July 27th, 2008
amBX looking to bring smells to games
amBX, the weird tech with rumble generators, ambient coloured lights, and fans that I don’t think anyone owns may soon be bringing smell to their collection of stimulus to make games feel a bit more real. However, there are apparently some resilient niggles that need to be overcome to make the tech viable.
If you have not being keeping up to date amBX is a tech that developers can choose to implement in their games by including certain trigger points in levels. These points then tell any external kit connected to your PC to perform a specific action at an appropriate moment.
“The first level of sensory experience is light and sound. We make it possible for any effects to be produced, and this includes smell” said an amBX rep when questioned by Times Online.
However she noted the one big problems the boffins face to make this possible. “It’s easy to introduce a smell into a room, the problem is how to remove an odour quickly in order to create the next one.”
jumpin jack flash
July 27th, 2008
me and 2 mates bought an ambx light kit at the Blizzard invitational at paris. was first time we saw it and it works with WOW and all the big games too. Sounds gimmicky but once you dont have it you do miss it
Muhammad-Oli
July 27th, 2008
Oh yeah cause we all wanna smell rotten corpses…
I can’t think of any games where there would be a nice smell to produce. Only bad smells and I can’t see that being very popular.
Here’s an idea: Have a machine which, when hit by a bullet in-game, fires a real bullet into your chest! Now that would be realistic!
PWride
July 27th, 2008
amBX is awesome, I’ve got a kit at home and it really gives you a totally different experience. I agreed with jumpin jack flash in that you miss it when you dont have it. I have to switch between my desktop and laptop sometimes and playing without the amBX kit can be a real bummer.
Interesting news about the smell side of things although this could end up detracting from the game; a really rich smell of something nice comes through and suddenly you think about that rather than the game and fail the mission / level etc. Have to wait and see how it develops really before any final judgement can be made.