Philips announces amBX ambient environments for games

Last time Philips announced an ambient lighting system (that'd be Ambilight) we kind of scoffed, but either they struck a chord with the novelty crowd or they're just really committed, because today they've announed amBX, their next-gen ambient sensory protocol targeted at using the rest of our senses to further immerse ourselves in our games. Insane frame rates be damned, by this time next year we're all gonna be benching our rigs on how mellow and blended the ambient light coming from our Philips monitors is, or just how responsive our synchronized heaters and fans are to getting melted by plasma rifle rounds and jumping in low gravity.

[Via Bastion]

[dreampc @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Invent a mug of beer that refills each time you set it down on a special coaster...

THAT I would buy...

[Google Nazi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Seizures included :)

[Gil @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

What's with the wierd floating ring things?

[Ben @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

They are from THE FUTURE!

[knot_U @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

JETSONS

____________knot_U

[Samuel Lago @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I think what they are doing is good

[Rye Clifton @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

From looking at the pictures... The cone shape of the disk statue is likely to reflect more light throughout the room... so that when a colored light is projected from the floor, it fills up the walls.

[Fantaz @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I don't know about you guys but I like to play my games in a pitch black room with no light emanating from anywhere other than my monitor for the ultimate gaming experience. :)

[Michael @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

My eyeballs are burning just looking at that promo picture.

[Google Nazi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

No, the ultimate gaming experience would be using one of these things. Unlike playing in the dark which is really bad for your eyes but we all do it anyway, these ring things gives out an ambiment of what your donig in a game like if you are using a gun lets say the gun shots will vibrate through the whole room and stuff. I really like it and will probobly get one if it isn't too expensive.

[Ryan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

is that a dell pc down there?

[manion @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

aren't those rings from ikea?

[manion @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

And those are just normal fans.
Hey! make a haunted house controller, write a little code and voila, computer enabled fan

[Emily @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

There is a point where I begin to wonder...why don't we just go outside and DO something, rather than spending all of our time recreating it?

[Dennis @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

This is petty-ante stuff. The *real* quantum jump in gaming will be direct neural stimuli. Forget the monitors with insane frame rates. Forget the theater surround sound speaker systems and heavy duty sound cards. Forget keyboard/mouse/joystick as inputs. You will be *in* the game, experiencing it as a character, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and *feeling* the game environment.

What's that? You get fragged and you *feel* the agony as your body is torn apart? You really *die*, horribly, when you get killed in the game?

Hey! It's the ultimate gaming experience! Are you a wimp or something?