Touch-screen gamers ex-static at NextFest

Mitsubishi Electric has developed a touch-screen that can tell who is touching it, allowing gamers or workers to share one display without interfering with each other.

The screen picture is projected onto a table covered with sensors. Users sit on a chair that has a static charge, each of which is different.

When a user touches the tabletop, the static charge lets the computer determine who is touching it.

Mitsubishi Electric unveiled the device to the public this weekend at the NextFest technology show in San Francisco.

"[People] are used to working together on projects, but when they get behind a computer, one person controls the entire system. Everyone else is just watching him work," said Adam Bogue, vice president of marketing and business development at Mitsubishi Electric.

The company demonstrated a game where balls of different colours pop up on the screen. Players get points for making balls of their own colour disappear by touching them. Touching any other colours results in penalty points.

In another game, players had to work together to create a path through a maze by realigning different parts of the maze. Each player was able to control only one part of it, creating a need for teamwork.

Mitsubishi is currently talking to gaming companies about bringing the 'tabletop computer' to market.