DnD on Microsoft Surface Update

Actually, the interface looks very similar to that of Temple of Elemental Evil, which I thought was a really slick interface for an RPG... and that's 3.5.

I think that the interface skin, once developed, will support any number of rule systems.

The die roller sucks and should be taken out or sped up and/or replaced with real dice. There is something about rolling real dice that is far more gratifying than virtual dice. Just having the numbers show up is anti-climactic.
I definitely agree. Plus as long as the dice have high enough contrast numbers, there's nothing stopping this from reading the bottom facing number and shape & size of the bottom face in order to determine what number was rolled. That'd take much longer to perfect than a simple random number generator, but it isn't out of the realm of possibility already.
 

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Actually, surface wouldn't be that ideal for gaming purposes. RTS and RPGs, yes. But that are rather niche markets. Most other genres would work rather badly on surface. Its the same problem with the Wii. Big Hype about its new controller, but hardly any games for it as motion controll doesn't work well with most of them.
Nonsense. The war for game developers was fought with contracts and high def, not gameplay.

Many videogame developers refuse to program for it because the system is not HD and their core demographic is primarily on Xbox and PS3... because of HD. The controller isn't the problem, the demographics are an issue.

Take the most "hardcore" of hardcoreZ: FPS games. Amusingly, the Wii is a better platform to play FPS games, but the core demographic prefers high res graphics to gameplay. The other 95% of the population swings the other way, but they don't buy FPS games, and they certainly don't buy multiple new games per month the way the "hardcore" do.

There's a reason Sony and Microsoft are scrambling like crazy to create their own versions of motion control. It's a bigger market than hardcore gamers. The Wii outsold Xbox and PS3 substantially.
 
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The trouble with this thing is it's sort of like a computer, with not that much software right now, has a new interface that despite claims of "more intuitive" will still need to be learned, and it's gigantic.
Have you used multi-touch? It's amazingly intuitive. My grandmother doesn't even own a computer but can use multi-touch almost as well as my niece.

The learning curve is substantially easier than using a mouse, from what I've seen. Heck, I've seen TV remotes that were less intuitive.
 

And? Maybe in 10 years this technology will be consumer ready, but till that there is still a lot of time. Its no use for WotC to start developing for that technology now.

I think my biggest objection to your claims here is that you mentioning "10 years out"... and I see nothing to support that claim. Why is this 10 years out, rather than 5? If it has become viable in 5 years, it could well be worthwhile for WotC to start looking at it.

I'm not saying it can or will - I'm just wondering if you have any scrap of support for your claim, other than because it felt like a nice round number?
 


There's a reason Sony and Microsoft are scrambling like crazy to create their own versions of motion control. It's a bigger market than hardcore gamers. The Wii outsold Xbox and PS3 substantially.

Yes, but those two still sell more games than teh Wii except for Wii Fit.
Also, because of the Wiis different controller its impossible to make cross platform titles for it. So either you make games for PC, Xbox360 and PS3 or for the Wii. And no matter how many Wiis are sold, the combination of the other platforms are still more widespread.

Surface will have the same problem. No application avaliable for PC will work with its touch functionality. Everything for it has to be made from scratch or changed significantly. And why? Surface doesn't offer that many advantages for traditional PC applications.
Its more of a specialized tool than a all in one device as the PC. And thats why I think it woun't be that of a huge success most people here believe (want?) it to be.


I think my biggest objection to your claims here is that you mentioning "10 years out"... and I see nothing to support that claim. Why is this 10 years out, rather than 5? If it has become viable in 5 years, it could well be worthwhile for WotC to start looking at it.

I'm not saying it can or will - I'm just wondering if you have any scrap of support for your claim, other than because it felt like a nice round number?

LCD and plasma tvs needed about 10 years to become widespread. Same with HDTV or gaming consoles.
No matter how "awesome" a technology is, it will take time for it to become so widespread that it becomes attractive for a small niche market like PnP RPGs. And 10 years seems to be about right when looking at other technological trends.
It might even be a bit on the optimistic side as surface doesn't offer any advantage over a PC for most people.
 

Quote from Aurdoughter:
>>>RTS is niche? I was under the impression that there was a substancial market for RTS. Does anyone know the size of that market?<<<

yeah....I think it's South Korea....
 

Have you used multi-touch? It's amazingly intuitive. My grandmother doesn't even own a computer but can use multi-touch almost as well as my niece.

The learning curve is substantially easier than using a mouse, from what I've seen. Heck, I've seen TV remotes that were less intuitive.

I can't remember ever seeing a TV remote that I would consider intuitive.

As for a market, once the price comes down, I can see them being used extensively for board games. And by "board games" I don't mean wargames; I mean "Monopoly" or "Trivial Pursuit."
 

Yes, but those two still sell more games than teh Wii except for Wii Fit.
Yes, because of the demographics mentioned above.

Senior citizens have Wii bowling leagues. They buy maybe 2-3 games, total, but they play the heck out of them.

Typical console gamers buy a game, play it for 3 months, and then never play it again, with rare exceptions.... many of which are Nintendo games for some reason. Weird that.

Also, because of the Wiis different controller its impossible to make cross platform titles for it.
Not remotely true. There are dozens of them. Some have made the case that the Ghostbusters game was actually the most fun to play on the Wii, but looked the worst. The same was said of that big Star Wars release with Vader's apprentice.

Sony and Microsoft both intend to extend the current generation by adding motion control to their systems, so that problem should go away.

The real barrier to cross platform is the significantly less raw processing power of the Wii. It has barely more juice than the GameCube. That's a bigger issue for modern games than the controllers, especially since the Wii has a standard controller you can plug onto the Wii-mote, even if they refuse to code interactions for the accelerometers.

All that aside... Did a Wii-mote kick your dog, dude? You seem bound and determined to recast business and horsepower issues as some sort of UI problem. You better grow accustomed to it, though. The entire business is moving along the trail Nintendo blazed with the Wii: Sony Wand, Project Natal, etc.
 

Canis said:
Have you used multi-touch? It's amazingly intuitive. My grandmother doesn't even own a computer but can use multi-touch almost as well as my niece.

The learning curve is substantially easier than using a mouse, from what I've seen. Heck, I've seen TV remotes that were less intuitive.

Have not, so that might be a part of it, but be that as it may, from what I've seen there are commands that must be learned, and as such, if people already know the commands for a computer, can get a computer cheaper, can do more with the computer, are used to computers, and computers take up less space...

I just haven't seen the WHY this will replace computers currently.

WHY would I want to switch? An answer of "Because it's so cool!" just doesn't cut it.

The idea of multi-touch- awesome, it has a lot of applications.

The Microsoft Surface? Big cumbersome thing without as much functionality as a computer with a cool interface.

The idea, the concept, is great- but it's current form sucks.

Once the technology is there to say build multi touch into smaller things like LCD screens, and such, I can see it exploding, but computer/coffee table?

I just don't think the current form is going to be the one that makes the concept explode into houses around the world.
 

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