Philips takes tabletop gaming literally

Electronics company unveils Entertaible touch-screen board-game table at CES.

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In addition to showcasing the latest and greatest gizmos and gadgets set to hit big-box retailers in the coming months, the Consumer Electronics Show is a place where companies show off their bleeding-edge innovations and conceptual flights of fancy, no matter how extravagant, impractical, or far out of the reach of actual consumers they might be.

One such device making its debut at this year's show is Philips' Entertaible, a touch-screen gaming system in a tabletop. Essentially a 30-inch horizontal touch-screen LCD monitor, the Entertaible uses a series of infrared LEDs and photodiodes set around the edge of the screen and can simultaneously detect "dozens of objects."

According to Philips, the Entertaible was devised as a way to combine aspects of traditional board games (the social experience, tangible pieces moving around a board, and dice) with the benefits of video games (dynamic environments, ability to play many different games on one system, and a more lively audiovisual experience).

"Entertaible will host electronics games that promote invaluable social interaction within groups and families," said Gerard Hollemans of Philips Research, who led the team responsible for the Entertaible. "This contrasts completely to the solitary, isolated environment encouraged by some contemporary console-based electronic games."

While the family might be Hollemans' target market for the device, Philips has suggested that it could be used for business or educational purposes, as an interactive desk where students or colleagues could work together on a project.

41 Comments

  • Darth_Roel

    Posted Jan 8, 2006 8:09 pm PT

    Once it becomes affordable there will be a million ways to do neat things with this thing. Unfortunately I doubt Philips will be the one to think of them or make the most of it.

  • _solidsnake_2

    Posted Jan 7, 2006 7:23 pm PT

    kick ass this is awesome!

  • Dafdiego777

    Posted Jan 7, 2006 6:43 pm PT

    This is like the thing from Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game."

  • Freer

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 2:23 pm PT

    sounds like a good idea, I've always hated having to stack all my board games in the closet, but with this I wouldn't have to. But will this REALLY get on the market? Probably not people, sorry, but we already have re-done versions of like every board game for PC, Portables and even Consols. So nice effort guys, but you just wasted ALOT of money.


    LIFE IS HARSH -- I LIKE TO POINT IT OUT

  • Supersonic2000

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 12:49 pm PT

    Looks like fun. I hope it will be affordable.

  • Agent_023

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 12:11 pm PT

    Nice. This thing has huge potential. I could see this thing going places as well as evolving into so much more, they just need to make sure they get everything right with it when released.

  • ghsacidman

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 10:39 am PT

    This would be extremely cool if it was able to have multiple games. It could take disks, and maybe it could even be a new platform. It would be like a giant DS, SHIBBY!!!

  • tjvanderlinden

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 10:27 am PT

    And best of all (next to the fact it's brilliant)... it's Dutch!
    Holland Rules!
    But seriously... I like this idea very much, if it's affordable (which I think it won't be)...
    Playing Monopoly, Risk, Catan, Carcassonne, scrabble... all of the old stuff... and all of the new stuff that can be done with it.
    It all depends on how they're going to work this idea out.

  • jaefrmbk2k

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 9:40 am PT

    wk-wk-wack

  • woohooforme

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 6:30 am PT

    Am I the only one who, when saw this, thought, "cool a giant DS screen"
    Anywho, great idea, sounds fun.

  • Rej72380

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 6:05 am PT

    Interesting device. I would definatley imaging playing either Magic: The Gathering or chess or checkers on this thing. This is definatley the future.

  • LiliShake

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 5:30 am PT

    Gentlemen, welcome to the future.

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 4:59 am PT

    i'll hold off for a hologram table-top game.

  • MC-5

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 3:30 am PT

    sweeeeeet... :-) what are they playing in the 2nd picture, some sort of tabletop GTA? =D
    If they can keep the price down a little, (not at the expense of the quality of the machine of course =) ) it might become a big hit.

  • Maeros4

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 2:11 am PT

    hmm i don't remember the link but it is on the philips website were they show a movie of this thing, very cool indeed, especially because i'm from holland were philps is based ;-)

  • rexoverbey

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 1:13 am PT

    Pretty cool but doesn't seem cheap enough for most consumers. That is one appeal to board games is the cheap prices.

  • forever_blank

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 11:30 pm PT

    It also was a long thing coming... refer to 'molestation charge through xbox live'... Wondering about it for a long time actually, but it seems that phillips has taken advantage of the situation, finally stepping out. The idea of being able to make a board game different, just by IE: Inserting a memory stick into the side is a really good and fun idea. I would love to play Tibbia on it.

  • vroenis

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 9:26 pm PT

    i'm with gamemasterchief and Sithlord234 - tabletop games like Battletech (what turned into Mechwarrior), Warhammer, Space Hulk, Talisman and others would be brilliant on this device. considering it's purely multiplayer, i can certainly think of three or four friends who would happily pitch in for this if it was expensive. now imagine taking it a bit further - you and three friends have a Warhammer army on a certain part of a game-map, and four of your friends somewhere else have another army on another unit via wireless or broadband - have scrollable maps that span a large game area, and suddenly you have much more game-area accesssable to you than is readily available at your local Games Workshop. ok... so it might turn out to be a bit of an old-school geek's toy - but damnit, we deserve it... (hides).

  • lstr

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 7:03 pm PT

    As long as you don't end up looking like the people in that picture it's pretty sweet.

  • Barne

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 6:50 pm PT

    Nice idea, sounds like it could work. Lets just hope they go at it a bit more wisely then with the CD-i... ouch i steel feel that one in the wallet! I mean i have nothing agains a bit of a high price but at least make it worth it this time!

  • veracity024

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 6:38 pm PT

    no more cheating @ monopoly

  • NaturalBornGamR

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 6:16 pm PT

    This sounds like the breath of fresh air that I need... I could always use some good social interaction with my games

  • EnhancedVGA

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 5:18 pm PT

    I can think of a million ways to enjoy this puppy besides board games. Imagine: You sit at your desk, and write out yor essay, as the computer recognizes your handwriting and converts it to text. You then reach over and hit a small button on the side, and start rubbing the screen with a small round rubber ball on stick, and your writing dissappears! You then save your assignment, and watch classic episodes of M*A*S*H in the top left corner, while playing checkers online with a friend, in a window open just below the TV watching program, you then play Age Of Empires 3 for many hours, selecting and commanding your units with a stylus or your finger. You then wish to write a note to yourself, on paper this time, so you press the sleep buttonm, and the Windows desktop fades away into a woodgrain image, that looks alarmingly like a real desktop. !!!HEY!!! !!!WAKE UP!!! Okay, back to reality, it could be that cool, and if it were, I'm saving up for it now.

  • Alfredo14

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 5:11 pm PT

    thats cool rpgs will be awesome on that thing

  • Alfredo14

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 5:09 pm PT

    thats cool rpgs will be awesome on that thing

  • digimonkey

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 5:06 pm PT

    I'm worried about the price, but the fusion of virtual and tabletop RPGs would be worth every cent.

  • viggen02

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 5:00 pm PT

    This thing is fantastic. Hopefully they will be able to make a somewhat affordable version of this!

  • benihya

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 4:47 pm PT

    no one will buy, I am sure that it will be expansive.

  • SGTMUS

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 4:43 pm PT

    cool idea, something interesting.

  • superkoolstud

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 4:39 pm PT

    Pokemon Tournament Table SWEET!!!!!!!! or Monopoly, Clue, Risk, Life, Scrabble all in 1 Table Sweet! or ADnD with built in DM AI Sweet!!!!! /sarcasm off

  • Sithlord234

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 4:26 pm PT

    uhh... a Interactive Tabletop Warhammer 40,000
    well one can dream right?

  • gamemasterchief

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 4:07 pm PT

    what an awesomely nerdy idea! Mechwarrior would be sick on this thing; imagine seeing animated destruction based on your attacks, replacing real dice with a push button (er, screen) virtual dice roll, multiple environments loaded into memory, sound effects, etc... Now if they could get the price down to the $200-$500 range then people might actually buy it instead of just dream about it.

  • NeoJedi

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 3:58 pm PT

    If the games are cool, this could be a very entertaining.... table.

  • _Pedro_

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 3:55 pm PT

    nice guess philips still has the brightest ideas

  • Krypton36

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 3:51 pm PT

    That's an awesome idea! But a 30 inch touch screen LCD monitor would be pretty pricey for board games. I wouldn't mind having one though

  • UnlivedPhalanx

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 3:49 pm PT

    This could be really really fun!

  • musicgenerator

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 3:48 pm PT

    its cool but it takes away the fun part of cheating

  • gonzalezj1

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 3:44 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

  • Donkeljohn

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 3:44 pm PT

    I shudder at the thought of all of the smudges on that screen.

  • XlpranksterlX

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 3:43 pm PT

    If its done right that could be insanely cool.

  • gonzalezj1

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 3:43 pm PT

    Woo-hoo! First, baby!
    Anyway, that sounds like a cool idea, but probably way too expensive for a board-game-type thing. I could see how it might be good for elementary school classrooms. It may be a little unrealistic to expect any public schools in the US to be able to afford it, though.

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