ambx (pronounced am-bee-ex) is a technology to be released by Philips in May 2006 that aims at improving the user immersion in games.

amBX-enabled games will provide gamers with the ability to use light, colour, sound, heat and even airflow in the real world during gameplay.

Imagine the room of the future, where all electronic devices are amBX-enabled. The treacherous road to Saigon will turn your room jungle green, swimming with dolphins will splash it deep blue, ‘Halo’ jumps will turn your fans on full, lightning storms will strobe your white lighting, and attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion will blast on your heaters.

Incorporating a scripting language, software engine and architecture, amBX has been designed to deliver all-new player experiences through enabled devices such as LED colour-controlled lights, active furniture, fans, heaters, audio and video, which are all placed in the user’s room. amBX goes even further to provide the support framework for peripheral manufacturers to develop these enabled products, empowering both developers and publishers to amBX-enable and enhance their games. In the future, game players may even be able to author and share their own personal amBX experiences online.

The networked home is rapidly becoming a reality for many, through the introduction of low cost wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi and BlueTooth. amBX has embraced this changing future by allowing content authors a language in which to describe and recreate experiences in an Ambient Intelligent Environment. Within a location the devices controlled by the amBX language act as parts of a browser. Together they render the experience and the player’s room, in effect, becomes the browser

Why do I blog this? It's a relevant idea since the game experience is not only a matter of putting a DVD in a box connected to a TV, the context/environmental experience is also worthwile. I don't know whether it's a good way to implement it but it's a good step towards it.