http://www.microsoft.com/surface/
While you wait for the article, you might as well familiarize yourselves with what this awesome thing does, or could do -- or might already be doing in fact, according to this news piece:
Back in the days when pen and paper were king and LCDs were limited to your watch, the sound of people gaming involved dice rolling not keyboards clicking. Then came the days of Origins and SSI and gamers started migrating to a new platform [lol --icy]. For those who miss those days when role playing meant a bit more than clicking dialogue options, Microsoft Surface and the boys at SurfaceScape have a little something for you. Surface, if you do not recall is a new bit of tech from Microsoft, a combination of display and input device. It can handle multi-touch interface from more than one person at a time and is easily networked to give you control over what is shown and what various touches mean, either from people or from objects place on the Surface.
SurfaceScape's new demo is up on Vimeo; just over 7 minutes of pure D'n'D jealousy.
"The objective of the SurfaceScapes project is to create a proof-of-concept for playing tabletop role-playing games on the Microsoft Surface Table. We will be using Dungeons and Dragons as a basis for our prototype, with the option for future expansion to other role-playing games. SurfaceScapes will provide Game Masters and players with a set of features to enhance the combat and role-playing aspects of tabletop games. This will include the ability to interact with the digital environment using real objects such as miniatures and provide automated calculations and visual and audio feedback for actions performed by the player and non-player characters. We are taking traditional tabletop role-playing games to the next level, adding a new layer of immersive and intuitive gaming to the Microsoft Surface Table and assisting both GMs and players in enjoying exciting and engaging adventures.
SurfaceScapes… what lies beneath."
