Not that MSI has ever had a lack of RGB, but it’s newest feature is the most colorful I’ve ever seen the company get. It’s called Ambient Light, which can be used to control Nanoleaf lighting sometimes found in particularly dedicated gaming setups based on what’s happening in a game. MSI showed it off in a demo at CES 2019 in Las Vegas.
For now, it only works with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. MSI told me that it worked closely with Ubisoft on the project, and that future Ubisoft games could also support Ambient Light. In my demo, I saw the lights change into whites and blues when I dove in the water, burst red when I took damage or got poisoned or reflect green when I was surrounded by palm trees.
Will it make me better at the game? No. Does it look awesome? You bet it does.
My demo ran on MSI’s upcoming GS75 Stealth laptop, but I was told that the software will eventually work on any laptop or desktop that supports MSI’s Mystic Light software. For now, we have to wait, though. There’s no solid release date, though the company told me that it’s aiming for a Q2 release this year for the new functionality.
MSI isn’t the first in the game here - Nanoleaf already has integration with Razer and Cooler Master lighting. But MSI is serious about RGB, and I’m looking forward to seeing the final product.
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Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and BlueSky @andrewfreedman.net.You can send him tips on Signal: andrewfreedman.01
