Watch? Fuck that. I want to play all day on this.

I am now possesed of an almost fanatical desire to own one of these Surface thingies.

Wow, with that you might actually be able to figure out the encumbrance rules, and put them into practice. The need better animation on the fights though, I never really liked the top down RTS style.

Does it come with a slightly effete Austrian dungeon master as well?

See, this is why the world loves nerds now; Making the world a better place!

Should I be laughing since they're demo'ing it using a Mac laptop as the DM's machine?

Seriously I want to play on this thing, that just looks totally badass.

This is sooo not D&D. D&D is about a DM creating an entire world, usually a patchwork of borrowed elements; and in most games a patchwork of borrowed and created rules.

If a program (no matter how cool looking) does all this for you, your playing something else. In D&D the options and possibilities are ENDLESS. Involving a program that governs so much, is limiting. ANY RULE at all, used in this program makes assumptions that a DM may not have used otherwise.

See, the D&D "rules" don't exists - their are core guidelines and a shit ton of optional guidelines.

The game they are playing here is a collection of real rules and a smattering of options. A needlessly complex computer game with reality props. Nothing short of a Holodeck will be able to run a "real' D&D game.

D&D nerds often argue over what constitutes "real" D&D (and we'll never quit). But one thing is certain: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Now get off my lawn.

I may be wrong, but did the spellcaster roll the dice after selecting magic missle?

Is it just me, or is that DM really really crap?