amBX - Will anyone get it?

L31mr0d

Just started playing Legendary and noticed the option for amBX was disabled. Not knowing what it was and hating the lack of ability to enable some game feature I exited and looked it up.

It actually looks pretty good, I remember hearing about this over 2 years ago but have heard nothing since, I hadn't even realized it had been released.

Has anyone else heard of this? Would you ever consider getting it?

Heres a review of it, its quite favourable:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/philips-ambx-gamers-kit-review/1

PogMoThoin

Like You, I also read about it ages ago and had forgotten. Can't really see it taking off, although I'd love to try it out.............I'd love to try a PhysX card also, but its just pointless when the games don't support it

L31mr0d

I like the idea of the fans blowing in your face when you are running or strafing. Supposedly they change temperature also, like in Brothers in Arms when you are dying they blow a cool breeze in your face to signify it.

It is something I'd like to try out before buying though.

Matt Simis

The fact you are tied to their crappy little speakers is a major turnoff.

DirkVoodoo

I remember when they had this on some of their LCD TVs.

I wasn't too keen on the idea.

As I recall the ad used "The Hulk" as an example. The room was filled with a green glow. I can imagine myself getting pretty fed up with it. Plus, if it were such a great idea then surely we would have seen it become more mainstream by now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynyoay3uGik

L31mr0d

Suposedly amBX have branched off from Philips now though.

It would be better if you could buy parts of it separate. I agree, I don't like being forced to use there speakers, It would be better if I could just buy the fans and the rumble bar separate.

I'd only get the lights if I could see them working. If they glow when there's a muzzle flash to your left or right then they might be worth it, but if they are just an extension of the ambilight setup on the TV's then they wouldn't be worth it.

RobertFoster

I went over to London about 18 months ago to a "test day" to try it out. There were 3 stages to the day: play and answer questions on a PC game with/without amBX; a full sitting room done out in amBX equipment; and then play a wider selection of amBX games by myself.

The first part was the standard amBX kit - backlights, speakers (with lights), fans and rumble strip. The rumble strip was below the keyboard, like a wrist rest. If the games were amBX enabled, then there'd be a certain script the equipment would follow. If not, the equipment would work based on on screen activity (a flash of lightening for example, would light up the lights). My only problems with that setup were the rumble being a bit weak, and the pre-scripted stuff not being as dramatic as the on-the-fly stuff.

The sitting room experience was great. I'd imagine it could be a little distracting for feature length films (only watched a couple of trailers), but you'd probably get used to it. The guy was telling me they could attach the amBX stuff to anything, so the couch had rumble fitted, there were lights everywhere (hidden/behind false walls, not directly in your face), and there were a few fans dotted about the place. I asked him if they'd any plans to get it set up with console gaming, and he said they were looking into it. Apart from the "oh wow, flashy" factor, I soon began to wonder how high the electricity bill would be if I had a similar setup at home

For the final part, I only managed to try a few games before I had to leave. There was a wide selection, but I only played Toca Rally and FEAR. Toca was nice, the lights reacted to the various areas I drove through. It wasn't amBX enabled, so the fans were off. FEAR wasn't too bad either, but a little dark.

I came away from the whole thing thinking it was a nice idea, but too expensive for me to bother buying. Its the sort of thing I'd prefer to test for a week, rather than an hour. If I was still in awe of it, and I wasn't suffering from chronic headaches or anything like that after a week, then I might have reconsidered

Chumpski

I have heard of this. Broken Sword Angel of Death was Ambx enabled. At the time of BS: AOD release eurogamer ran a competition, some sort of a raffle. I entered and was selected. The prize was an Ambx system. The catch was they wanted people to go over for a day to London to test it out and give them feed back. I couldn't get time off for it then so had to pass. It did sound interesting though. I have too much crap around the PC with speakers and stuff already is the only problem i had with it.

Anonymossy

Matt Simis wrote: »

The fact you are tied to their crappy little speakers is a major turnoff.

hey lads.
just saw the ambx without the speakers, fans and rumblestrip (so it's just the lights) in TK maxx for €38.99 reduced from 80 somethin so you could continue using your own speaker set up. just said i'd let ya know when i saw the post