Xbox 360 Fanboy

isnt this just like that game mat that philips 0r Panasonic designed?

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If they can bring the cost down by the time the 'Xbox 3' comes out, this will be a no-brainer for an optional controller. Imagine Oblivion : being able to see and manage your entire inventory on the Surface while viewing the landscape on your 60" HDTV. A dream come true for RTS games - that Tom Clancy EndWar trailer will be the ACTUAL gameplay ;-)

For you tech-heads, there's already a commercial product available for music/audio production: http://www.jazzmutant.com/

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I imagine this is a perfect platform for board games. No parts to lose, CPU ensures cheating is impossible.

And with the right modifications, you could even have a private viewing area for cards or other info other players shouldn't see.

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Death to the Keyboard and Mouse vs. Controller War!

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Looks like a gimmick, Tablet PC anyone?

This won't even be commercially viable for YEARS.

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The thing that's exciting about Surface isn't that it's a multi-touch screen... that sort of stuff has been shown off before. What's exciting about it (I think anyway) is that it reacts to devices placed upon it.

The video about it shows off all sorts of applications this might have, although just of the file transfer variety. The possiblities for games in that sense, I think, are more exciting.

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Yea I can only really see this playing well with RTS games, maybe I'm not imaginative enough mind. I can only really see this as a... um cant remember the word (starts with a P) doubt it would really replace traditional controllers for a long long while yet due to the price

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Thanks "hey apples" for your great comment. Ignoring that its far more likly that you are a gimmick vs this product. I would like to address your commercially viable comment. As you can clearly figure out from the video. The device is already commercially viable. Apparently you will start seeing these pop up in T-mobile stores shortly.

They are not as of yet, not viable for home use. I can wait until xbox3 though.

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I hate to use the word 'ergonomics', but imagine leaning over this thing for hours on end. A comfortable chair that allows one to still reach the whole surface is going to have to come along to help here.

Or everybody will decide it's too cool to complain about...

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Interesting though about XBOX 3. With the 360 doing well, i am guessing Microsoft will stick with a traditional 5 year cycle for the 360, unlike the 4 years they did for xbox 1.0
So, by the time it's coming out, surface will probably be well established (assuming it won't flop) and will start making it's way into people's homes. I do like what some people suggested for having the table as a map or as an inventory display. This should be pretty viable, not to mention will kick major ass. And this will make tabletop gaming a lot more fun. I love Carcassonne, but can't stand having to count the points at the end of the game, or keeping track of things. Besides, with the sensors on it, you can play with actual game pieces and not just their virtual representation.

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I'm excited about this... but the first thing it reminded me of was this table these guys made for Warcraft 3:

http://www.thatvideosite.com/video/2020

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So basically, using this with an LCD TV = large screen Nintendo DS.

Awesome.

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There are so many possibilities for this thing, it's unreal!....You could place your bluetooth camcorder or mobile phone on it and download your video to it for editing....you can have have real card-based games on this like Sony's about to come out with for the PS3, you can send messages to your phones for murder/mytery/clue games to go look for objects in the real world encoded with bar code that you could bring back to the surface for it to scan, then give you the next clue....endless ideas and fun can be had!! Just don't set down your credit card on it...or you'll be buying the entire Microsoft software libray next day express.. !! Smart surface, indeed!

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You guys are thinking too far into the future. Think about the price of this stinkin thing and the US econonmy. Surface wont start to be in homes until something like 5 years from now because of the ridiculous price. In order for $10000 to become $5000 it will take 3 years or so and for $5000 to become $500 it will be about 10 years or more from now. Dont get me wrong Surface is cool and all but It will be a flop unlike none other

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Why not make this coffee table monitor work as a TV too. Why couldn't you have it work as a horizontal display and then also tilt up and function as a TV display for watching video or playing games?

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Seeing that picture of it instantly reminded me of table-top Space Invaders.

Errrr, although I'm FAR too young to remember things like that! ;o)

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This is the perfect platform for board games. Imagine playing Catan without all of the set-up and little pieces? You could play Poker, Chess, Backgammon, Battleship, Monopoly, Mah-Jong, etc.

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A video on Youtube has employees state it will be out by the end of the year for $10,000(though it's worth more). Fanboys were wrong about it being out during the time of the next Xbox, unless they meant commercially.

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It's so gimmicky; will people actually find practical use for the thing? http://thenewsroom.com/details/396038?c_id=wom-bc-js

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