http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/surface.ars

Can this be what helps tabletop rpgs (and general gaming) in the next decade. I can see this working great for battlemat type stuff. Or imagine miniatures that are tagged so that the software recognizes their stats.

Rob Conley

I'm a little perplexed that they don't already have cards and dice that interact with the table.  That seems such a natural and attractive application that every time I see a new article on this technology I wonder "Have they gotten the table to read the results of dice yet?"

My friends and I have thought about that too and a few other things regarding miniature combat in the future.  I can see some possible RP benefits but I think wargaming will see more use, all INHO of course.

One day your computer will be a big ass table!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY

"Instead of using one of today's popular compact devices to get directions to where you're going... why not use a device the size of a small car to do the same job?"

That's the power of MicroSoft Surface.  

The Miniaturization fad is over, time to get to back to cell phones bigger than your head and a computer to fill up the entire house.:rolleyes:   Seriously though, it would take more than a potentially cool concept to buy something like that.  I would hope it would be a ferrari compared to a pinto but the stats given in the article didn't seem to indicate that.  Couldn't you just build a monitor that points up and responds to touch?  Who knows though?

Some shit just doesn't work miniaturized.

The whole point of the thing is that it's the size of a table.  because it's supposed to be used as a table.  

comparisons to smaller devices like cell phones miss the point entirely.

The thing that strikes me almost immediately is that they will want to make a very robust software platform for running external code.

Because, really, what would be cooler than having a CCG where, when you put your card down on the table an animated version of the creature pictured crawled out from under the card on the surface of the table?  Something where you don't need to have ever installed the CCG program on your table, because the relevant bits of code come chipped into the card itself?

That kind of object with embedded code would be a great way to repackage software in a way that broke down the current barriers between a piece of code and a physical artifact ... but absent a well thought out security system, clever hackers are going to flood us with little playing cards that you go around plopping down on restaurant tables to crash their order system.

Yes, I do like science fiction, why do you ask?

We thought of something similar for miniatures, collect codes and get online versions of minis.  Perhaps even tie it to a physical product.  You could even have rarity in the sense that only so many copies of mini X can be unlocked while you can have all of you want of mini Y.  Of course, security would an major issue in any such endeavor.

If I was more ambitious and not sick, I'd point y'all to the threads, and in particular, my posts, where this was discussed.

You guys are thinking too small....think holograms.  Think entire rule system built into the table/computer...think completely different interfaces where you have individual first person display hooked into a common table that shows the overhead or isometric view...think of being able to replay the entire battle once it's over..not in turn by turn herky-jerky, but in a smooth flowing scene...

I'll say it for about the fifth time on this forum.  Computers will save table top gaming - once people start getting past the current mode of thinking and start thinking about how to apply computing power to facilitate table top play...