Not directly amBX related but it is worth wondering whether the amBX team would have been part of the 6000 jobs and possibly the closing of the project if they hadn’t managed to spin out of Philips at the end of last year. It may have meant all of us that love amBX had no new games to play with or no new software / hardware to look forward to.

Obviously a shame for all those employees that are losing their jobs but I am thankful amBX is no longer included with Philips so that we can look forward to new things, especially following the release of te SDK!

I know I know, I have been slacking so I wanted to give everyone a quick update about this. I have been playing the game and have managed to complete most of it but haven’t yet taken any videos as promised. That and the combination of time away for holidays has meant that so far I haven’t uploaded anything to the site so I will accept a quick slap on the wrist and will rectify the situation soon!

Promise!

Finally it has arrived!! The team over at amBX have released the SDK they announced last year to all those eager developers who want to add amBX effects to their titles.

If you are a budding developer yourself or part of a development studio and have seen the various effects that amBX can produce with its kit then you should definitely head on over to the special dev site and get yourself / company signed up. The link you will need is for the amBX Developer Site.

UPDATE: I must apologise to everyone that has read this as it seems I got my wires crossed when I read the information on the Dev Site the first time round. After making this post on here I got a quick email from amBX explaining the actual situation. The SDK is completely free and there is no cost involved at any stage unlike what I had previuosly mentioned. The Premium Developer Level is an extra level that gives access to extra tools and support for development houses but anyone that wants to try it out and see what they can create is allowed to do so without a charge.

Apologies again for this misleading information and I will make sure I read any future announcements a few times before jumping in and posting about them.

With the recent announcement that Codemasters have released a dedicated amBX patch for Turning Point - Fall of Liberty I thought it only fair that I should get a copy of the game, install the patch and play test it for you. So guess what? The game arrived today so hopefully within the next week I should be able to find the time to sit down, play a little and record some amBX goodness for you if you wanted to see how good the boys at Codemasters actually are about adding amBX effects post-launch.

The game itself looks to be using the Unreal engine and developed by Spark who also did Legendary for Atari (see a few posts below for a video). With that in mind this could be another bucket load of fun as Legendary was and something that I may have overlooked in the past (shame on me). Anyway, once I have had a play and recorded some footage I will, as always, upload it for your viewing pleasure.

Sometimes it is good to see things not done by amBX as it shows the development community embracing the technology for themselves. As the title suggests there is a new patch for Turning Point: Fall of Liberty and it has been released by Codemasters with the premise of adding full amBX effects to the retail version of the game.

There are a number of mirrors already out there for the file and I have listed a few below for you in case you want to hope straight on over and get it for yourself. Thumbs up to Codemasters for this.

- Games.On.Net Download Site
- Gamers Hell Download Site

Enjoy.

Having been slacking a bit recently I have now managed to take some video footage of the amBX-enabled game from Atari; Legendary. Although this game pretty much slipped under the radar and most people haven’t heard about it it’s actually a lot of fun to play and has some cool amBX effects.

An amBX specific review can be found in the navigation menu on the right and a video has been uploaded to the ILoveamBX YouTube Channel and will shortly be added to the Kyte.TV channel as well. For those too lazy here are some links for you:

- Youtube Video

- Review Page

I have just received a press announcement stating that in early 2009 (January 12th) amBX will be releasing a free SDK to the entertainment industry to help them integrate amBX effects with their products. Certainly sounds like a good move for amBX and for us gamers may mean that more new titles are released with full amBX capability. A short extract from the press release is given below:

The amBX SDK enables developers across the whole of the entertainment industry to get up and running quickly with test tools and example applications to guide the way to enhance games with immersive amBX effects. A support forum provides advice and best practice information as well as a complete tool box that will unlock the most advanced features of amBX. Up to now the amBX SDK has been available on a project by project basis but the new developer programme has opened it up to the development community free of charge.

“The amBX SDK provides developers with everything they need to get quickly up to speed and at no charge. It makes amBX very approachable and this will be a major step forward for us as we take the amBX proposition to wider markets and sectors. The whole point of amBX is to immerse the player deeper into the game and the amBX SDK now makes a rather complex operation very simple and extremely low cost.” commented Neil MacDonald, CEO of amBX.

If there are any budding developers out there you can go and register your interest for the SDK by visiting http://developer.ambx.com. Sounds like amBX is going to make a good start to 2009 so I wish them luck and can’t wait to see how many studios and developers embrace this.

Just to give everyone a quick nudge heading into the festive Christmas buying period and hopefully a helping hand for those still not sure about buying an amBX kit for their PCs. The guys over at I4U have posted a new review of an amBX kit and scored it 8.5/10 which is pretty good.

The review itself covers the spec side, a hands-on review, some photos and then some final thoughts. You can read an extract below:

The sound quality from the Philips amBX Premium Kit speakers is decent and bass form the sub is good. Where the system really shines is the fans and lighting effects it adds to games. When you spawn as a Strogg and plummet to the ground in a drop pod the fans kick in and wind whips around your face.

Jump into GDF flying vehicles and the fans again kick in to give the effect that you are really flying. At the same time, the wall washer light (designed to go behind your display) and the lights atop the satellite speakers glow the same colors as the game background.

If you are flying with the sun behind you the lights glow orange-red, if you are in snow the lights are blue-white color, shoot the Strogg rail gun and the plasma trail’s orange glow is mimicked in the lights of the amBX system.

To read the full article you need to click on through to the I4U site HERE!

One of the games industries main development news portals for the UK has published a rather nice interview with the new CEO of amBX; Neil MacDonald. The article talks about amBX spinning out of Philips with VC investment, what the future holds and how they are working to promote the technology.

A snippet can be found below along with a link to the full interview:

What is the game development industry’s attitude towards amBX at the moment?

Cooke: Whenever we demo amBX to developers, the first question we get asked is, “How can I get this in my living room?” The development community has always seen and understood the vision we have of amBX as an innovative technology driving future entertainment experiences.

Any present concerns have always been around implementation time, and cost and hefty licence contracts. We are now in a position to change that and are currently developing a partner program which will mean developers can download the amBX SDK from a dedicated partner website with a forum and on-line tutorials. Our goal is to provide a best in class SDK and supporting tools.

MacDonald: I sense that the industry is waiting to see how we do now we are out from Philips. I also sense that there is recognition that we could now be better to do business with and it’s certainly my intention to prove that.

To read the full interview head over to the Developmag page here!

Yes, I have added something a bit new to the site in the form of ILoveamBX TV! You can find the dedicated page here and let me tell you what it is / does.

Using the embedded player from KYTE.tv I have created an ILoveamBX channel and uploaded most of the videos I have put on YouTube. The player on the page allows you to select which shows you want to watch as well as allowing you to upload your own amBX videos for me to approve and show on the channel. You have to create a KYTE account to do so but that can all be done through the player so it not allows gives me another way to demonstrate what I have been doing with amBX but also allows you lot to get involved as well.

What more is there to say? Not a lot, other than feel free to start getting involved and uploading your own amBX videos so we can have a nice collection! Enjoy.