NAME YOUR GAME - THEN IMAGINE IT IN A WHOLE NEW LIGHT
Color Kinetics Surround Light Technology and Software Developers Kit
Let Developers Easily Extend the Gaming Experience
with Immersive, Interactive Digital Light
SAN JOSE, CA - Game Developers Conference- March 22, 2001- Color Kinetics Incorporated, the pioneer of full spectrum digital lighting, today announces Surround Light, a patented technology (U.S. Patent #6,166,496) that allows for the coupling of digital media content-including video games, movies, music and information-with the company's breakthrough digital lighting technology. With Surround Light, game developers can easily add lighting control information to their games, so that the action in the game actually drives Color Kinetics' digital lighting systems, adding an entirely new dimension to the gaming experience. The result is a fully immersive experience where light-in an infinite variety of colors and intensities-interacts seamlessly with the action and story line to extend the game beyond a computer monitor, television screen or speaker system.
At Game Developers Conference, Color Kinetics is demonstrating Surround Light capability in a customized version of Activision's Star Trek: Armada. This version of Star Trek: Armada was developed by Mad Doc Software using Color Kinetics' Surround Light Software Developers Kit (SDK), which allows developers to quickly and easily add Surround Light capabilities to their games.
This unique coupling of lighting with video game content is possible only through Color Kinetics' patented Chromacore™ technology (U.S Patents #6,016,038 and #6,150,774). Chromacore works by using a microprocessor to control multiple colored LEDs (light emitting diodes) to create millions of colors and color-changing lighting effects. This technology has already transformed architectural and retail lighting; with Surround Light, Color Kinetics takes it one step further by combining this intelligent digital lighting with digital entertainment media. Imagine…
…You are playing a video game and as your character enters a red room, the physical room around you also turns red. When your character is suddenly submerged in a watery environment, the room becomes a turbulent blue, with flashes of white light appearing in your peripheral vision as an underwater vehicle approaches from the side.
It's Never Been So Easy to Blow Them Away
Surround Light maps the virtual lights already in a game (used in rendering the graphics) to the physical lights in a room. The lighting can be programmed to change color, saturation, intensity or effect speed according to signals coded into the game by the developer. In this way, developers can use lighting to magnify the action in their games-thrusting players into the middle of fiery explosions, for example-or to subtly yet powerfully enhance a mood or atmosphere, floating players through the murky green and purple nebulae of outer space.
While Surround Light technology completely transforms the entire gaming experience for players, it requires very little effort on the part of game developers. In creating the Surround Light SDK, Color Kinetics consulted with experienced game developers to ensure that working with Surround Light is as simple as possible. Surround Light can be incorporated with just a few lines of code either as games are being programmed, or after the main programming is completed. According to Dr. Ian Davis of Mad Doc Software, "it's less than half a day of programming to add this ultra-cool capability."
By extending the atmosphere and action of a game beyond a screen, Surround Light is the closest developers can come to bringing players directly into their games. In this way, Color Kinetics President and CEO George Mueller predicts that Surround Light will do more than change the way video games are played and experienced; it will also change the way they are created. "Color Kinetics is giving developers powerful new tools that let them add an entirely new creative layer to the development process," he notes. "Everything from story lines to effects can be enhanced with Surround Light, enabling developers to design and craft a completely immersive experience for players that just wasn't possible before Color Kinetics technology."
The Surround Light SDK includes libraries and documentation for adding Surround Light capabilities to games. Color Kinetics will support Surround Light with gaming developers and publishers and will work towards bringing complete Surround Light systems to market for both content developers and consumers, ranging from standalone set-ups to entire home theater systems.
About Color Kinetics
Color Kinetics Incorporated is the pioneer of intelligent solid-state illumination technologies. The company designs, manufactures and markets an award-winning line of products that apply the practical and aesthetic benefits of LEDs to transcend the limits of traditional light sources for use in professional, consumer, and OEM and licensing applications. Its flagship line of technologies leverage a patented layer of digital intelligence, called Chromacore®, to generate and control millions of colors and dynamic lighting effects. Color Kinetics leads the industry in solid-state lighting innovation, including the custom engineered Chromasic® microchip, and holds a growing patent portfolio encompassing a number of emerging digital technologies. Founded in 1997, the company is privately held and is headquartered in Boston, MA with offices in the UK, China, and a joint venture in Japan. More information can be found at http://www.colorkinetics.com.
Contact Info
|
