G4′s Attack of the Show! ambushed our friends and neighbors at the Microsoft campus, capturing a whirlwind of video highlights and a cameo  of Vectorform’s Galactic Alliance HD. The four-player tower defense game made a big splash at CES this year, where it could be experienced on the new Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface. Check out the demo from Director of Research Steven Bathiche, at 3:43.

Also showing up for Jessica Chobot’s campus tour was Skinput, a wickedly-clever project from Microsoft Research that turns the body into an input surface; Kinect Fun Labs, a new addition to the Kinect Hub; and our buddy Steve Clayton, a Microsoft storyteller who has covered our work with Kayak and Virtual Colonoscopy.

Maybe we should invite the gang over to see our latest? We do get the most surprising visitors…

Check out the video below for a preview of the Apps.

Tatort Eulau – Terra X
The video takes a while to buffer, but it will definitely be worth the wait. Enjoy!

 Would you like to know more? Check out our blog post from February.

Seattle, WA and Detroit, MI, August 2, 2010—The Settlers of Catan is a classic multiplayer board game, combining economics, strategy and chance, as colonists compete to build settlements from raw commodities. Created in Germany in 1995, and now available in 30 languages, The Settlers of Catan has achieved icon status. Over 15 million copies have been sold worldwide, and an estimated 20 million people play regularly, through a diverse set of traditional and digital game forms.

In partnership with Microsoft, Catan LLC, and Mayfair Games, Vectorform has created Catan for Microsoft Surface. Microsoft Surface is an innovative computing platform that responds to touch, natural hand gestures and real-world objects placed on the display. With a large, 360-degree, horizontal user interface, Microsoft Surface offers a unique gathering place where multiple users can come together to interact with content and each other–making it an ideal platform for games like Catan.

Working to maintain an authentic, interpersonal experience of board game play, Vectorform leveraged the social nature of Microsoft Surface. This functionality, defined by Microsoft as “together computing,” provides a distinct advantage and authenticity over games played on traditional PCs or personal devices. “Where a computer game is a solo computing affair, board games are connected experiences. Together computing has its place now, and will be more prominent in the future.” Vectorform Game Studio Executive Director Joe Engalan says.

Vectorform used the artistry of Mayfair Games’ analog version of The Settlers of Catan to illustrate the game elements, including resources, land, and evolving civilization. The digital board is complimented with real-world elements, including an acrylic die set which is seen and recognized by Surface’s built-in cameras. Additionally, an x-ray visor, fabricated specifically for the game, reveals a player’s cards to the player, while shielding the cards from competing colonists. “I’ve never seen real die used in a digital game,” Mollie Harms, Game Producer for Vectorform Game Studios, says. “I think the visors could revolutionize digital card playing. This is a new way to maintain secrecy that doesn’t hinder game play.” The visors, the dice, and the game-play experience on Surface were wildly popular with fans of the board game, who were involved in the design and development process, loaning time and feedback to informal focus groups.

Catan was first shown on Surface at Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio, in July of 2010. The extensive media coverage generated over 15,000 views of a promotional video for the game, within 72 hours of publishing it to YouTube. Vectorform will also show the game at Gen Con Indy, taking place August 5 through August 8, 2010, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Additionally, on September 3 through September 5, 2010, Vectorform will demonstrate Catan at PAXWest, the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, Washington.

Vectorform will continue to promote Catan at conferences and private events through the summer, and is offering customized, branded versions of the game to a network of clients and partners for use on Microsoft Surface. In the future, Catan will be available for purchase through Vectorform’s App Store. Additionally, the Vectorform App Store will sell other titles, including titles for iPhone, iPad, and other platforms. “The future for Catan is very bright, and we are going to push that experience to new markets and communities. But we’ve got quite a few more titles in the queue, and they are all very exciting. Keep watching, because this is just the start of the empire,” Joe Engalan says.

Press Release

Now Vectorform Game Studio brings you Catan as presented by Mayfair for the Microsoft Surface. This multi-touch, multi-player experience captures the authentic experience provided by the popular board game.  Featuring 3 or 4 player modes, a beautifully animated and interactive board, and a free-form interface which keeps play flowing as smoothly as possible, this experience is sure to be a defining element in the legacy of Catan.

 Features:
• Full multi-touch from the Microsoft Surface allows all players to interact with their elements of the board at once.
• A digital playing surface breathes new life into the Catan experience through graphics and animations.
• “State-free-trade” allow players to swap cards without entering modes or pressing buttons, keeping the experience as pure as possible.
• Customized art unifies the multi-touch interface with Mayfair’s 4th Edition release of The Settlers of Catan to create a seamless play experience.
• Integration with real-world objects to maintain the original Settlers of Catan board game feel.

We are thrilled with the spot, and only regret that a special shout-out to the team who worked extra hours to make this debut a success didn’t make the final cut. Clemens Conrad, Justin Bush, Hammam Chamma, and Karl Steckling, you rocked it! To our friends on the Microsoft Surface team, Kyle Warnick and Chris Wojahn, as usual you guys rock too!

Click the link for video: Ali on Extra

Three women, two men and eight children were buried 4,500 years ago, affectionately positioned in a tender embrace. In 2008 for the first time internationally, we have proof of the early existence of a nuclear family that can be studied with DNA analysis. A sensation!

But what really happened? Why did these people die at the same time? Did they become victims of a violent crime? Who were they and why did this tragedy occur? Under the direction of BKA-Profiler and with help from the most modern analysis methods, archeologists and anthropologists determined this case noteworthy. What seems to be turning into a criminal case from the Stone Age is becoming a key to an epoch of human history where many mysteries are unsolved. This could help shed light onto human life and social behavior of this region of Germany at that time.

TIME magazine has chosen the Eulau graves investigation as one of the ten most important scientific discoveries of 2008. Vectorform was on site with our MS Surface for the TV production in October of 2009, at the Regional Authorities for Care of Monuments and Archeology / National Museum for Prehistory in Halle, Germany.

Under the direction of Michael Gregor and Gerwin Darwin:

Prof. Dr. Harald Meller, Archeologist and Museum Manager of the National Museum for Prehistory Saxony-Anhalt in Halle; Dr. Michael Baurmann, Federal Criminal Police Office/ Criminological Research (Wiesbaden); Christian Meyer, Anthropologist (University of Mainz) and Dr. Robert Ganslmeier, Chief Excavator Eulau, in collaboration with Vectorform and with the help of our custom built multi-touch application, we were able to bring the case of Eulau to life.

The program is scheduled to broadcast in 2010.

 

Achim Berg CEO Microsoft Germany, Dipl.-Kfm. Gerd Pieper, President IHK Bochum, Tillmann Neinhaus, General ManagerIHK Bochum (from left to right)