June 26, 2008 – Rotterdam, The Netherlands – Wouldn’t it be great if you could play a Ship Simulator game and actually feel the wind in your face, the rumbling of the engines below and the impact of the distant thunderstorm as if you were standing on deck yourself? European Serious Games Developer VSTEP and Philips today announced the release of an amBX patch to enable amBX technology into the best-selling Ship Simulator 2008 Game and make all this possible. Make sure you don’t get a cold as you sail your vessel to world famous harbours.
The patch is compatible with all available language versions of Ship Simulator 2008 and New Horizons and can be downloaded from www.shipsim.com (http://www.shipsim.com/downloads/patches.php).
Ship Simulator 2008 with amBX will feature variable speed fan effects to simulate wind speed and direction as players sail their vessels through the different environments. LED Light effects - across a 16 million colour range - will deliver immersive weather light effects, including sunlight, sunsets and lightning storms. Rumble effects will feature to simulate ship engines, vessel collisions and roaring thunder during storms, giving players a true feel of captaining a ship in a host of different circumstances. The patch is suitable for players with v1.4.2. of Ship Simulator 2008 and the official add-on Ship Simulator 2008: New Horizons.
Shorthand for ‘ambient experiences’, amBX reinvents the gameplay experience by extending the traditional gaming world out of the screen and into the real world. amBX delivers full ‘surround senses’ by allowing developers to use light, colour, sound, rumble and even air flow through enabled devices, including the Philips amBX PC Gaming Peripherals range of LED colour-controlled lighting, rumble peripherals and variable speed desktop fans.
VSTEP’s CTO Pjotr van Schothorst: “We are excited to enable Philips amBX technology in Ship Simulator 2008. Striving to create high quality games and simulations, we are constantly innovating our products and the enhanced gameplay sensation created by amBX will provide our audience with an even more immersive experience of Ship Simulator 2008.â€
