Indie developer Frima Studios and Philips have teamed up to offer a new and innovative way to allow gamers to even more fully immerse themselves in their game – the lights.
A total immersive experience is what every game designer aims for when creating their game. Be it through graphics, story, voice-acting, motion controls, camera, or even VR headset, every developer has their own method of pulling players into their game. Now, Frima Studios, has taken the next step with their game Chariot; the game can now sync to the lights in your home to give you a closer feeling to the game.
Now there are some caveats, such as: Chariot only being available on Xbox One for now, the lights having to be a specific brand – the Philips Hue smart lightbulbs, and gamers being willing to spend a bit more on their electricity bill that month, but the idea behind it is fascinating. Here’s a little ad showing how the sync will actually look while you play the game:
The possibilities for this technology are very exciting. Just picture playing the latest AAA title and having the ability to create the perfect ambiance for the game you’re playing. Big studios should be clamoring to integrate this lights feature into future games since from all appearances it would be easy to pull off and have spectacular results.
The director of ID@Xbox at Microsoft, Chris Charla had this to say:
Chariot has been a great title in our ID@Xbox portfolio since it launched into Games With Gold last year. We’re thrilled that Frima is pushing the boundaries with this new technology from Philips Hue and are really excited to see it come to Xbox.
For now unfortunately, only the extremely small subset of gamers with an Xbox One, Chariot, and these specific Philips lightbulbs can enjoy this innovative experience; but it’s tough to see why more developers won’t be jumping on the bandwagon as time progresses – which makes the future look…brighter.
