Holy cow this is awesome: blogs.msdn.com/surface/archive/2009/10/1...
This is D&D played on the Mircorsoft surface. WOTC, are you guys involved with this at all? Is this what you had in mind when you launched 4th edition? This is such a cool integration of gaming and technology.
Sorry boardmasters if I posted this in the wrong place. I will try a few other forums here also.
But it just seems so sloooww...
Just imagine how long a battle would take.
Really don't see the point of this. How many gamers out there can afford to use MS Surface?
Very few.
Plus, you could spend all that cash in a laptop, miniatures, dice, or whatever you need to make your game more fun.
www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/04/diy-gamer-...
tyrendes.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!3B5F57...
Or, for a fraction of the price, you could put together something like this:
www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/04/diy-gamer-...
tyrendes.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!3B5F57...
Wow. Seen it already, but wow again.
I'm thinking about doing something like that. Almost everything is already digital at my gametable, only tiles, minis, charsheets and power cards are still here.
surface is actually a specially enabled hardware with software applications running from a currently existing PC...much like a WACOM CINTIQ or other interface. so really, on a consumer level, you'd be looking at purchasing the surface and connecting it to your currently existing PC. install the software (much like you would install the drivers for any other peripheral hardware) and to all intents and purposes you're ready to go. early production of this type of technology wouldn't necessarily cost more than already existing displays - HDTVs, large LCD monitors, etc. i'd imagine an enterprising group of people could conceivably research and develop ways to mass produce fairly inexpensive consumer models. at the end of the day it all boils down to demand.
if a large enough group of people want it, then that would fund further production. think of early HDTVs and plasmas...SUPER expensive (i remember seeing a model for $10K)! but as demand went up, and companies developed more inexpensive ways to reproduce the technology, we started to see a sharp decline in price in just a few years...$10K to 8K...8K to 4K...until now we have this massive manufacturer price war for who can sell the biggest and cheapest screen possible...not to mention the improvements in picture (720i? bah! we want 1080p!) and other features (overscan, anti-alias, even 3D).
so again, this has quite a bit of merit in our hobby, but if there's no one around to support it then the tech will indeed fade and everyone will just stay with the standard. the tech will simply be a very small niche for technophiles and enthusiasts, but nothing with a mass-market appeal.
the trick is to not focus SOLELY on just PnP RPGs...but all kinds of games...even develop NEW games. hell, see if you couldn't hook up a 3D aspect to the table for that added depth! action figures, miniatures, cards, practically anything could be interactive on this surface.
seriously, if i had the dough i would SO fund this thing! HASBRO I'M LOOKING AT YOU! srsly.
i know i would save up the dough to purchase a model if it came in at $1000-1200 just to see if me and some of my friends could get into the guts of it and do some programming ourselves! oh, and play D&D :P