Philips’ bizarre amBX ‘ambient intelligence technology’ (read: little fans, coloured lights and rumble mats) is set to work with Linden Labs weirdly popular online virtual world, Second Life.

“This will offer Second Life users the opportunity to experience their virtual world through real world amBX experiences, including light, air movement and rumble,” Philips inform us this morning.

Love it or loath it, numbers appear to speak in in its favour: Second Life currently has 4,201,216 virtual residents - although how many of them stay for more than one or two visits is still up for grabs.

"Second Life offers amBX an unparalleled opportunity to bring our revolutionary ambient intelligence technology to an expanding global market of many millions of tech and media savvy users who are not only hungry, but also open-minded for new online experiences," said a no doubt happy Jo Cooke, chief marketing officer for Philips amBX.

She added, “Not only will we be able to offer Second Lifers all kinds of new sensory experiences, but also ‘behind closed doors first looks’ at amBX effects in development and potential amBX-enabled peripherals, with the chance for some to exclusively trial sample them before commercial release. Second Life offers an entirely new market for amBX and we feel this is the start of a very special relationship.”

SPOnG’s team on the ground over in San Fran will be catching up with the amBX team at Philips later this week to quiz them more about these strange new peripherals – do they genuinely increase the gamer’s feeling of immersion? Or is it just a load of fans and lights and rumble mats which will clutter up your desk or PC gaming area (even more)?

One thing is for sure, Philips has already done a great job of getting some big-hitting publishing partners backing amBX such as Codemasters, THQ, Kuju, Introversion, Gas Powered Games, Revolution and Sumo Digital.

We’ll bring you more on amBX very soon.