ePawn

ePawn?  Okay, I'm listening and liking.  Well, here is the affordable gaming tabletop that I have long wished to see be made avalable.  The question for me will be how easily can it be programmed and can individual encounter files can be produced and included with adventures and settings?

According to gamespot.com . . .

ePawn Arena
- Available early 2012 for approximately $400The ePawn Arena is one of the more curious devices at E3 2011. The Arena is a 23-inch touchscreen that responds to pieces (like chess pieces or miniatures) with electronics embedded on the underside. Each piece can be treated as a different unit, in the event you’re playing chess or a tabletop game, it will be able to differentiate a plane from a tank, and a king from a queen.
Games programmed for it will be able to tell which direction unit are pointing and even how far apart they are. If we take a tabletop war game as an example, a well programmed game will be able to determine whether a unit is in range to fire, and whether rendered obstacles are in the way. It can also generate graphical effects like smoke or blood if a unit is hit.
ePawn will likely come with embeddable electronic pieces, so you can use your own existing pieces, in the event you have your own well-painted miniatures