Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Here’s the splendid boardgame Settlers of Catan running on Microsoft’s potentially splendid Surface tech. Surface is touchscreen-mega-PC theoretical fun, but more likely to be built into tables in public spaces than to be something you hook up to your own device. Here’s how it could work for social videogaming (in the traditional sense of social, not the FarmVille sense). I’m fighting my overwhelming urge to grumble “but why don’t they just play the boardgame? It must be far cheaper” – because I suspect that’s very much missing the point.
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Not strictly PC gaming, but it’s nevertheless fascinating. It shows Carnegie Mellon’s proof of concept application for running a D&D game on Microsoft Surface and, well, that zoomable fantasy world map is about the most alluring piece of nerd-kit I have ever seen. I mean, I love maps at the worst of times, but that is simple too much. What’s even more interesting about it is the way that in terms of interaction, it hybridises boardgame conceits – maps, dice, and physical surfaces – with videogame processes – having menus and automated computation. Pen and paper games become “screen ‘n’ finger” games?

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