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Has Apple Created the Perfect Board Game Platform?
andylim writes "recombu.com is running an interesting piece about how Apple has created a 'Jumanji (board game) platform.' The 9.7-inch multi-touch screen is perfect for playing board games at home, and you could use Wi-Fi or 3G to play against other people when you're on your own. What would be really interesting is if you could pair the iPad with iPhones, 'Imagine a Scrabble iPad game that used iPhones as letter holders. You could hold up your iPhone so that no one else could see your letters and when you were ready to make a word on the Scrabble iPad board, you could slide them on to the board by flicking the word tiles off your iPhone.' Now that would be cool."
The perfect board game platform is cardboard.
Living With a Nerd
So for only $499 + $299/phone, you can play a $75 board game electronically! No messy setup, and you don't have to worry about where to put that almost $1000 in cash you would still have!
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
How is less than 10 inches perfect?
I don't think I play a single board game with a board that small. Zoom in and out? Scroll around? Everything smaller? No thanks. A lot of my board game time is great just because I'm unplugged anyway.
If I were alone, maybe then I could see it. The less than ideal experience would be o.k. compared to not being able to play at all. But to sit around with phones out to 'hold' tiles and play the game on a little screen doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Or you could read a book. You could buy all sorts of books before you would come close to the price of the iPad + e-book purchases.
Or you could listen to a CD. You could buy all sorts of CDs before you would come close to the price of the iPad + .MP3/AAC/whatever purchases.
Or you could watch a movie. You could buy all sorts of DVDs before you would come close to the price of the iPad + digital video purchases.
Funny thing is, a large and growing number of us have small music players, e-book readers, watch movies/TV on our laptops, play assorted multi-player games, etc. - all on hardware comparable in price to the iPad.
Between a convenient play-everything device and some bulk storage to off-load under-used content, those of us realizing it's 2010 already LIKE the idea of replacing boxfulls of atoms with a few cubic inches of bits.
Always amazes me how many /.ers exhibit Luddite tendencies.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
The perfect board game platform is cardboard.
And cardboard games don't come with DRM or restrictive rights where you don't actaully 'own' it, rather rent it and rebuy it when you magically lose the rights to the game. No thanks.
If it ain't broke, DON'T fix it.
So what do you do with your cardboard monopoly or chess board when you are half way through a game and the captain says to return to your seats, place the tray tables in the upright locked position and prepare for landing? I guess it's game over.
With an iPad, you could save the game, put it back in your hand luggage, then get it out and resume the game in the taxi to the hotel.
I agree with the article. I think the iPad presents a great opportunity to play board games with friends in a more convenient way.
Disclaimer: I am not questioning your opinion, nor am I discrediting it. You are completely entitled to your own thoughts.
No matter what you do, say, or show me, you will never convince me that buying a device as expensive as a full computer but with only half the functionality is a good thing. Paying more and getting less is not a good thing, even if it comes wrapped up in a pretty package.
Living With a Nerd
> The perfect board game platform is cardboard.
No, it isn't. Not for all situations. The iPad is a bit pricey at the moment but in the future when they're cheaper (and/or used) I could see this actually being quite good for the kids to play checkers in the backseat of the car or on a flight.
1) No pieces to lose
2) Bored of checkers? It can hold a few hundred other games.
3) Related to #1: also no pencils/pens/crayons floating around/getting lost/poking people in tender places
Honestly, I'd rather have the kids in the backseat playing games instead of watching movies the whole time.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Flash is awful. HTML5 will do all flash can do and more, without sucking my CPU cycles and battery life. My browser blocks flash. Whenever I open flash component, my browser with flash eventually goes to the top of my thread list in terms of processor usage. My CPU fan eventually whirs on.
I think we should boycott flash. If enough people start blocking it, ad producers will be forced to change over to HTML5, which is an open standard.
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
To be a perfect board game, it needs to have holographic pieces that project out of the screen.
This is modded funny, but funny is the fact that in the last 24 hours I've started 3 apps based loosely on ideas from slashdot alone that will be great on this device.
I could give a fuck if you don't think its useful, I'm pretty sure its going to be the next addition to my iPod Touch/iPhone income source.
Hell, theres another 4 or 5 in this article alone that can be good with some domain specific knowledge (which I don't have).
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