Introversion Software announces plans for an amBX edition of DEFCON, as well as their goal of also creating amBX editions of Darwinia and Uplink. amBX is a multimedia peripheral system that adds lighting and wind control to the gaming experience. This seems suited to action games, but they are finding ways to adapt it to strategy games as well:

DEFCON is the latest offering from indie-developers, Introversion, which enjoyed a successful launch in September 2006. DEFCON is an online multiplayer strategy game simulating global thermonuclear war. The game, inspired by the 1983 cult-classic film Wargames, superbly evokes the tension, paranoia and suspicion surrounding the Cold War era.

‘amBX and DEFCON are ideally suited to each other’, commented Chris Delay, Lead Developer at Introversion, ‘With our third game DEFCON we spent a huge amount of time trying to create the atmosphere of being buried deep within an underground bunker, slowly ending the world in the last war that will ever be fought. amBX is ideally suited to enhancing that atmosphere, taking it out of the confines of what’s right in front of you on-screen, and expanding it into your whole room.’

Combining DEFCON with amBX brings the whole messy scenario of nuclear war direct to the player’s bedroom. Flashes of blinding white light and gentle rumbles indicate when your missiles have hit home. Whilst a spine-chilling rush of air announces the raining down of fallout on millions of innocents. Meanwhile the dread of realisation approaches as the lights fade, the music slows, and your population withers. DEFCON amBX is a harrowing experience that will ensure you’re never so blasé about thermonuclear global war again.