iPirate: Giving board games a new media image

Paris – French publishing house Les Éditions Volumiques has developed a board game which uses the iPhone as a playing piece.

The iPirate board game uses the iPhone’s camera to pick up on grid points on a fold-out board. Corresponding visuals are then displayed on the touchscreen, on which animated scenes that interact with the illustrated board, appear.

Les Éditions Volumiques is interested in exploring the ways in which technology and print can interact. ‘Interactivity sheds new light on the potential of a story, and on what the role of the reader is,’ says founder Bertrand Duplat. ‘How does one introduce the connected and computational user experience of digital media into the paper book, to actualise it, widen its scope and engage the reader in new ways?’

LS:N Global has previously explored the way in which media content is being transformed. For more information see our Future Media Landscapes report.