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By the time your average Dungeons and Dragons player has failed his third death save and gone off to that great dungeon in the sky, he or she's spent nearly $800,000 on miniatures and various-sided dice. (Trust us, it adds up.) Keeping that number in mind, we'd like to turn your attention to an alternative to tangible tabletop gaming: Surfacescapes, an in-development application for the Microsoft Surface, which attempts to recreate the D&D experience on an outrageously large touch screen. As the Surface currently costs $12,500, the lifetime savings would be abundant.

Sure, there's a few kinks to work out -- the dice roll a little slow for our tastes, though this would make saving throws infinitely more dramatic. There's also the small matter of how introducing this technology into the game might diminish the whole "role-playing" element. If used just for combat encounters, it could be a powerful streamlining tool. For everything else, it would need to be fitted with an Imagination Manifestation Drive™, and those don't exist yet.

Check out a demo of Surfacescape's proof of concept in the video after the jump.

[Via Engadget]

Joystiq's sister site Massively.com has all the news you'll need about MMOs. Here's the best, brightest, and most interesting stuff from the last week, all in one convenient place for your MMO minute.

	10 things I wish I had known before building an MMO Continuing with our countdown to EverQuest's 10th Anniversary, today marks the first of three special articles containing the retrospective thoughts on MMO development from the team that made it so popular. Today's "10 things I wish I had known before building an MMO" starts off with Steve Klug, Lead Programmer for EverQuest.
	Massively's EVE Online Apocrypha expansion hands-on Massively got word that EVE Online lead game designer Noah Ward, aka CCP Hammerhead, would be in New York City last week. We jumped at the chance to find out more about the Apocrypha expansion, and Ward was kind enough to give us our own hands-on demo while answering our questions about where EVE Online is heading.

We were just talking yesterday about the ridiculous amount of RPG love the DS has gotten in the past and is getting in the future and wanted to ask you all if you thought the genre was being overused on the DS. Do you think the DS has way too many RPGs? Is there a genre of games you want to see more of on the DS?

So what do you all think? Too much of a good thing? Or do you love the RPG love the DS has received so far?

Refusing to close the lid on the PS2's casket, Armored Core publisher Agetec has announced plans to bring last-gen RPG Falling Stars to North America this summer. The game casts players in the role of a young girl named Luna on a quest to save the village of Dazzleon from her own green-skinned uncle and his obsession with turning peaceful creatures into evil pets.

According to Agetec, the Ivolgamus-created Falling Stars will include "cute characters, fun mini games, and simplified controls." Wait, is this a PS2 or Wii game we're talking about here? Either way, this role-playing game for the younger set will no doubt give players coming off of the Lithuanian developer's Barbie as The Island Princess something else to look forward to after nap time.

WoW Insider has an extensive feature on an erotic roleplaying guild disbanded by Blizzard in World of Warcraft. The guild, originally named Abhorrent Taboo, which now goes under the name Vile Anathema, apparently engaged in extreme kink typing and roleplaying about subjects like "Ageplay, Bestiality, Child Birth, Watersports" and "any other kink those playing may wish to explore." After complaints by other players, Blizzard disbanded the guild saying, "This matter is not one Blizzard takes lightly in any way, shape or form, and we do not wish to have this topic continue circulation ... Let it finally be said that we appreciate those of you who brought this particular issue to our attention and that we will continue to follow up with this matter in the future to ensure the safety of all parties concerned."

The issue gets murky in terms of public perception because of some comments made by the guild leader which became public. The guild leader allegedly said, "I want to defend us, but I also want to defend the pedosexual community." The key point here is that the guild leader is talking about pedophiles who don't actually molest children -- the thought isn't illegal, the real-life action is. So are people who engage in that fantasy while roleplaying in WoW (while in private chat with a consenting individual) doing something wrong? Of course, this is an extreme example.

There are also issues about age verification for the erotic guild. Many general-purpose guilds have age guidelines set up for the comfort of their members. It's also easy to argue parents should be doing their jobs and monitoring their child's online activity and who they associate with. This whole issue is full of deep social and sexual questions, but in the end it is Blizzard's game. We're not expecting the World of Warcraft sexual revolution anytime soon.

And because we couldn't resist, (it's an oldie but a goodie as) WoW meets porn and Broadway after the break.

Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart has some strong words for single-player RPG developers. With the rise of MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft and Everquest, old-style role playing games need to re-think their strategy or face extinction. "It used to be fine to make an RPG that was just wandering around and hacking things up with the player having very little effect on the world around them", explains Urquhart, "Why play that game now if you could just play a MMO?"

The key is to define what single-player RPGs offer over the online experience and bring that into sharp focus. Dungeon hacking is a thing of the past, now players want as much control over their character and surroundings as possible. But what does solo role playing offer that the online experience doesn't? Is there still a demand for epic single-player RPGs in the world, or are we moving to a strict MMORPG diet?

Koei has opened the official website for their adorable Wii "Lifestyle RPG" Opoona, and the site is as colorful and, well, round as everything else we've seen about the Nunchuk-only game. There's not much English to be found, but the links all have English labels, allowing you to navigate with ease and find visual content.

Clicking around will get you plenty of screenshots, and the "dark rogue" link takes you to a gallery of enemy creatures. They are mostly-- that's right-- colorful and round. It's kind of a major theme in the design.

Koei has released some new screens from Opoona, showing more interaction around the space station area. Some of the locations revealed include a coffee shop, an art museum, and a library. Little Opoona looks quite cheerful as he explores these areas, for someone who just became separated from his parents. He's the spheroid Ryo Hazuki of the future.

This latest update brings us the names of some of the characters in Opoona's world. His father and mother are called Daddiina and Mommiina, which is just adorable. Gordy, the captain of the space station's guards, a young boy named Ted who wants to grow up to be a guard, and a young honor student named Mira round out the known cast. It's starting to sound like an RPG, isn't it?

Obsidian Entertainment has wasted little time getting Neverwinter Nights 2 into ship-shape this month. But when you consider the game already shipped at the end of last month, suffered a controversial critique, and was built by a bunch of talented Black Isle veterans, their efforts may not seem so surprising. The new 1.03 beta patch includes several multiplayer and toolset updates, in addition to some much-needed camera adjustments (fans of the first game will appreciate the modified "chase cam" view).

In case these fixes aren't reason enough to consider picking up the game, then how about a 50% discount? Through the end of Saturday, Best Buy is selling Neverwinter Nights 2 for $25.

[via GameBanshee]

If you haven't heard enough about the ladies of Oblivion recently, this tidbit is an interesting look at gender and gaming. While the female characters manage to score bonus points on the "lack of scantily clad armour" scale, it seems that there are some inherent gender-based stat advantages under certain circumstances.

Gamers with Jobs have spoken to Bethesda about the perceived gender bias, and it seems that the differences are subtle, designed so that players have more choice when it comes to gameplay. While it may seem a little old-fashioned for male Redguards to have a higher strength, while females have a higher personality, the balance is all in the name of game diversity. For anyone wishing to experience the game free of any gender concerns, there's already a mod which equalises stats irrespective of gender.

[Thanks, SickNic]