Bizzaro World Me has been working on the PlayTable since the fateful day I decided to work at Microsoft instead of Business Objects. It’s been hard but rewarding work getting it ready to ship and I’m a bit disappointed its now being branded as Microsoft Surface. What happened to the family entertainment device that would be in everyone’s living room? I realize the $5,000-$10,000 price tag was a bit steep for a consumer device, but I was all giddy about the possibility of playing all my favourite board games on a ridiculously powerful multi-touch computer. Instead it’s being used to sell cellphones?

It’s probably a good thing they didn’t market PlayTable at the living room board game crowd. I love playing board games and might have shelled out $5,000 for a wicked computer to play them on. But eventually it would have suffered the same fate as all of my physical boardgames – neglected to a closet to gather dust because I lack the planning skills necessary to invite people over to play with me.