
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