This came as a bit of a shock this morning when I got notification that the boys over at amBX have teamed up with Dutch Graphics Card manufacturer “Point of View” and Ubisoft to deliver what is possibly the bundle to end all bundles. With those three companies involved I am sure you can pretty much guess what it contains; an amBX ProGamer kit (the one with the speakers, lights, subwoofer and wall washer I think), an nVidia 9 series GeForce gfx card and a copy of Brother in Arms!

So…in short, if you were looking at buy a new gfc card, an amBX kit or BiA this could be your ultimate saviour. Although there are no details about who is going to be stocking this yet or what price point it will be at it definitely deserves a mention for the pure joy that can be obtained from this one bundle. Hours of gaming heaven playing BiA with the total immersion of amBX and the supreme prettiness of a new gfx card. About time is all I can say.

Hexus have done a brief write-up about it here: Hexus.net whilst Guru3D have also done one here. Go have a quick read if you are more intrigued and feel free to share your thoughts and comments!

For all those stateside or heading over to the USA specifically for E for All make sure you go and check out the amBX presence there. I think they will be having a booth as part of the WCG Exhibition area as they are one of the main sponsors of the World Cyber Games and E for All is playing host to the US Qualifier.

Having looked at the E for All site is looks like they will be showcaseing Call of Duty 4, Guitar Hero 3 and a host of other games. If you havent tried GH3 with amBX you really should and I would definitely recommend stopping by and having a quick play. I have attached a video below from youtube showing GH3 in action.

Oh and a link to the E for All website: here

More rumblings in the underground have come to my attention and this will certainly be one to please all the amBX fans (not the rotating type!) out there. In the not too distant future we may all be able to make our own effects for things we do on our PC. For example, everytime I load firefox, maximise or minimise it, I can set my lights to turn orange or when I load WMP I could have my fans turn on. How cool does that sound?

So not only will we be able to get effects from our music, films and games but we can create them ourselves and choose what we want to happen! If I hear any more details about this I will be sure to let you know.

For all those amBX fans out there that were eagerly awaiting the release of Brother in Arms: Hells Highway there is a muttering that the release date has slipped into the second week of October. Not sure how much truth is in this but it means you could be waiting a little longer for all that amBX-enabled shooting and exploding action-fest.

Hopefully though there will be an amBX demo of BiA released before the release that we can all sink our teeth into. As I said, not sure how much truth there is in this but stay tuned because I will try and keep you all updated if I hear anything else.

Yesterday say the official release of Multiwinia, the latest title to be amBX-enabled. The multiplayer version of the highly successful Darwinia game from UK indie studio Introversion pits different tribes of Multiwinians against each other in a bid to conquer territory and thwart their opponents. In terms of amBX capability I haven’t yet tried the full game but when playing a demo recently it had lighting support and I am sure there will be rumble and fan action when specific things happen in the game.

Once I have a copy rest assured there will be a dedicated amBX video showing how the game interacts with the kit and what effects you can expect. You can purchase the game now on Steam and I believe it will also be available at retail outlets.

Long live the Multiwinians!

Last night amBX was in attendance at the Stuff Gadget Awards 2008 hosted at the Dorchester Hotel by Stuff.tv and Stuff Magazine. They were nominated in the “Innovation of the Year” catergory against the Sony Reader, Gibson Robot Guitar, WildCharge, Tonium Pacemaker and the Polaroid Pogo.

It’s great to see amBX getting some deserved recognition and supposedly the reader voted awards registered 60,000 votes in the build up to the ceremony and presentations. From what I have been told there should be some photos / videos available on the Stuff.tv site in a few days / weeks if you are interested in seeing what happens at those sort of shindigs.

Hopefully next year they will be nominated in more areas than this one, perhaps one that reads “Must have peripherals kit”. Fingers crossed!

The guys over at amBX have just released dedicated patches for all you Unreal Tournament 99 and Enemy Territory Quake Wars fans. This should mean greater compatability for both titles and a better gaming experience. Unfortunately I haven’t got either title so can’t test this out for you to see but for more information you need to head over to the links on the amBX.com website below:

http://www.ambx.com/site/consumer/games/PCgames/ETQW

http://www.ambx.com/site/consumer/games/PCgames/UT99

You will find details on those pages of what patches / version you need to be running, any admin settings you need to have and a big button that says “Download amBX Patch”. Pretty straight forward really although I think these are still being classed as Beta patches.

It seems that amBX gets just about everywhere. At the start of August I was up in Edinburgh with my other half for the Edinurgh Festival and it seems that whilst we were there another festival was taking place; an interactive one (EIF). Focused around games development, education and virtual worlds they had a showcase area for students that were part of the “Dare to be Digital” challenge. Apparently this is a competition for University students to make a demo of a game, showcase their skills and then win prizes accordingly and yes amBX was one of the sponsors.

Having a walk around there were some very novel and unique concepts on show and a fair few of them had made good use of the amBX kits and technology. I managed to take a few photos at the time but have only just managed to find the cable for the PC to transfer them across. You can find small editions below and as normal, click on them to be taken to a larger version.

Here is a review I wrote a while ago about Call of Duty 4 and how my amBX kit has changed the way I now play it. Might be worth a quick read for some of you to get an impression about the sort of interactions that happen. I will also try to get a dedicated video uploaded of me playing CoD4 with my kit.

When you first play CoD4 you take the time to look at the pretty graphics, listen to the banter from your comrades and begin to believe how realistic it looks and feels. When thrown head first into the middle of a combat zone after watching a few scripted sequences the impression you get is that you are actually there right in the thick of it. Bullets whizz past your head, grenades explode in close proximity, orders are shouted and you feel the adrenaline start to pump as you attempt to mow down any enemy soldier stupid enough to jump into your crosshair. You firmly believe this is what you have been missing and that your gaming experience is now fuller and more complete for having done so.

OK, so now for something a little different. I admit CoD4 is an awesome game to play and I love going back every now and again and doing the arcade mode just for the hell of it and when I get the opportunity to play it online I do but the experience I now get with an amBX kit is on another level.

Imagine all that I have described above (see whizzing bullets etc) and now add lights, fans and a rumble pad. When you run through terrain or get blowback from an explosion the fans turn on to give you a feeling of speed or wind effects. As grenades explode close by or you rattle off a few hundred rounds from one of the big f*ck off guns the rumble pad jumps into life and happily vibrates under your wrists. As you get shot the lights turn from a humble green to signify the jungle foliage to a sharp red alerting you of your current situation. All of this combined pulls you further into the game and provides a new level of immersion but the beauty is, most of it isnt scripted. If you dont get shot then the lights wont turn red, they might go white or yellow as the scenery changes, if no grenades explode near you then you might need feel as big a rumble and if you dont run or fall then the fans might not always come on. The whole experience depends on what you do in the game and how you interact with it whilst working to give you something more.

For me this has completely changed the way I play the game and it reminds me that sometimes is is good to add a little new spice to the things we love. Not only that but the amBX kits are pretty cool for playing music as well with the ability to make your own disco (flashing lights in time with the music and the beat).

As I said, for those that dont believe me you really need to try it and watch some videos on youtube about how different games provide different reactions. Some of the videos for Guitar Hero 3 are crazy and really really colourful so if you fancy a bit of ambience to your guitar lessons then you know what you need to do. Further to the above Philips have just dropped the price of the various kits with the starter at £89.99 on Play.com and the top kit at £169.99 with the added bonus of a good set of speakers with the “Premium” level kit.

Overall, a unique set of peripherals that have certainly changed the way I play both music and games and you notice the difference when you play without them.

Having just got a new laptop for work with Windows Vista on it (first time I had used it properly) I thought it might be wise to invest in a few magazines to get me up to speed with it. One of the ones I have just bought was “Windows Vista Magazine” from Future Publishing who do all the PC Gamer and PC Zone titles. Whilst browsing through what do I find? Yes, you guessed it, a small article about amBX although it was a little awkward to read with the amBX kits being referred to as “the amBX”. Aside from that small somewhat innocent failure it was good to see the amBX kit placed as the No.1 “Must Have” Best Buy from that issue squeezing out the HP TouchSmart PC and a new widescreen monitor from BenQ.

For those not able to get your hands on a copy I have put some images below for you with links to larger examples. Have fun!