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| Any exerpience with AmBX? https://www.wsgf.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=15532 |
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| Author: | Vroshnak [ 13 Feb 2008, 17:18 ] |
| Post subject: | Any exerpience with AmBX? |
It comes with amibient lights, surround sound, rumbling wrist pads, and fans that blow in your face? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmBX |
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| Author: | Cynagen [ 13 Feb 2008, 17:44 ] |
| Post subject: | Any exerpience with AmBX? |
Looks interesting, however, I doubt i'll be buying it. |
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| Author: | aeyvba [ 13 Feb 2008, 22:56 ] |
| Post subject: | Any exerpience with AmBX? |
The website looks interesting beyond jus gamin tho http://www.ambx.com |
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| Author: | Paradigm Shifter [ 14 Feb 2008, 14:33 ] |
| Post subject: | Any exerpience with AmBX? |
Yeah, it looks cool. I think DEFCON: Global Thermonuclear War supports it too. (Which is awesome considering it was developed by a little dev team called Introversion) However... a lot like PhysX, it needs more mainstream integration/support before it's really gonna take off. ;) And if I'm enjoying a game, I get plenty immersed already - don't really need to get any worse. ;) |
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| Author: | lightsaber [ 14 Feb 2008, 19:25 ] |
| Post subject: | Any exerpience with AmBX? |
You can get ambient light for PC games and more, and with a whole lot of features at http://www.a-r-e.nl I have it lighting up my living room TV (media center), gaming desk, and MAME arcade cabinet. Worth checking out. |
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| Author: | scavvenjahh [ 18 Jul 2008, 10:10 ] |
| Post subject: | Any exerpience with AmBX? |
Incidentally I just received a Starter amBX kit (lights only), and after playtesting it I'm pretty disappointed. This stuff screams "beta for the masses", it relies so heavily on drivers/profiles, adds stuttering to games, and browsing the official amBX forums I realized this supposedly hardcore gamer-friendly technology is actually being developped by a bunch of guys who think Flash rulez and 1280x1024 is a big res. :? It seems the colour analysis program scans the entire display before converting all relevant info for the light bulbs, so the bigger the res the more stuttering you get, even with a powerful multi-core CPU. My dream of late night playing on TripleHead2Go with dynamic lights brutally ended because of that. The more action on screen, the worse it gets too even at lower res. And that's for fully supported games. Then there are modded ones, and then untested titles - expect even more stuttering here... Software updates happen but they're scarce. At the moment you have to download and install 3 different files (drivers, update to drivers, FX generator program) for the thing to work - again, lights only in my case. Add to that a clumsy though minimalist interface, no button or hotkey to enable/disable dynamic lights on-the-fly, and the waste of desk space (the central hub, which will most likely be sitting between your monitor's back and a wall, has all connections sticking out from behind it, wtf ??), and you really wonder what else could have gone wrong. :evil: Once the game has been detected, relaunched, and the lights start doing their dynamic thing it's pretty nice though - except for the stuttering which removes twice as much "immersion" to the gameplay experience as the lights would bring in. :? Plus some choices for "light events" are not really satisfying. In Assassin's Creed, a tiny icon on your "sync bar" turns to red then flashes yellow when you're chased; well, that's exactly what the side lights do now, and it's totally annoying. You can hide the bar (AC is so much better without that beeping HUD) - but the lights will keep flashing yellow whenever guards are on your trail. :x The lights flash red when you get hit too, which is much closer to what dynamic lighting should be, although not at all a necessary feature imho. (Furthermore, it seems the newer patch 1.02 removes all fans/rumble pad effects... A software update would be needed to get amBX fully working again, but it's not available atm. Glad I was never interested in the Progamer or Premium kits in the first place...) I'll certainly keep an eye on amBX and see what the future holds, but as it is now, this solution for dynamic lighting is just too immature, both on the hardware and software sides. As of now, don't bother ! |
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| Author: | Paradigm Shifter [ 18 Jul 2008, 11:13 ] |
| Post subject: | Any exerpience with AmBX? |
Thanks for the detailed info, scavvenjahh. :) |
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| Author: | scavvenjahh [ 18 Jul 2008, 13:49 ] |
| Post subject: | Any exerpience with AmBX? |
Edited : in AC the lights flash when you're chased, not during combat. Same as the sync bar icon. I'm still unsure whether I'll keep my Starter kit and become sort of a voluntary paying-to-suffer beta tester, or just return it while I can. Guess I'll test more games, haunt the official forums and decide if fun or frustration wins. Will keep you posted with my testing of other games... |
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| Author: | scavvenjahh [ 20 Jul 2008, 11:10 ] |
| Post subject: | Any exerpience with AmBX? |
Hmm, seems like the intense stuttering at high res could've been caused by Fraps and amBX working in the same memory area... If I don't launch Fraps before I start the game I can totally play AC @3840 w/ amBX lighting, there is a performance hit but nothing that'd make my eyes bleed. Wish I had tested that earlier... :oops: I think I'll keep the kit, toy with it and learn the ropes, so that I can utlimately write a real detailed user review. My interest for this unrefined, still-in-the-works technology is far from dead despite my first bad impression :) |
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| Author: | Vroshnak [ 31 Jul 2008, 14:24 ] |
| Post subject: | Any exerpience with AmBX? |
Thanks again for your impressions. Since I've already got three monitors on my desk, this seems like the next step in our mad lust for gaming awesomeness. Tell us when it's worth the money :D ! |
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