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Not viral marketing but I thought I'd mention it here as I just picked up some old stock of these amBX kits and was very impressed with the immersion/price ratio. Hadn't even heard of them until Christmas when I was looking for some kind of mood lighting for my PC room and they came up on a search.
Phillips aren't making them any more so I managed to get two Starter Kits (2 satellites and 1 wall washer each) for 25 quid each. It was so cheap that I figured it was well worth giving it a try. I think Mad Catz are making a new line of amBX peripherals this year so now is a good opportunity to pick up the old stock for next to nothing and see if you like the effect.
I was really blown away with how good this looked behind me Eyefinity setup. I went for two starter kits, which is essentially 10 lights in a row behind the three screens. It takes a bit to configure the placement in software and there is a bit of driver trickery to get them sorted on Windows 7. Once I sorted it though it was like surround sound, for lighting.
They software just picks up the colours on segments of each screen and lights up the light behind that segment. It's very subtle but adds tons to the atmosphere. A quick run through of the first level of L4D2 and I was sold. Dark staircases had most of the lights off, switching on a torch and walking towards a wall lit the centre lights brightly as if the torchlight was shining off the wall. Firing a pistol or SMG in the dark causes rapid pulses of lights as the environment is lit up by the gun flash. Walking out from the hotel corridors into the bright sun on the balcony causes all the lights to shine brightly. Escaping from the burning hotel lobby surrounds you in oranges, yellow, red. It's just brilliant.
There are some vids on YouTube with eyefinity and amBX set up at the same time. Some of the amBX vids I found were not setup correctly and just displayed random pastel colours all the time. This Crysis one is quite good I have all my lights behind the Eyefinity in a line though. I would find visible ones too annoying.
Sorry if people find this post annoying but I stumbled on these things by accident and wish I had known about them a bit sooner (not too sooner, I don't know that I would have paid top dollar for them) If Eyefinity or 3D seem out of your price range then this is a great cheap immersion effect. It works for music and movies too, although that's less cool in Eyefinity because only the centre few lights cover the width of the film.
EDIT: I'll get some photos up if people are interested in seeing. Maybe later tonight when it's darker as they lose their impact during the day.
Phillips aren't making them any more so I managed to get two Starter Kits (2 satellites and 1 wall washer each) for 25 quid each. It was so cheap that I figured it was well worth giving it a try. I think Mad Catz are making a new line of amBX peripherals this year so now is a good opportunity to pick up the old stock for next to nothing and see if you like the effect.
I was really blown away with how good this looked behind me Eyefinity setup. I went for two starter kits, which is essentially 10 lights in a row behind the three screens. It takes a bit to configure the placement in software and there is a bit of driver trickery to get them sorted on Windows 7. Once I sorted it though it was like surround sound, for lighting.
They software just picks up the colours on segments of each screen and lights up the light behind that segment. It's very subtle but adds tons to the atmosphere. A quick run through of the first level of L4D2 and I was sold. Dark staircases had most of the lights off, switching on a torch and walking towards a wall lit the centre lights brightly as if the torchlight was shining off the wall. Firing a pistol or SMG in the dark causes rapid pulses of lights as the environment is lit up by the gun flash. Walking out from the hotel corridors into the bright sun on the balcony causes all the lights to shine brightly. Escaping from the burning hotel lobby surrounds you in oranges, yellow, red. It's just brilliant.
There are some vids on YouTube with eyefinity and amBX set up at the same time. Some of the amBX vids I found were not setup correctly and just displayed random pastel colours all the time. This Crysis one is quite good I have all my lights behind the Eyefinity in a line though. I would find visible ones too annoying.
Sorry if people find this post annoying but I stumbled on these things by accident and wish I had known about them a bit sooner (not too sooner, I don't know that I would have paid top dollar for them) If Eyefinity or 3D seem out of your price range then this is a great cheap immersion effect. It works for music and movies too, although that's less cool in Eyefinity because only the centre few lights cover the width of the film.
EDIT: I'll get some photos up if people are interested in seeing. Maybe later tonight when it's darker as they lose their impact during the day.
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