amBX team up with Dare to be Digital and April deadline

Dare 2008 has opened with a call for entries from student teams keen to secure a place in the Scottish host centre, based at Abertay University – the organisers and promoters of the competition. Teams have until 15 April to apply to be considered for one of the four places at the Dundee centre.

Last year, there were 12 teams based in different host centres across the UK taking part in the competition. One of the Scottish teams won the BAFTA Ones To Watch Award, following the exclusive pathway to the award launched in 2007.

This year, teams will not only have the chance to win the prestigious BAFTA award and to join the high profile public showcase Dare ProtoPlay, they also get the opportunity to demonstrate their work at the London Games Festival in October.

“The teams ultimately selected for the Scottish host centre will find that winning a place is just the first challenge in Dare 2008,” said project manager Elaine Russell. “Standards of game design, teamwork and dedication have risen consistently throughout the nine years we’ve been running Dare, and we’re quite sure that 2008 is going to be tougher and more exciting than ever before for all the teams.”

As well as developing and pitching a game concept to industry experts as previously, entrants to Dare to be Digital 2008 will have to face a public vote at the end of the competition. The organisers are planning a much bigger version of last year’s Dare ProtoPlay – held alongside the Edinburgh Interactive Festival and as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe allowing the public to vote for the game prototypes for themselves

As in previous years, each chosen team member will receive a stipend of £1,700, hardware and software support plus training sessions from industry specialists during the 10-week competition to help them finish their game.

Philips amBX have teamed up with Dare this year to offer competition applicants the chance to work with the games industry's unique technology in ambient experiences. With amBX, games and peripherals providing surround lighting, sound, vibration, air movement and other effects work in harmony together. The result is an incredibly immersive experience bringing game play into the room.

This  year amBX is offering selected teams the chance to become amBX licensed developers for Dare 2008. Teams will receive amBX Premium kit hardware and software tools allowing them to create ambient experiences for their competition projects.

Teams can expect the same level of support that game developers and publishers receive including a dedicated engineer to ensure a smooth implementation for the duration of the competition.

amBX will showcase amBX enabled Dare projects on www.ambx.com and at various events and game conferences. Team members will be fully credited.

If you are a team applying to Dare you can express your interest in using amBX with your project on your Dare application form.

Website: http://www.ambx.com
with Guitar Hero 3  http://youtube.com/watch?v=RPVpAp0t9BU
amBX at QuakeCon 2007  http://youtube.com/watch?v=ul41SFnVZUI
Source: http://www.daretobedigital.com/