R.U.S.E tabletop interface pricing

The first time I saw the trailer for Ubisoft’s real-time strategy game, R.U.S.E., I was pretty impressed. I watched as two armchair generals directed their armies from a tabletop interface that displayed the game and allowed them to manipulate their land, sea and air forces. Pretty impressive stuff, right? But here’s a little surprise for anyone that wants to enjoy that game with that fancy interface: you’d better be independently wealthy.

The device being used in the video is called the Intuiface and it is developed by a company called IntuiLab. Intuiface is a surface computing platform that is mostly used for commercial endeavors like touch screen photo printing centers, banking, traffic surveillance programs, and more. In other words it is very, very expensive.

A little leg work at Ubisoft’s booth revealed just how much this wonderful technology would cost - $20,000. Yes you’ve read that number correctly. So while R.U.S.E. might look fantastic in the video, the interface that made a serious impression on readers is out of the average consumer’s reach.

The company that makes it says that it may someday have a consumer friendly version of the technology that will be compatible with the next iteration of Windows and will offer a smaller price tag, but that doesn’t really soften the blow for players who instantly fell in love with the launch trailer’s magnificent tabletop battle scene.