Gno Schitt

I played with a surface at PAX, worked pretty slick but it was missing any good app to really demo it. Best thing was chess :)

Okay, I think these Microsoft Surfaces have some potentially cool applications, but I don't think this is it.

Here's why:
Even with a combat map and dry erase markers, plus some minis, I'm still forced to mainly use my imagination to envision the scene and the action. This surface claims to show me all of that stuff, reducing it to simple graphics that cannot possibly be as varied as what I can think of.

It also looked like everything took a million hours to do anything. When he was rolling virtual dice it was brutally painful.

What if the DM needs to throw dice behind his screen? Does he ask the other players to look away? And you know what? I fucking LOVE my dice, what the fuck would I want them virtualized for if I can have REAL ones. That's why I still play D&D for the love of christ.

The last factor is certainly going to be cost. How much does this thing cost? I've seen it in exactly three movies and about a dozen technical demos, but never in a catalog anywhere. I bet it costs as much as my plasma + my computer, but... I already own a plasma and a computer... so why would I want this thing???

Do I think it's a neat idea? Yes.
Do I consider it a viable option/addition to actual table top or living room gamaing? No.

It was an unexpected technical demo, but so is this