Philips today introduced amBX to the world of computer gaming, spotlighting a technology that, the company claims, will revolutionize the gameplay experience and extend the gaming world out of the screen and into the real world.
Due for release in May 2006 and coming from the Surrey-based Philips amBX Group, amBX is a step towards a full sensory surround experience and enabled games will provide gamers with the ability to use light, colour, sound, heat and even airflow in the real world during gameplay. For Joost Horsten, who has headed up the unit, this is another example of ambient intelligence, following up on his work on Mirror TV. Ambient intelligence is Philips' vision of the future of electronics, he explains. The amBX unit was born ... after a series of Friday afternoon brainstorm sessions. It aims to stimulate the senses beyond just audio and video - think smells or vibrations when watching TV, or dynamic and intelligent lighting.
Imagine the room of the future, where all electronic devices are amBX-enabled. The treacherous road to Saigon will turn your room jungle green, swimming with dolphins will splash it deep blue, 'Halo' jumps will turn your fans on full, lightning storms will strobe your white lighting, and attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion will blast on your heaters.
Incorporating a scripting language, software engine and architecture, amBX has been designed to deliver all-new player experiences through enabled devices such as LED colour-controlled lights, active furniture, fans, heaters, audio and video, which are all placed in the user's room. amBX goes even further to provide the support framework for peripheral manufacturers to develop these enabled products, empowering both developers and publishers to amBX-enable and enhance their games. In the future, game players may even be able to author and share their own personal amBX experiences online.
The networked home is rapidly becoming a reality for many, through the introduction of low cost wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi and BlueTooth. amBX has embraced this changing future by allowing content authors a language in which to describe and recreate experiences in an Ambient Intelligent Environment. Within a location the devices controlled by the amBX language act as parts of a browser. Together they render the experience and the player's room, in effect, becomes the browser.
Through amBX, Philips has forged a common language for the creation, distribution and sharing of totally new experiences and the launch into the games industry is merely the start of a shock wave that will boom across film, music and mass market entertainment as a whole.
Philips is currently in the advanced stages of talks with a number of leading computer games developers and peripheral manufacturers regarding amBX-enabling leading games and devices, and will be officially launching the technology to the market in May 2006.
