One might wonder why a lighting company had a presence at E3. Philips and its Hue lighting architecture bring a wonderful technology that is more than just colored lights. A few months ago, Philips teamed with Razer to allow the use of RGB on Razer products whether it be keyboards, mice or entire laptops. This same lighting can be replicated to the Hue products. This means entire rooms, or even the outdoor lights, will feature the specific lighting profile that Razer is running. All of this can be adjusted through the Philips Hue app on a smartphone or setup through the Razer Synapse software, itself.
It becomes apparent just how great this technology is that Philips offers. Everything is controlled through the Hue Bridge. This wireless network device plugs directly into your router via Ethernet connection. This device has its own network bandwidth known as ZigBee that casts the signal to each individual Hue device. This allows for avoiding interference or any time of network lag. It’s extremely impressive to see that the output from the game you’re playing is instantaneous with what your devices are showing. It’s all in sync. Even more impressive is that each bulb or lamp that Philips offers serves as a repeater or extender for the ZigBee network. This means that range is never an issue.
During our meeting with Philips, the team had two battle stations setup. One featured the Philips Hue lighting strips along a wall that sat behind a monitor. This setup was running Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. The setup captured colors that were on the screen and mimicked these areas through the lighting. The idea is to capture an ambiance that sucks you into the gameplay. The Hue software on the PC will allow users to also crop the areas that they want the colors pulled from. On this same setup, we viewed a YouTube video of an EDM show and it literally turned the room into a rave. This really helped capture the feeling of being at the show and it was spectacular.
The other setup included a laptop that featured two of Philips’ Signe Table Lamps on each end of the table pointing towards the wall. Mortal Kombat 11 was demoed on the laptop and included a straightforward profile from Razer. The lights would be mimicked from the laptop to the lamps. We came up with the idea that Philips should load up DOOM 2016 on the setup and we were not disappointed. Everyone in the room was blown away by the effects that Razer implemented into the game that were mimicked to the lights. Every time you melee kill an opponent, the lights would give a celebratory reaction of purple and yellow that lit the room up in excitement.
The possibilities become almost endless for a home with the lighting profiles. Philips offers weatherproof lighting that can be put on a porch or outdoors and allow these same lighting profiles from your games to be replicated anywhere. Another cool lamp that was shown off was the Go Portable Lamp. This can either hang down or sit on a table at a few different angles. The technology in the lights lets you dictate how bright you want this to be. It is all instantaneous and easy to use. Razer Chroma allows for more customization for peripherals and these profiles can be custom set to each light.
Philips offers plenty of products for any part of your house ranging from just light bulbs and table lamps to bathroom and outdoor lighting. The Hue White and Color Ambiance Starter Kit starts at around $200 and includes four bulbs and the Hue Bridge. It also comes in just white ambiance if you are not interested in the colors, but that wouldn’t cater to the Razer Chroma integration aspect. The Hue White and Color Ambiance Light Strip is available for $80 if you’re looking for an easy addition to your gaming setup.
Check out the video below to see in action:
