Philips unveils vision for the future of gaming

Philips has unveiled its latest innovation in the field of gaming - the Entertaible, a device that's said to combine the excitement of videogaming with the fun of traditional board games.

The Entertaible, which is now on show at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, features a 30 inch horizontal LCD touch screen. Infrared LEDs and photodiodes have been used to ensure that the screen can be seen in all lighting conditions, and the Entertaible can simultaneously detect the positions of dozens of objects - be they pawns, dice or fingers.

According to Philips, the Entertaible "could breathe new interactive life into conventional multi-player board and electronic games."

"This may include, for example, using a portion of the touch screen to allow private tactical information to be shown to specific players only."

Other advantages could involve on-screen explanations of the rules as the game unfolds, the ability to save progress mid-play and the option to store lots of board games without needing extra storage space. Philips also said that Entertaible owners might be able to hook their device up to the Internet and download trials of new games.

At present the Entertaible is still in the prototype stage, and Philips is aiming the product at public venues such as bars, restaurants and casinos. However, if it proves popular a home version will follow.

The Entertaible is the brainchild of a Philips research team located in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The team is led by scientist Gerard Hollemans, who commented: "Entertaible offers the means to reinvigorate established board game classics. However, in the longer term, Entertaible could be used to invent brand new games offering unprecedented levels of user interaction - games that would never become predictable or ever quite 'feel' the same twice, however often you played them."

"Perhaps most important of all, Entertaible will host electronics games that promote invaluable social interaction within groups and families," Hollemans continued.

"This contrasts completely to the solitary, isolated environment encouraged by some contemporary console-based electronic games."